Crime at the Dog Park

I'm not sure when the episode will air, but the cast and crew of Law & Order: Criminal Intent overtook the local dog run and the surrounding area for a couple day's worth of filming. They shot up an ice cream truck (poor Mr. Softee) and had people running all over doing cop-like stuff.

It was fun to see just how much goes into location shooting. I mean the money spent of lighting the shots alone must be insane, not to mention how much all the PA's get paid for just standing around and telling me not to walk my dog through the shot. Jack wasn't too pleased about the fake gunfire, but who was? Even funnier were the kids who were playing handball nearby, yelling and screaming at each other like they do everyday that I walk past their game. They were just doing their daily after-school game, and over and over they had to be told to be quiet during filming. They didn't really care. Their neighborhood, right? Heh... that's New York for you.

Anyway, if you happen to tune into an episode of Criminal Intent and see the ice cream truck, you'll have seen some of my neighborhood. The show is on Tuesdays, NBC.

Sleepy Hollow

Our jaunt to Sleepy Hollow and the surrounding little towns was exactly what we needed it to be. The further we got from the city, the more colorful the trees were. We did not see any headless horsemen, but we did see a whole bunch of unlucky deer on the side of the road. Oh, deer. They just don't navigate traffic well, do they?

While driving past a glorious, old stone church in Sleepy Hollow, we happened upon a bunch of old furniture at the curb. Turns out the church was throwing out all the stuff that didn't sell at their rummage sale, and so we left with a couple of old wooden shelves (that need a bit of TLC and some paint) and great old Shaker style chair that I plan on hanging on my kitchen wall. (It is at this point that I realize the shelves would serve me better hanging on the kitchen wall, but I like idea of a chair on the wall. Less functional, but terribly artsy.)

So, in other news, tomorrow begins another day of trying to get by in New York City. It's sort of sad that after only 2 months I already understand why people move away from here. It's not an easy place to live. Which is not to say that I am ready to leave. But it is very easy to get lost amongst the 8,000,000 other people here. However, I am combating the my misgivings about this city with entertaining challenges that keep me on my toes and keep my mood lifted. Like next weeks challenge: Halloween. See, everyone I know is working all day on Halloween, and I don't really want to go to any parties that night. But I do want to dress up. So I am thinking up a costume, and I have decided that I am going to spend Halloween day, in costume, exploring the Metropolitan Museum. And I can do that, cause I live in New York City.

Fall

Fall is upon us in New York, and it is upon us with a fury. I have spent many an evening in the crunchy brown and orange leaves on the park lawn, playing ball and stick with Jack. It's quite idyllic, what with the breeze and the sweaters and the fireplace smells. There are more houses with Halloween decorations than those without and plastic ghosts and pumkins are everywhere. I love it, and I think that I might be quite happy if it were October for most of the year.

Tomorrow we are taking out first day-long road trip to the Historic Villiages of Westchester. This includes visiting Sleepy Hollow, which I am terribly excited to see. I have a feeling it's probably not going to yield any screaming romps through the forrest while being chased by the headless horseman, but one can dream.

In other news comletely unrelated to anything NYC, I came across an amazing blog by a woman named Lori K. Gordon. She is a Gulf Coast artist who began making collage/assemblage sculptures of the ruined bits of her and her neighbor's lives after Katrina. I have been chatting with her via email about her work. I expressed interest in purchasing something, and found out that the one piece that I was completely intent on owning is $1000.00. So if you were wondering what to get me for Christmas, here's your hint. But truly, take the time to view her site. There is some wonderful, immensely emotional work to be seen there. Here is her description of the piece that I love most of all: The Home Place is a haunting piece which tells the story of the many beautiful homes which used to line the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There are only ghosts left of these homes now, whether they are photographs, memories or a few battered pilings left standing. The piece is made from a badly damaged etching in its original, battered frame, mounted on a salvaged tabletop adorned with pieces of a plant stand. 48" x 19"

As I started writing this post, breaking news on the television told me that a helicopter (or some smallish flying object) just crashed into a very tall apartment building on the Upper East Side. Well, I thought, I'm going up on the roof to see if I can see anything. So onto the roof I climbed via the old, rusty fire escape. And sure enough, to the northeast across the river, the tallest building in that part of the skyline had huge plumes of black smoke pouring out of it into the cloudy sky. And seeing that was enough for me. Down I climbed, and crawled back in through the kitchen window and picked up my ringing phone. It was Brooke, calling to make sure I wasn't on the Upper East Side. Awww. I love my friends.

