Fall in the Park

These were the flowers in the park last weekend. I was surprised to see so much color...but it looks especially good in the photos on this rainy day.

Morning temperature: 52 degrees

Steps:  8754

More Summer Foliage

Morning temperature: 73 degrees

Steps: 8642

Summer Foliage

Mushrooms

I wouldn't even know what to do with these mushrooms I saw at the GreenMarket!

Hot Summer Day

Compost barrels and clothing recycling in the foreground

There was even a book seller today

It was 91 degrees for the compost run. The tiny GreenMarket looked shady and cool. A round of 9 errand stops was followed by home and a welcome cold beverage before the real heat of the day!

Green

Rain means the greenery looks nice and green...even in a tiny park.

Morning temperature: 68 degrees

Steps: 10, 491

Finial

I'm not sure finial is the right word for this decorative element on the top of a cast iron fence but there you have it. This is part of a fence around tiny Abingdon Square which is not really square. It became a park in 1831 and the fence was erected in 1836. I wonder how many times it has been painted since then. I also like the little raindrop (or melted snow drop) on the left side.

Morning temperature: 25 degrees

Steps: 9173

Food Scraps

The sign is a bit curled up and it's not always posted but this is one of the places I dump my compost. The little Farmer's Market was very sparse today. I suppose the weekend after Thanksgiving is not a very big vegetable buying time...especially with people out of town.

It was gray with a few snowflakes now and then in 30 degree weather.

Wreath

A "Real Simple" magazine survey says 77% of people do not like Christmas decorations appearing before Thanksgiving. And 81% don't want to hear Christmas songs before Thanksgiving. I'm with them. I like the decorations and the songs (except The Twelve Days of Christmas and the one about the drummer boy!) But seeing and hearing them for 3 months a year dilutes the specialness for me.

Christmas is apparently a $600 billion selling season so I won't be surprised when the decorations and songs appear by February!

Holiday Decorating

 

The holiday decorations were going up at Abingdon Square today when I stopped by to deposit my compost. The trees in this little park have lost most of their leaves so a little more green is welcome.

Rainy Day at the Market

It was a rainy walk to the Abingdon Square farmer's market this morning. I'm glad the compost people were there so I didn't have to bring my compost back home though I was already wondering if I could sneak a spot in the park to dump it! Seems like the park could benefit from a little composting!

The poor farmers have to work in damp gloomy conditions and they don't have as many customers either. I had my long raincoat on but was still a little wet underneath by the time I made it home.

Lamp Post

Morning Walk #159 - Clear & Cold

The Doughboy statue (1921) in Abingdon Square honors the neighborhood soldiers who served in World War I...but I'm not sure who recently donated "My Little Pony" to keep him company.

24 degrees (feels like 14) and 46% humidity

I thought it didn't feel colder than yesterday...until I'd walked a few blocks.

Couldn't decide which direction to take but finally headed south (so it would be warmer...)

A stop at Abingdon Square and by that time I was frozen.

Went back to warm up at Chelsea Market where I discovered one of the shops was open early and even giving away free tea!

A breakfast cart was stuck in the middle of the sidewalk with a flat tire.

Steps: 7073

Morning Walk #88

66 degrees (Yay!), 67% humidity and sun

Excellent morning weather

Lights were still on in the first park I encountered

Two other small parks are still locked up tight

A woman starts a conversation. She is 65 and starting an accelerated LPN program at NYU. You go, girl!

Message on a bag:  If you want to be cute, eat veggies and fruit

Goorin Bros, Bold Hatmakers since 1895

The mysterious ceramic mural at 88 Perry Street.  It says Ano 1865 on a building that went up in 1900 but may not have been installed till 1972

Steps: 6083

Morning Walk #38 - West Village

75 degrees...same ol'....

It feels slightly cooler than my apartment

The quiet streets with 1800's brownstones look like movie sets

The Portsmouth built in 1888

Jefferson Market Library, a Victorian Gothic building constructed 1875 - 1877, was originally a courthouse.  Harry K. Thaw was tried here for the murder of Stanford White (a trial immortalized in E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime".)  It became a women's court in the late 1920's.  Mae West was tried here on obscenity charges related to her Broadway show "Sex".

I was not heading for Washington Square park but those tangled streets got me again

Several people are sleeping on the lawn. They don't look like the homeless...maybe they escaped hot apartments though a rainstorm last night could not have left the ground dry

A park employee on a riding mower starts circling the lawn...no one moves at first though the noise is enough to wake the dead.  Eventually 2 people move a little east but that will only give them another half hour before the mower approaches

The scent of newly mown grass evokes childhood memories...till I realize my eyes and face are not appreciating the dust and grass bits rising in a light cloud

The Northern Dispensary (1831) sits vacant after years of treating patients including Edgar Allen Poe and Jenny Lind

The Stonewall Inn (originally built as stables in 1843 - 1846) was the site of the Stonewall Riots in 1969 which led to the gay liberation movement

Another stop at Abingdon Square Park which was well populated until everyone got up and left.  Was it me?

Do you remember when people walking down the sidewalks talking aloud to themselves were thought to be mentally ill?  Now it's just people talking on cellphones...which may be a different type of mental illness...

Steps: 7526

Morning Walk #37 - West Village & Hudson Riverwalk

74 degrees, hazy & slightly less humid than yesterday

The donut cart on the corner is gone...a sign of the end of school in the neighborhood

Heading through a bit of the West Village before cutting over to the river

Getting a little lost when the already tangled streets are closed due to construction leading to detours

Reading email in Abingdon Square Park

A man with a very short haircut combs his hair over and over and over

A woman attempts (in vain) to hail a cab on the West Side Highway - the traffic travels too fast here to stop easily

There are more and more runners on the Riverwalk as the weather heats up

Between the runners and work crews there are few other people along the river in the early morning

A group of young men in camouflage pants, Army green t-shirts and heavy looking vests runs by

The waves are gently rolling and hypnotic

A stop at the coldest grocery store in Manhattan

Teetering across cobblestone streets

Steps: 5917

Morning Walk #12 - Hudson Riverwalk & Abingdon Square

Mr. John arrives on the Riverwalk

The sun trying to peek through the mist

Roses blooming in front of the Department of Sanitation building

More women runners than men on the Riverwalk

Not many walkers

Man grabs tree trunk and runs round and round then reverses

Resting at Abingdon Square

Humidity + old joints = more sitting than walking today

On the sidewalk - teen boys procrastinating arrival at school

Steps:  5802