Remembering to Remember What's Important

My landlord raised my rent a few days ago. It was inevitable, of course, but still one hopes it won't happen. There have been floods, leaks, a sliding door that defies the name, and workmen in boots.

Feeling depressed, tonight I spent a few minutes on Craigslist re-aquainting myself with what it means to search for an apartment and quickly came to the conclusion that I should just suck it up. I am paying for my location, which is wonderful, and my terrace, which is, well, me. I can find an apartment for less, with more space, but it won't be two blocks from one of the nicest wine shops in New York, or from the iconic Sahadi's, where I stop by several times a week and am greeted by name, or Mr Lee's with all his beautiful fruit and vegetables, or the dry cleaners, where I can leave my raincoat for five months without them tossing it (thank you, Vince), or Constanza two blocks away, or the F train three blocks away; or the fish shop or the baker or Robin des Bois. And it won't have a terrace. That faces east, the rising moon and sun, the church steeples in green copper and sandstone; utter privacy, the wide blue sky, the reward of watering and claiming as prize, flowers, fruit, herbs...

It seems I have become entrenched. For the moment at any rate.

Now with HDR, maybe this picture would have had a chance. I knew the light was doing something funny as I was walking home. The sky was torn up, the wind was making mini tornados and blowing up dust and every now and then an acid clear light would strip the buildings and make them glow. Up on the terrace this rainbow appeared suddenly, over downtown Brooklyn.




Photographed in early September, above, and this evening, below, I now know that my David Austin rose, Abraham Derby, is able to rebloom twice in the month, from fullblown rose to fullblown rose. I cut it back just before I went to SA, and fed it heavily with the Blue Stuff that still makes me blush (but which WORKS)...and there's the proof. Results Count, as Pa says...