very simple

My friend Darcy lives in one of the tiniest apartments that I’ve seen (at least of the one-bedroom variety), but to make up for the size of the apartment, she has exclusive access to the roof right outside. I love the old east village roofline of mismatched buildings. Plus, hanging out all afternoon at our own private oasis in the middle of the city is pretty nice as well (you can’t see the hammock because I am sitting on it!).

I’ve certainly been in the neighborhood plenty of times recently, but I don’t think I’ve actually stepped inside Washington Square Park in several years. Back in the early 90s when I would come into the city on my day off and just hang out here people-watching, I wanted desperately to live in this neighborhood (and did live on 9th street and 5th avenue for one summer back in 1998). Views north (up 5th avenue) and south (to the new World Trade Center).

Even as Columbus Avenue gets further overrun by shiny glass-fronted banks and “cute” shops that pretend to have character but really don’t, there are still a few holdouts from the old days. I particularly like the modesty of this coffee shop, what with only assigning itself 3 stars.

As is common to (almost) all cats, Sadie is obsessed with boxes and bags. I can’t even put groceries down for five seconds before putting them away because she will try to climb inside the still-full bags. But, as a treat, I do always try to get the paper bags from trader joe’s so that she can have fun for a few hours before they go out into the recycling.

In addition to the giant parks throughout the city, there are also a lot of vest pocket parks wedged in between buildings, built on what would otherwise be empty lots or alleyways.

I discovered this one when I decided to take a slight detour from my normal walk around the neighborhood. I think I may have to return to take more pictures, and also to just sit for varying lengths of time, because it’s just so…inviting.

I think my favorite part is that, according to the sign, a few years ago they decided to fancy up the place by giving it a latinate name. Before? it was called “seventy-first street plot”.

and, for my last post of the day (I think I may have set a record here), the random cool signs I encountered while wandering aimlessly through the west village and the flatiron neighborhood.

because I never know when I’m going to run into a random festival of antique citroens in town for Bastille Day.

Whereas most neighborhoods in new york city have zoning requirements designed (at least in theory) for the comfort and stability of their residents, Times Square’s zoning rules actually require buildings to put a minimum amount of lighted or neon signage on their exterior in order to stay in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. A few of my favorites, most of which are not even commercial enterprises (in order: subway entrance, NYPD station, US Armed Forces recruiting station, and the Paramount Theater//Hard Rock Cafe).

The other day, I was trying to explain the golden hour (or ‘magic hour’) to someone. It’s essentially the 30-60 minutes immediately after sunrise and immediately before sunset when the light is at its absolute best for photography. It has something to do with the way that the light bends on the horizon that causes colors to just be deeper and richer.

In any event, here are two crappy iPhone pictures of the sunset tonight during the golden hour.

Sadie is not a particularly demonstrative or affectionate cat. She lasts about 20 seconds if I try to get her to sit in my lap, and she’d much rather curl up under my ottoman (where I can’t reach/annoy her) than anywhere else. She has always felt compelled to be in the same room as me, following from place to place, but she keeps a wary/respectful distance.

But in the past few weeks or so, she’s decided that she needs to be on my desk whenever I am sitting at the computer. At first, this amounted to stretching herself along the narrow strip of available desktop between the wall any my keyboard, usually with an attempt to co-opt my trackpad into some sort of pillow. For the past few days though, she’s decided that she would like to fit herself into one of the stackable baskets that I keep office supplies in. With the office supplies still in there (and not just stacks of paper either, we’re talking pens, tchochkes, extra computer cords, etc.). So this morning I finally gave in, cleared out the top bin, and put in the liner from her carrier (which takes up too much room in the carrier anyway). It took her about 3 seconds to figure out what I had done, and each time i sit down at my desk, she immediately parks herself in her new spot and starts purring REALLY loudly. I try not to anthropomorphize her too much, but I’d say I made her very happy today.