ELW Photography #8

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A couple of weekends ago my husband and I were transported out of the city for the first time this year!

My super amazing sister-in-law and brother whisked us away to their home upstate.

You see my beloved Brian’s birthday is coming up this week so this was a celebration.

August 21, 2020

Upstate NY is bucolic with mountains, rolling hills, and picturesque farms.

Set within this menagerie is a home full of love and wonder.

My sister-in-law gets organic produce delivered and grows vegetables on her deck.

She whipped up salads full of flavor within minutes. Our niece made a surprise pop-in with a friend too.

Dear readers, we are all in good health with no reason to fear being exposed to Covid. We are moving on.

Following our lunch we were taken on a scenic drive around rural towns leading to our destination of Rhinebeck, NY which is home to the State fair. This event was cancelled this year.

Our first set of images were taken in this charming village. The community has restrictions in place. Indoor dining returned everywhere North of the city! We were able to celebrate my husband’s birthday inside a restaurant!

**In Rhinebeck, restrictions are in place. Stores limit capacity with 20 minutes time allowed to shop.**

On our way back to the city we visited Cold Spring. This town has interesting shops with antiques, records, and sweets.

Social distancing rules are in place.

There were walking patterns too. On our visit the town of Cold Spring was not crowded.

Cold Spring was lovely. Signs of hope were everywhere.

Scenic Cold Spring, NY

Seeing family again fills you with love.

SoHo

A return to downtown for the first time this year! A very warm sticky day. Lots of great people watching.

In green tee and shorts is my hubby. Another Birthday brunch with a friend.

Open Streets is a city program that closes off certain blocks to traffic for cleaner outdoor dining.

The above gallery at the top you can glimpse a selfie I took in a men’s store.

Gotta Have Park!

Although it’s late August there are still hot days ahead. The park provides great moments from sweet dogs to cool people.

Riverdale, NY

My hubby and I saw my parents for the first time this year!

Johnson Avenue is an open street for eateries. At W.235th and Riverdale Avenue.

There are teeny cars and tricycles provided free of charge for families with toddlers.

Summer always goes by the quickest. Warm to hot days; far less clothes; being. The crisis is not over. We have a long way to go yet. Let us all hope the days ahead are healthier.

For this week I will leave you dear readers with a gallery of lovable poochies! After all these are the dog days…

Thank you for visiting Evan’s Gate!

See you next week as September arrives…

ELW Photography #5

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July 31, 2020

I was just thinking how we were told back in January to write out the full 2-0-2-0 when dating important docs. Who knew that it would be almost exclusively applied to receiving unemployment benefits.

My Dear Readers: Updates from New York City. July ends. USA continues to deny the impact of Covid—19 despite the largest recorded drop in its economy in history!

If you reside outside of North America you may have heard about how poor our safety net is here. This is showing up now during this unprecedented crisis.

I only glance at the headlines each morning. It takes until late in the day to realize how much more our country has slid in the eyes of the world.

New York City has sport once again with its expensive corporate stadiums empty. Overpaid athletes are playing with piped in crowd noise.

Several athletes in baseball are now sick. Games are getting postponed. I think baseball should cancel the season.

No Broadway/ Off—Broadway theater. No museums. No movie theaters. Broadway and Hollywood had both reached their commercial summit. I do not believe this will happen again.

If we have cinemas the interior of those spaces will have to be reinvented along with Broadway and Off—Broadway theaters.

Personally, my fear is that America will be vunerable like never before to a new authoritarian reality. Already the President floated the proto-fascist notion of delaying the Fall Election. This never happened in America before this con man took office.

People are waking to see how much damage has been inflicted upon regular people over decades of blindly adding police to streets. This has resulted in the brutality seen in recent days.

The people were empowered to fend off the awful notions of power hungry office holders. Our struggle for greater Democracy will continue.

With such heavy issues hovering over us I refuse to conform to the reactionary nature of certain friends and family. I just read “Twilight Of Democracy” by the historian Anne Applegate, seen below in the picture, argues strongly for Democratic ideals. She is hopeful Americans will reject the anti—democratic platform of Donald Trump.

**Highly Recommended to everyone who cares about Democracy.**

My photography is an outlet to express what I see daily to counter the ugly forces at play in today’s world.

Despite it all I am having a lovely Summer. What else can I do? November will be chilly. And by then our biggest Election will be upon us.

Museums

5th Avenue from E. 86th Street to E. 103rd is called Museum Mile. There are several along this route on the East Side. The Museum of the City of New York, The MET, The Guggenheim and The Jewish Museum are my favourites. I took pictures of their facades over the past three months. Devoid of crowds. A silence. Mourning? Will they come back as strong as before the shutdown?

