Fall window

Holiday Inn

The new Broadway musical Holiday Inn stars Tony nominees Bryce Pinkham and Megan Lawrence, along with Megan Sikora, Corbin Bleu, Lee Wilkof and Lora Lee Gayer. The musical, which began performances September 1, features music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge, inspired by the 1942 film. The Broadway production is directed by Greenberg, with choreography by Denis Jones. Performances were recently extended through January 15, 2017. The show features over 20 classic songs from the Berlin catalogue, including “Steppin’ Out With My Baby,” “Shaking the Blues Away,” “Easter Parade,” “Cheek to Cheek” and “Heatwave.

Halloween at Maria's- Di made the lack-o-lantern.

In an office

Sitting in the coaches office waiting for the day to begin :).

Inside & out

We bought the chrysanthemum over the weekend away and it now sits on our window sill bringing the autumnal tints inside the apartment.

Crotona park

Named after the Greek colony of Croton, known for its Olympic athletes, Crotona Park has served the Bronx community steadily since its purchase by the City in 1888. Among naturalists, the park is widely known for its variety of tree species (28 in all) and gorgeous 3.3-acre lake, which serves as home to turtles, ducks, and fish.


However, manmade structures within the park thrill visitors as well. Crotona Park’s pool is the largest in the borough at 300 feet. Tennis buffs happily head to the park’s 20 hard courts during the warm season, and baseball teams flock to its five diamonds. In addition, families log many hours romping in the eleven playgrounds spread throughout the park.


I just walked through the very tip of it and tried to capture the light.

Halloween squash

More full crates of squash and now decorated in time for Halloween.

Meeting

I know I know it's a really blurry selfie but.... finally meeting up with Lawry in NYC at Chocolat. Fabulous catch up.

Greenwood Lake

The journey back into NYC took us across the George Washington Bridge  and views of the city skyline.

We stopped to see views of more autumnal tints and the lake

Mums

Part of the fall foliage are the chrysathemums. Lovely!

Custodian duties

The school custodians have to keep the footpaths clear so when it snows they have a huge chore and in the fall the clearing of leaves is their duty too

The Grand Concourse

Autumn along the Grand Concourse as I walk from the D train to the 42 bus.

Berries & leaves

Tucked away in garden beds along some relatively desolate streets were these lovely bright leaves and berries. I got to the school and later in the day one of the students said I saw you walking to school. I commented that I hadn't seen them- he said you were taking a photo of some leaves.

Fall stoops- Halloween

This one has a bit more of a Halloween theme :) 

School courtyard

They provided shade in the summer and now glorious colour in the autumn. 

Cardinal

I've seen this lovely cardinal twice on my walks through Morningside Park. Just sitting there minding its own business.

Breakfast

Poached egg on a bed of spinach and a layer of smoked salmon.

Sleaze

How wrong were they all

Fall stoops

The simple and the elaborate ways in which people decorate their stoops in the fall are a photographers delight and challenge. 

Walking

In an effort to make sure I get exercise I have been walking up the steps through Morningside Park,  along the top via Morningside Drive and then down 110 to Central Park just skimming the edge and these lees in the sunlight.

From a classroom window

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A different view of the changing autumnal tints from a bleak school window.

Rose

A long weekend and Rose and Peter in town so we met up and walked the Highline and then came back to Harlem for dinner.
So good catching up with mates :).

Nathalie

Two wonderful days of mucking around with paint and paper.
Thank you Nathalie Kalbach for a wonder experience learning new techniques, exploring new ideas and having great fun!

Bill's Place

Welcome to Bill’s Place. Harlem's only authentic speakeasy got its start in the early years of Prohibition during the 1920's. It was a lawless era of gangsters and illegal drinking in small underground parlors of private houses uptown. Harlem was the home of Swingstreet located on133rd Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenues. Sitting in the middle of the 133rd Street block is Bill's Place at # 148; in the original site,.swinging and jamming the best jazz to be heard anywhere in New York City.

If you want to step back into a bygone era of the small, cozy elbow touching Harlem parlor, with live "in your face" outrageous jazz musicians, you must come to see Bill Saxton, international world class sax man, lead the Harlem All Stars on Friday nights.It is the only experience in town to give you a unique opportunity to be in the same legendary place where the likes of, teenager, Billie Holliday got an opportunity to begin her singing career,and Fats Waller and Willie the Lion Smith were regulars on the piano while enjoying the "bath Tub gin". Bill Saxton, The Harlem Jazz King, keeps the tradition of straight ahead jazz, alive and well, in his joint. Join the legends of Harlem's past in the best of today's jazz by making reservations; and remember, no alcohol is sold. Come out Friday or Saturday night uptown and have a blast.

We took our own wine and glasses and sat this close to the drums and musicians. Bill greeted us at the door and played his saxophone :).

Helados

Delicioso Coco Helado (sorbet style ice cream) is now one of the largest employers in the neighborhood with more than 30 seasonal employees producing the icy treat.

Alfredo Thiebaud also supplies over 200 independent vendors who are ubiquitous on street corners around the New York City during the summer.

Delicioso vendors begin arriving at the factory around nine in the morning to pick up their merchandise for the day. The vendors, mostly from Latin America, line up quietly as they receive their supply of the frozen fruit purée in tubs. In the evening, vendors return with any unsold product to store in the Delicioso’s warehouse until the next morning.

Vendors are responsible for their individual permits and are free to go wherever they want in the city to sell the product. Thiebaud will not supply a vendor who does not have a permit.

The politics of permits can be a tough business in New York, as Thiebaud knows. In the early 1990s, Thiebaud briefly had his own permit suspended by the city for illegally supplying vendors with permits instead of having to get them through City Hall. Though he was never accused of selling the permits, he acknowledged that he did give them to vendors who sold his products. “I used to give it to the vendor to sell the products,” he said. “I gave them permits to create jobs. I never took advantage and sold the permits.”

Many of the vendors are Latin Americans who come year after year to New York to work for the summer and then return home for the winter. When his vendors leave for the season, Thiebaud continues to work in his factory, fixing the carts and doing yearly maintenance.

Heading home

The view as one walks home- lights on in the brownstone buildings. 

Daunting

The highest subway station is at Smith and 9th Street in Brooklyn, located 88 feet above street level- I know that as i used to have to climb the stairs from the R train to get to the F. However the "subway" stairs at West Farms Square are pretty daunting too.
Oxygen is needed once you reach the platform.

Squash

The ever changing bins outside the supermarket- I haven't seen them anything less than completely full.

Looking down

Taking the toddlers for a walk- the sights from our windows are many and varied and in this case it seemed that this group were either heading off or returning from some excursion...from Morningside Park? ...to the child care center?...off to the shops.
There was another cluster of them a little further ahead and another cluster a little further behind.

Colour

The walk to try to get both fit and slimmer takes me through different parts of Harlem. These Vespas would be pretty handy for  getting around the city. Maybe not when winter comes.

Wedding

A delightful way to start a month-joining in with the celebration of Alina and Ross's wedding.
They married in July in NYC and then invited friends and family to their favorite restaurant in October to celebrate :).

Treasures

Treasures all.
None of them are very big- one is the pot that Damian and Cresten gave me for my 21st birthday. The next is the dream catcher pot I bought in Zion National Park last year and the third is the "dish" I bought in St Petersburg on the Baltic tour with Sharan and Anne-Marie.