Wednesday, August 10, 2016

City Views, Country Dreams

Good afternoon from New York.

It's been a while since I have shown you all some summer city views from my neighborhood.  Last Saturday evening I attended one of this year's final Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors concerts.  It was a tribute to a legendary album, The Last Waltz, that was recorded 40 years ago by a band called The Band.


As I expected, there was a very large crowd gathered all over Damrosch Park, an open spot nestled sort of like a back yard in a corner of the Lincoln Center property.


The area is surrounded by tall buildings, most of which have been built during the years that I have lived in the neighborhood.  

 As I found a little ledge to sit on, I gazed around the skyline, and tried to remember what the view was like 30 years ago.


All the proper folding chair seating was already filled up by the time of my arrival, and many folks were milling around, buying refreshments from various pricey stands, and trying to connect with friends or family who were somewhere in the crowd.  A hot summer evening dictated comfort clothing choices rather than fashion statements.


As the 7 p.m. showtime neared, the sunlight quality began to change, and some of the buildings began to take on differing glows.


 Some of the children in the crowd were escaping their boredom with the wait by playing various escape games of their own.


The five family members in the following fuzzy photo were being greatly entertained by the young son, who kept escaping his dad's grasp, and trying out his running techniques around the open space.  His dad kept a careful eye on the young fellow, while the mom in the long dress continued to chat with the older couple, who perhaps were her parents.  It is easy to make up story lines.

You can perhaps make out the boat-shaped back of the amphitheater stage?


All the snacking was causing a steady build up of refuse, and a Lincoln Center team kept collecting the bags.


At last it was time for the performance to begin, and the stage lights were turned on along with the excellent sound system.  Perhaps you all will also be able to see a tiny crescent moon just to the let of the stage roof?


Here is another very "atmospheric" picture taken as my camera's battery began to close down for the night.


The concert was lots of fun, and if you click on the link I provided above the first photo, you will be able to see a good picture of the stage and a list of the excellent performers who graced the stage.


On Sunday morning, I took a walk over to Central Park to see how late summer was treating the place.  The morning was not too hot, but humidity was gathering strength


I saw several picnics underway, and also marveled at various folks riding bikes, jogging, and so forth.


More and more racks of the Citibank sponsored bike rental racks appear along city sidewalks.  


Various trees and shrubs were showing their late summer colors and evidence of nibbling.  The leaves were crispy.


I was on my way to an errand on the Upper East Side, but took my time strolling through the Park making sure to have a look at the Shakespeare Garden.


I saw lots of very overgrown greenery, and some flowers looking a little past their prime.  Even so, there was beauty on display.


Lots of tall scraggly green plant stems mixed with some very pretty colors.


As I wandered around this August tangle, I remembered how different the Garden looked in early spring when the first crocus and daffodils were beginning to bloom.


There is a large team of gardeners who care for the Shakespeare Garden, and I am glad that they don't keep it completely manicured.


The above flowers were the size of dinner plates.  The following flowers were much more delicate.


The rustic fencing seems a natural choice to define some areas.  There are also benches made from this weathered wood.


Since I was wearing my pink shoes, I couldn't resist taking a color study photograph.


The plant stem in the following photo was reaching for the sky! There were lots of thistle plants in this area.


Sometimes I break photographic rules and will point my camera towards the sun, just to see what will happen.  I liked the results in the following picture.  I don't know what sort of plants these are with their shepherd crook stems.


By the time I finished my East Side errand, I decided that I would be a lazybones and take an air-conditioned bus ride home and was pleasantly surprised that a bus arrived just as I reached a bus stop.

We are due to experience lots of heat and humidity for the rest of this week, with possible daily thunderstorms.  I will continue to practise all my heat avoidance techniques!

Thank you all for your visits and comments.  It is so much fun to trade comments and discover how much we do share in our daily lives.

54 comments:

  1. Good grief! Was that forty years ago? What happened? Love your pink shoes and you;ll be glad to know that, like the Shakespeare Garden, my environs are NEVER manicured but carefree and sprawling.

