Just in time to miss the massive destruction of the upstairs bathroom in Croton, I headed to Brooklyn to visit with Greg before he leaves for Norway where he will be doing three 11-day cruises as the resident artist and photographer.
I told him I would make him a balaclava before his next trip to Antarctica (he had an artist in residence for a trip there in December/January 2007). In typical fashion I put off getting the yarn for a balaclava which even though he had picked out what he liked during an earlier visit to Brooklyn when I dragged him into Knit-A-Way, in part to check it out, and also to have him help me figure out what yarn he would like. While with BC I tried to get the yarn at the local yarn shop there but they didn't carry that particular yarn. Finally on Friday during my blue mood, I made myself leave the house to go to Flying Fingers because I knew they carried Berroco Cuzco and time was slipping away.
Today is Monday and I still have a ways to go but the yarn knits up like a dream, I can easily see it's appeal. Greg has seen it and is excited, likes the feel of it. Since he picked the pattern and the yarn it should be a nice for him. I may change the pattern slightly by making the hood part in stockinette rather than garter stitch. On Ravelry I have titled this project Norway Nights, since the yarn is black (one of his color choices, though I was hoping to find it in charcoal grey). On the Metro North train I knit until the first skein was just about gone, wound a skein and kept knitting until I got off the subway in Brooklyn.
After arriving Greg and I went for a long walk which included a stop to Sahadi's. If you are ever visiting this area of Brooklyn, you must go there. Seriously. In the end we walked about 3.5 miles, which also puts my on target for my weekly goal - I love having friends who support one's good habits as well as the bad ones! Dinner included chickpea salad, vegetable samosas and baklava, which were purchased during our walk. Along side of that was basmati rice as well as mustard greens with tempeh and some red wine. Just lovely, only now I'd like to sleep but the yarn beckons with a loud ticking clock.
Showing posts with label Brooklyn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brooklyn. Show all posts
Monday, November 09, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Catching up a bit
Due to sloth and distraction I never wrote about my travels to Greg and Janet's home at the end of March. Shameful I know. Arriving on a Friday night I was happy to see a scene I had not experienced in a long time - Greg sketching a model for a painting. Janet was bopping around her studio and greeted me with a big hug, leading me to the kitchen to help myself to dinner leftovers.
Saturday we prepped for the Open Studio scheduled for that afternoon which mean that Greg and I walked up the farmer's market up at Grand Army Plaza. Talking about life while taking in vistas of Brooklyn that I had not seen for quite some time; sunlight was lighting up the limestone, sparkling the sidewalks and glinting off the sculptures of the arch. The market was bustling, filled with people, children and dogs.
After coming back to their home I took over the food prep, which was largely making the plates of prepared food look pretty and chopping vegetables. It also offed me an escape during the open studio -something to do when I felt restless, too quiet for chatter, or like my heart was suffering from the sporadic pangs which manifested as a body ache that wanted me to propel into their bedroom in a fetal position with the cat.
Slowly those moments of awkward emotions lifted, or perhaps I was able stow them away in order to be present in the moment. Wonderful flows in and out conversations, slowly the open studio time faded to a more intimate setting to celebrate Greg's birthday and gave us time to talk in slower manner. It was a lovely a day in the end when I reviewed it all before bed.
Monday I finally roused myself to do something on my own, thinking I would go to the yarn store a mere three blocks from their home. As I turned left out of the door I realized that for some odd reasons most yarn stores in the United States are closed on Mondays. It was possible that this being within the confines of New York City would have better sense than that but I was doubtful. As it turned out it was shuttered by the typical irons gates that pull down over many storefronts here. Being out was a good thing so I simply decided to walk and stroll through the neighborhood that on and off many years ago had been my home turf. It was amazing to see so many storefronts the same in the past 10 or even 20 something years and not surprising at all to see so many things that had sprouted new life. One of the few stores I went into has been there since at least the mid-80's; an odd, narrow crowded store with mostly shoes but also a rack of fairly eclectic clothing, some of which seemed like it had been there since my first visit over 20 years ago. I walked up Seventh Avenue until I hit 3rd Street where I turned west towards the corner of 3rd and Fifth Avenue, where I lived in the early eighties. The corner of my former block is now chic and the block has been rehabbed for a long time. A far cry from when I lived there where half the buildings were abandoned, including half the units in my abode. It is the first since I left New York in 1990 that I thought, "I could live here". My large nostalgic circling took over an hour and I felt enlivened, happy, and even a bit peaceful.
