very simple

I know!! Pictures!!

And you thought I had forgotten how to do this.

Anyway, I hadn’t been to Coney Island yet this year, and I wanted to check out what (if any) changes had been made since the beginning of last summer. A few – there appears to be some sort of movement vis-a-vis the vacant lots (or at least frames for imaginary tents) and there were plenty of people enjoying themselves, on a weekday, so I think it’s doing OK. Some photos from the day…

Tuesday was beautiful out, and it was also the museum mile festival, where all of the museums on Fifth Avenue open their doors and let people in for free for the evening. So I headed up there with my dad, and we hit the Cooper-Hewitt and the Met (where we met up with my stepmom). Got yelled at for taking pictures in the C-H, so only one from there, and most of the photogenic stuff was outside, but we hit the Picasso exhibit, the Egypt exhibit and Big Bambu at the Met. And had cocktails. Very civilized.

I’m, as always, too lazy to individually label the photos, so you’ll have to guess what’s what.

Now that I’ve gotten the issues with my site permissions fixed, it’s time to upload my pics from the 5 Boro Bike Tour on Sunday.

As far as the tour itself, it was WAY too hot and humid, and I ended up having to take the SAG bus when I was about 5 miles from the end, because I was starting to feel the effects, for the second time that day, of heat stroke (there’s nothing quite like getting chills when it’s 87 degrees outside). One of these years the weather is actually going to cooperate. As always though, it was ridiculously crowded. I took these pics from my phone during some of the sections when we were not so much with the moving and tweeted them, but here they are all in one place.

I’ve been having some problems uploading images, so rather than writing long descriptions of these pictures only to discover that they haven’t loaded, I’m just going to try again. I’ve just about given up the ghost on actually completing the 365 project, since I’ve been horribly neglectful, but I’m still trying to take pics when I can.

2010.04.20: good time to tear up the sidewalk at your restaurant that has most of it’s seating outside – first nice day of spring. as a bonus, even though no one could actually get to the front door, all the sushi chefs were inside ready to go.

2010.04.22: when backing up a big truck, perhaps you should use your mirrors to confirm that you’re not about to tear a giant gash into the side of the truck by backing directly into the scaffolding behind you.

2010.04.26: yet another dog waiting sadly for its owner who was busy having a leisurely coffee indoors.

Today was the last of our ridiculous early summer (it hit 92 degrees yesterday!), and I spent another good portion of the day just wandering around my neighborhood. I actually ran into my aunt and uncle, who were sitting by the lincoln center farmer’s market, just chilling in the good weather, so it was nice to catch up with them for a while.

On my walk, I noted two things. One, these trees bloom with white petals all over the place, and are very pretty, but within a week or two, all of those petals will fall off the trees, blanketing the sidewalks and creating swirling clouds of pollen. That’ll be fun.

Second, there was a brass band and a dance troupe at lincoln center. a bit weird in the middle of the day on a Thursday. But the fountain was flexing its muscle today, shooting up much higher than normal (according to a New Yorker article a few months ago about the redesign, they can actually shoot something like 40 feet in the air, and the fountain was redone by the folks who did the fountains at the Bellagio).

The signs on top of the old and new subway entrances at 72nd street. Funny how they can be both thematically consistent yet so, so different.

Another day of beautiful weather, I really focused on some of the odder signs and statues in the neighborhood. From creepy cherubs, to, shall we say, “dated” cultural references, to signs that advertise exactly what is being offered with no frills. Welcome to the upper west side. Where we have “pizza”. and “cocktails”.

I know I’ve posted pics of this before outside of the 365 project, but I still love it. And, since I decided that a bike ride was going to prevail for today in my biking vs. photography hobby war, this is the only pic I took. Haven’t actually been up this way in a while (my habit is to bike south to battery park instead), and it was nice to see that the park has actually been finished. I highly recommend a visit. If you’re really adventurous, you can climb up a really big hill and take a walk over the George Washington Bridge, which has unbelievable views.

It was, yet again, too nice to do much but take a walk. Here are some pics from a leisurely walk down Columbus Avenue towards midtown. And, of course, some unusual cozies on 15th street.

After a few more rainy days earlier this week (during which I was out of commission thanks to a bug half the people at our seder caught), I think spring is really here for good this time. Trees are blooming, tulips are coming up, and we can sit outside at the local cafe, which meant that my friend Ed could show off the puppy he’s training for a friend. This was as much excitement as said puppy could muster while getting toasty in the warm sun.