what about the plastic animals?

Daffodils, Round Two

For the second time this month daffodils are blooming in Morningside Park.  With temperatures forecast to be in the 50s for at least a couple days this week there will undoubtedly be more.  I wonder if any will around to bloom at the more traditional time of year?

Actual Snow

I climbed these stairs today on my way to get the Sunday paper.  The temperature was 20 degrees when I left my apartment.

While paying for the paper I heard someone say "I don't want to walk anymore.  I'm cold and I don't want to walk anymore."  I looked up to see a well-dressed couple, presumably Columbia students on their way to church.  "Well-dressed" is probably the wrong descriptor.  The woman was wearing dressy heels to get around in the snow and slush.  She was also wearing a short dress.  No jacket, no sweater, no gloves, not even a scarf.  I did not know what to make of that.

Snow In Morningside Park!

The biggest snowstorm of winter hit town last night.  I could hardly believe my eyes when walking through Morningside Park today.  The snow must be 8-10 feet high on the retaining wall!  Elsewhere the drifts were the deepest I've seen in quite some time.  Good thing I was wearing boots!

Leak No More

Morningside Park has had a bad leak for the better part of a year.  The earliest photo above is from February 13th but the leak began before then.  Week after week I'd climb the stairs at 116th Street only to be met with a mysterious stream of water.  Week after week I'd take a few pictures and muttered that somebody ought to do something.  Week after week I'd forget to report the problem.  Sigh.

The flow was strong enough in the cold weather that the stream did not freeze.  Since either side of the stream was ice that meant the only safe place to walk was in the water.  In spring the stream filled up with pollen.  In the summer there was all sorts of organic matter and algae growth in the stream. 

The stream would flow down the trail and cascade down the middle set of stairs.  Usually the waterfall would disappear after a few steps only to reappear at the bottom of the stairs.  Sometimes, though, it was water all the way down.

On the Sunday after I returned from San Francisco there was a carefully arranged medial moraine of leaves and an abundance of caution tape near the source of the leak. This past Sunday there was a trench and the leak had stopped.  Thank you leak fixer!

Morningside Park Stairs: 1889 and 2011

This past August Harlem Bespoke featured an 1889 photo of Morningside Park's 116th St. stairs.  The photo is a cyanotype in the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.  A week after the photo appeared on Harlem Bespoke I put up a leaf-obscured view of the stairs.  I took another picture this morning with far fewer leaves, but still lots of branches, present.

Construction on the park began in 1883.  The park was still several years from completion when the photo was taken in 1889.  The Carl Schurz monument was added at the top of the stairs in 1913 (Andrew Carnegie was there!).   The apartment houses under construction on Morningside Avenue are still there today.

Turtles in Morningside Park

One thing I've noticed this summer is that there are an awful lot of turtles in the Morningside Park pond.   The Columbia Spectator ran a story about them today.  If the sun is out there will be dozens warming themselves on the rocks and dozens more swimming around.  All four of the turtles above are red-eared sliders which, as the article notes, are not native to New York so they, or their ancestors, were pets released into the pond.  The rock in the bottom photo is the "prominent rock" mentioned in the story.  It is usually more prominent but we had a lot of rain on Friday (the photos were taken on Sunday).

Reminder Needed

Somebody remind me to take a picture from this spot in a couple of months, after the leaves have fallen.

Barrels of Fun

Basking in the morning sun.

Painting in Progress

There's been a guy prepping and painting the railings on these steps in Morningside Park the past couple of weeks.  Thing is, it's not altogether clear to me that he's actually supposed to be prepping and painting the railings.  It's one guy dressed in raggedy clothes with a bucket and a few brushes.  There's no visible cue that he works for the Parks Department or a contractor.  When I saw him yesterday he said "Don't worry.  I'm not going to rob you."  He's doing a decent job of painting so this isn't a complaint.

Before and After Irene

I had this brilliant idea on Saturday to walk around the neighborhood and take pictures of things that might not be around after Irene came through the city.  My choices didn't out to be the best and Irene, thankfully, didn't inflict much damage.  The half-rotted London Plane at 114th and Morningside Ave. miraculously escaped unscathed.  Similarly, the big old tree on the lower path near 119th St. remained standing.  At least there two nearby trees fell.