what about the plastic animals?

Harlem Rocks

Outcropping of Manhattan Schist forming the base of Mount Morris in Marcus Garvey Park at night. 

I moved in to my apartment five years ago today.

Rusty Fence

Along the waterfront behind Astoria Houses. 

Joey Harrison's photos of combines getting ready for battle reminded me of good times at the Nebraska State Fair and also made me want to return to Ohio.

Rat Trap?

Why is this rat crying tears of blood?

5 Boroughs Ice Cream

5 Boroughs Ice Cream, a new company based in Astoria, was mentioned in the Times last week.  They have five flavors, one for each borough.  Gourmet Garage had an introductory special, 2 pints for $7, so I bought a couple of pints.  I usually prefer a very simple ice cream -one flavor with one mixed in item max.  I'll make an exception for the baklava ice cream.  Mmm, it was good.  It's got pieces of baklava!  Plus almonds, walnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg.  It's got guar gum and carrageenan as well in case you are hungering for emulsifiers and stabilizers.  The Staten Islad Land Fill is also quite good.  It has chocolate cake chunks, brownies, fudge and cherries.  Other flavors include Bay Ridge Amaretto Amoré, South Bronx Cha Cha Chocolate, and SoHo Cappuccino.  5 Boroughs uses New York ingredients as much as possible and the ice cream is made upstate in Boonville.  Ironically, 5 Boroughs ice cream is currently only for sale in Manhattan.

Semi-related:  Kevin Walsh's book, Forgotten New York:  The Ultimate Urban Explorer's Guide to the Five Boroughs goes on sale today.  Go out and get yourself a copy!

Unrelated:  Happy birthday Jen and Roseanne!  (Roseanne's birthday may have been a couple of days ago, or on Thursday, I'm splitting the difference and saying it is today.)

Blue Sky

The sky was very blue this morning.

Mr. Met Gets Tanked

You'll have to forgive Mr. Met's late appearance this week.  After the Mets clinched their division Mr. Met decided to "party like we did in '86." 

Mr. Met enjoyed a bottle of McNeill's Brewery Old Ringworm beer that I got when I was in Brattleboro this past summer.  He also enjoyed a bottle of Fâmega vinho verde from Portugal.  I know nothing about wine.  I picked this up at Astor Wines because it was cheap ($4.69).  My intent was to use it as a cooking wine but Mr. Met beat me to it.  He did let me have a taste.  It is light and effervescent and not overly sweet.  I liked it so much I went back and got a bottle for myself.  It's on a high shelf where Mr. Met can't reach.

Mount Olivet Baptist Church at Night

Almost three years ago now I posted a couple of photos of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church.  The church is a few blocks away from where I live.  Like many churches in the neighborhood, the Mount Olivet building began life as a synagogue, which is what piqued my interest in the building.  Earlier today Hugo Chavez, the half-nutty President of Venezuela gave a talk at the church.  The occasion of his talk was enough to inspire many to google "Mount Olivet Baptist Church" and find my old page.  They've also left entertaining comments because, if I understand their logic, I took photos of the church therefore this must be the church's website and I must be a supporter of Hugo Chavez. 

One person wrote to me directly.  The unsigned email said Mt. Olivet should be ashamed, that the church members should not be called Christians, that Chavez makes a mockery of Christianity whenever he makes the sign of the cross, and Chavez hasn't a clue as to what it means to be a true Catholic.  That person then lived up to Christ's teachings by concluding "Shame on you people in Harlam [sic].  You are a DISGRACE, besides being stupid and dumb n*****s!"

Sunday Reflections

Sunday was not the best planned day.  The first plan was to go to the International Pickle Day festivities on Orchard Street.  That plan was cancelled.  The backup plan was to meet a group at the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden in Queens.  I have no idea how long the subway ride is to Astoria, or how long a walk it is to the beer garden.  Leaving the directions at home didn't help.  The ride went quicker than I guessed so I swung by the beer garden a few minutes early.  Not seeing any recognizable members of the group, and having time to spare, I walked down to the water.  I watched the boats on the river for a while and realized I had no desire to go back to the beer garden.  Standing up my friends, who, as it turns out, didn't go to the beer garden anyway, I walked along the waterfront to Socrates Sculpture Park.  The park is better in concept than execution and I was bored after about three minutes.  I also got hungry and thirsty, so I got a couple of cookies at an Italian bakery.  The cookies were fine but had I walked a block farther I would have run into several more interesting places to eat.  Places with seating, for example.

Back in Manhattan the uptown train was packed.  I got out at Lincoln Center just to get off the packed train.  There was a craft fair in progress.  As I walk around it slowly dawns on me that the fair is unusually quiet for the amount of people there.  I looked around and see dozens of people talking in sign language.  That explained the quiet.  I also notice that, aside from the deaf group and a few of the crafts people, I'm the youngest person at the fair by a couple of decades, which may explain why few of the crafts appeal to me.

Unrelated to my ramblings above:  Mr. Met has a Myspace page!  Complete with a really awful song.  If only I had thought of it first...

The Kalahari Goes Up

July 11, 2006

August 11, 2006

September 6, 2006

More photos of the Kalahari's slow progress this summer.  It seems strange that it is taking them more than a month per story.  From what little I see before leaving in the morning the work looks well-choreographed.  There's a couple dozen guys working the site.  Forms get made, cement gets poured, rebar gets inserted, interior walls get built, etc.

If that's not enough Kalahari for you, here's the design architect, the executive architect (from which I learned that the Kalahari is two buildings, not one), the building (complete with requisite light jazz), and the construction blog, which misses the point of being a blog.  There was an interesting story about the three screen theater that's planned to go into the building.

Harlem Cranes

111 Central Park North

The Kalahari

A few cranes from the neighborhood.  The crane at the Kalahari has been there for weeks.  I have yet to see it in action.  The Kalahari is going up at a glacial pace.  The picture above is three weeks old and they have yet to complete that floor.  At more than a month per floor the building won't be done until next fall at the earliest --two years after they started excavating.