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    1. Vicki, I agree with your Good Grief. I'm continually amazed by realizations that something I though happened just yesterday was actually in the last century.
      (Your gardens are gorgeous!) xo

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  2. Oh, my, I'd have loved to hear that tribute concert!

    I have never been to Central Park, nor have I ever had such a varied blogger tour of it and its botanic and other interests. Thank you!

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    1. Thanks so much for your visit and comment. Over the years I've done lots of posts about walks in Central Park...you might enjoy scrolling back to see some snow scenes and pictures of springtime arrival.

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    1. NYC can be a fabulous place...and one I love to share. Thank you for your visits!

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    1. I bought those Toms on sale a few years ago, and don't wear them too often, trying to preserve that brilliant pinkness! xo

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  5. Catching up with your NY summer Frances. The green oasis of Shakespeare's garden looks most welcome. In earlier posts I liked very much your pencil drawing of the succulent and thought your oil painting was beautiful. I followed your link to the Met museum as my son has just returned from a month in India and while there took a class with a miniature painter to try and emulate this very particular style of painting. The rubbish and food and drink spills on our streets from this constant snacking and all-day grazing can get me down. I was brought up never to eat or drink in the street and I am shocked when I see women of my age nursing a plastic-coated paper cup of so-called coffee as they go about their business. I hear we're due for another mini heatwave next week - so I'll be thinking of you and your heat avoidance strategies. BTW I love your pink shoes - I have a pair of pink suede summer walking shoes made by the Italian company Scarpa. They are so comfortable when pounding city pavements.

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    1. Dear Sarah, I appreciate your visit to my posts and your very kind comment.
      How great for your son to have the miniature painting class in India. Wow! I think I will be returning to the Met exhibit soon, during our super hot weather.
      (I do agree with you about food on the streets...something that definitely didn't happen when I was growing up...except for perhaps ice cream cones.)
      Aren't pink shoes fun! xo

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  6. That was another delightful wander around your city. Open air concerts are a treat, as also the green shade of the park. Shakespeare would have never had a manicured garden, I suspect he was content with the wayside flowers.
    C xx

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    1. Celia, I thought it would be fun to do a post that showed contrasting city views. I am always surprised that more folks don't seem to know about the Shakespeare Garden. I really do think it is one of Central Park's gems. xo

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    1. Thank you, Elizabeth! They are jolly, aren't they? xo

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  8. I do love following you around the city Frances. I'm a regular watcher of GMA and know they have lots of outdoor concerts in the summer. Such a fun city.

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    1. I appreciate your comment very much, Donna. The GMA sponsored concerts take place in a large concert area over on the east side of Central Park. It's near a more traditional bandshell built way back yonder for classical music concerts, and very near the wisteria arbors I included in a post in late spring. xo

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  9. Another lovely walk around your beautiful city to keep me going until I can actually do it again myself.
    Hugs from The UK-x-

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    1. Sheila, I am so happy to receive comments like yours, letting me know my posts might just encourage a future NYC visit. (I feel the same way about travel when I visit posts from faraway places.) xo

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  10. Good morning, Frances. I enjoyed that concert - even without the sound - because you focus on things that would have captured my attention. I am a people-watcher and find myself making up stories as I watch interactions.
    You seem to have some good strategies for staying cool in the pressure cooker of a NYC summer. Up here it is very cool in the morning and one needs a jacket for a morning walk. By afternoon we are at 25c and with the sun, that is hot enough for me!

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    1. Oh Pondside, I do like the sound of your Vancouver cool mornings.
      Isn't it fun to think of stories based observing random sightings?
      I just heard another NYC forecast and it seems as if the heat wave "has legs." I will have to add imagining your cool mornings to my heat avoidance kit. Thank you! xo

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  11. Oh what joys there are from living in the city. There is always something going on.

