Mom, Dad and I had an idyllic afternoon walking around Central Park yesterday, May 4, watching the youngster softball teams play on the tree-ringed ball fields, the crowds of tourists taking pictures from the turrets of Belvedere Castle perched atop the Ramble, and the people and dogs basking in the sun on the meadows. I took the 96th St cross-town bus to meet Mom and Dad at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, right across the street from the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Deborah and Victoria's distinguished alma mater. We took a tour of the outdoor exhibit, "Design for the Other 90%," and learned how designers, engineers, architects, and community leaders are thinking and acting creatively to overcome basic challenges to a safe and healthy daily life for most of the world's human population. We agreed that the single best piece of design we saw was the donut-shaped water drum designed to roll easily along behind the person pulling a rope threaded through the donut's hole. No more water-carrying for people weighing less than the water itself!
From the Cooper-Hewitt, we crossed Fifth Avenue and then ambled along the Central Park Reservoir towards our late-lunchtime destination, the Boathouse. It turns out we were denied our upper-crusty lunch at the Boathouse due to bad timing, but along the way we got to explore the flora and fauna (including the many species of indigenous New Yorkers) of the Park on foot and through the exhibits in Belvedere Castle, an 1871 granite folly that is now a national weather center. We were impressed by the clever propaganda of the Central Park Conservancy, which has strategically placed mini-billboards broadcasting awful pictures of the derelict state of the Park during the 1970s and 80s- barren brown meadows and graffiti-marred monuments.
What a treasure the Park is now, though. In the 1850s, when plans for a great central park for Manhattan were conceived, there was debate about the appropriate size and location of such a park, as many people could not imagine Manhattan becoming so populous as to necessitate the proposed 800 acres of green space, nor could they imagine the built city extending so far north into what was then open countryside ("Sheep's Meadow" was actually for sheep until the 20th century).
In short, it was a perfect day in Manhattan, and Mom and Dad and I did finally get our dinner at the bistro in my building on Amsterdam and 110th St.
4 comments:
Yeah, Livvy! You're such a wonderful writer, and this is no doubt the beginning of the historically embellished nonfiction family autobiography we're all going to write together!!
Yes, it was a wonderful walk in the park, with my two girls. Yes, it was. New York, who could ask for anything more? Good walking, good talking, then two hours later at the farm for the night. And today, which has been very productive and satisfying: wild roses expunged from under the maples along the road, in the creek meadow. Crabapple pruned of dead wood in honor of Mother's 96th birthday, today (she's interred under the said crabapple), and, of course, Cinquo de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day. Taylor and Diana shared a spare rib dinner with us, then we capped he late evening off with a wonderful stroll under the trees on the front lawn, the breeze sighing through the Norway Spruce and the stars coming out above, all the while accompanied by a the "chuff, chuff" rasping of a big cat (catamount?) somewhere over in the gravel pit... And there you have it: life on the farm in the Year of Our Lord 2007!
Alright - the poet begins to blog! We all know Dad is also a self-styled (and self-proclaimed) Historian and Language Scholar, but in fact, it's spelled CINCO de Mayo, and the day does NOT commemorate Mexican Independence (Sep. 16) but rather the Battle of Zaragoza of 1862 when Padre Hidalgo's grito roused the townspeople to defeat the French army in spite of great numerical odds!
All that seems to be missing on your walk was a trip to a tapas bar and/or a swell restaurant.
Great blog, Claudine. Now that I've found it, I'll follow it religiously.
Zinsky
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