G. and I borrowed my mother’s car and took a road trip to Montreal to visit my Brooklyn neighbors Marty and EJ, who were living there for the summer. There we found amazing bike lanes, cold weather and this wonderful bike shop Revolution, which is run by Marty and EJ’s friends. The lady mechanics not only fixed my borrowed bike, which got a flat tire, but I got a $15 “lesbian haircut for anyone” which everyone says is great. There’s more photos on flickr, including Village de Valuers (Value Village) where we got yelled at, in French, for taking pictures and mocking the mardi gras beads with the Quebec flag attached. I also spent too much money at Preloved, a clothing store that fashions new clothes out of old clothes. Every piece is unique and they are so terribly cool, it’s one of those shops that makes me wish I had my own personal stylist who could put together many outfits for me from their clothes. Maybe when I’m a famous Museum Educator… the trip also featured drives through the backroads of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where I got to see natural wonders I had not seen since childhood. I must say, I love New England and the eastern provinces.
A Summer of Rockin’ Out
I’ve been delinquint with the blog this summer… and with all the summer reading I was hoping to do (thanks, Andi, for forgiving my library fines!). And now sumemr is over, though the humidity makes me feel like it’s still July. This photo, of LJ, Andi and Gael rocking’ out at the Ted Leo show at McCarren pool is a representative sample of the free, outdoor summer fun that included an Opera in Prospect Park, Camera Obscura at South Street Seaport, and Ted Leo, the Thermals and TV on the Radio at McCarren pool (not for free there was also Sonic Youth and the Slits and Feist). There were also beach trips, bike rides and barbeques. Every year I feel like I settle into NYC a bit more and am a bit more relaxed about living here. All told, this was only my second summer here. In college I preffered to “summer” in Portland, OR and last summer I had the chance to study in France, which was fantastic. But summer in NYC, despite the heat and no air conditioner in my room, is really, really fun. There is a lightness about and the pace of the city seems to slow down. Like last year, I am working on extending summer through September. In June Andi and I made a pact to “live the good life” in NYC and I think we succeeded this summer.
Sleep Quiz
I bought this book “The Secret Language of Sleep” as a present for G. one day the other week and then saw Keight was reading it on Good Reads. I was convinced to take the “sleep test” and after answering some ridiculous questions it actually came up with a pretty accurate result:
Find your own pose!
Rainy Beach Day
The weather managed to thwart my friend Lil and my Maine summer beach plans, so instead we explored Fort Popham, a fort that has been on the Kennebeck river since the time of the Civil War. I am modeling my Brooklyn hoodie and king of the mountains Tour de France hat in the fort’s window. Much to Lil’s friend Ben’s disapointment, the fort did not feature any moveable walls or secret passageways.
Bastille Day Sparklers
A little different from Bastille Day last year where I watched fireworks from the banks of the Seine, this one was spent in Maine, chilling in the backyard of the house I grew up in, where my sister now lives. Here I rediscovered sparklers, which were actually more fun when I was younger, but here is Guillome, a young visitor from France, helping me desk the time delay function on my camera.
Pownal Sunset
Nature in Maine makes photography easy…
Fresh Local Maine Greens
A few weeks ago I went home to Maine to visit my family, including my sister who was home from France. I had just finished reading “Aninal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver and while I was home I read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. The benefits of eating locally and organically were fresh on my mind and this was certainly helped by my Mom’s garden. In Maine it was still cool enough to have fresh lettuce. I also made up a cocktail with fresh mint and lime concentrate- ‘mohito style’ you might call it. But certainly reading both of those books (though I recomend Pollan’s over Kingsolvers) has made me much more aware of where my food comes from even if I can’t just walk out to the garden and pick it myself.
Birthday Present
Forgive me for blogging about my cat. LJ found this amazing piece of kitch culture on the street by our apartment and presented it to me for my birthday (the cat clock behind Ida, not Ida herself, though she was also found on the street some years ago). I could not resist posing the real cat infront of these two creepy, 3-D fuzzy felines. If anyone wants this, get in touch. Though I’ve recently decided my apartment is “thrift store chique” (or a clutter magnet, if you look at it differently), this doesn’t fully fit the decor. Or so I’d like to believe. Even I have my limits.
July 4 Water Fight
July 4 was cloudy and rainy in Brooklyn, squelching plans for a beach trip and a rooftop barbeque. Instead, I went to Prospect Park with my neighbors, where we witnessed this strange hipster ritual. We were sitting drinking our watermelon juice on a grassy knoll when a herd of hips kids showed up with buckets full of water baloons. Soon they were launching them at each other with makeshift slingshots or going for the jugular with water guns. We soon made out that there were four teams- the British (union jack apparel, such as tank tops and boxer shorts), the colonists (or Americans, blue, which became evident when one yelled “No taxation without representation!”) and two other teams: Red (French??) and Green (Native Americans??). Yes, it was the American Revolution, re-enacted as a water fight. That combined with fireworks exploding right above our heads later that night thanks for local pyrotechnicians definetly made me feel like this is a great country we live in. For sure.
The Good Life in Brooklyn
I returned from Austin with a renewed summer motive: to live the good life in Brooklyn. Meaning, I want to enjoy all that I can access here and the wonderful friends that I’ve made over the years. I think it’s easy to get sucked into a daily routine and I have to remind myself constantly to snap out of it a little. So far I think i am meeting my resolution: an inpromtu rooftop picnic last weekend, a bike ride to Manhattan beach, Faust and Manu Chau (outside of the paying area) for free in the park, making watermelon juice and cucumber salad. I love the cities I’ve visited where “the good life” seems more folded into the fabric of everyday life (Austin, Paris, Portland), but I think it is fully accessible here too, it’s just a matter of attitude.
Killerfemme 