by JanieM
How about another open thread?
And some pictures.
This is “the school road” near my house. The middle and high schools that serve four towns are behind me, the main road and the lake are ahead, out of sight. The building hiding behind the white pines on the right is the school superintendent’s office. The season is May, before the trees were fully leafed out, my favorite week of the year. I've been taking evening walks up and down this road for almost thirty-six years. Like the world, it has changed a lot in that time.
This one was taken in April of 2012 with my old Nikon Coolpix camera, before I got serious and fancy about picture-taking. It was one of the few days I’ve ever spent in New York City, and the only day I spent in Central Park. It’s springtime again – as beautiful as could be. I really enjoyed the visit -- the weather was great and the people were much less grumpy than legend would have had me believe. I also went to Ellis Island, which I had been wanting to visit for a long time since two of my grandparents came into this country through there. A few months later it was damaged so badly by Hurricane Sandy that it was closed for a couple of years.
Lovely pictures, thanks.
I just watched Aftersun and it's a truly moving film about a father and daughter relationship. Also, the storytelling is groundbreaking.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aftersun
Posted by: novakant | July 13, 2023 at 06:13 PM
I get a little bummed when the trees lose that lighter, brighter green of spring, which happens a month or so sooner down here than in Maine, I’d guess.
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | July 13, 2023 at 07:45 PM
Totally with you on that, hsh. There's also the time when the grass is lush (presuming reasonable rain in April) and before it gets mowed, when it's an otherworldly color and texture.
The NYC picture was taken on April 12. The school road pic was taken on May 10. (Not the same year.) So roughly a month's difference, maybe a little more for Maine to catch up. And you're a little further south then NYC, right?
Posted by: JanieM | July 13, 2023 at 08:05 PM
And you're a little further south then NYC, right?
Yes, just outside Philadelphia. It was very noticeable to me when I was working outside of Rochester, NY. Things were just starting to bud there, and I'd come home for the weekend to see lots of stuff already in bloom and trees greening up.
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | July 14, 2023 at 11:01 AM
I love these pictures. And also most love the fresh green color of the leaves in early May. Thank you, Janie.
As an aside - i'm not sure people in NY are grumpy, I think it's more a matter of always being pressed for time and space and therefore being blunt to the point of rudeness .
They're not in a bad mood, they just want you to get to the point and/or get out of their way. Right now.
I'm glad to have grown up (mostly) in NY, and also glad not to be there now.
Posted by: russell | July 14, 2023 at 11:12 PM
They're not in a bad mood, they just want you to get to the point and/or get out of their way. Right now.
This made me laugh, because I did a lot of walking on those few days in NYC, along with my daughter, who was living there at the time. We were both impatient with those damned tourists who would amble along as if there was no one else in the world besides them, especially no one who wanted to get where they were going in good time. In that respect it felt a lot like Harvard Square, only bigger. ;-)
Posted by: JanieM | July 14, 2023 at 11:38 PM
When I last went to NY, people were very polite - but it might have something to do with the fact that it was a year after 9/11. I was also struck by the fact that it seemed to be commonly accepted to pay for a taxi whose driver neither spoke English, nor did he know were he's going.
I thought that happened only in films, e.g. Armin Mueller-Stahl in Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth.
Londoners are incredibly polite - you step on their foot and they say sorry - but can be a bit passive aggressive and it can be hard to find out what they actually mean or want (unless it's a middle aged East Ender).
Berliners can't help themselves but be rude, but many have a heart of gold.
Posted by: novakant | July 15, 2023 at 04:24 AM
Hey, we Berliners have a reputation to uphold ;-)
(But the second part gets neglected a bit these days and the rudeness used to be more witty.)
Posted by: Hartmut | July 15, 2023 at 05:53 AM
On that lighter, spring green: when I grew up in the far east (as it used to be called), it was the very early green of the rice paddies, soon after the shoots emerged from the water, that was the most amazing colour. And since many of the terraced paddies were at different stages, you could really see the contrast. Those terraced rice landscapes spilling down hills (in Bali for example) were so very beautiful.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | July 15, 2023 at 11:03 AM
It was hard to find pictures illustrating exactly what I was talking about, but still, these three pictures are worth looking at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_(earthworks)#/media/File:Terrace_field_yunnan_china_denoised.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_(earthworks)#/media/File:Fukuoka-Tsuzura_Rice_Terrace_in_an_Early_Summer-xl.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_(earthworks)#/media/File:1_bali_rice_terrace_2011.jpg
Sometimes, when I was driving alone in one of my last trips to Bali (the first was pretty much pre-mass tourism), I would crest a hill and be greeted by a sight so beautiful I would actually burst out laughing.
Posted by: GftNC | July 15, 2023 at 12:15 PM
russell: They're not in a bad mood, they just want you to get to the point and/or get out of their way.
My brother recently complained to me that I often take too long to get to the point. I promised that from now on I will only tell him punchlines, not whole jokes.
JanieM: I did a lot of walking on those few days in NYC
Lucky you. Last time I was in NYC, it was to squire my cousin and her boyfriend around. They were visiting from Greece. We spent 3 days with me driving them around Manhattan.
My cousin has been like FDR since birth: legs paralyzed, she can stand and sort of shuffle along with the aid of leg braces and crutches -- but only on level surfaces. Thresholds defeat her, long distances are hopeless. So I couldn't believe our luck when we scored a parking space right beside the sidewalk seating area of a charming restaurant -- twice! I think I used up a good fraction of my lifetime quota of luck on that trip.
--TP
Posted by: Tony P. | July 15, 2023 at 05:01 PM