Tag Archives: nyc

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

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This post is not numbered. It is no longer the mother-story. It is no longer the husband-story. It’s MY story. Maybe I should number it 1. First. The new Beginning. Yes, I know, it has been two months since the last post. The gaps have been filled by stuff. Weird stuff. Elections (I’m not going there), feeling stuck, too much on the to-do list, too many holidays, learning how to navigate life my way. A year after someone passes there is an “unveiling” of the headstone. I think It’s kind of a smack upside the head to let you know … Continue reading →

Nostalgia: The Automat

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New York City / Philadelphia history. Recently, a documentary was made called, The Automat, which was available in several movie theaters scattered here and there as well as various organizations having private showings online which were not easy for everyone to access. You can now, whether you are an Amazon Prime member or not, access the movie and rent or buy it. It is well worth the few dollars. “A charming, fascinating look at one of the first and most unique restaurant chains in America with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Colin Powell.” Link to Amazon Prime … Continue reading →

A Digital Movie From 2002

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JHS class of 1928   My father attended the Germain School of Photography on the G.I. Bill after WW II; there he learned all kinds of photography skills: the history, the how-to’s, darkroom skills and camera repair. He worked, doing camera repair, in my parent’s bedroom after his regular job as a shipping clerk. He had an ad in Popular Photography for his little business, Precision Camera Repair. The cameras would come in limping and he would fix them. My job was to take them to the post office on East 14th Street (Manhattan) to be shipped back. This is … Continue reading →

Validating a Memory: The Neptune Raincoat Company

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  I was thinking about my father: he was a laborer. That’s what my mother said. I never knew what the words meant until later in my childhood, but I understood the memory of an image at a young age. I knew, for years, that my father worked on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, south of where we lived, on East Broadway and Canal Street. Somewhere, down there. I knew that he worked for The Neptune Raincoat Company. I remembered that in my early teens, while I was in Junior High School 104, that my father traveled to Elizabeth, … Continue reading →

2a. Garden: Flowers, Bugs & Butterflies, 2020: Eggs to Pillars

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This is how it begins: a black Eastern Swallowtail butterfly somehow finds you. If you have dill or parsley growing, you become its best friend.             The eggs are laid on the tiny leaves. If laid on parsley, after the eggs hatches, the young caterpillar will only eat parsley. If on dill, the same. Mama knows best. That is the first lesson.                   And on the plant on which it’s been placed, the young caterpillar will begin its eating frenzy.               … Continue reading →

Angels Among Us

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  We have been confined for three months of quarantine and my husband decided that he had to get a haircut. Mind you, he has neurological issues and very poor balance, he has lost a lot of muscle weight and his gait is unsteady. He has not been out alone nor has he driven in three months. In my mind he should not have gone out. But he is stubborn and overestimates his abilities. I was busy dealing with the issues with my mother. He went for a haircut, in this new world order of masks and gloves and lines. … Continue reading →

Homage to Hammer’s Dairy Restaurant

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    So many of our memories involve food and this one is no different. This is Steven Hammer, my classmate, a sweet little second grader with red hair. His dad was Bill Hammer, and the Hammer family owned Hammer’s, the dairy restaurant at 243 East 14th Street, off Second Avenue. I don’t think we were in any other classes together, having consulted my stack of class photos, but for some reason, I remember his face so clearly, a seven year old. It was 1955-1956. The class was taught by a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Marion Oppenheimer, who later left to … Continue reading →

New York City Photo Journal: A Visit To a City Agency: Visual Commentary

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A recent visit to a branch of the NYC Department of Transportation, Access-A-Ride, March 4, 2020   This is where the disabled in the borough of Queens go to be evaluated for para transit. (Something we felt we should get as a back-up to driving due to health issues and limitations.) You bring an application, medical documentation and are interviewed and evaluated. You are picked up by a vehicle assigned by this department and returned home, but because they pick you up at least an hour and a half early, you end up waiting hours for return transit, and if … Continue reading →

