Archive for the ‘my block’ tag
Two trucks in two days….
This big odd thing was in front of my door today, pumping or flushing something underneath the street. ConEd sent it out, but I have no ideas for what purpose.
I’m back in the office, on what is usually a day off, trying to finish up some stuff before a teaching trip to Tennessee. Communication seems to be the watchword of the day, and we’re all struggling to come up with the right words to give shape to our plans.
Last night’s opening was quite nice, what with Lolita showing up, a quick dinner with her and my friend Lynne and then a surprise run in with another friend on the way to the subway. It all felt very civilized, and at the event I got to make the acquaintance of Napoleon, a kissy and excitable french bulldog. I’m hoping to get some more work done this weekend, along with getting my fridge cleaned out tonight and hopefully some laundry and other mundanities.
Lyn asked me about my feelings about the president last night. I couldn’t say much then, beyond not being over surprised. I do think that he needs to give up on the idea of winning over his opposition. They are too high on their bile at this point for him to even make a case. With the advent of Fox news, we now have a case where frothing yahooism has become a profit making business, where candidates can spend years amasing money and speaking past the government in a way that negates traditional notions of bipartisan governance. They make more money by yelling and sniping, without ever having to govern, to fix problems and deliver services. It is in the proposal for those fixes that all of the risk of politics resides. So Obama is hamstrung in some ways, because people don’t have to work with him if they don’t want and get more mileage out of their refusal.
Tags: daily photo, friends, my block, politicsRelated posts
Forced, you think?
Cold air. A steady dry rustle from the trees on my block. Like my neighbors, I’m hauling the garbage and recycling to the curb. Clatter across the darkened street and I look up to see one of them, a man younger than me, as he shoves the bags and cans into position. We’re both a absently intent on the task, but the break in my own non-concentration is enough for me to really feel the life of my block for an instant. Simple homely actions that are more tangible than the cluttered chill of my computer screen, where I’ve been anchored for those hours of today when I wasn’t in meetings. I got home almost two hours ago and those hours have drained away sucked down the browsehole of clicking and finding and reading and considering. I was out in the sunlight today, and the evening drizzle that almost seemed like snow in the headlights of the bus on forty-second. I spoke to people, received good news and challenges, took pictures and argued points, designed print pieces and confirmed classes, petted my dog and ate a salad, but it’s all tamped down beneath the screen’s glare. The doing of three things simultaneously, none of them well.
This is the most writing I’ve been able to pull off in days.
Tags: computer, daily photo, my block, self examinationRelated posts
Unswept away…
As anyone in New York will tell you, autumn has come in earnest. This morning the leaves on my block were beginning to pile up, with the rain making it even harder for my fastidious neighbors to get them swept clean quickly enough. I went with some friends to drive upstate and do some fall type stuff, and then attended a party in Manhattan this evening where there was talk of the “last outdoor sex of the season”. But let’s not kid ourselves: the dank and the chill make the outdoors appropriate for only desperate, doomed Wiemar style couplings why the streetcars grind past, hauling the despairing back to their scanty coal stoves. We’ve officially entered “Raw out here isn’t it? Come back to my place and I’ll warm you up” weather.
And that’s fine by me too.
Tags: daily photo, friends, my block, weatherRelated posts
Sit in the dark. Then go out in the dark.
Sweaty around the house today as well as outside of it. Spent most of it indoors until I heeded the siren call of the cinema and went off to see You, the Living with Thor, Ed, and Jeff. Delicious deadpan Swedes, shot in a 1970′s christmas candy color scheme. Some of the best thunder you’ll ever encounter in a movie. Just the sort of thing I’m happy to see these days. There were tasty cookies and later, flank steak.
For a reason that is not clear to me, one of the street lamps closest my door has been removed, leaving a pocket of mysterious darkness, a gap in our block’s grin. The lights of the apartments don’t reach the street, and so there’s a slight bit of menace beneath the big trees that line the sidewalk. There’s nothing to be afraid of on my block, but I have been conditioned to a certain interval of illumination, so the fact that there’s some missing now unsettles me, although tonight I was the threatening figure: well not me exactly but as I was heading back in from Lehigh’s evening walk, I heard “Mommy I’m sacred!” and saw a young girl clamber up into her mothers arms and duck her head down in fear. They were headed to the ice cream truck stopped down the block. “It’s a tiny dog! How can she be scared? It’s stupid!” fumed her brother, all of eight and already hard bitten, stomping along beside them. “She’s just five, she’s frighted” said mom, as the girl squealed a bit, increasingly nervous at the notion that our paths were going to cross very soon and that even her mother’s arms might not provide adequate protection from the dog in the dark. I hustled Lehigh up the steps, and inside in time to hear one more exasperated “It’s just Stupid!…” before closing the door. Five or no, I felt for her.
