March 2021

Here we go, a few things that happened in March!

March 6 & 7: On Saturday I passed by Ethel Tenenbaum’s place for the first time in ages and on Sunday I had the privilege of participating in assisting in the ordination of Priest Oscar to Elder Oscar.

March 11: Went down to Soho to return a suit, had a nice Soho walk around, got a pork pancake from Spicy Village, and took in the Grief and Grievance show at the New Museum. Fine show, some nice Kerry James Marshall paintings on display.

March 13: Big day! My second car ride since March 2020. Went with Ned to have a look at our friends Slade and Andrea’s new property outside the city. Where, exactly? Oh I’m not sure, it was a two hour drive and there was lots of snow on the ground. We investigated the facilities of this former Boy Scout campground, Ned chopped some things down (seems he has competition with local beavers), on the way back the Dug Out hadn’t opened for the season yet, and then I used the bathroom at the Bear Mountain Inn on the way back to the city.

March 27: Nice day for a long walk through Inwood Hill Park and back. Recently I’ve learned there’s a whole bunch of park on the west side of hill that I didn’t realize was there before.

February 2021

February 2021! Things finally got cold and snowy. And that’s what I’ve mostly got to show you: Walks in the snow!

February 7: I went outside for some reason to do something and while I was out doing it, I took snowy photos. And when I got home, someone was giving away plants.

February 13: Went out and took a train down to midtown. Made a very important discovery: There’s a bathroom on the first floor of the MoMA that you can get to without a ticket. Dropped Bottom’s Dream off (I read the whole thing!), did a bit more walking about, had a hotdog, came home.

February 17: Inwood Hill Park walk after work. Needed a bit of that fresh air.

February 23: Up before 6 to catch a couple busses deep into the bronx to get vaccine shot #1 at this building on 3rd Ave where I had an antibody test back in May. See you in a month, building!

January 2021

Super Bowl Sunday! What a perfect time to get caught up on the ol’ blog.

January 9: My local library hasn’t reopened yet, so every few weeks I hike over to the Francis Martin branch in the Bronx to see what I have to pick up. It’s a nice walk and the Bronx is like the last mystery remaining for Manhattanites, so I like learning a little something more about that borough with each trip. To get there I take the elevator downstairs, walk along 207th street, across a bridge, down a residential street, take some stairs up through a forest, walk past Bronx Community College, and there I am. The book I was headed over to pick up turned out to be a LOT bigger than I expected. Glad I brought my big backpack with me. On my way back from the Bronx I walked down to Dyckman street to look at the housing projects where Karim Abdul Jabar grew up.

January 16: Another Saturday, another outing! This time I went down to the Lower East Side to eat a few things and walk through Chinatown, Little Italy, Nolita, Soho, etc. So many people were out and there were lines EVERYWHERE!

January 24: Big night! Thanks to Kristen and Cory, I did the Paqui One Chip Challenge over Zoom. The next day people were telling me: “Wow, it didn’t seem to phase you at all!” and to that I say “No, believe me, I was quite phased.” It really, really felt like there was a fire in my mouth. But I toughed it out and only drank chocolate milk in victory, but not for relief.

January 25: One more outing! I found myself in East Harlem for the first time in three years. While the primary purpose of my trip was foiled, I was able to check on some things and, frankly, I should’ve visited longer and checked on even more things!