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    1. There was a time when I first moved here that I didn't want to miss anything...then I finally realized that I truly could relax and sample the city at my own pace, and with my own changing tastes. xo

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  12. Dear Frances, every time I read your posts I have the feeling I am there, close to you, following you in the crowd, listening to your voice, telling me where to look and what sight I must enjoy at all costs. :)
    It must have been very pleasant to sit there, watch the people and listen to the music...
    It's nice that you spend time to draw - I like the sketches of your baby flower very much!
    The story about "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" really sounds like an anecdote - I smiled and smiled... A wonderful song, by the way!
    Hugs! x

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    1. Rossichka, you've made me so happy to think that I actually was able to convey some of the sense of the concert to you. It was a lovely evening, a bit nostalgic for those of us who were sort of young 40 years ago. A final song was "Forever Young," a perfect choice.

      I am trying to get back into drawing regularly and appreciate your sweet words about the drawing and the Bridge story. xo

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    2. Oh, "Forever Young" was among my favourite songs when I was in my 20s.:)

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    3. It was clear from the audience's reaction last Saturday, that many folks felt just the same...still. xo

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  13. I love your posts about NYC and especially Central Park.Such lovely memories for me.Maybe I shall come again.
    I love your shoes.I am into red shoes!Barbarax

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    1. Bright colored shoes are fun to wear, aren't they? Do let me know if there are some particular parts of NYC you'd like me to "cover" in a post sometime. It would be a pleasure to do so. xo

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  14. Frances, Love love love that wonderful rustic fencing structure going up the steps. I would like to duplicate it here,in the Hollow. The purplish, leggy plants look like PHLOX. Mine are pretty scrawny too.

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    1. Jeri, I think that you would love walking through the Shakespeare Garden, in any season. It is so beautifully landscaped with flagstone pathways winding around a slight incline, and the rustic fencing gives a nice touch, along with subtle little metal plaques that bear plant-related Shakespeare quotes. It is all very gentle and full and lively!

      Thank you for the phlox identification! xo

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  15. Outstanding post today ! I so enjoy your walks around the city. And we never ate walking in the street.
    The garden area must be wonderful just to sit in and enjoy but not in hot humid weather. I think the air conditioned bus ride was a good choice.
    The second I saw your shoes I thought Toms and I was right. So very sweet.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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    1. At certain times of the year, sitting in the Garden is such a treat. You can watch birds and butterflies and bees, and some other locals and tourists wandering around. Some folks will just sit for a while and read, or even sketch. (I have found it difficult to concentrate enough to do any sketching, but might give it another try when the air is cooler.)
      Aren't Toms shoes wonderful! xo

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  16. I want tp come back to New York, now that the dust has settled.

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    1. Do come back for a visit...NYC is not at its best in August. That 2001 September dust was pretty bad, and even left a print on my annual September 12 birthday.

      Moving along. Thank you again for the Bath peregrine web cam site info. I passed it along to a friend who was going over to visit her sister who lives in Bath, and my friend got very addicted to following the chicks. She sent me a photo of the church spire that she could see from her sister's home. You won't be surprised to learn that the sister had never heard of the peregrines, but...she's now on board for next year's nest.

      Best wishes.

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  17. Those pink shoes are "the bomb," Frances. I wish I could wear shoes like that! Thanks for your report on NYC in August. We had our honeymoon in NYC in 1968, and for two days it was about 100 degrees. But what fun to be in the city. We ate our wedding night dinner at Horn and Hardart because it was the only place open by the time we drove into the city. Good memories.

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    1. Thank you, Carol. Have you ever tried Toms shoes? I find them comfy like espadrilles, but perhaps just a bit longer lasting.
      I liked your honeymoon Horn & Hardart dinner story. I remember the H&H on 57th Street. I think we will be feeling another 104 heat and humidity combo today and/or tomorrow. Whew! xo

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  18. I had a conducted tour of the Lincoln Centre many years ago after meeting someone who worked there in a bar one evening. She said come along in the morning at 11am. We went wondering if it was really true. We walked in, announced ourselves and thought we would be turned away. But no, suddenly the woman we had met the night before appeared, and ushered us off for our own personal tour. It was at that moment that we knew we had made the right decision to visit New York. In the same bar we also met someone who invited us to their apartment where we stayed for the rest of our visit. We were before that staying in Columbia University residences. Fond memories. Thank you for bringing it all back.

