Month: August 2021

  • I Met Tourists Today

    Normally, I grocery shop for the family on Wednesday, but this week, I thought I would move it up a day. For me to grocery shop is an event that takes up a couple of hours. I hit up the grocery store in our neighborhood, but there are some staples that are just cheaper at Trader Joe’s. The nearest one is at 93rd Street, which means a subway ride. Having been vaccinated since May, I have returned to using mass transit to run errands, so I have been venturing out of our neighborhood all Summer.

    Today went normal. I took the local train down to 96th Street, walked along Central Park West to 93rd, and then cut over to Columbus Ave. It wasn’t busy in the Trader Joe’s, so I was in and out in about thirty minutes. Totally normal. I walked back to the 96th subway station listening to music while carrying my bags.

    I go down into the station, swipe my card through the turnstile, and then I hear loudly, “Good Morning!” shouted at me by a middle-aged woman in a mask. Then she shouted it at me two more times; “Good Morning!”

    Now, as any New Yorker would do, when someone shouts at me, I ignore them. The second shout, I will look at you to make sure you aren’t about to attack me. The third shout will be the closer look, to check to see if you are crazy or maybe a normal person.

    When I checked to see if this woman was crazy, I saw that she was flanked by a middle-aged man, and two teenagers – a guy and a gal – all in masks. When I stopped to look at them, that’s when the teenagers said in a very thick Italian accent, “We are looking for Brooklyn Bridge.”

    And it hit me – They were tourists!

    I mean, I didn’t think foreign tourists were allowed in the country, but that notwithstanding, I fell into the old role of “New Yorker Giving Directions.” Not that there was much I could do. There isn’t a straight shot to the Brooklyn Bridge. My thought was to go to City Hall on the N R W line, but that meant a transfer at 34th, if you took the B from 96th. See, not easy, and not easy to explain to people who aren’t that familiar with English. Anyway, I got them on a downtown B, and I guess they will figure it out from there.

    New York is Back, Baby!

  • Hiking Review: Mianus River Gorge Preserve

    It had been a month since we had last been hiking. July was pretty busy with camps and trips and visiting friends, so as this weekend approached, I was pretty adamant that we were going hiking, damn it! Not that I had to coerce my family, but there was a thought that they might not be that into it. So, I went looking for a trail that wasn’t too far from home, which meant finding a place that was only about an hour drive time from the City. That’s how I chose Mianus River Gorge Preserve in Westchester County.

    My go to for trail finding is still the AllTrails app on my phone, and the site has not steered us wrong on our search of hiking spots. The app rated Mianus as “easy,” and I wouldn’t go that far, as there were some ups and downs on the trail for the gorge. “Moderate” might have been a little more accurate.

    That have been said, this place was a jewel. We got there at 11am, an hour later than we normally like to start a hike, but the trails were empty of people. Though we were not too far from a major road and a neighborhood, it was silent out there except for the sounds of the river and the forest. I actually found it hard to believe that a forest this untouched, it is one of the last old growth forests in the area, could exist so close to New York City. The river cutting through the land, and the embankment of the gorge was just beautiful to experience. Sadly, my pictures don’t do the Preserve justice.

    It had all the things we have come to like about hiking; the trails were all well maintained, which was good for the kid, the solitude of the forest was impeccable, and the trail head had plenty of parking.  The kid enjoyed spotting fish in the river, and the diversity of the fungi on the forest floor. For me and the wife, we enjoyed that the trails were rugged enough so that we felt like we were getting a work out.

    When we finished our hike, and had a picnic out of the back of our car. It was a littler after twelve noon, when people started to arrive and began to hike the trail. That lead us to believe that the late afternoon is the popular time there. As we watched other couples and families head out on the trails, we decided that Mianus River Gorge Preserve is trail that we want to do again. Maybe in the Fall.

  • ODDS and Ends: Tottenham and Kane, Dallas Cowboys, Project Management for the Home

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    And… Have I mentioned that I know nothing about the Premiere League? Looks like everything I thought about the Harry Kane saga was wrong. Was my theory based on anything that I had read by professional sports writers? Oh, golly no. It was a gut feeling, and it was clearly wrong. I still don’t understand what Tottenham is doing, nor do I understand what Kane will do if he doesn’t get his trade, which he clearly wants as he hasn’t shown up for training, and the season starts on the 15th.

    Also in sports, the Dallas Cowboys played a preseason game, and I could not have given two craps about it. It was pre-season after all. In all honesty, I’m not very excited about the team this year. Sure, it will be nice to see Dak back on the field, but other than that, not much going on there. The Cowboys play the Bucs on the first game of the season in about a month, and not looking forward to it.

    I’m a stay at home parent, I think most of you know that, and I have been thinking that there really isn’t a project management app for people like us. I was in operations in the not-for-profit world, and in that line of work, there were apps and programs to help you manage multiple projects. I can’t seem to find anything for a household. I don’t need something with SLACK integration or any of that crap. Just basic project management.

  • Halfway Through Summer

    I know for some of you out there, you are in the final stretch of Summer, and I have even seen some of my friends back in Texas talk about their kids starting school in a week or two. But for us up here, we are at the half way point; only five weeks and a handful of days left before school starts up again.

    I’m not going to get into all the craziness of schools opening up, as I feel I will be writing about that the closer we get to that date.

    What I was struck by was how fast it is going, which is good, and that I need to start thinking about the planning that comes with school on the horizon. School supplies and clothes shopping, and I think we need to get a winter coat for the kid this year.

    Today, the kid and I are going to do what my mother did for me when I was little and on summer vacation, which is go to the library and check out books. This will be the kid’s first visit to our local library, and I hope there is a way for her to get her own library card. Going to the library was always something fun I remember doing with my parents, and I hope I can pass that love of being around books to the kid.

    Five weeks to go, and lets’ see what fun we can have.

  • If Art is Made And No One Sees It, Is It Art?

    Today, I took the kid over to the Museum of Modern Art. This was our second time there, and I let her lead the way. Explore what she wanted, ask whatever questions, and just let her discover what she liked.

    What really set her on fire today was the Henri Matisse Cut-Outs. At first, she just liked the colors and the shapes, but when I read the description of the work provided by the museum, she quickly made the connection that she too cuts out construction paper and makes pictures! She decided that she needed to sketch these cut-outs so she could try it at home.

    It was pretty busy today, so we found a bench in the adjacent gallery so she could draw in her sketchpad. The gallery we were in was displaying films and photographs of artists who were documenting their different cities that they lived in during the late 60’s and early 70’s. This I found interesting and inspiring as it seemed like something I should be doing, and could be doing as well. (Maybe I am doing it?) But I came to a question; Were they documenting for themselves or for an audience?

    You can make all of these things, follow these creative endeavors, but at the end of the day, do you need someone to share it with? Does expression need to have an audience to be expressed to? My uncle, who was an artist, would have said no, that art doesn’t need a witness. He would say art is a process, and not explicitly a product.

    Maybe he was right. Maybe the work is the thing.