Geladas at the Bronx Zoo

This is one of the geladas at the center of a dispute that broke out. Nothing usually happens at the zoo. Animals lay about while people snap photo after photo and children tug on parent’s sleeves to beg for an outsized pretzel and an 8 dollar soda in a collectible plastic cup (free refills all day!).

Geladas share a large outdoor space with Nubian ibexes separated from us humans by plexiglass in some places and by nothing but a moat and low wall in others. The ibexes were in horn crashing mode when the gelada commotion began with wails and screams and an eruption of speed that blew back their scruffy capes.

 

In a moment it was over. They knew the score, but we had no idea what started it and who came out on top.

The Nubian ibexes stopped their horn knocking and arranged themselves in a pyramid to check out the action and perhaps to see if they could lend assistance.

Watchful eyes in the aftermath.

Mixed bag of thoughts about zoos. For a long time, humans have been kidnapping animals and imprisoning them in zoos which are places for people to see them and experience awe and wonder; that’s one way of looking at it. Another is that by doing this – trading animal freedom, conservators manage to preserve some species that would otherwise go out of existence, and they’re helping to make future people generations into wildlife conservators. I like zoos and feel some empathy for the imprisoned animals whose life is on display.

I think that’s what some would call a trade-off in values.

Grom closes – long live Emack & Bolio!

Grom, Broadway & 76th, closed last month. Get the full scoop here.

Things to see in the Palisades

These were taken yesterday, Saturday, at the Palisades just a few days before Sandy was scheduled to blow through.

A swimming pool:

A pipe sticking up out of the ground:

Not green, to keep you from straying from the green path. To the left of the fence is a small rift formed by a long ago earthquake.

Treacherous ravines leading to the Hudson R.

The undersides of trees:

Vistas:

What remains of the patio near the swimming pool:

Lots of leaves that crunch:

The passing of Jim

Walking east on 34th St., right around the time I found out about Jim.

My neighbor Jim died last month some time. I’m not even sure of the day. He lived across the hall to the age of 83 or so and walking home tonight I thought about him. Jim and I always ran into each other…in the lobby, the hallway, walking our dogs, crossing a street. We’d stop and chat and he’d talk about the changing neighborhood or his wife who died not long after I moved into the building or some problem or other with the building. He engineered subway cars in the 50s or 60s, and had something to do with shale oil in Saskatchewan.

Jim liked beer and he really liked to shoot the shit. He wore big, thick glasses and in his last few years he had some kind of an eye problem and one eye looked off to the side. A lot of our conversations started out, “Did you hear about what they’re doing over on _______?” Or “Have you heard the one about… ?”

After his wife Ellen died, he took care of their old English sheepdog because “she’s Ellen’s dog.” When the dog became so old and frail, he’d pick her up to carry her outside and did all the things you do for old dogs. Jim was sharp, informed about everything, but more than anything, he was kind.

The last time I saw him, it was summer and Jim was walking on Amsterdam Avenue but he didn’t see me. I was in a hurry and I didn’t stop to talk. Hey Jim, what do you think about that monstrosity they’re putting up on Broadway & 77th? I’ll tell you what, he’d have said, it’s not the same neighborhood anymore.

start stop

In the Steppes of Central Station

City in the clouds

 

Fence built at 33rd and Madison

“No longer shall the public have to gaze upon these unauthorized plants,” an official proclaimed.

Fallow field, 33rd and Madison

This corner lot has been hidden behind a plywood fence painted blue and left to go wild for the past four years. Weed trees and grasses have sprung up through the rubble of whatever had been there.

In an alternate version of the city, the public and the developers agree that this rare bit of open space so near the Empire State Building should be turned into a park. “Open public spaces are more important than squeezing every bit of profit out of an investment,” the developer said. “The well-being of the neighborhood’s inhabitants and workers make it well worth taking a loss.”

A civic group agreed to develop the park completely on the donations and labor of volunteers. The park’s design, incorporating only indigenous plants and materials, has already been approved by the mayor’s office.

 

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July 10, 2008