Smell-o-rama and Aural Collage

So you may have heard that New York City stinks. It does. It smells like garbage, especially when you are near some... garbage. (Duh.) But the stink also just sort of floats along randomly, waiting to assault you unxpectedly. It's pretty offensive. I mean, I've lived in big cities before. Chicago isn't exactly little. But Chicago is far less offensive than New York City when it comes to odor. I guess what do you expect with a gazillion people all living in tight quarters? But since I don't want to insult My New City, here are some things in New York that do not smell bad at all:

-My dog (who has always been sweet-smelling for a dog)
-The Laundromat (good smells abound)
-Cafe Grumpy (a coffee shop that smells like coffee)
-The Polish Bakery (which smells deee-lite-ful, as you could imagine)

Less offensive than the smells is the ambient noise that comes with living on top of other people. Well, some noise I could do without (garbage trucks, motorcycles, drunk people at 4am outside my window yelling at eachother.) But I actually quite enjoy hearing Brooklyn neighborhood sounds drift in through my open windows. Today, I sat at the kithen table and painted a small, Mexican Folk-art-inspired cow while listening to the following:

-classical piano sonatas from radio somewhere below
-kids playing next door
-occasional dog barks
-birds in the tree outside my window (Disney-esque, but true)
-someone clumsily strumming a guitar on their fire escape
-loud, Brooklyn-dialect heavy conversations between neighbors (was far enough away so as to not be annoying)

Tomorrow I am putting Jack in doggy daycare and going into the city to wander. I'll have a full report for your reading pleasure. I'm sure there will be something to note, because it is the 5th anniversary of 9.11. We'll see how that goes.