The Green Coat

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  Shopping in 1939, before my time: Union Square, Manhattan. S. Klein’s On The Square   I mentioned in another post that I grew up on East 14th Street in Manhattan and that I am admin for a group of over 1200 nostalgic former Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village kids who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. This blog post on shopping and the stores in our neighborhood reflects a post series I began on this area: The Automat, Union Square (restaurants and stores). S. Klein article [ And, I just realized, that the author of the article was … Continue reading →

Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project: Transformation: #4

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  When you least expect it. The day began with mother-issues (the aide didn’t show). It took a few hours for things to resolve … Anxiety over having to get into Manhattan for a medical appointment in a predicted rain storm. The rain never came … I let Hèrmes, our “community kitty,” in for breakfast, and in passing the butterfly house, I was surprised, if not gifted with the fourth butterfly. We NEVER expected any more emerging beauties at this time of year, we anticipated having to wait until next Spring. Nature knows. Somehow. In this narrow window of opportunity … Continue reading →

Musical Memory and How Jazz Memorializes the Old and New

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The Antonio Hart Quintet: click the link to hear and see Flushing Town Hall, October 5, 2019 I was able to get photos of four of the five band members. (Jerome Gillespie II, drums was not within my line of vision: here is a link to a piece, he is a fabulous young drummer from Houston:    youtube ) This was very generous, interactive, accessible concert. After the end I went up to Antonio, whom I had seen in concert many times with the Queens Jazz Masters at Flushing Town Hall. Antonio is the protegé of jimmy Heath, who is … Continue reading →

Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project 2019: Transformation

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  At this point, there were seven pupae in the little tree we constructed and about a week went by. Then, one morning, this happened:   This was our first “baby.” We weren’t sure how to proceed: we ended up waiting a day to release it, it might have been the weather. The wings have to dry; this guy was ready to go and was very active. We gave it sugar water but it didn’t drink. And then the time came for the ceremony. The shortened version. It was very touching to let it go. We had done our job. … Continue reading →

Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project 2019: Part 2: Fat “Cats …”

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What you witnessed in the previous blog post was the hatching of little egg gems and the morphing into tiny barely visible creatures, which, when fed well, grew and grew into chubby green multi-legged hungry guys, with black, white and yellow markings. In short, it was amazing. Life is a series of transitions and growth: Caterpillars are programmed to transition and they adapt to each stage so well, relying on innate messages to move on with their lives. We watched this occur with eight caterpillars. The eighth one was rescued after we explained to our neighbor that it was a … Continue reading →

Nurture Nature: The Butterfly Project 2019: part 1: Tiny Pearls …

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  This bright green and black fellow was noticed as we were about to pick parsley. A few years ago my over-the-fence-neighbor was lingering over his parsley and espied one of these guys, plucked it from its grasp on the little leaves, declared it a plague and dashed it to the ground. I thought it was the precursor to a monarch butterfly and my heart was crushed. My son and I did some research and learned that this was indeed going to be a butterfly: a black swallowtail. The research began and there was a lot to learn. Step-by-step we … Continue reading →

Nurture Nature: The Backyard Observations

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I noticed the sound of little birds lately. It is October 1st, and it sounds like spring. They chatter and twitter, unlike the mockingbirds of a few months ago that would sing, non-stop day and night, mimicking every sound they ever heard including car alarms. No, these are the sounds I remember from my childhood. Here’s a memory: We are in Brooklyn visiting my grandmother and aunt at #1 Tennis Court. (How’s that for an address?) And it’s time to leave, the sun is going down, the shadows are lengthening, the light is gold, the air is full of spring … Continue reading →

Photography Book: New York City/Rain

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Posting a collection of iPhone photography, 2014-present. The link below should bring you to the book to view. (I don’t sell them, this is my link to preview my work, for my own purchase) Self-published through Chatbooks; I recommend this company. If you are a photographer and would like to publish a book of your work or family photos, message me for my code, we’ll both get $10 off our projects.   How It Was Done All iPhone photography and edits. Photos taken from passenger-side of the (often moving) car during travels into Manhattan. Interspersed with quotes. Click here to … Continue reading →