Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Keep walking


At Pier 6, Crataegus "Winter King." At least, I'm going out on a hawthorn limb and calling it. I should check the park's plant list (and point out some typos). The fruit tastes a little like apple, and is very seedy.


The water- and landscapes of Brooklyn Bridge Park are still changing. Pristine floating docks have appeared. Not too many of those, in New York


Asters are still in bloom.


A wild black cherry turns bright.


And a beach rose - invasive Rosa rugosa - burns with rosehips.


The Piers that walk into the water offer river-wrapped views.

The Frenchman had not been here since we moved to Harlem, and he offered complimentary murmers. That doesn't happen often, either.


There are the death stars, of course: the apartments that have risen like fungi between the water and the BQE, fruiting from the mass of everpresent and swarming mycelia beneath the paving, offering high-cost living spaces squeezed irrepressibly between park and highway.


The city is change. The homes on the Promenade, below, sigh in relief, knowing that only a green berm lies between them and the million dollar view. Others have not been as lucky.


But access to these waterways is for everyone. And I think that in some ways little has changed there from the time of Whitman, and Melville - the men with words and water in their veins.


I love this park.


We walked to what we used to call thenoisiestparkintheworld, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, where the trains rage overhead, and wolfed a late-afternoon Shake Shack burger each (my first - fast food is interesting). Bridal parties, engaged couples, and quinceaƱeras groups posed around us. White and turquoise dresses, retinues, Manolo Blahnik stilletos.


Fortunately, we did not have to resort to a white stretch Hummer to get home.

We turned and walked back into our hood, heading down Court Street and pausing outside Moo Burger to appreciate the 5pm-rush stroller parking. This neighborhood has more strollers per capita than any other. We fantasize about buying one, and putting our fullgrown tiger in it. Leaving him parked outside Union Market with all the leashed dogs...



10 comments:

  1. I miss it. Sometimes.
    Do people leave all those prams(strollers) empty? Or are the children still aboard?

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    1. Ha, no, the children are having Moo Burgers inside.

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  2. Enjoyed walking with you, Marie. May you have a happy Thanksgiving.

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  3. I miss that park so, and that city.

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  4. Marie: On this Thanksgiving Eve I'd like to offer gratitude to you for such an amazing blog site to which you seem totally dedicated. It always seems to capture the mood, sentiment of the times. While Thanksgiving is an adopted custom for you, I give thanks.
    Susan

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  5. Hi Marie, Happy Thanksgiving for yesterday. I know I'm over here but I am counting blessings too. A change in personal circumstance led to a solitary move in July, for safety, which led to a job change as the 50+ mile one way journey was no longer viable, new job found, notice served on old job, new job suddenly withdrawn, rug pulled from under me in a sickening flash. Now desperately seeking work of any kind but time is about to run out on my rented house. Landlord has been more than patient but this is their income. Even as I face homelessness, I have the kindest friends who cheer me along, let me borrow their computers, donate cat food or invite me to lunch again, and I am healthy, if terrified, I have the beauty of the autumn days and the sun on my face. I give thanks for the life within me and the hope that really does spring eternal somehow in spite of dire circumstance. I keep walking...x

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jelli - I am sorry to hear about your uncertain circumstances; how stressful. Wishing that good news comes soon for you, and that your kind friends continue to support you!

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  6. So soothing to scroll through this... Love the first photo - it's Christmas-y, spring-y, and wedding-y!

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  7. I always love your posts, Marie - you look at NYC through a gardener's eyes - refreshing

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