return from montauk

we were visiting my mom and dad for the week on montauk. every day was a beach day and we were sad to leave!! i have lots of pics of sand and sea and sea and sand. the first thing we did when we returned was hop on our bikes and head out to the river! the day was bright and sunny, very different from last week's grey wednesday. but the air was cool and autumn is definitely here.

cheers!!

a grey wednesday

today was the first day of the girls' isadora duncan dance class at the Y. afterwards, c went uptown to play at her friend's playground. m and i went home to make dinner. afterwards, we went for a bike ride. the colors were steel blue and grey. it was so beautiful.

labor day picnic and playground trip

riding back from bowling green yesterday, we were inspired to plan a picnic for this morning. we made some bagels with cream cheese (i had a fried egg on some of my sour dough bread) and headed out for the weeping willow picnic spot. m and c and i are in the middle of dodie smith's hundred and one dalmations, so we had fun reading that for a little while. i also did a little bit of knitting on c's jumper with the blue pronto which i am quickly running out of (and it's no longer being made!) afterwards, we met our friends at the water park. it was unusually crowded so the children played in the boat area of the pier and janet and i sat on the ground with our backs to the park, looking towards new jersey. it was a very pretty view! at one point the security men came by in their cart and we both stopped talking and watched them drive by. "whew," i said, when they had gone, "i thought we were going to get yelled at for sitting on the ground outside the park." "so did i," said janet, and we both laughed rather madly. how pathetic is it that the park guards make us so paranoid?! ah. "living in the city is certainly filled with many thrills and chills," (i think that's from lou reed's sweet jane).

(m made this water bottle cover for me awhile ago. i love the colors!)

so i didn't take any pictures of the children running around today! just pics from my seated vantage point. the cake is janet's carrot cake that she made with her family. they did a delicious job!

biking with mr. watt

mr. watt led us on a bike tour uptown today.

after dispersing the troops from the bike room . . .

. . . we headed up to 72nd street along the river. when you get into the 60s, the path starts to run under the henry hudson parkway. the road rises up beside you and then over you, higher and higher. it's very surreal!

this is an excerpt of our return trip with a stopover at the pier 84 fountain (not that mr. watt approves of filming while biking. mr. watt follows strict cycling safety rules, and one must keep all paws on the handlebars at all times. sorry mr. watt!)

ooohhh, just a few pretty fountain pictures!

thanks for a great bike trip mr. watt!

biking in the city

we've been biking along the bike path several times already since we've returned from connecticut on saturday. i really love it. the air from the river smells like the sea and the wind is usually always strong.

today we biked past my favorite spot with all the reeds and sea grasses and board walk and benches, past penny park and the battery park promenade, to a grassy area with weeping willow trees and giant flowers and the statue of liberty in the distance. we spread out an old picnic blanket and ate our sandwiches. we watched several beautiful sailboats glide by and i read a little from arthur ransome's the big six. it was wonderfully peaceful.

i did alright with the filming and biking at the same time until we were on the way home. and then i almost ran down a woman walking along the bike path. time to put the camera away!

my new bike . .

my new bike is an old bianchi. it was my cousin's bike from years and years ago when my cousin lived in nassau shores on ripplewater avenue with my aunt and uncle. when i was four they moved to california and she left her bike in my parents' garage. my sister rode it for seemingly forever (!) until getting her new bike a few years ago. now it's mine! my bike i'm passing on to g. it's a jc penny racer and is a boy's bike. i'm happy to have a girl's bike these days, though yesterday i kept swinging my leg over the seat, forgetting i can just . . slip on! after returning from connecticut (where the above bike has been living and where we've been swimming for the past two weeks) we took a ride along the river, down to penny park and back. the clouds and sky were beautiful and it felt so freeing to be out riding together.

governor's island

g. has been wanting to go to governor's island for awhile now. today i suggested we bike there. this wasn't met with the enthusiasm you'd expect (fresh air, exercise, the beautiful river path) only because he hates getting the bikes down off the bike rack in the bike room and pumping the tires with air, as much as i do. but we managed to adjust our lazy minds to the task and take off (i mean, we should be saying a thousand thank yous for just HAVING a bike room to keep those monstrosities in).
i was anticipating a smooth, carefree ride as we biked over to the path. but when we got to the path i almost panicked. this wasn't like the quiet bike paths we rode on with my sister in connecticut! no, these bikers and joggers and roller bladers were coming one after the other at a speed i wasn't at all happy about! and there were so many. i felt like i was trying to get on the BQE. for a minute i really doubted that we were going to be able to merge with everyone . . but then of course you do merge and you're out there riding and driving just as crazily as everyone else . . . . and you find yourself even pedaling on the sidewalk with all those phlegmatic pedestrians (g. and i always curse those cyclists and roller bladers and joggers who DARE weave in and our of our sacred leisurely pace. don't they know there's a bike path for people who move faster than a snail's pace?)
we rode around the staten island ferry building to the maritime building, to a cute little ferry that, thankfully, wasn't crowded and we stashed our bikes in the bottom back of the boat and relaxed on deck. it's just a seven minute ride, so i couldn't really blink or do more than a row of my knitting.
i've read on the website that governor's island was referred to by the native americans as pagganck, meaning "nut island' as there were a lot of hickory, oak and chestnut trees. the dutch supposedly "purchased" it from the manahatas indians for two axe heads, a string of beads and a handful of nails. in the early 1800's, new york transferred ownership of the island to the government for military purposes and two forts were built. eventually a whole lot of housing was also put in for coast guard families in the 1960s. it felt very odd to be riding around all these well maintained, and some very pretty but vacant buildings.
we chose a spot across from brooklyn to have our picnic, and then we rode around the island until the last ferry at 7 pm. while riding home we decided to take the pedestrian path (!) (the bike path is currently unfinished through the battery) and visit penny park, where someone is always on the lookout for YOU.