What I had originally intended to tell all y'all is that we just put down a deposit on a wonderful apartment 4 blocks from here. A fully refurbished, brand new floors-walls-cabinets-and-bathroom 2 1/2 bedroom apartment on a quiet street with great parking. AND they told us we could move in early. AND they like Jack, who had an "interview" of sorts. AND it's only a two family flat. (See, the fewer families that live in your building, the fewer bad cooking smells that infiltrate your private domain.) I am so very happy to have a space of our own. (Let's just hope that one more move doesn't snap Jack's fragile little doggie brain.) Now all we have to do is have our stuff shipped up here from Virginia (where it's been in storage) and I get to actually LIVE in New York instead of just... I don't know... float.

In other news, I love my job. It's a wonderful shop on a bustling corner and I work with delightfully friendly and creative girls who remind me lots of my Papery girls in Arlington. I'll actually be working more once the holidays near, and because I'm completely insane I actually LIKE working amongst all the Holiday Craziness. Good times. My printmaking classes are sort of tedious, but it's good because the guy who teaches is demanding really high quality stuff from us. Challenging, but I am learning from the best.

Today we took Nicole's little pug-dog, Emmy, to the vet for surgery. She has not been well, because she likes to eat things like carpet and cloth and paperclips. It had been discovered that she had a large foreign something or somethings in her belly that was making her a very, very sick and sad girl. So today she had the lump removed, and she needs your good thoughts to heel quickly. And also not to east anymore carpet or paperclips.

Fall is arriving in New York City. The leaves are changing and you can feel November hinting in the evenings. I love it. I love it a lot. And, if I'm not mistaken, it has just now started raining.

And by the time I finished writing this blog, four more people have called to make sure I'm okay. Yay.

Greenpoint Historical Factoid

I just found out that the USS Monitor, American Civil War submarine, was manufactured here in my neighborhood of Greenpoint. There are dozens of statues all over, dedicated to the vessel and it's history. Just thought I'd link you up to a historical site so you can do some book learnin' about the sub -- building, fighting, loss and eventual recovery. Pretty interesting stuff, considering it was only a few years ago that they found the remains of this monster off the coast of South Carolina.

Blogging Randomosity

Okay, so I get busy with life and I don't blog as diligently. You should be happy for me and the fact that I no longer spend 12 hours a day in front of my laptop, doing nothing. Anyway, here's some recent tidbits and little stories to snack on.

I always like seeing New York City cops around the neighborhood, which is not a difficult thing to achieve since there are just fewer than 45 million cops in the city itself. So there's pretty much always a cop on any given corner. In the past week, I have seen cops doing the following charming activities: 1) helping a little girl wash dog poo off of her shoes, 2) helping a teenage kid change the flat on his bike and 3) buying soft-serve ice cream from the ice cream truck. I think that's pretty great; and a smile was brought to my face each time.

We live just a few blocks south of several tv and film production studios. When you see a bunch of fluorescent pink studio fliers go up on the telephone poles, you know that that particular block is going to be commadeered (how do you spell that?) by miles of cable rigging, massive lighting structures, craft service tables and make-up artists. To an aspiring star, it's the chance to maybe be seen by someone who matters. To us, the residents of Greenpoint, it's the loss of many, many good parking spots and the need to come up with an alternate "taking the dog to pee" route. For the record, the following TV shows are filmed in my neighborhood, at least in part: Six Degrees, The Black Donnely's, Kidnapped, and they just did an Herbal Essence commercial around the corner. Good times.

I found the printmaking studio in Manhattan that I had been told to look for by my former Chicago print teacher. I signed up for an advanced etching class and booked some studio time, so I'm very excited to get to working again on some prints. If I produce anything good, I'll put it up for y'all to see. Too bad half my good plates are in storage.

In keeping with the good news, I also got a job. Yes, I will still be designing stationery. My former boss from Chicago got in touch with a Brooklyn/New York stationer, and low and behold they we're lookin' for the likes of someone like me! So I start on Friday. Email me if you want to know the details. I'm not going to post it here on the Wide Web. Do you think I want stalkers?

Today I went with my Better Half into Long Island. Rick worked and Jack slept in his office. I drove for the first time in a month, and found myself in front of my very favorite store in all the land, Anthroplogie. And I am happy to report that I walked out of that store with $400.00 worth of draperies for just over $28.00. Now that's what I call a friggin' bargain. Regular price: $98.00. Sale price: $7.00. Hot damn!

Now you have been updated, and I am so full of Thai food that I fear I may die. Which is nonsequiter, but a funny visual nonetheless.

Good night, and good luck.