"Joy
does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every
day." —Henri J.M. Nouwen
Why are summers
so fleeting? I have absolutely loved
this one, my first “Summer in the City.”
Continuing my explorations, having great experiences, I am blessed and
so grateful.
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| Summit Rock (the highest pint in Central Park) |
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| The Ladies Pavillion |
Wanting (and
being expected to) continue my learning of Central Park, I take full
advantage. Every time I am there, I
learn and love it. At the first of two
tours recently, I learned much about Seneca Village.
From the CPC’s website: “Seneca Village may possibly have been Manhattan's first
stable community of African American property owners. Located from 81st to 89th
Streets between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in what is now a section of Central
Park, the village is important part of the history of New York City…By the
1850s, Seneca Village had also gained many Irish and German immigrant
families…In 1853, the state legislature authorized the use of "eminent
domain," the taking of private property for public purposes…In total,
approximately 1,600 people who owned, lived, or worked on the 843-acre tract of
land had to move when the Park was created.”
What is really interesting is that is has never been fully
determined where all the Villagers went.
Did you know that “Gotham” meant goat?
Washington Irving has been given the credit for giving NYC one of its
most famous, and long-lasting nicknames.
(The nickname has also been attributed to Batman lore, of course.) The highest natural point in Central Park was
part of Seneca Village, now called Summit Rock, and home to goats during the
times of Seneca Village. The Art of the
Park tour took us from The Dairy to Belvedere Castle exploring the pastoral, formal, and
picturesque forms of parkland that Olmstead and Vaux designed for America’s
first public park.
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| CPC Film Festival |
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| The piano scene in "Big" |
It’s interesting
to me how much of my NYC life involves Films.
It was not planned, and I’m learning more and more, that “planning”
doesn’t work in (my) life anyway. As
they say “Life happens.” It’s what I
chose to do with life when it happens makes all the difference I’m
realizing. So on that deep note, I took
advantage of Central Park Conservancy’s Film Festival on a couple of perfect
summer evenings. No volunteer help was
needed, so I went to simply enjoy. The
first night I went solo, and who couldn’t be happy and smile with Tom Hanks in
“Big”?! It was on my walk home through
the Park (surrounded by many, so perfectly safe), surrounded by the tress, the
soft summer air, the twinkling of lights shining down from the towers of
skyscrapers, that I felt an overwhelming sense of “peace”, of knowing that I am
exactly where I am supposed to be, for now at least. It was wonderful.
Evening #2 was
with a dear Sojourn Friend. We had a
lovely picnic supper, watching “The Royal Tenenbaums” which I must be honest
and say I didn’t love, thought it bizarre (but I guess that may be the point),
but the atmosphere, the cast of the film, and my Friend, kept me there. Then we went to our social living room, Sojourn for music!
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| From The Sky Room @ dusk |
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| From The Sky Room @ dark |
Rooftop bars and
restaurants are huge and such a treat in NYC.
The outdoor space, most offering great views are yet another boon to NYC
life. My good Library friend invited me to
a Yelp event at such a rooftop recently.
The Sky Room at the Fairfield Inn & Suites
on W 40th Street is comfortable with great munchies (and you can
never go wrong with bubbly.) My
friendship with this great Lady always guarantees a pleasant and enjoyable
time. (She prepared and shared a lovely
lunch on Labor Day weekend with me where I had the pleasure of finally meeting
her Boyfriend. Hated to leave her great
new apartment!)
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| "My" Boathouse |
One of my
favorites from the Food Film Festival
(actually, Everyone there is a favorite), and I met at yet another favorite, The Boathouse in Central Park
for a meeting. I’m finding that in NYC,
People meet at many interesting locations to conduct business. Yet another
“dream came true.” Not really wanting a
full-time job, I was thinking I’d love to “freelance”, something I see many are
now doing. Well, it’s starting to happen
for me. Along with my CPR/First Aid
teaching (remember I met my Boss at FFF last October!), I am now the Volunteer
Coordinator/Production Coordinator for the Food Film Festival (a paid
gig!). Not only to I get to play with
some favorites, I am trusted to be on their management team!