(A wall of Janet's studio)
It was a lovely visit and as I write this I am back that their place visiting yet again. This is my other home base for the moment which allows me quiet, companionship, and waves of creativity as their art hangs on the walls, colors hits various types of canvases with oil paints, water colors, and food-based dyes.
(A piece of Greg's work on his studio wall)
Saturday we prepped for the Open Studio scheduled for that afternoon which mean that Greg and I walked up the farmer's market up at Grand Army Plaza. Talking about life while taking in vistas of Brooklyn that I had not seen for quite some time; sunlight was lighting up the limestone, sparkling the sidewalks and glinting off the sculptures of the arch. The market was bustling, filled with people, children and dogs.
After coming back to their home I took over the food prep, which was largely making the plates of prepared food look pretty and chopping vegetables. It also offed me an escape during the open studio -something to do when I felt restless, too quiet for chatter, or like my heart was suffering from the sporadic pangs which manifested as a body ache that wanted me to propel into their bedroom in a fetal position with the cat.
Slowly those moments of awkward emotions lifted, or perhaps I was able stow them away in order to be present in the moment. Wonderful flows in and out conversations, slowly the open studio time faded to a more intimate setting to celebrate Greg's birthday and gave us time to talk in slower manner. It was a lovely a day in the end when I reviewed it all before bed.
Monday I finally roused myself to do something on my own, thinking I would go to the yarn store a mere three blocks from their home. As I turned left out of the door I realized that for some odd reasons most yarn stores in the United States are closed on Mondays. It was possible that this being within the confines of New York City would have better sense than that but I was doubtful. As it turned out it was shuttered by the typical irons gates that pull down over many storefronts here. Being out was a good thing so I simply decided to walk and stroll through the neighborhood that on and off many years ago had been my home turf. It was amazing to see so many storefronts the same in the past 10 or even 20 something years and not surprising at all to see so many things that had sprouted new life. One of the few stores I went into has been there since at least the mid-80's; an odd, narrow crowded store with mostly shoes but also a rack of fairly eclectic clothing, some of which seemed like it had been there since my first visit over 20 years ago. I walked up Seventh Avenue until I hit 3rd Street where I turned west towards the corner of 3rd and Fifth Avenue, where I lived in the early eighties. The corner of my former block is now chic and the block has been rehabbed for a long time. A far cry from when I lived there where half the buildings were abandoned, including half the units in my abode. It is the first since I left New York in 1990 that I thought, "I could live here". My large nostalgic circling took over an hour and I felt enlivened, happy, and even a bit peaceful.
(A wall of Janet's studio)It was a lovely visit and as I write this I am back that their place visiting yet again. This is my other home base for the moment which allows me quiet, companionship, and waves of creativity as their art hangs on the walls, colors hits various types of canvases with oil paints, water colors, and food-based dyes.
(A piece of Greg's work on his studio wall)Thursday, April 03, 2008
An attempt to catch my lovelies up - Part 2
Again I had thought it would be simple plan to catch the Metro North from the station by my parents house. Once again, I was mistaken. Lindsay, Sunny's husband, wanted to swing down to White Plains to check out the location of an upcoming test for LEED to be followed by a visit to the Cheesecake Factory. During my last visit I was there to witness his initiation in the cult of Cheesecake - it was glorious. Lindsay adores dessert, lives for new combinations. This place is his idea of heaven. Sunny loves their hamburgers sans bun (she is on a no gluten diet).
He and I plotted out the time and trains schedules down to the minute and blew it anyway so I wound up taking the local rather than the express train into Grand Central. Oh well the best plans and all that. I worked on my socks that I had cast on the other night as we chugged down into the city. It was odd but kind of fun to walk subway paths I had done thousands of times before. The passage way between the 7 train and the D (the Bryant Park stop which now is a recognized name thanks in part to Project Runway) has been redone with beautiful tile work showing layers of the earth, hills and water. Simply beautiful.
It was hard to contain my excitement as the train made it's way underground to the Pacific St-Atlantic Avenue Station. The weather was much warmer the entire trip than I had expected so I took off my jacket as I walked. Practically giddy with my plan to surprise Greg, I still managed to take note of what had changed in this neighborhood that I have been in and out for 30 years. Getting to his building and knowing their buzzer system had a camera, I keep my sunglasses on and made sure my hair was down and in my face. He asked "who's there". My reply? "A surprise".
