I’m stressed!

I’m moving one of my domains from one service to another. If all goes well I will be moving all the rest each time one comes up for a renewal. I’m stressed because every time I do anything like this something goes horrible wrong, especially any time I make any sort of change with the service I moving from. One of the big reasons why I’m leaving them. Plus, they cost more than any place else.

A model shoot downtown across the street from the Municipal Archives. It feels like there is always some sort of shoot going on in that area. All the buildings are quite majestic and beautiful so it’s not surprising.

Model Shoot, New York City

Spring Cleaning Begins on Thursday

For those who follow my blog you know that every year I make a BIG deal of spring cleaning. This year I’m going to conduct a heartless pare-down and culling. I’ve already gotten rid of one steamer trunk worth of papers, pictured below. For me, nothing feels better than having fewer possessions. This trunk is now filled with copies of my books, which used to be tucked into all available corners around the apartment and are now are all in one place. So satisfying.

But the real, serious cleaning begins on Thursday.

Another thing I’m planning is transferring my video tapes to digital files. These are mostly news pieces about Echo, and if the transferring process isn’t too expensive I’ll go ahead with it and post snippets from them here. Might make an interesting early social media history lesson.

One of Finney’s favorite spots is on the steamer trunk that is now filled with books. He likes it because it’s harder for Bleecker to get at him here. Most of Finney’s favorite spots now are hard-for-Bleecker-to-reach spots.

Steamer Trunk and Finney

Spring in New York City

This is on 11th Street and only reason I took this shot was because the cherry blossoms were pink. The back story is not particularly interesting, but I took this shot as proof to myself that my brain isn’t completely gone. See self? There are pink blossoms on 11th Street.

Cherry Blossoms, 11th Street, New York City

Gramercy Park. A gated park that you and I may not enjoy but we can still see the flowers inside. I prefer a less manicured park myself, but it’s still lovely.

Gramercy Park, New York City

Also in Gramercy Park. I don’t know what these are called, but these flowers always bring back my childhood. I see them and I’m back in Centerport, LI, playing by the streams and ponds in the woods. I will never forgetting getting up before dawn with my brothers to go out and pick wildflowers and catch salamanders. Ohmygod those poor salamanders. Going along, enjoying their salamander life, and then they’re plucked away from it by some thoughtless child! I hate my former child self!

Gramercy Park, New York City

Rooftop Decks are Weird

I’ve posted about these personalized decks before, when they started appearing on the roofs in my West Village neighborhood. They’re just so strange. When people are in them, they look like they’re in a cage. The ones where the slats are close together are the most inexplicable (not sure if that’s what they’re called) because they would block your view of the city.

These two are on the building on the west side on my building. When people are sitting in their little pen like this, and there are people in the other pen practically right next to them, wouldn’t they feel, well, a little silly? Here we are, in our boxes on the roof.

Rooftop pens, Greenwich Village, New York City

This one is on the south side of the same building. At least it’s the only one there for now.

Rooftop pens, Greenwich Village, New York City

This one looks pleasant to sit in, until you pull back and see …

Rooftop pens, Greenwich Village, New York City

… that it is one of three on the same roof. Still, I like this one best. I would sit there with my tea with drops of vanilla extract (copying writer Vivian Swift) if anyone invited me.

Rooftop pens, Greenwich Village, New York City

Yoko Ono

People lined up on 11th Street to see Yoko Ono at a signing for the book See Hear Yoko by Bob Gruen and Jody Denberg. It was mostly people in their 20s. I would love to be able to get people in their 20s lined up for one of my books!

People lined up for Yoko Ono, New York City