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Manhattan Bridge
Manhattan Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Manhattan Bridge doesn't get the love its beautiful neighbor to the south gets but I like it plenty fine. The bike path is newish, not very busy, and has great views of northern Brooklyn. More importantly, the access point in Manhattan is at the end of Canal St. very close to many Chinese bakeries. Then again, the fun clackety-clack sound of bicycle tires make as they roll over the Brooklyn Bridge's wooden slats is hard to beat.
On the BQE pedestrian/bike overpass, going into Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Reade St., lower Manhattan
Further evidence that New York City is not George W. country.
What is more depressing, two-thirds of Americans thinking creationism should be taught alongside evolution in schools, one in five think the sun revolves around the earth?
Behold and See as you Pass By
as you are Now Soo once was I
as I am now You soon Will be
prepare for Death and follow me
On Saturday I went up to Dutchess County to look for a couple of ancestors. I didn't know where they were buried but I had a good idea. I know their names, and when they died, the towns they died in, and that they were Dutch. That narrowed my choices to Dutch Reformed Church graveyards that would have been active in the mid-18th century in the towns of Fishkill and Beekman. The towns have changed over the years, the township of Beekman used to cover a very large area, for example, and I only had a vague idea of where the cemeteries might be located.
I visited cemeteries in Hopewell and in Fishkill. The cemetery I found in Beekman was a Methodist cemetery and mostly post-dated my ancestors deaths. Similarly the Hopewell cemetery was established just after the ancestors would have died. The old part of the cemetery is pretty small, so it was easy to look at all the graves. No luck. There were plenty of graves old enough in the Fishkill cemetery, but none of my ancestors.
Most of the old marble tombstones were weathered to the point of unreadability. The red tombstones, which I think are sandstone, are in pretty good shape considering they are about 250 years old.
As you can tell the Dutch weren't too sentimental about death.
Doughnut Plant, Grand St., Manhattan
Baked, Van Brunt St., Red Hook.
cupcake with fluffy frosting at Baked.
hummingbird chair, Baked.
Bicycling burns up lots of calories so it is important to eat when on a ride. My first stop on Sunday was the Doughnut Plant. I had a vanilla bean doughnut rather than a fresh peach.
The second food stop, quite a while later was at Baked, in Red Hook. I hadn't been to Baked before. Judging from their color scheme and designs, they are related to the Chocolate Bar. The quiche was very good. The cupcake was outstanding. The double dark chocolate brownie, allegedly Oprah's favorite, was good and familiar. I've made it dozens of times - they use the Moosewood fudge brownie recipe. The lemonade had just the right sugar-tartness balance. Definitely a place to return to next time I'm in the neighborhood.
East 2nd St., East Village
Dwight St., Red Hook, Brooklyn
It was a bit humid yesterday, but otherwise a great day for a bike ride. I rode to Red Hook and back, cheating a bit by taking the uptown train from 14th St. to 116th. Along the way I saw lots of interesting art and ate many delicious baked goods.
Saw this enormous spider web while walking along old 9W yesterday afternoon. It must be several feet across. I didn't see the spider. Then again the web looks pretty old so maybe the spider found a new home.
About a month ago I spotted the animal cruelty sign in Morningside Park. I've been on the lookout for the park's turkey since then. Not seeing the turkey for a few weeks I began to fear that she had been injured or killed. My fears were put to rest this morning when I saw the turkey milling about by the 116th Street stairs.
It's the new street vending craze! You heard it here first. Small are $3, large are $5. I saw them for a dollar in Chinatown. I only saw one size and I don't know if they were large or small compared to these at 72nd St. If I bought one I'd have to buy several dozen to get the overwhelming color effect.
Is free Miller Lite an incentive?
Yesterday was my third, and final, day of jury duty. On the first day no cases came to trial. Everyone sat around being bored. On the second day a case came up for trial. After some preliminaries, the judge offered to talk to people individually if they had concerns about serving on the jury. The rest of us had a three hour lunch. Following lunch the first sixteen people were brought into the jury box for the voir dire process. Nine of those people were chosen to sit on the jury.
Another sixteen names were chosen to go through voir dire. I was number sixteen. The judge asked all of us questions about serving. Then he sent us home for the weekend. Monday morning the prosecution and defense had their opportunity to ask us questions. Only two people were chosen to serve. I wasn't one of them. No jury duty for me for another six years at least.
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