transportation alternatives

So. Here is this picture. It's from the basement of the art building at Sarah Lawrence, in the animation studio. It's been there for years. I'm not sure what it's deal is, but I like the apple and the yellow crayon. And, of course, the bike.



I'm pretty sure it is this non-profit NYC organization, seeing as this sticker was in NY.

Bikes! And the fact that I can't help but befriend everyone?

Hello again, fellow few who read my blog!

First of all, I found housing. Not sure when I am moving in- it is complicated. I'll find out more tomorrow. Eventually I'll let you know about it.

Second, I am an Aunt again/ still. I love the idea of being an Aunt. Heather is now a mother of two: Sebastian, a 2 year old boy, and Liliana, a newborn! I wonder when I will meet her.

Now, on to my blog post. This past Saturday, after poking at every housing lead available, I took a little pink bike, newly adopted, to a bike shop I'd never been to before. The shop is in Mt. Vernon.

As I was getting oriented, getting off of Mt vernon (Bart ... um station? It isn't Bart. It is New York- Metro North.... but I want to say Bart!), I started talking to some firefighters and other men outside of a bar. A bunch of older white guys (actually I can't remember if it was only white guys but that was my impression), who were concerned with the safety of a sweet lady such as myself in that neighborhood.

I told them I would be fine, that I've been in worse neighborhoods. I think they are mistaken in thinking that that neighborhood was as bad as the worst parts of oakland. I felt safe, in spite of getting catcalled more than usual.

When I finally got there, there were a whole bunch of steps. Kind of silly for a bike shop.

The place was a bit disorganized.



It used to be a tattoo parlor. There were remnants of this, like windows that had the tattoo buisiness' name on it. I didn't take too many photos, because that would feel awkward. I'm sure I will visit again. bikes and tools everywhere, and a kitchen area, bike routes of new york in the bathroom, and a mural. And a very friendly cat.



The man who owns it is very friendly, and likes to talk my ear off. I spent hours there, because he let me work on fixing my own bike (which you can see above, bottom left), and I'm not a great bike mechanic. It is good to learn. He fed me chinese food and orange juice and charged me less than the cost of the supplies I used, I think. I told him I had been spending all week looking for a place to live, and he half serious offered me to stay in the bike shop, but we agreed that that wasn't a great idea. There are a lot of reasons, perhaps the least of which that it is a bike shop: It is in a pretty bad neighborhood, it would be crowded with Wilson living there also, and also wouldn't seem like a permanent idea.

The guy reminds me of Bob. The beard is the same, and he loves to talk. They talk somewhat similarly.

Oh also I found an Irish diner on the way home that I can't wait to try!

(the bicycle shop is http://bronxriverbicycleworks.wordpress.com/)

I am so tired.

Here, have a picture I took of a really awesome pepper. Bob subscribed to a farm-share, and is getting all these beautiful and fresh vegitables.



But I don't get to eat them, because I am in new york.

I've been in New York since Tuesday, being as responsible as I know how to be. You see, I want a home. The sort of place where I can put nails in the wall, hang paintings, and have some peace and quiet.

I've been walking around, asking people, emailing people, calling people, all about homes. I've also been calling people about bikes. I have only determined that I am not going to get a folding bike. It was a lot of work to figure that out, you would be surprised. All of my time, save for some blog posting, has been either sleeping or being responsible.



So I am too worn out to take a better screen shot. This one I took before shutting down my computer, to look at and memorize this morning, and then I added the purple a second ago.

The arrow is where I went. It's a nice walk. A pretty walk. But it is 2 miles. For slow-walking-mackenzie, that is about 40 minutes. In the snow, that is... well... probably an hour at least.

I really like it there. There is what could be my own apt up top, to decorate as I wish, Wilson could stay with me... two cats, and a garage I could paint in. A really nice woman about my mom's age lives in the downstairs. She grows tomatoes, and sews, and I really like her.

It could be a home.

But it wouldn't be very much like college.

See the purple circle? That's about where I want to live. I want to transport any happy home to within that circle and then live there. I want to be able to be out until 3 am, and I want to go home to take a nap in the middle of the day.

I could maybe live on campus, and smuggle in Wilson. But it wouldn't be quite as much a home. 8/9 people sharing a kitchen, and I only get my tiny room, and then I have to move out at the end of the year. But in some ways it's better. It's college. Its a few hundred yards from the art building. People will ever visit me.


What do I do?

One day I'll just fly away... oh wait I already did!