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    1. Oh Rachel, I am happy to have helped bring back such a pleasant memory. I have had somewhat similar experiences in my traveling. It is encouraging to realize how kind people can be! xo

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  19. How lovely to experience an outdoor concert. Lovely to have a summer tour of the city too.

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    1. The Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors season is short, but usually does contain quite a few treats. I am a bit sorry now that I didn't attend more...but there is always next year. xo

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  20. Always I appreciate green photoes from Big Apple!!Thank You!!

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    1. Gabri, it's a pleasure to remind folks that New York is not all steel, glass, stone and cement. I just wish that I had been quick enough with my camera to photograph the pretty butterflies I saw in the Garden. xo

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  21. Oh your pink shoes reminded me of the first time I got my own way with choosing shoes and insisted on a pair of pink ankle boots. I loved them but could never admit how much they rubbed! We are having some proper summer weather at last but I am rather relieved that my son and his family have been delayed in their plans and may miss the worst of the heat in New York.

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    1. Lucille, do you perhaps have a photo of those boots? They sound very cool! Unlike our continuing hot weather...the radio announcer just said that this afternoon the heat-humidity index will reach 105-110. Good grief! Slight improvement predicted to begin tomorrow, but only slight.
      I'm hoping all will be much more normal by the time your son and his family arrive! xo

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  22. Hi Frances I've lived in small town Maine most of my life and would love to see NY CITY Some time it's on my bucket list with a lot more places. I live on the coast so can go to the ocean anytime I want. This summer has been to hot for me to go to the beach, dogs and I will wait for cooler days. Have a beautiful week. Gale

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    1. Gale, thank you so much for visiting my site and taking time to leave a comment. I try to use my posts to give folks an idea of what it's like to actually live in NYC...to sort of get beyond what a tourist might experience. Hoping you will return for another visit (or even have a look at some of my old posts.)

      Best wishes.

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  23. How lovely to have an open air concert so close to where you live. The park is very beautiful, I imagine that lots of people must really appreciate it

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    1. Su, I am fortunate to be able to live in my neighborhood, with its many attractions and conveniences.
      Yes, so many people appreciate the Park, that I find it much more pleasant to take walks there, Monday through Friday, rather than on weekends. That is was so pleasing about the Shakespeare Garden ... it is rarely crowded. xo

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  24. Lovely and green post from your city Frances! I really like your walks...
    Love from Titti

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    1. Thanks, Titti. I like showing the contrast between the towering buildings and all that overgrown greenery in Central Park. Hoping that the weather will cool down a bit in the next few days so that walking will be more pleasant. xo

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  25. I never fail to marvel at all the greenery you show in your posts. NYC is a haven, to judge by your blog. You are fortunate that your city parks are close enough to be able to access them easily and whenever you feel like a stroll.

    In this late summer heat I would be wilting, emulating the plants. Not for me city streets and high temperatures. My favourite place is either in the house or under a shady tree in the garden. Even Millie doesn’t get her walks until late afternoon.

    I love outdoor concerts too, particularly after the heat of the day has broken. There’s something so utterly pleasant about them. A glass of wine in hand helps too.

    As for your question: the carnival is always on during the first full weekend in August. We have another folksy event: the Green Man Festival on or around the 1st of May. That’s much livelier and noisier. The carnival is solely a village event.

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    1. Friko, I am indeed lucky to have so much greenery nearby. All five New York boroughs have some fine parks (Brooklyn's Prospect Park is lovely) but nothing surpasses Central Park. In my opinion.

      I can picture you under a shady tree

      Thank you for the info about the dates of the carnival and the Green Man Festival. I have made a note. xo

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  26. Thank you for stopping by my blog, earlier, Frances! I am happy to "meet" another NY area blogger! I'm in NJ now, but lived in NYC for 22 years, and worked there for 32 years. I still come in to the city about once a week. I loved taking this little walk around Lincoln Center and Central Park with you. I really miss the free summer "culture" experiences, and must remember to put a Lincoln Center outdoor concert on my calendar for next summer!

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    1. Dear Amy, I appreciate your comment so much and hope you will return to see more of my posts in future. Do remember to check out the Out-of-Doors concerts next summer. There are always lots of good ones.

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