Speaking of some
favs from the Food Film Festival, one of the hottest young chefs in the city (He
was on Conan last week!), Keizo Simamoto’s Ramen
Burgers have been the rage since
they premiered at Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg
last summer. Well, the founders of
Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea have opened yet another brilliant spot, a
Brooklyn Beer Hall, and Keizo is one of the four chefs who were invited to be
part of Berg’n in the Prospect Heights
neighborhood. I joined many of my FFF
friends and thoroughly enjoyed the soft opening.
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| Keizo and his Ramen Burgers! (from his website) |
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| Our Social Living Room (Sojourn) |
Getting my UES
Friends out of the neighborhood can be tough.
But one of my Sojourn Friends loves to explore our city with me. So, on a balmy Saturday night we headed down
to the Village to enjoy some live music.
We started at my Marie’s
Crisis for Show tunes by the piano.
And, my friend’s recommendation was right next door at Arthur’s Tavern, where we rocked to
jazz, rhythm, and blues. Jumping into a
cab to Chinatown we had a great, cheap dinner at Wo Hop. My friend relived her college years, while I
was shot back to memories of “beef and rice” in Boston’s Chinatown from my
college years. Sharing a nightcap at our
Sojourn was the perfect end to a perfect evening.
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| Jeff Koon's piece at Rock. Center |
My need to be a
Tour Guide was fulfilled on a very balmy Summer Tuesday recently when a new
Friend I made when home in July came down with another Lady. My new Friends had not really spent much time
in NYC, and asked for help. I
delightedly did. If I say so myself, we
saw just about “everything” there is to see in Midtown, managed to have a nice
leisurely lunch at Rockefeller Center, and even “bar-hopped” around Central
Park (newly re-opened Tavern on the Green and “my” Boathouse.) I’m assuming, and hoping, they slept the
whole bus ride home, as I barely made it home to my bed. It was a special day with new special
friends.
Having joined a
new seat filler organization, Theaterextras,
I took advantage and saw a great play about Bert Berns, “Piece of my Heart.” We always know so much about “the songs” and
the artists who made them famous by singing them, but we so often know anything
about the writers of the songs. Think:
“Cry Baby” and “Piece of my Heart” made famous by Janis Joplin, and “Twist and
Shout” of course made famous by the Beatles.
Preceding that wonderful theatre experience I thoroughly enjoyed lovely
dinner alfresco (want to do that as much as possible, ‘cause we all know this
weather will be changing too soon…) at the Café in Bryant Park.
Yet another NYC
bucket list item was checked off recently when Kristi and I went to Yankee
Stadium to see the Red Sox beat the Yanks!
I wanted to see the Stadium (and realized that night the only major
league stadium I had ever been in was Fenway Park) and see Derek Jeter one more
time before he retires. The icing on the
cake?! Seeing Rich Hill, a Milton “boy”
pitch at Yankee Stadium! (The fact that he was wearing pin-stripes was almost
besides the point!)
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| The Frying Pan (from it's website) |
Dinner and
movies with Friends, dinner at The Frying
Pan and an Upright Citizen Brigade
show with Rooftop Friends, teaching, working with my new Boss, simply walking, volunteering
at a neighborhood Church’s soup kitchen, being and loving my City have rounded
out my first Summer in the City.
Using
my Theater Extras, a dear Sojourn friend
and I traveled “back to high school and college” by going to B.B. King’s to see a Pink Floyd
tribute band. Great fun. And the food was pretty good as well! My Library friend won tickets in the virtual
lottery for the Public’s Delacorte Theatre in my Central Park for a wonderful
presentation of the Fall
for Dance Festival featuring
New York City
Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Bill T.
Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company! Preceding
it we
had a
delightful and relaxing picnic by Turtle Pond, under Belvedere Castle. Meeting a friend in the East Village led to a
late night with more music at Anyway Café
, a small Russian café, on E 2nd Street. More perfect NYC evenings.
