South Africa!

I'm here!

We're together!

:)

One week to go!

Karoooo

I went with the Archaeology society to visit the scrubby Karoo over the weekend. I wrote a nice summary in my journal you can read when you get here. =) In addition to knapping stone tools, crafting ostrich eggshell beads, and attempting some pottery, we spent some time having fun. We cooked a lot, and all had "family" meals at the table together.


A botany student came along and helped us identify interesting vegetation, like wild rosemary and hoodia. The rosemary made divine potatoes, but the hoodia will curb the appetite for a week. Vince, our fearless leader, made some sweet syrup out of strange tiny berries.

To cool off after hiking a bit, we went for a (scary!) swim in the dam. It was soooo deep! You were almost a widow, I'm sure.

(Your) relatives in the city

So April 23rd finally came! Your grandmother and your cousin Misty rolled on in bright and early to Rockefeller Center. I showed up there as soon as I woke (which seems to not have been early enough :x). They used that time to look around the area. Once I arrived, I served as their tourguide through Manhattan. I took granny and Misty allover. :)

We went to Chinatown to find her tea:


to Staten Island and back to partake in a poor man's boat tour of the harbor:

and to Times Square to get your relatives all the tourists must-haves, including a replacement Statue of Liberty for Emma (I guess she broke the one she picked up during her visit):

DUMBO

I had the pleasure of doing some (unheard of) things this Friday with Sean and his out-of-town friend, Paul. Those including trekking through Times Square, taking a bus tour of Manhattan which included a stop in DUMBO. Between Sean and our drunken tourguide, there was quite a lot of history i was unaware of prior to the tour.

Such as what 68th-ing a person means...

or

the names of many of the important buildings in the financial district's skyline.




The view from the newly (almost) redone Brooklyn Bridge Park is incredible. Seeing the skyline lit up at dusk was surreal. If it were possible, I'd like a wedding here at dusk. Maybe someday, New York will let it happen and hopefully you'll say yes. :)

I've never actually been to DUMBO, that is until this bus tour. It's quaint, historic and provide some of the greatest views of downtown Manhattan. Coincidentally I've been within walking distance of exploring this neighborhood for years. We must go together.

The epicenter of life: Bushwick

I have this dream of being a househusband: cooking, cleaning, pleasing my husband and of course entertaining guests. The house was spotless and I spent a lot of the time gardening and cooking. Put a ring on me and that's what you'll get ;)

I entertained some guests on Wed night, my friends Meghan, Stephanie and Alex all dropped by. It was a typical scenario: I conjured up impromptu plans with people and had a little get-together with a hodgepodge of people. We had some wine and caught up. Chuckled and laughed and I lost my Chat Roulette virginity. So many people being so inappropriate via webcam. We're pretty vile, but it's b/c it's just us two communicating. Some people sit on there and jerk off.

The following day was running around doing errands and enjoying the first of the fleet of nice days to come. Laundry and shaved ice. Bushwick is a completely different place under the sun: thriving with life and full of (non-sketchy) people. It reminded me a lot of growing up in Jamaica.


So Diego, my little brother came by to Brooklyn on Thursday night and stayed until the Friday evening. I cooked vegetarian for him. He was a little apprehensive at first, but... he wound up loving it. Veggie burgers, fries and a salad, what's not to love?!

The following day, we attempted to go down to Coney Island, to go see the fishies. Sadly b/c of the holiday (Good Friday) the NYC Aquarium was closed early. Sigh... So we wandered about the boardwalk and picked up some Nathan's.

The weather seemed nice, but without a proper jacket/sweater/cardigan, all that was noticeable was the unpleasant gust.
Save the date: May 28th the opening of the revamped Astroland!

A Sparrow on a Barren Bough

"Pain has an element of blank;

It cannot recollect

When it began, or if there were

A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,

Its infinite realms contain

Its past, enlightened to perceive

New periods of pain."

When Emily Dickinson wrote these lines, they may have corresponded to any of the pains i her life: the loss of her loved ones, her seclusion, or any of the days' woes. But primarily, they echo the ways of pain itself. Is life all about pain, moving from one to the other with such intensity that the good times are forgotten?

I remember my good times quite well, but lately the pain has crept up on me, attacking the life I try to lead here in Cape Town. Some nights I sleep in total peace, and some frighten me so deeply that I hide under the comforter. There really isn't even a reason to be afraid, yet when the feelings come, they are paralyzing. I wish you were here to be my comforting teddy. I miss the temporary sanity you lent me.

It's botanic!

I wish you had been here during my spring break. There was time to do a lot of things. Tragically, the weather didn't want to comply. It was a week that was equally as cold and wet as the week in January which you left.

One thing that I got around to doing was visiting El Museo del Barrio, a museum dedicated to Latin American culture as interpreted and represented in art. Being the delinquent that I am, I managed to sneak some photos. I felt exponentially browner in doing so, lol.

Across 5th avenue from the museum was the beautiful public garden. Though it was misty and unpleasant outside, I roamed the green corridors on my own, hoping that at some point you'd come out of the bushes.



I'd like to return and go for a stroll with you. Hands clasped. Perhaps with Lilly.

