Two Ladies and a Poet

Two Ladies and a Poet

I was waiting to meet Steve Dalachinsky, Yuko Otomo and Ron Kolm at Milady's in SoHo. We were meeting to put the 2nd Revised edition of Steve's haunting A Superintendent's Eyes, with photos by yours truly, to bed. I got into a brief conversation with two women sitting at the bar next to me. One of them was starting a new job the next day and had been shopping for clothes, but they got distracted and didn't get a whole lot of shopping done. So they ended up at Milady's, enjoying a late afternoon cocktail, where I was a further distraction. Then Steve, Yuko and Ron showed up and we got to work.

I hate using these postage-stamp sized photos, but I was having trouble getting the layout right. So click or right click or command click on them to see them in a better, larger size.

Expect the book to be out toward the end of this year or early in 2013. It's being published by Unbearables Autonomedia Books

http://kayester.blogspot.com/2012/09/two-ladies-and-poet.html

Kate Spade Does Polka Dots

A little bit of Sunday fun: Kate Spade Polka Dots

I was walking south on Fifth Avenue. Ahead of me some women on roller skates in polka dots. They were all looking pretty darn retro in their carhop outfits, bobbed hair and ponytails, oversized sunglasses and bright red lipstick.

They were laughing and having a good time, giving out discount coupons to passing women, while innocently and cheerfully flirting with this passing photographer.Check out the guy in the black SUV in the second and  third pictures. He was definitely interested in the action, maybe even wishing he could jump out of his oversized vehicle and get involved in the action.













And the last picture - give the stylist who got these women put together credit for having the whole thing set up in his/her head, right down to the polka dot fingernails. I should've asked the women in the oversized red dots on white dresses to show me their nails. I don't think a whole red polka dot of that size would've fit but small ones, sure.

It is great when you see the people doing the promotion as into it as these women were. They were loving being on skates, loving being in their slightly outrageous but very still very attractive outfits, and they knew it was a way to make selling a fun style fun. They handed a coupon to every woman that passed, told them what was going on, and stayed in character.

But they had heart, too. They kept an eye on an injured sparrow on the sidewalk on the E. 19th St. side of the shop, making sure it was getting better.

The best thing is, I like the clothes!

Though the photos are all copyright me, the fashions depicted on the streets of New York are all Kate Spade's.

Permanent link: http://kayester.blogspot.com/2012/09/kate-spade-does-polka-dots.html

Schoodic Peninsula - Maine

What do people who live in Bar Harbor say of the coast north? They say something like "that's really Down East!"

This comes up because I drove travelled from NYC to Bar Harbor over the weekend to visit with my daughter, who's living up there until later this fall.

I don't have to tell anyone who's ever been there how beautiful it is. Nor do I have to tell anyone who's driven there how long the drive is. For those of you who've never been there: it's beautiful. For those of you who've never driven there, Bar Harbor is remote from almost anywhere that isn't in Down East Maine.

The original plan was to take one of the boats out of Bar Harbor to either an out island or across Frenchman Bay and the Gulf of Maine to Winter Harbor. Because of high seas from a hurricane out in the Atlantic, all ferries were canceled and just about every boat stayed in port, anchored offshore. Instead, we drove from Bar Harbor to Winter Harbor and then beyond to the Schoodic Peninsula part of Acadia National Park. It was a long drive - about 50 miles, but it turned out to be to our advantage. For one thing, just about everything a tourist might want to do or see was shut down in Winter Harbor - it was after Labor Day. For another, there was only one ferry each way and we would've been wandering around for about five hours without a lot to do. For a third, we would not have been able to continue on to the Schoodic Peninsula where we saw some remote, rarely visited parts of Acadia, including crossing the land bridge to Little Moose Island during low tide.

Meeting the Antler Woman on the Harlem Line

The Antler Woman

Monday afternoon, returning home from a pleasant walk in the city, shooting  lots of candid and occasionally a photo that, if not posed, wasn't candid, I put my but into a seat on a northbound train opposite a young woman wearing antlers. They weren't just some random set of antlers, they were eight pointers in red and blue, aqua, yellow and violet, tipped with foil. They were quite well done, and though I didn't ask, I wondered if they were fashioned from scratch or from an existing pair of antlers. Not that it didn't matter, they were delightful.

She was returning home from an electronic music festival on Randall's Island: Electric Zoo. She wanted to stand out beyond what an attractive young person might, just walking around in blue denim shorts and vest.



 We spoke of many things between Grand Central and where she exited from the train. She was passionate about music, and willing to educate a codger like myself to the number of sub-genres of electronic music available to  the aficionado. Her instrument, when she played, was a guitar, and she loved to sing. Alas, she worked full time at other things, so her creativity was channeled into small things such as those antlers.

Crossing the Hudson on Foot: Walkway Over the Hudson

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Took a walk across the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie NY on Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely the perfect time and place. We started about 5:30PM and without rushing, were back at the car by about 6:30. By that time of day the sun is far enough to the west and the breeze is up, so the walk is comfortable and relaxed.

I took a few more pictures than these, but these are a good sample of what it is like.Imagine Manhattan's High Line without the crowds, with the river 300 feet below, with the Mid-Hudson Bridge just south and the river emerging from the  Hudson Highlands further south, beyond the bridge. To the north, the river peaceful and broad, the Catskills rising to the west.

While it is a marvelous place, some people are so amazed by the experience they can't control themselves and have to express their joy and delight by leaping in front of anyone taking a picture.

Other people find the experience inspires contemplation, and connects them to something both inside and outside of themselves. 

If you don't know the story of the Walkway Over the Hudson, go to their website at Walkway.org to learn about how an abandoned railway bridge became a beautiful linear state park.

We ended the afternoon eating on the terrace at Andy's Place, a family owned restaurant/tavern in the shadow of the Walkway. I don't think they have a website.

It was an excellent ending to a most pleasant afternoon.