Buckets of Rain Over Your Head: August in NYC

Biking along the Hudson River, Alison and I visited a few spots downtown.

First stop, Otterness sculpture garden just west of Stuyvesant high school at Chambers Street. Second stop, Pier 25 between Harrison & North Moore Street. Pier 25 is a wonderland with grass, sand, golf, sprinklers and buckets of water that flip over cooling kids of all ages. Here are some photos from the bike ride.

August is the month when all children torture adults to get to water, and it's nice to see the city helping that effort with inventive playgrounds. With spots like Otterness garden and Pier 25's buckets of water over your head these are the good old days.

Here are Pier 25 photos I took last winter.

Next City Stories: Stoops to Nuts storytelling show @ Tuesday, August 16th @ 6pm @ Cornelia Street Cafe. We have great tellers and songsmiths, The Amygdaloids, Lindsey Gentile, Rachel Pertile Goldstein, Jed Parrish, Thomas Pryor & Andy Ross. It will change your life. I don't know how we do it, but we do. The Cafe requests $7 admission to cover their expenses then they turn around and give you a free drink, a swell deal.

Buckets of Rain cover featuring Beth Orton & M. Ward.

Drive South

Picture on the left: George and Emery on 83rd Street with their banana seat bikes in 1969.

Above George's head, to the left, is a piece of my wall art. My drawings earned me a hard smack to the head from my grandmother. She easily identified my doodles on the wall at the 1st Avenue corner. "Do not embarrass me." One shot was enough to silence my graffiti.

A new section on the Hudson River bike path opened this week from about 96th to 110th Street. You can stay on the river path from the Battery to the George Washington Bridge without detours. Cool!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ruuydWOY4&feature=related



Off to France for two weeks in one hour. Hope to write here while I'm away.

Bye, bye, Tommy

Drive South/John Hiatt

I didn't say we wouldn't hurt anymore

That's how you learn,

you just get burned

But we don't have to feel like dirt anymore

Though love's not earned,

Baby it's our turn

We were always looking for true north

With our heads in the clouds,

just a little off courseI left the motor running,

now if you're feeling down and out

CHORUS:Come on Baby drive south, with the one you love

Come on Baby drive south, with the one you love

I'm not talkin' 'bout retreatin' little girl

Gonna take our stand, in this Chevy van

Windows open on the rest of the world

Holdin' hands, all the way to Dixieland

We've been tryin' to turn our lives around

Since we were little kids, it's been wearin' us down

Don't turn away now Darlin' lets fire it up and wind it out

CHORUS BRIDGE:I heard your mama callin', I think she was just stallin'

Don't know who she was talkin' to, baby me and you

We could go down with a smile on,

don't bother to pack your nylons

Just keep them pretty legs showin', it gets hot down where we're goin'

We were always looking for true north

With our heads in the clouds, just a little off course

I left the motor running, now if you're feeling down and out

Come on baby drive,

come on baby drive south,

come on baby drive south

Found Money

Found money and my bicycle ~ tools for a good day. Thirsty, it was easy to raise funds. Walking my bike up 83rd Street towards York Avenue, I'd scavenge garbage cans for empty soda bottles. If I failed to raise the required monies, I'd go to the front of the tavern where the older guys pitched pennies. If there weren't any on the sidewalk near the wall, there was always a few just off the curb where they rolled back. After buying a Pepsi-Cola or a Mission Cream, I'd head for Carl Schurz Park but never much further. I'd get killed for riding in the street (spies were all over the neighborhood) and how else to get to Central Park or the Hudson River? Then if I got there, there were always the older kids to deal with. You could do this in a pack but not alone, it was dumb to push your luck. I had three prized possessions, bike, baseball glove and 45 singles, in that order.

Yesterday, I had a chore downtown that took me through City Hall Park. On a bench, some Richie Rich left 10 pennies just sitting there. Only a few pennies short of a soda, when I was 8. I took a picture of the pennies and left them there for another thirsty kid.

What a gift for kids: the new bike paths around Manhattan Island like Hudson River Park.