LONG WEEKEND

FRIDAY

5.24.2019
7 a.m.

3 p.m.

"Upstream"

*

8 p.m.

~*~

SATURDAY
8 a.m.
Bleary and Weary

Afternoon
Traversing Second Street
Alberts Garden

The Anyway Cafe

 Marble Cemetery
2nd Street

*
.
*

*

Across the street,
Greek Orthodox Cathedral
liturgical music drew me in

I caught the end of the vigil, and Friendly folks invited me to take snaps (only one)

 It's an astounding interior
VIRTUAL TOUR
http://orthodox360.com/tours/ocanyc/


Outside 

Further on toward 1st Avenue
A block long display of vintage

7 p.m.
Heading home
 *
"Passage to India"
Channel 13 TV 9 p.m.

https://youtu.be/MRz8rzv5rM4
~*~


SUNDAY
"Heaven"

https://youtu.be/J2lvhDv0bWA

Hot today. Read "Upstream" a while, puttered, answered emails, posted at Face book, made lists, got world news update, had a nap and a soak in Epsom salts, thought about people I know who are weathering difficult challenges, then about all those in struggle I don't know.

 
7 p.m.
Rain
8 p.m.
Hudson River

Close up of the Afterglow

A pretty young woman about thirty something years, dressed well in a black glittering cocktail dress and a plush lined beige leather jacket over her shoulders she hugged close around her torso was also watching the sky, sitting near by. She smiled at me and after we complimented the view, we got to talking about this and that. After fifteen minutes or so, I surmise she is running from something. She's here from Sidney Australia and has no work permit so she's exchanging work for lodging at a bargain hotel called 'Chelsea Cabins' where they let her have a room when one is available (I didn't ask where she sleeps when one is not available). She's writing a novel and came here with the conviction that she needs to be in NYC to find a publisher and a sponsor. Apparently she changed her name legally from her birth name (which she didn't want to tell me) some time before leaving Australia and all her ID gives her new name only - "Valsala" (she says it's Sanskrit for love and compassion). I asked if her parents were still alive and her response was "I don't know". I offered her the usual truths about my life as we went along to keep the contact going. Something was very wrong. I began to worry for her. She made no plans, nor had she saved money for the trip. She was not entirely listening but eager to continue. I sensed her looking for solutions, but nothing specific was asked, and I had to move along toward home as my energy waned, so we said goodbye. She asked if she could hug me. Sure. I felt her loneliness, wished her well.  
 ~*~

MONDAY
Memorial Day

https://youtu.be/ea9U3E58HC8 
  

BEING AT HOME

Thursday Friday Saturday

June 21,22,23

Home is a Shopping Cart

Home is a Blanket

 ~*~

Spying Love

 At the Hudson River Park
.
 Summer Solstice

The Hudson

 Sundown 8:15PM

 At Home under the giant Willow

~*~

Friday
Haircut on 14th Street

Looking West at 14th Street
June 22nd 7:30PM

Waiting for the 1st Avenue bus
.
~*~

Saturday
At the Bus stop on 23rd Street

They use the free phone while making themselves at home
and sharing food

She Carries her home with her. Ive seen her the past ten years all over-Midtown, Chelsea, Union Square, Hells Kitchen. Always in white. One shop keeper calls her 'Dolly', another 'Lady, and another 'Serefina'. I never asked. She doesn't welcome intrusion.

Heading home Crosstown, 
another familiar with her service dog.

Closing time at the Farm Market

Discarded Scraps

I'm Home

.
Sunday Preview 
'Pride'
 
~*~

MOON RIVER

Hudson River Park

New York City

Evening

 Again I resume the long
lesson: how small a thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.

With the ongoing havoc
the woods this morning is
almost unnaturally still.
Through stalled air, unshadowed
light, a few leaves fall
of their own weight.

The sky
is gray. It begins in mist
almost at the ground
and rises forever. The trees
rise in silence almost
natural, but not quite,
almost eternal, but
not quite.

What more did I
think I wanted? Here is
what has always been.
Here is what will always
be. Even in me,
the Maker of all this
returns in rest, even
to the slightest of His works,
a yellow leaf slowly
falling, and is pleased.

Wendell Berry
Sabbaths 1999, VII
~*~

Afterglow over the River

 Illuminated

 Where the Cicadas Sing

Moon over Samadhi

 Samadhi

Doodle
"What if..."

~*~

LINKS

The Hudson River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River

History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Hudson_River

River Keeper

https://www.riverkeeper.org/ 

Samadhi the Yacht

https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-22997/samadhi.htm 

Samadhi in Buddhism

http://buddhism.ygoy.com/what-is-the-concept-of-samadhi/ 
 

HUDSON RIVER WALK Part 2

SUNDAY

The Fleet has landed!

Looking out across the mighty Hudson River

 Wild skies all day

 Nearly deserted pathways from 23rd Street to 34th since the real crowds were downtown partying, drinking, visiting the ships come to port

 Rain clouds swirled and threatened

 A Mallard couple cruised the shore undisturbed

There's a large fenced in area where huge architectural elements of the past and stone sculptures are being kept behind locked gates

They've been there for years

I wonder if they will ever be used again

I walked for several hours

 I let thoughts wash over me, thoughts about the current wars, all the past wars just in my own little life, and the wars down through the ages, thought of the constant effort to expand and the competing energies of construction and destruction we struggle with.
In my heart of hearts there was only peace.
(one hour)

https://youtu.be/qA4XX15xatk
 ~*~

Crossed out of the park and back into the city at 6:30

I walked across 35th Street to second Avenue, then downtown, stopping at Fairway for a few food items, and on home to 21st Street, up three flights to stash food and indulge in a lovely nap.  I did not watch the Memorial Day Concert or Parade, just read the world news in my neglected morning pages and turned away from the sad facts of war to catch up on blogs I love, downloaded my photographs and constructed 
Part 1 of River Walk

Here's a six minute joyous compilation of dogs reuniting with the returned

https://youtu.be/d6kjZXwdyJs