To say he was surprised is just a bit of an understatement. He actually was speechless a number of times, just fell quiet. This is quite thing to accomplish with Mr. Frux. I was quite proud of myself.
The party was great fun and many people, myself included, were in costume. The theme was famous scientists, explorers, and adventurers - real or fictional. We had Mary Leakey, Stephen Jay Gould, Ada Lovelace, Marco Polo, Sinbad, Dame Freya Stark, and Fanny Hackabout-Jones, among others. Before the party Greg and I went to find adventure movies to play in the background to add to the collection. We got Sinbad (great fun) as well as Bill and Ted's Bogus Adventure (not so much fun). We stayed up quite late but it was wonderful to see many folks I hadn't seen in a long time.
The next day we went for a long walk in the neighborhood and I reminisced. A lot. Walking by 3rd Street I glanced down the block where I used to look. Many moons ago it had been gentrified but it still blows me away how much it's changed. My building, an old brownstone had 5 units, two of which were abandoned and filled with trash, the building next to me was vacant, like a lot of the houses on the block. I used to answer the phone in that apartment, "Slummy Side of the Slope! How can I help you". The park across the street was run down and drug store. The building on 9th street that once housed the restaurant Our Daily Bread is long gone, the dance group that I did a performance piece way back when no longer uses the amazing loft space above it. Solar Yoga has either moved or shut down, a place of solace and challenge for me, and for Sunny.
After this long excursion we all come back to their house and napped. A leisurely dinner followed. The next morning Greg and I walked towards the train station and part ways. I stole (with permission a book off their book shelf) and read as the train chugged me back in reverse towards Westchester county.
He and I plotted out the time and trains schedules down to the minute and blew it anyway so I wound up taking the local rather than the express train into Grand Central. Oh well the best plans and all that. I worked on my socks that I had cast on the other night as we chugged down into the city. It was odd but kind of fun to walk subway paths I had done thousands of times before. The passage way between the 7 train and the D (the Bryant Park stop which now is a recognized name thanks in part to Project Runway) has been redone with beautiful tile work showing layers of the earth, hills and water. Simply beautiful.
It was hard to contain my excitement as the train made it's way underground to the Pacific St-Atlantic Avenue Station. The weather was much warmer the entire trip than I had expected so I took off my jacket as I walked. Practically giddy with my plan to surprise Greg, I still managed to take note of what had changed in this neighborhood that I have been in and out for 30 years. Getting to his building and knowing their buzzer system had a camera, I keep my sunglasses on and made sure my hair was down and in my face. He asked "who's there". My reply? "A surprise".
To say he was surprised is just a bit of an understatement. He actually was speechless a number of times, just fell quiet. This is quite thing to accomplish with Mr. Frux. I was quite proud of myself.
The party was great fun and many people, myself included, were in costume. The theme was famous scientists, explorers, and adventurers - real or fictional. We had Mary Leakey, Stephen Jay Gould, Ada Lovelace, Marco Polo, Sinbad, Dame Freya Stark, and Fanny Hackabout-Jones, among others. Before the party Greg and I went to find adventure movies to play in the background to add to the collection. We got Sinbad (great fun) as well as Bill and Ted's Bogus Adventure (not so much fun). We stayed up quite late but it was wonderful to see many folks I hadn't seen in a long time.
The next day we went for a long walk in the neighborhood and I reminisced. A lot. Walking by 3rd Street I glanced down the block where I used to look. Many moons ago it had been gentrified but it still blows me away how much it's changed. My building, an old brownstone had 5 units, two of which were abandoned and filled with trash, the building next to me was vacant, like a lot of the houses on the block. I used to answer the phone in that apartment, "Slummy Side of the Slope! How can I help you". The park across the street was run down and drug store. The building on 9th street that once housed the restaurant Our Daily Bread is long gone, the dance group that I did a performance piece way back when no longer uses the amazing loft space above it. Solar Yoga has either moved or shut down, a place of solace and challenge for me, and for Sunny.
After this long excursion we all come back to their house and napped. A leisurely dinner followed. The next morning Greg and I walked towards the train station and part ways. I stole (with permission a book off their book shelf) and read as the train chugged me back in reverse towards Westchester county.
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