City Views, Country Dreams

Good morning from New York.

I am pleased to report that the temperature rose a bit on Saturday and I headed over to Central Park for my very first 2014 walk in the Park.  I cannot recall another year in which I avoided such walks for so long.

You can tell from my photographs that it was a sunny day and that snow still is covering lots of the ground.  I kept my gloves on against the chill, and so my camera clicks were awkward and limited.

Scattered around the Strawberry Fields area were some sunny patches.  Some snow had melted away.  Some beautiful tiny snowdrop flowers were starting their annual performance.

As I neared the western edge of the Lake, I spotted a refreshment stand.  I can only imagine how cold the person manning this cart must have been.  Even with the sunshine.

The Park sidewalks and roadways were well cleared and a few folks were riding bikes, running and walking along while enjoying the fresh air.

The Lake seemed to be solidly frozen after the weeks of sub-freezing days and nights.  There were lots of warnings posted about the possibility of thin ice, and measures to take in case of an emergency.

I am glad that I saw no folks venturing out on the ice and no need for the use of these red ladders.

A great variety of ducks were, however, making the most of some areas near the Lake's western border, where the ice had been broken up to allow them to swim, or graze amongst the green shoots on the bank, or even do some walking on the ice.

I had never before seen such a variety of ducks in one concentrated area.  It was party time for ducks, with a few pigeons crashing the event.

Continuing my walk over to the Shakespeare Garden showed me that it would be a long time before any Spring flowers bloomed there.  

The shadows were beginning to lengthen, and my fingers were feeling the cold, so I decided to head on home.  

The following photograph is certainly not beautiful, but shows you all another facet of our long winter.  Right in front of my apartment building last week, a dangerous electric hot spot was discovered.  The recurrent snow, sleet, street plowing, salting of the streets, etc. have caused lots of damage to the streets.  Potholes are abundant, and the City forces have been trying to keep the repairs going strong.

These electric hot spots are a result of salt water seeping through manhole covers into the below ground area of electrical wiring.  Folks, and pets, have been injured by walking on these parts of sidewalks and streets, and so now the City has vehicles with equipment able to detect such dangers traveling around the City.  When such a danger is found, the area is blocked off, and a City inspector/observer/guardian is sent out to remain parked in an adjacent curbside area 24/7 until the dangerous situation is corrected.  I have never seen this before.

Out curbside guardian/s remained at their post for almost a week until Saturday's repair crew arrived to take care of the hot spot.  I think that the guardian post might also be connected to avoidance of lawsuits against the City.

Back indoors, I continue to try to imagine that Spring will soon arrive.  My tiny daffodils are very cheery.

I am also continuing to knit this rosy fair isle scarf on my little circular needle.  It's getting longer and long, and playing with the colors is lots of fun.  I think that I will soon be adding it to my Foakley Arts shop over at Etsy.

Thank you all for your visits and comments.  It has been wonderful to visit your posts, too, and to see that flowers and green leaves are actually beginning to appear in other parts of the world, and that rain has finally graced California.