sarah in nyc

 Often a quality of light will compel me to take a photo. Sometimes the subject itself isn't all that special, like the morning light shining off of my baking pans, or the same morning rays on the brick wall across from my kitchen window. Sometimes the appeal is more obvious, like the afternoon golden light reflecting off of the cornice of my building. Right after I took these pictures I ran into a young neighbor and encouraged him to look up. I don't know if he appreciated what I was seeing or was just indulging me. The right light can make even the most mundane building look beautiful Even this bit of 1950's city housing gets a glow up in the late afternoon light. Sometimes it is a bit of color in an unexpected pace that pulls my eye.  This leaf was resting on the service gate of my building. My building's garbage is stored on the other side of this gate. For those of you who don't reside inside of my head, I am switching topics.  I purchase a 25 lb bags of flour ...

 Most years, I look forward to Simchat Torah. It celebrates the end and the beginning of the Torah reading cycle and our connection to our most sacred text. At our synagogue, for many years, the dancing would spill out of the sanctuary and out to 100th street with hundreds and hundreds of people dancing and singing and celebrating the Torah. For many years several synagogues in our neighborhood also danced on the streets and people would wander from celebration to celebration up and down Broadway until late into the night. 9-11 put an end to the dancing on the streets and the celebrations moved indoors. Last year we were in Ashkelon and because in Israel only one day of the holiday is celebrated, we experienced hakafot, circling the synagogue with the Torah scrolls on Friday night for the first time in our lives. Of course our lives changed at 6:29 in the morning when the rockets started falling all around us. So, it is Simchat Torah once again. My synagogue is doing more subdued ...

 Between being sick and the holidays  and lots of STUFF on my plate, I haven't posted in ten days. I hope to start posting more regularly again, now that I don't sound like a tubercular  bum sleeping on a subway bench. Growing up, there was a maple tree at the end of our block that always turned scarlett at some point in August. It was always incredibly beautiful to see that tree turn color but it also made me sad because I knew that summer vacation would soon be coming to an end. Since I moved to New York, every fall I crave seeing good foliage. The years that I don't get to see at least a bit of orange or scarlett I feel out of sorts. Yesterday we made plans to go visit the Jersey Shore with our friends Alfie and Judy. They were going to drive us in their car. Yesterday was one of those days when every road from the Bronx (where our friends live) and Manhattan was blocked off because of one or another bike race or road race or street fair. Instead, we took the subway to...