Tuesday, April 22, 2014

SUNDAY SUNDAY--Part Two a day later than planned




Passing the local church garden,
I note that it is spare compared to other years.
April 2011
 April 2013
The year "no money for plants" was begun.
April 2014
It has been neglected since I quit.
The non-perennial mums they planted that terrible day in early November 2013 when they ripped out half of twenty years growth to accommodate a donation died a week later, and are still dead.  I will watch through this season, document,  and let go.
~
Onward then to the bus stop where I encounter a delightful child still wearing her home made Easter Bonnet.
East eighties in splendid bloom.
The Metropolitan Museum was much too crowded for me.
I'll see the exhibits another day.
Into Central Park.
Old growth on display.
to the Reservoir.
It served as the water supply for the City
until an outbreak of cholera in 1933 made finding a new source necessary.

Once known as Lake Manhatta,
it was renamed for Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994.
  She ran the track that surrounds it, and was a major financial contributor to the park.  If you visit, be sure to read the history.
Japanese tourists were everywhere capturing images.
The Guggenheim is visible across the street.
Having wandered for several hours, I stopped in to the Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue at 90th Street for just that.  It's a welcoming place.
 An elderly woman named 'Virginia', serving as docent for the day, was terribly kind.  When asked what brought me there, and in response to my reply that I was on my last legs, she insisted on getting me some food from the leftovers of lunch they had served as part of their regular outreach to those in need, and wouldn't take no for an answer.  There were also bags of fruit arranged by the door for anyone to take.
It's a beautiful cathedral, and I'm sorry I took so few pictures.  They are an Anglican Episcopalian and progressive community.  Their election of Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori to serve in the highest position of leadership was controversial.
This unsigned painting caught my eye.
Cloth is incorporated into the surface.
The rough burlap seems just right,
I wanted to touch of course.
Outside, a homeless woman was sleeping.
I quietly left the meal there.
Homeward then on the bus downtown.
Arriving at 23rd Street,
where someone left a gift I was meant to find.
I barely got out of my coat before dropping into bed.
The strange blue rose,
my Easter Sunday souvenir.



3 comments:

Yvette said...

lo ve to walk and dicover things through your eves!

Peggy said...

The church garden was beautiful under your care, Michelle -- so sad that it was stripped of its guardian plants. And that it lost you, its human guardian. If I lived there, I'd do some secret night-time gardening with you. ;)

On a brighter note, this was a lovely day to journey with you. xoxo

Ms. said...

Dear vette--It's one good eye and one due for surgery May 8th :-)

Dear Peggy...If you were here I would go out there in the middle of the night and clean up some messes. They even pulled up the hose and maybe punctured it..and the back garden...pots dumped and strewn...just awful. I hate to abandon anything but I don't have the money to do it alone, nor the patience to deal with uncooperative clergy. I hate to abandon it and must admit I'm still suffering. It will pass.