Every time I fly, I try to make sure I can pretend there is nothing between me and the sky. That way, I can either feel like a giant, or like some kind of magical creature, relaxin' cradled by some over ambitious cloud thing that fills up my rib cage with buoyant elation.


These crop circle things reminded me of Burning Man. I can tell that they aren't, but I wish they were.
Then I could have at least flown over Burning Man this year.
I love how blue the atmosphere makes these green feilds. I also love the grid and the wash of clouds.
Speaking of a wash of clouds, these feel like foamy ocean tide. If I could be a giant I would swim in the sky and splash in these clouds!
And finally the sunset. I love flying at sunset. So so much. My camera isn't good enough to capture just how spectacular this was. Everything was washed in warm orange light. I tried the best I could. It helps if you tilt the screen.

Oh did I mention the camera I used to have got stolen. It was a couple weeks ago. Luckily I inherited another one, even more mediocre than the first (the last one I had wasn't so bad... but this one is pretty bad. Also, pretty old). Why is this lucky, you ask? Because maybe it will push me to get a better camera!

television of the world

fall frozen in fence

campus is beautiful part... 2?

Hydroponics

Today we went around (we being my child development class) to a bunch of organizations in Yonkers. This picture was taken at "The Science Barge" which is a really neat, totally self contained (except I don't believe that), gardern. The vine plants hang on these poles near the ceiling of the greenhouse, and just hang. The melons look particularly silly, just hangin' there.

These are tomatoes.

Pumpkins

Fiona and I carved pumpkins last night.



Hers is a British flag, of course because she is British, and it is wearing a hat, and the piece cut out of the top is in the shape of a heart. Brilliant. She also toasted the seeds and they were rather tasty.

writing on the board

I wrote out a diagram on the board during class. I love drawing things, no matter what they are. The whole class admired my handiwork.

Greenwich Village

Lucas my contra dancing friend, at his beautiful theological graduate school, that happened to be two blocks from where I happened to be in Manhattan on Saturday. I know him from contra dancing in Berkeley. It was so nice to see a familiar face!



After going to a viola da gamba meetup, and seeing Lucas, I boldly got on the number 1 train downtown. I was headed to go see my friend from Massachusetts (in the band Goli) play a gig in the village. I didn't bother to check my directions which told me to take a different train (probably the A). I also didn't check what stop I was supposed to get off at. S

I wandered around for a while, and eventually found not only cafe Vivaldi, but the band, who I then took a walk with.

These two pictures were from before I found them.





As we were taking a walk together, we came across some Morris dancers. I think they looked pretty cool. (we also came across some delicious gelato.)



my luck ran out for the evening after I got out of the concert. It could have been a lot worse, still. I mean, I did get home all right, eventually.

Saturday morning

Passing under the freeway on my way to metro north early saturday morning. I didn't have to mess with the color balance at all on this one, I am pretty proud of how it turned out.

curvature of the earth

as the harpsichord passed through time and space, called to the here and now by the fingers of young ones, its edges passed more slowly, wanting to hold on to what it knew.

My teacher is adorable

She gave us a pdf of a textbook. I assume it was a textbook that she studied from. I like that there are flowers in the margins.

Friday: Walking to the bus in New York

I went to New York with some friends last night, on my way to catch the china town bus to Massachusetts for the weekend. They just happened to be planning to take the metro north at the same time as me, and happened to be taking the 6 too. These pictures we taken after we parted ways.




I kept my eyes peeled for a Chinese bakery, so I could get a bun of sorts, and I found this place. It was pretty and well decorated, and had a huge music box playing, instead of the radio or a CD.




I like the way exposure and light interact at night. Its like painting.


I thought this was kind of pretty. It was right next to my bus stop.


This was in the window. Sparkley and christmassy like most of Chinatown.

My walk to the Music Building this morning

As I was walking to class this morning I decided to invent a short cut. It took me behind the building below.


It led to a weird little path. I wasent sure the path was going anywhere I wanted it too. Sometimes there are obsticles. The other day I bruised myself trying to jump a superflous chain link fence. It had no reason to be there! A classmate let me in through the window instead.


It took me behind the Art building. Wonderful! I love the art building, it is so fun to explore!


Behind the president's house I found a little stone arch and gate. "I wonder what is that direction."


This is the presidents house (I think- in any case it was where I was). The place is huge!


I forgot to put in the photo of my faviorate place on this walk! I am too tired and hungry to bother.



As you can see, this meandering walk too me just where I needed to be.







The music building is beautiful. I can't get over it.