sage

food52

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Ladies_(Put_a_Ring_on_It)

on reflection

so over the rainbow

A trip to the UK has been in discussion 

for a few months now. 

All that remained was the sign it’s time to go.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2011/03/your-mother-would-be-proud.html

That sign appeared to me this week, the worst news in many years.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2015/nov/03/guinness-vegan-fish-swim-bladders

Guinness is changing. Can you believe this?

Walk any alley in London and you’ll find fresh Guinness on tap to make you swoon.

But for 256 years Guinness has used isinglass, a kind of dried fish swim bladder to filter their stout, and so that excluded vegans.

To broaden their appeal they’ll be using mechanical filters beginning next year.

So now’s the last time to sample the real thing in the real place before politically correct Guinness takes its place.

Maybe it’ll taste the same. I’ll let you know.

covent garden

http://clocktowertenants.com/2012/05/g-stands-for.html

There’s always hope.

endless possibility

promises kept

Years ago a little plant cutting came home from school.

I promised to care for it and over time it grew.

But in recent weeks it appeared to fade.

Fresh sand and soil went back in, and then we waited.

For a while not much seemed to change.

Then this happened.

Take care of what you love. 

You're almost never unrewarded.

Costume of 2015/out of his gourd

plus ça change

If you enjoy--as I do--the deserted, tumbleweed quality of our neighborhood, you’d better take photos now.

instagram

Old school Bronx ran headlong into our future over the weekend when the Development Group sponsored a party in the soon-to-be-demolished Beethoven Piano Factory.

And the downtown crowd arrived.

instagram

Billed as the “MacabreSuite”, the party was cast as a celebration of SouthBronx heritage.

instagram

Burning buildings. Riddled cars.

Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. showed, as did Victoria Secret models Gigi Hadid and Naomi Campbell, Kendall Jenner and Carmelo Anthony, Baz Luhrmann and Adrien Brody. 

Beethoven Piano now finds itself in vogue.

Literally.

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/macabresuite/

You can tour the old interior here:

http://clocktowertenants.com/2012/07/if-you-love-and-live.html

But some in the hood recoiled in disgust 

while social media lit up in anger.

gothamist

Melissa Mark Viverito was particularly critical.

But it fell on deaf ears or couldn’t be heard over the music, because property owners visited and approved of what they saw.

The ClockTower's future arrived this weekend. 

Tumbleweeds are leaving town.

rip

NYPD Officer Randolph Holder was laid to rest in his native Guyana yesterday.

He and his partner broke up an armed street robbery in East Harlem a few days ago, gave chase on foot and Holder was shot in the head.

DailyNews

He died at Harlem Hospital.

His father and his grandfather were policemen in Guyana.

Tyrone Howard, the man who shot Officer Randolph, was a lifetime criminal and a gang member; he had 20 previous arrests and he was wanted in connection with another shooting at the time.

Like many street criminals, Tyrone Howard carried a handgun.

I think I feel this one deeply because Officer Holder was shot on the same FDR overpass where I usually ride my bicycle each weekend on the way to the Farmer’s Market.

This street memorial is what you get when you give your life for New York public safety.

Look closely. 

It’s respectful, but it’s not much.

Officer Randolph Holder was 33.