On the Waterfront



On the waterfront by Caroline Shepard




In between apartments, we've been staying on the waterfront on the Manhattan side of  the Brooklyn Bridge. 



Playing off the piers, eating Chinese food, discovering parts of the city, in between streets, up beyond the sidewalks where I never looked.  As I wrote about last week on the POPS, the secrets of New York are so many in a city in constant flux.  Walking to Mother's day Chinese food, we happened upon the Spanish Portuguese Cemetery on St. James Place, dating back to 1654. A small plot of land, adjacent to a small park, stones loom from the ground as they have for centuries, right here in the city.

Robert L. Bracklow. Jewish Cemetery, Chatham Square. 1880-1910. © Museum of the City of New York.
 

 

All weekend was like that.  Instead of doing activism, I just hung out. Sometimes the body just wants to be still, to exist. 

no activism this weekend

Waking on a rainy Saturday, we walked to Pier 15, playing hide and go seek on the water, looking out on the water.

 

Walking back, we stumbled past the old Fulton Fish Market.

 

I wonder why it passed in memory.

Standing there I can think about there is Marlon Brando and his soliloquy from On the Waterfront.  We all have dreams, which are hopefully realized every day.  The struggle of everyday life is sometimes just to live some of that in just a moment in time.

 

 

Later that afternoon, we drove up state, taking in he beauty of the afternoon rain, the neon light reflecting in the puddles.

 

Driving in the rain.  Top BS bottom Caroline Shepard

Enjoying an afternoon in Garrison, looking at the pond.  A small group, baby koi appeared out of nowhere, front the bottom of the pond.  Spring awakening them. 



 

We hung out in Tom’s old tree house, playing banjo, listening to the birds through the trees.

 

Passing through time, listening to Cat Stevens, we were back by nightfall, wondering, exploring, saying goodnight to the city.   

 





Living down here, I am reminded that much of the city is a waterfront.  We are surrounded by water.
It surrounds us.  It nourishes us.  And it can take everything away in a second, as we learned last fall.
Today, we are rebuilding the waterfronts - from the Gowanus to Lower Manhattan.  Hopefully, we do it right. So, we can support her and she can support us.

 

Multiple waterfronts... Can the water along here really be clean?