24 Oct 06

Time:

?

Money:

? (Bad, bad, bad.)

More interesting things:

Walked down my avenue towards the subway and noticed that papers were floating through the air, pretty high up off the street. I guess I should have something wise and disappointed to say about the fact that there's even litter in New York's airspace, but in fact it looked like so many birds drifting around up there, kind of like that detergent commercial I like so much.

Headed out of the station on my way to the gym and passed a lady wearing a turban that was covering either a lifetime's worth of hair or Carmen Miranda's fruit basket hat. I would constantly be knocking it over on signs and stuff, particularly in the subway stations, but I guess by now she must be used to it.

Noticed crowds on 14th Street, as usual... taxis squealing by, as usual... and two cops, one with riot gun and the other with German Shepherd, not that usual, thankfully. They were guarding the line outside the record store (the purpose of which - the line, I mean - they didn't know themselves; the best they could come up with when I asked was, "I dunno, some kinda concert, I guess?") I'm glad they're so on-point, as my kids would have said, but yeesh.

Passed a fruit stand on University Place, and, more importantly, a stroller containing a person who was enjoying the seller's wares. We're talking here about a very small, very young kid - a baby, really - but he (or she, I guess) had one grape in hand and was, to judge by the look on his face, considering very carefully the idea of eating it.

Noticed that the leaves in WSq Park are turning gold and red, starting at the edges and working their way back to green. It got cold all of a sudden, and I think my brain is still expecting it to go back to hot somehow.

Discovered that this is probably not going to happen, if the street decorations over Broadway are anything to go by. It's not even stores doing it, because there I would sort of understand the profit-motivated wish to begin reminding people about the end of December; it's the city, I guess, with at least one big white snowflake thingy stretched over the road.

Learned that Peter Sis - of Kitaq Goes Ice Fishing fame, I think, and if not definitely lots of other well-respected picture books - is the one who designed the mosaics in my subway station. Did he actually go there and coordinate the physical creation? Or was it more of a concept thing sent from Alaska or wherever he is for the tiling experts to implement here for him? Either way, that's high-class stuff.

Admired a very well-behaved German Shepherd as he waited just inside the first sliding door at Gristede's for his person to finish the shopping. I saw one person come out, but the big guy ignored him completely - he knew what his job was, and it entailed not moving one furry speck until the right human said "Okay!"