The street is beautiful

Four photos from this weekend: three on Purves Street in Long Island City, near the Sculpture Center, and one in Park Slope.

A view through

From Midtown West this morning: the "love" sculpture frames a street scene.

Another day, another walk

This morning, though it looked like it might rain and the wind was switching every which way, I went for a rather long ramble. The strange sights of the street rarely fail to make my day: in Sunnyside, a sticker with a phone number was slapped on a lamp post, and the words "Pranks accepted!" were written beneath; on Skillman Avenue, I found a discarded notebook filled with high school calculus, as well as a printout of lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" tucked into the front pocket; on a building in Greenpoint, graffiti hearts covered a door and were accompanied by a scribbled reminder to "buy candy." And the flowery chalking on a Brooklyn side street, above, was also quite charming.

Through the looking glass

A view of the buildings near the 90th Street subway shuttle stop at Rockaway Beach through the lens of a shard of blue glass, part of a mosaic at the station.

Surfing in the city

I didn't brave the board, but it was fun to dip my toes in the water and watch surfers skimming along at Rockaway Beach. Walk down the boardwalk, admire Whalemina (a cetacean covered in raucous mosaic), and grab a coconut smoothie from Caracas Rockaway before heading home on the A train.

Office in the sky

Yesterday, early, before it got too hot, I walked down to Socrates Sculpture Park. It hadn't been too long since I last dropped by, but I did notice something I had overlooked before: a piece by Natalie Jeremijenko, TREExOFFICE, a "co-working" space that is a treehouse. The workspace "overlooks the East River and has magnificent views of the Manhattan skyline, wifi and locally-produced power." The poplar, your new boss?

By hand

I've always been a writer of letters; when I was 8, I was already keeping up with several pen pals, including one in Ghana. The correspondence doesn't always last, but there's something poignant about taking time out of your grind to put a thoughtful pen to paper. When The Rumpus announced "Letters to Everyone," I thought I'd join in. (The gist, from the site: "You send in a letter, single page (double sided OK) and include a regular size # 10 self-addressed stamped envelope. We’ll make copies of all the letters and send five letters back to you in the stamped envelope you provided.")

I sent off my missive a few weeks ago, then got absorbed in the day-to-day and nearly forgot that I was to receive a packet of responses. And then, on Monday, my envelope showed up, four letters folded inside. 

Magic. Just magic. I heard from a woman who had a 10-minute love affair, a guy proposing a sort of "choose your own adventure" writing project to be conducted through the mail, and a geoduck farmer who lives not more than four hours from where I grew up. Now I just need to write them all back: it begins.

Happy Fourth

Taken last year, from a Hells Kitchen rooftop.

To market, to market

Queens County Market popped up in Sunnyside again yesterday, and we braved the heat to walk over. And good thing we did! We picked up alfajores from Buenos Angie's, a rainbow of savory Finnish tarts from Northern Rye, some chipotle salsa from Gustavo's, and a few spice mixes from Sabba's Spicery (pictured above; the "Medieval Melange," apparently recreated from a 14th century recipe, added great depth to a pumpkin spice bread I baked today).

We also sidled over to the Sunnyside Greenmarket, at Skillman Avenue and 42nd Street, open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. through December 22. Purslane and rhubarb looked tempting, but we stuck with a gorgeous bunch of carrots, some fresh smoked cheddar, and corn tortillas. It's been a good weekend of cooking and eating!

Pink, green, purple

Fabulous colors and shapes in detail from a mural on the side of a building in Bushwick.