new york city :
graced by the gift of being invited to a work trip to NYC I started to feel like a jet-setter as I traveled east fresh from time in Tahoe with the bio fam.
The energy of NYC is palpable - even getting on the plane felt like a microcosm of jostling for space and time - folks clustered around the space to line up like penguins blocking the airport's marbled public walkway before being summoned to line up. I even got called out by a specific person eyeing carry on dimensions of the passengers for having my jacket in a separate sack in excess of my personal bag. The sense of sharing space with so many may aid in innovative coping techniques and a heightened sense of self-care. An undertone of overwhelm, with an overlay of transience. No one seems to be from here originally, and those that do act as oracles.
I was graced by the generosity of staying with a NYC local of 30 years of living in the area, and they introduced me to some of my cultural heroes and the movers and shakers of today and tomorrow. I was able to transform several people's lives and shift their life path to one of pleasurable embodiment and honest inter-relation with others.
24 hour flower stands, the Met - a glittering treasure chest that seems like a collection of several world-travelers. bodegas where you can get kale chips and kombucha at any hour (for a convenience fee no doubt)
and a lack of alleys so garbage is piled on the street. rats in the basements of buildings. hustling to make it.
The excess at least is out in the open, un-ignore-able. Things happen fast here, appointments get booked, projects taking their first steps. Now is the time to do it, for there is no time like the present. You are never really alone, even at 4 am on the Subway (because, yes, public transportation runs at all hours). You can get most anything delivered. The cold is brutal, bracing, and biting. Folks take public transportation, taxis, or private cars rather then walking. I am not sure how one would get anywhere in heels - I wore my waterproof hiking boots. Grocery stores don't have carts, but they do have little basket dogs that you can drag behind you on a handle or carry in hand. Advertisements accost at the entrances to the subway. Central park is the one place that feels spacious.
24 hour flower shop
piles of trash bags in the street - here's to putting in more public recycling bins and starting a public composting program !
skyline from Central Park
I was the last patron at the Met - time slipped away as I meditated in the Asian art gallery, supplicant in front of a Buddha statue
ancient jewelry designs
Egyptian room
stone carvings
beaded veil / net
organ jars
sandals
sarcophagus / sarcophagi
scholar with scroll in hand
drawing back bow, shooting arrow
bootlicious coy, seductive temptress
washing hair
contemplative agony
cherub proffering wheat
cherub proffering torch
hands shackled in chains, bondage
ending one's life - suicide by knife to the heart
not having a great day - whining / wailing
ornate pottery vessels
how to properly choke a goose : breath play at the Met
lake tahoe from above