SOLSC March 16: A Walk with a Hint of Spring

            It was almost 60 degrees here in upper Manhattan when I went out for a walk in the late afternoon. I walked over to Riverside Drive, which runs alongside Riverside Park. The park is full of lacy trees, waiting for the right number of warm days that tell them it’s time to put out buds and leaves. Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, the sun was still fairly high, and the air was clear, courtesy of the Clean Air Act (something to thank Nixon for). It was easy to see New Jersey across the Hudson.

            I walked along the Drive from 112th Street to 120th, then down into the park among the semi-wild. Back up to the Drive and 112th Street, where I followed a woman and her toddler into what’s called a “tot lot” and swung on the rubber-seat swing for a few minutes — possibly the first time I’ve done that in many, many  years. Those rubber seats are very uncomfortable, best if you are small, like a child. 

            Parts of the walkway alongside the park need a lot of repair. At one point, caution barriers surround a particularly bad area, to keep bicyclers, runners, and walkers away.

            Back up to my block, and home. I’m looking forward to many more walks into the park when the trees are all leafy and the air will become balmy. Only a few more days until the spring equinox.

 

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I’m participating in the 16th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 16 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!
 

 

 

SOLTuesday: Local Damage from Storm Isaias today

The storm came through New York City fairly quickly, with only a few hours of wild wind and rain, and the damage was much worse along the coast, in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens. But up here along Riverside Drive between 111th and 114th Streets, there are lots of branches broken off, and even some trees down.

And turning to the right, all these little branches

Here’s what I saw when I crossed Riverside Drive.

Near the mayhem above.

A much bigger tree was uprooted down in the park.

A skirt of branches

Leaf litter

And large branches block the promenade along Riverside Drive

Meanwhile, it's dusk, and the raccoons have come out to forage, while residents have started feeding them, which is probably not a good idea. Raccoons are wild animals. They are not domesticated pets.

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It’s Slice of Life Tuesday over at Two Writing Teachers. Check out this encouraging and enthusiastic writing community and their slices of life every Tuesday. And add one of your own.

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SOLSC 31: Moving, Part 2

            I've lived in my current apartment for more than 46 years, and I sincerely hope to stay here for the rest of my life. But in the 10 years between leaving home and settling in on Riverside Drive, in New York City, I lived at

• Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, Ohio (Sept. 1960-March 1961)

• a shared apartment on West 87th Street, between Columbus & Central Park West, in Manhattan (April-June 1961) (Antioch College had a co-op work-study curriculum, in which we studied on campus for half the year and worked at jobs anywhere in the U.S. the other half)

• back to Yellow Springs (July-Sept. 1961)

• a very brief stay in Los Angeles (a couple of weeks; too long a story for this slice)

• so a few months at home in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania (Oct.-Dec.1961)

• back to Yellow Springs (Jan.-March 1962)

• living at NIH (it was a co-op job; I wasn't a patient) (April-June. 1962)

• Irving Place, N.W., in Washington, D.C. (July-Aug. 1962) (I used to remember this address)

• 1612 19th Street, N.W. (Sept.1962-Aug.1963) (here's when I dropped out of Antioch the first time)

• 1835 19th Street, N.W. (a couple of weeks)

• 1833 19th Street, N.W. (Sept. 1963-March 1964)

• back to Yellow Springs (April-Sept. 1964) (here's when I went back to college)

• 70 West 82nd Street (Oct.1965-Dec. 1965) (here's when I got married, and dropped out of Antioch the second time)

• 134 West 82nd Street (Jan.1966-Sept. 1967) (here's when I started back to college, at City College, at night...)

• 101 West 85th Street (Sept.1967-Nov. 1970) (and here’s when I went to City College full-time; rent here was almost half what it was at the previous place)

            After I graduated from City College and got a real job, I started agitating for a real apartment. The kitchen on 85th Street had no counter space, and its sink was half the size of a normal one and just attached to a pipe under the window, with a piece of wood nailed to the wall for the drainboard.

            When we found the apartment on Riverside Drive, it seemed huge. Two good-sized bedrooms. A kitchen with counters and still big enough for a dining table.

           And a childhood dream come true. When we lived in West Haven, we would drive into New York a few times a year to visit my grandparents in Brooklyn. Riding down the West Side Highway, I saw these impressive apartment buildings towering above the hillsides of Riverside Park and thought, I want to live there some day. This apartment was in one of those buildings. It missed the river view, but otherwise... I feel happy every time I leave my building: the park, when I look left, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine when I look right. No other street in New York has this view.