Y5 – Day 109 – Time

I remember growing up on the beaches of Long Island and time stopped as I idly played in the sun – the wet sand and glossy pebbles, hot between my toes. The shore lapping.

Time was still. Joy was mine.  

The smell of sultry, humid heat peppered with salty seaweed baking on the beach. The warmth and taste of the briny water.

Seagulls squawking.  Horseshoe crabs aground and dying on the shore. Fiddler crabs popping out of holes.

Wildlife scurrying amongst the brush on the dunes by the worn redwood fences. The grasses and reeds rustling. A summer breeze wafting through a corridor of beach below a cliff.  

I wake up. I’m startled.

Time is just a blip – yet a continuum. But, only as long as it is held in your mind.

Y4 – Day 12 – Storm Watch

Back east, they are bracing for a fierce snowstorm.

This is what Long Island looked like a week ago.

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May everyone hunker down and get ready because like it or not, here comes Jonas. Get your popcorn, movies and soda pop. These blizzards were great times during my childhood because it meant no school and lots of playtime making snow forts, snow men, snow angels and snow balls with the neighborhood kids. Later, when I was older, I shoveled the snow to clean the driveway and loved coming back into the house for a cup of hot chocolate after as my reward.

The temperature seems to warm up a bit from a freezing bitterness as the silver grey clouds wait to burst.The snow falls in silence.  The wind howls as it encircles the trees and seems to pound at your door. The white powder falls at an endless pace as you press your breath against the window. You wonder when it will stop and leave steam and a stencil of your face on the glass. You bundle up as it slows down and step out the door unless it is jammed with a drift.  You look like the first man on the moon while your boots sink lower and lower crunching into the fresh fallen snow.

I love a good snowstorm as long as you are safely home and prepared. They are lucky it will hit on a weekend.

Y3 – Day 146 – The Modern

DSC09442I knew just by passing by the sidewalk window that we were going to have an experience.

DSC09445 From the Sculpture/Atrium Garden of MoMA we could see the outdoor seating and through the tall glass into the dining area. Beyond the formal supper seating, where all tables were physically spaced with enough room for conversational privacy, there was a raucous bar with cute cocktail tables. The bar scene was in full swing by the time we left with every stool and table taken. Loud music and laughter was somehow screened off from our table which ended up being the one where you see a waiter, 2nd to the left large window. Attention to detail, waitstaff that pampered and amazing, artistic food awaited us. No one rushed us, everyone treated us like royalty and we spent three solid hours at our table. DSC09446

At each table, a rare, solitary, yellow columbine was placed in a vase.

Y3 – Day 145 – Community Food and Juice

IMG_4042Last meal with the girls in NYC consisted of Tangy Sourdough & Sweet Garlic Confit. Followed by an Asian Salad, a Kale Farro salad for my daughters and a creamy Tomato Soup and mini Goat cheese sandwich for  me.

The restaurant named Community Food and Juice, has rough hewn, reclaimed wood floors and tables. It is in the Columbia neighborhood on Broadway between 116th and 118th St. Most of the menu is organic or local and sustainable. In fact, the food is so fresh, the menu changes to suit the availability of produce and seasons. Even the milk and coffee are local and organic.

For dessert we splurged and enjoyed an espresso creme brûlée, berries with whipped cream and a delectable and humongous Key Lime pie. Here are the before and after pictures.IMG_4043

We thoroughly enjoyed our time together in the Grad’s hood.IMG_4044

Y3 – Day 140 – The MoMA

At the Museum of Modern Art in NYC with BFF we enjoyed the enclosed sculpture garden, shopping and eating at the most fabulous The Modern Restaurant. IMG_4022A three story rose amongst skyscraper reflections.


IMG_4021An intimate close up of the idealized village St. Remy de Provence in
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

The museum has a grand collection of Andy Warhol and was presently showing Yoko Ono’s one woman show. Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and Georges Seurat are just a few Impressionists always on display. You will also find Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Klimt. Roy Liechtenstein, Kooning, Rothko and Jackson Pollock smack dab amongst the rest.

Y3 – Day 138 – NY,NY

DSC09346Did I forget to mention yesterday that we had bagels and coffee after our red-eye? Here is just a sampling of cream cheese spreads offered and there was a variety of warm toasted bagels to choose from to slather it on. Being more vegan conscious than I have ever seen before in NYC, there were just as many tofu cheese spreads to opt out trying as well.

Then we took a stroll down Riverside Park overlooking the Hudson River.

DSC09359Stainless steel bowls filled with pungent spices and blends from Spices and Tease in Chelsea Market.