Found Around NYC...

Stop and Hear the Music...

It wasn't until my second year here that I discovered the joy of riding bikes in Central Park.  I had to stop, get off the bike and settle in on a park bench and listen to this group playing near the entrance of Central Park South along the Fifth Avenue side.

This has been one of the joys of living here -- delighting in the sheer talent that is on display everywhere.

I don't know which was the best this day... riding the bike when the trees were blooming and the warm air was hitting my cheeks or the music that I took the time to stop and enjoy.

Wayfinding & Subways...

Having ridden subways in Paris and London at different times over the years before moving to NYC, I have to say that they are not easily mapped and navigable.  Architecturally, signage-wise, it is not easy to understand the system as it is currently mapped.  I can't even read the little wallet-sized cards with the tee-niny writing.  The signage in the subway itself isn't any easier.  You would think that a city that relies on tourism and has a ton of smart business people might decide to make this easier (or the taxi business has conspired to keep it all hazy). I'm glad that someone cares to revamp the subway map.  By the time he finishes, I'll be outa here.

That someone is Eddie Jabbour, who says, “... it takes a cryptic archaeologist to read this one. It’s like the Rosetta Stone.”  Yep.

On other paths, my nearly grown-up son is contributing to this space under the name "The Transient."  That was his word of the year for 2005. He has a good eye and I welcome his visual attention to this space and to this (still, to us)  interesting unmined territory.  Four eyes will be finding items of interest.

Wayfinding.  An interesting subject.

Madison Square Park...

After seeing Frank Gehry's new media building under construction all full of undulations-in-glass, I thought this landscape of traditional skyscrapers was a nice contrast.

Spring is just a wispy idea still so the bare branches of nature against the straight, boxy sky-reaching architecture as seen looking east from Madison Square Park gives a completely different picture of city work life environments.

I wanted to sit on a park bench and think about the importance of green space in this nice little park where the trees seemed starkly naked and the blue sky was the most vibrant attraction of the day. I didn't stop to contemplate, though, or sit upon a park bench.  There were pressing matters to attend to so I just... traipsed on by. 

Never Dark, No Stars...

The lights and stars are everywhere, though, around Times Square.

Company was interesting -- both the show and the friends and family I was with on Friday.  The actors all walked the stage, singing and playing instruments.  It made me want to push a cello around on wheels at home and sing. 

I can neither play the cello nor sing.

The Second Life of Holiday Greenery...

Christmas trees are no longer piling up on the curbs.  The cut greenery and pinecones are now decorating planters and window boxes. 

The Cold Has Come...

The bridges in on Sunday were shrouded in fog and it has been since the 1800s when the snow has held off for this long.

Today the cold has arrived with lows overnight dropping to 22. 

Falling Leaves: The Last Hurrah in Central Park...

The last leaves are falling towards the end of the season that everyone says is THE BEST time to visit NYC.

On a warm day when jackets were left at home and joggers ran in shorts with bare arms, leaves crunched underfoot.  The squirrels have finished hiding away their food cache.

Rains soon fell and the temperature shifted.  The leaves will soon be almost gone.

Goodnight, Sleep Tight, Don't Let the .....

Yeah. Bedbugs.  And they are biting and not just in NYC.  Knock on wood I've yet to hear a personal story, but then, again, I'm not sure if this is a subject to talk about.  I don't even want to write about it.

Want more?  Read these NYTimes articles about it:
Another Reason The City Never Sleeps
Everything You Need To Know But Were Afraid to Ask
What to Do Once You've Been Bitten

Ick.

Commercial City...

NYC is a place to sell things, to make profits, to make it BIG TIME.  Times Square is the nation's symbol for outdoor glitter and public space messaging in a condensed place.

Times Square.  Like trends, it never stays the same.

NYC Goes Green...

New York is a national leader in sustainable living. Thanks to an ad on The Future of Green in the October issue of Wired Magazine, I learned about how Green New York state is and has become under Governor George E. Pataki.   

Have you hard about the Green Towers, the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park in NYC designed by Cook+Fox Architects (image at right)? When completed in 2008, it promises to be the most environmentally reponsible office building in NYC.

Here are just a few Green Initiatives:

• Nation's first tax credit program for developers of green buildings
• Elimination of all taxes on alternative fuels
• An executive order requiring all state angencies to reduce their energy use by 35%
• Protecting nearly 1 million new acres of environmentally sensitive open space
• An historic agreement among seven Northeast states creating the first mandatory cap-and-trade program for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants - designed to achieve a 10% reduction in global warming emissions.

Bloggers who attended NextFest and wrote about Green things are inhabitat and Tree Hugger.

When there are articles about wildlife in Britain moving north because of increasing global temperatures and about the great estuaries of China declared "dead zones", and how the American West will be a hot spot for changes, I am heartened by positive action and good news, such as munching microbes helping to battle global warming.  Wouldn't it be nice if we, as a nation, helped spread freedom from pollution around the world (since the U.S. doesn't have one of the top 10 most polluted cities).

Personally, I'm proud to have moved to a state that thinks Green.