Tags: daily photo, friends, lehigh, movies, my blockRelated posts
Gloaming or other people’s blogs are better than mine…
I’ve lived in my current place for almost seven years and last night I did something for the first time: sat on the stoop with a friend in the twilight. Chris came by for a chat, and since we’d tried to pull together a dinner date but it had fallen through, I hauled a couple of chairs down and we sat out in the midsummer warmth and watched the moon rise. It was a lovely antidote to some of the prickliness I’d been encountering earlier in the day. At one point, a little girl named Fantasia came by on her scooter with the flashing LEDs embedded in the wheels. She was out with her mom, passing out fliers for the upcoming block party.
Chris and I hung out there for about an hour and a half, and then, refreshed, I came inside and worked on some drawing.
Truth is life offers us all the respite we need, if we’re willing to look for it.
Also LJ continues to surprise: I’ve recently run across a new bunch of comic artists on here posting great stuff – you should add them to your friends list:
Finkenstein, whose strip is NSFW, but is always under a cut.
And especially this one which made me SHUMBATD (Snort Hard Under My Breath At The Desk).
Tags: comics, daily photo, friends, lj, my blockRelated posts
Rodents is rodents…
Typing at Cosi. Quiet strolling through Brooklyn has given way to the crush of post-work Union Square. Their coffee is never as good as I remember it. Spent a little time in Forbidden Planet, which has greatly expanded their independent/zine comic section. I’m struck by how much intriguing self published stuff there is out there right now.Didn’t buy a whole lot however, given what my finances are like and also the fact that while I want to support their efforts I’d also like to direct some money to smaller stores like Bergen Street Comics which provide more direct support to the artists.
I also spent the earlier part of today adding some things to the WordPress blog including this scan and a couple of links. Of special note is the one to the blog of the Annandale Dream Gazette, an enterprise initiated by poet Lynn Behrendt. Lynn and I were roommates for a couple of years while I was a Bard, and the gazette has an illustrious list of dreamer/contributers.
Because it’s a Monday afternoon and because I’m in Union Square, it’s hard not to fall into my reflexive, post therapy frame of mind. After all, I spent some ten years coming to weekly sessions in this neighborhood. I wonder what my therapist would say if I was telling him about my current situation and frame of mind. Probably something about the extent to which I castigate myself. Ugh, this chair is very stingy with the back support. And now I have a hankering for some fruit. Maybe it’s time to head off to the greenmarket.
See how avoidance works?
Tags: Annandale Dream Gazette, comics, daily photo, my block, therapy, wordpressRelated posts
Softee is as Softee does…
So yesterday Thor came over to help me contend with the forces of It-which-must-not-be-named (the laundry), which caused us to have many trips into the sunshine of my neighborhood. He was a valiant Wash Warrior. And then, at the very moment that we were bringing in the last folded loads, we heard the tinkle of the ice cream truck a block away. I’m not lying when I say that I saw six-year old Thor pop out when I assured him that yes the truck was coming and yes we could have ice cream. So determined was he that I walked the clothes upstairs while he waited in the street below, looking down the block to make sure the truck didn’t swerve around the corner at the last minute. When I came back downstairs Mister Softee was just pulling up and Thor bought me a cola float and himself the weird Spongebob treat he’s holding here. We sat out on the stoop and chatted with my neighbors for a bit while cooling down. Afterward, Thor reminded me of his touching entry where he wrote about how important the ice cream truck was for him growing up. Reading it again made me understand his determination, and reminded me of how lucky I am to know him.
Tags: daily photo, food, friends, Mr Softee, my block, thorRelated posts
Sunday in the park…
We celebrated Mother’s Day by taking a prolonged walk through Prospect Park; my Mom, my sister, Lehigh and myself. We followed it up with an early dinner at Whiskey Sundays. Which was so heavy that I left me nearly incapacitated for the rest of the day. Laundry did not happen.
The walk was quiet, thoughtful. It was not a hugely celebratory day, even though things seem to be going alright for my Mom. I had the chance to introduce her to a couple of the people in the neighborhood that, like her, are fans of the pooch. Lehigh was basking in attention. There’s no nearby dog run however, so while she met a few playful dogs, she did didn’t have the chance to race around like a maniac.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, lehigh, mom, my block, prospect lefferts gardensRelated posts
I can’t fight it…
I give up, my block is a fuggin’ winter wonderland.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, my block, new york in black and white, weatherRelated posts
Sea squatters….
For some reason my block was infiltrated this morning by a platoon of gulls. As I set out for work, I noticed that the pigeons and sparrows had been cowed into sullen clumps along the the north side of the street, while the sea birds wheeled above the overflowing gutters.
I don’t know what this incursion portends. For the most part the gulls have restricted themselves to occasionally haunting the parking lot of Western Beef, a couple of blocks over. This is the first time that I’ve ever seen them take an interest in my block. For what it’s worth I live pretty much fully inland in terms of Brooklyn, and I’m not thrilled at the prospect of them becoming full time residents. We no longer even have a full size phone booth to take refuge in, should things go awry.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, my block, wildlife