An afternoon spent reading in the park.....

It has been such a long hard winter, it felt like spring would NEVER come to New York.

February  2014 on 104th Street in New York 

I can't recall ever having so much snow. I love winter really I do and even I was like "OH MY GOD" will I ever feel my toes again?

Spring could not come soon enough for me.

One of my favourite things to do is read outdoors. I don't really do sports games. So my ideal afternoon in the park is spent under a tree with a sandwich a book and  my thoughts.




The big problem with New York springs is they temperamental. You THINK it going to be a beautiful day. Or maybe you just hope. When I saw the temp it was 82 degrees but I could see it was overcast. Maybe it was all my years living in Seattle but I didn't see overcast as a bad thing.

I went to library to pick up my hold "Eleanor & Park" by  Rainbow Rowell. Ah the Bloomingdale Branch of NYPL. Of course this being New York, I received my daily dose of CRAZY.

Waiting in line a man said he needed to see a manager. Apparently he had been getting DVD's from the library and they were SCRATCHED! And they had damaged his DVD player. He said every time a DVD encounters a scratch it like being poked in the eye. He suggested if there wasn't some sort of compensation he might have to get the mayor involved. He had grey hair and a ponytail. He was wearing black socks with sandals.

I checked out my book and headed to the park.

Bright sunny day. The woman in picture grooming her dog is named Lynn and her dog is Brownie. I chatted with them for a while so I had opened my book yet when it started to drizzle.

I decided to ride it out. Why not? It had drizzled earlier than it stopped.

Lynn didn't seem to care. We traded funny dog stories. I pet Brownie while she brushed him.

But then the thunder started to roll. Sigh. I kinds like thunder storms. You know if I'm at home sitting under a blanket while clutching a mug full of hot soup.

So Lynn & Brownie decided to go home, ah might as well go home too.

Lynn walked toward 96th Street I headed up Central Park W to 100th. It really began to pour. I mentally cursed the traffic after it seemed like 20 minutes for the Walk signal to light up and ran under an awning with other people.

100th and Central Park West

Getting stuck under an awning while waiting for a break in the in the rain is a New York tradition! Just
a gentle spring rain.

You can't see it too well but the branches are snapped off

Holy crap! It began to drop buckets and the wind picked up, the trees were whipping around mad. The wind changed and I began being pelted with rain, I inched along the wall and tried to tuck myself into doorway only to find frightened french family huddled there. CRACK! The whipping branches stopped whipping and started breaking off! The Dad of the clan threw his trench around me and we huddled together. It was a little scary. And weirdly intimate.

I tried to talk to them in my broken French. Oddly I was able to put together one sentence when the mother responded in rapid French. I proclaimed that I knew "un petit peu' French and ONCE AGAIN I was asked if I was born in France. Apparently my accent is really good.

And just like that it was over. I still hadn't opened my book. But I had more important things to consider. 

Like how to hurdle 8 ft to the sidewalk over the gutter that had turned into a pond. 

That white line is a crosswalk

I love New York.