As mentioned in a previous post, I've taken a liking to the plant life in our yard. The tulips are in bloom and many of the plants in the yard are thriving thanks to the downpour that consumed the bulk of my spring break.

I'm not the only person who's spending time with plant life, so is the bulk of the community. So they're revamping our neighborhood significantly. One of the many public works projects occurring in Bushwick is the addition of trees to the sidewalk. I had noticed them on the block between Irving and Knickerbocker. Now, our little chunk of Jefferson has been getting trees. Just last week they planted this little guy in front of our building:


He'll soon flourish and will beautify our street that much more.
In other news, I've continued with the gardening. I took the thumb out of my ass and decided to make it green, lol. I went down to Home Depot and picked up some soil and seeds and got started on planting some nice things into the pots that you had left outside, since there was nothing growing in them as of yet. We'll have an assortment of things, ranging from wild roses and sunflowers to lettuce.


Julie and I also constructed a table using one of the many doors floating around in the yard and using two horses she had laying around. I can't wait to have little backyard bbqs and lay out in the sun, getting bronze with you :)

Love

This could be us in the near future: classy, exhausted and together.

St. Patty's day!

I let Ande borrow my favorite mint t-shirt (the one with the corresponding underwear, if you recall) and had nothing appropriately festive for St. Patrick's day. It was a sunny 64* today. Perfect day to spend the afternoon outside reading and basking in the yard. To compensate for the lack of green in my attire, I sported a green thumb today:


They all got watered (as always) with a good amount of exposure to the sun and a well needed pruning. The little egg is the new addition! It contains basil sprouts. Compliments of the Scotsman. Here it is a week ago when i cracked this nifty pot open to allow the seeds to grow:


Speaking of nutrition, the sunlight supplied the vitamin D and this overdose of citrus supplied C, Calcium and antioxidants, lol:


I wish you were here so we could have basked in the sunlight in our yard while eating wedges of grapefruit together. :)

Ching Chong Song

I managed to make it to the Sidewalk Cafe tonight. I'm very glad I did. Now I know what Julie sounds like live (live outside of her kitchen I mean). Their music is very surreal and appealing.



I'd like to collaborate with her on a writing project.

Maybe I'll become a performer. It's been one of those things that I've always wanted to do, but not certain if i'd be good at.

both Julie and I wish you had been here to see her performance.

:)

Howdy Neighbor

Johnny and Julie of course say hello, but a little buddy of ours who hasn't quite gotten a chance:


"Hello" from Black Johnny!

Going swimmingly

Wish you were here to play in the pool...

I miss you

This is my temporary outlet for affection:

He's no you, but he'll be enough to get me through the next two months.

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Queensboro

Finally! It's beginning to get warm here in NY. The fair, springtime weather today (Sunday) greatly contrasts from my posts from last week.

I was trapped at work, but on my break I decided to go out for a stroll in the neighborhood. In my proximity is the Queensboro bridge. The walk was enjoyable because of the favorable breeze and the view on the Manhattan side (even though the better view is on the Queens-bound side).



The weather is improving and the next free day I have, I can start using the guide book for an excursion. I can't wait!

I'm trying to be productive this week. I finished book III of Argonautika, and I've bought Paradise Lost on audiobook to help me get through it. Runtime is a little over 3 hours, so it should be done soon, hopefully! I need to finish an archeology packet and go over Shakespeare's Sonnets and Comedies some more. I wish you were here for me to read to; it would be so much easier.

Snow

The snow just continues here Brr... You and your summer sun!! I'm jealous.



It's been snowing in excess. There have been many lonely nights here in the UES when I've wished you to be in this bed with me. I can feel the sunlight from Africa beneath the sheets.

:)

niege/snow/nieve

There is love for the snow everywhere in NY. From indoors:



and outside:


... or even in the hood:

Je t'aime mon lapin.

Sojourn in the Upper East Side

John (the Scotsman) has been a savior from the anxious life in Brooklyn. With our apartment now full of other people, privacy and sanity have been compromised. Thus, why John was kind enough to leave me the keys to his apartment while he was on business in Spain. What this means is once again acquiring the time and space to be me. I can breathe. I can speak liberally, with a lack of censorship. It also doesn't hurt to have switched from our comfy couch to an even comfier queen-sized bed. I've been dreaming since I've been sleeping in a bed. A lot of the time about you. :)


This is a dream. Total isolation. Clean home (with help from Borjena, John's housekeeper aka Boom-bah).
All inspiration for my bourgeois ambitions.


With temporary residence in the Upper East Side, life has been more pleasant. Being close to the metro-north and to work are other pluses. His apartment is also in proximity of the Museum Mile. Though yesterday was in bulk about running errands in Brooklyn, I did manage to find the time to stop in to the Met:


But the ones that excited me the most were the new galleries, a photo-collage exhibit, a modern photography gallery and more importantly the gallery exhibiting a collection of the French art deco movement of the late 1910's well into the 20's.


There was a diverse set of mediums utilized, most notably a multimedia (gold sheets, silver plates, gesso and paint) mural constructed for a luxury liner's grand hall. Sculpture, drawings, jewelry, paintings... you name it it was probably deco'ed out, lol.

It's been snowing a lot. I think of you every time it does.