**The grand Metropolitan Museum of Art sits in waiting.**

**The Guggenheim with its famous spiral design by Frank Lloyd Wright has never been so deserted. I took several images to capture angles and represent a fuller vision of its contemporary beauty.**

The Museum of the City of New York, The Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, and The Jewsih Museum are seen below:

**Exhibits frozen in time. Not changed since March.**

Candids

Another component of taking images on walks are the people you see in moments. So distracted are these strangers that I could not resist capturing them in time. What follows are the first results of my observations.

**L—R: A Father calls to a friend to take a cooler and other gear into the park; A dog walker; Two kids with their scooters.**

August Arrives Tomorrow

Major League Baseball attempted to start a shortened season but finds itself in a bind now that the Miami Marlins team is ill with Covid—19. Then the Phillies were struck then the St. Louis Cardinals.

All of the hot spot states are only beginning to require masks and think about shutting down again.

The Republican party is making this crisis a partisan issue; their leader floats proto—fascist ideas daily.

Here in New York City while we have settled into our Phase 4 lives a new month starts tomorrow!

What will it bring? Will we learn?

Until next week Dear Readers!

Stay in good health.

Wear a mask.

Updates from New York City/ Random Thoughts in Downtimeland

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The New York Times today gave voice to the famous since they are lacking a platform. What do they miss about their beloved city?
Dear readers I can tell you what I don’t miss. The noise. The crowds. The expense.
I have a strong immune system. I go out everyday.
I danced in the middle of 5th Avenue, Madison Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and intersections that now stand empty. I do not miss traffic.
No sympathy for Disney. Are we not capitalists? You take risks with your investments. The government must stop their welfare for the wealthy. If Disney fails let it go away. Some other thing will come along for the 21st Century.
This just in, Disney+ using Hamilton as bait for more subscribers! It’s meant to be seen live.
The 7 pm banging of the pots has started to fade. Less and less volume now.
That homeless dude on the 6 train was right 2 years ago. Anyone of you may be jobless tomorrow. Did anyone listen to him? nah!
I do not “like” any of our politicians. They do not know what to do.
The people with means left the city months ago.
Some days are better than others. Just like before the pandemic.
I wonder how suburbanites will survive. They have to drive everywhere.
Now is the chance to lower subway fares. Ridership will not return to previous levels. Why run empty buses? We need to build a new transportation system. Monorail!
Our current Mayor will close streets to cars. Pedestrian only zones so people can walk and be distant from one another.
How about motorcycle only roads? A Harley highway.
New York City was all about luxury for the wealthy before this hit. Now that many of them have left for good how about converting the completed condo units into affordable homes for the rest of us? A rent strike for universal suffrage. Rents should fall back to 1960 levels.
Convert failed retail spaces into community use areas.
Our primary is now a go! Yay democracy.
Delegates count. It affects the party platform.
Haircuts? Hey guys, let it grow! We need non-conformity! Learn about rebellion. You can stand out. The Constitution allows for it, lol.
We should support Amazon’s workforce. This is retail today. The virus will not go away. Physical stores will never feel safe again. It’s nice to shop at a click with a solid returns policy.
Movie theaters are going to have to do a lot more to get us back. YouTube has a lot of great films from all over the world, no CGI needed. Stories about people are making a comeback following a decade of shlock from Marvel (Disney).
If independent book shops opened across the city with a medium size sales floor people could enjoy the experience. A no children under 16 policy would be nirvana. Book shops should sell books. No toys, no stationary.
New York will remain closed until at least May 18. Politicians are biding (pun intended) their time.

You Tube Allows Discovery For Viewers

World cinema abounds on this platform.

https://youtu.be/3Y2pPaqcHtU

Cut and paste the above address to view a beautiful 30 minute French film about a family that takes a sea voyage around islands and sees whales. The boys swim with dolphins, explore sea life, and enjoy what looks like one amazing childhood.

The choices are yours on YouTube. Why are you wasting money on the banal service of Disney?

Heavy Metal Rules

The corporate record labels forced metal away from the mainstream. It made the culture stronger. Metal listeners are hundreds of millions of people from over two dozen countries. We love Lemmy, Ozzy, Priest, Maiden, Metallica and a zillion other artists who play amazing music. It will last forever. A creature comfort. And always regains its stature when things go South.

Metallica are still America’s best metal band. “Hardwired To Self Destruct” is amazing.

The wearing of masks is so metal! Rock on. Up The Irons! Bang thy head that doesn’t bang.

That’s it for now! Just a quick update inside the city of New York 2 months into the pandemic.