a weekend of lemons and roses in nyc

Today has been a cocoon day to get all caught up on the festivities from the last few days here in New York City. June is a huge month for stuff happening…it’s hard because I want to be at four different events or places at one time.  So my mode of operation is to go, go, go and then I have to stop to catch my breath…work on my photos and begin preparing for the next batch of activity!

When I was in the corporate world, at one point we had a status report that was titled Lemons and Roses.  Well this past weekend definitely had some roses (all the good things) and definitely some not so good…the lemons.   Just so you know…not all days are like the perfect Sunday in NYC…

Let’s start with a rose…because Saturday was definitely a rose kinda day.  I’m a huge fan and supporter of SummerStage in Central Park.  SummerStage brings in some amazing talent at their free performing arts festivals. This past weekend was the Blue Note Jazz Festival and with perfect weather it was a wonderful venue to hang with a glass of wine and people watch while listening to the music.

Finished off the evening with one big frickin rose at an event to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  Oh my.  This deserves it’s own posting as this was my third time at the cemetery in the last couple of months and I’ve wanted to share some photos with you for a while now.  Yes, as some of you know…I love to wander and photograph in cemeteries throughout the world.  So in the meantime…just think…the perfect night-time setting deep into the cemetery with some very avant-garde performances.

So Sunday started off with one big lemon at the Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  I was especially looking forward to this festival because this year they were not only celebrating the Jewish and Chinese cultures, but expanded it to include the Puerto Rican community of the neighborhood which means empanadas were added to the food scene.  Well it was obvious that someone failed to appreciate that people like to attend these types of cultural events and by our arrival time there wasn’t one empanada or egg roll to be found.  But, a little bud of a rose was found by taking the time to enter (with what seemed like hundreds of other people) the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue and finding this amazing stained-glass window!

Next up was heading to Lower Manhattan to join in a tour of an abandoned subway station beneath City Hall. There’s a bit of a lemon here (ok a huge lemon) cause it was a bitch to get a ticket. First, one has to be a member of the New York Transit Museum to even get a chance at purchasing a ticket.  Then when the tour is announced you have to about 60 seconds to purchase the ticket before they’re all sold out.  I hate those kind of ticket purchasing scenarios because how many times have you tried to purchase a ticket and within seconds all the tickets are sold?  How can that be?  So after a couple of #$@&%*! tries and a couple of #$@&%*! calls to their help line… which of course no one answered…I was able to secure tickets. There’s more, but I’ll spare you the #$@&%*! details.  The bottom line, I told the nitwit at the museum that I’d never renew my membership with them. But, a big red rose for the tour because it was outstanding and also deserves its own post so stay tuned.

We’re almost finished up with Peru…so…next up is the grand finale of the Peru trip…a perfect rose!

Stay tuned!  gg