Ragtag grab-bag
My lungs and sinuses are very happy that the we’ve gotten another break from the heat and the humidity. I can almost breathe like a normal person at the moment! The other great thing about a clear summer’s day is great sightlines, especially at twilight.
I know that cats are the more classic subject matter for random cuteness pictures in the blog world, but I’m not such a big fan of the cats. Cute puppies in a store window, however? Color me giggly.
The guy who bought the house next door is a contractor, so when he finally decided to deal with his yard, he really went for it. I haven’t seen this kind of unnatural nature since I left Staten Island. It’s sort of tragically magnificent, isn’t it?
Astroland is not the largest or the fanciest amusement park there is, but it’s the heart of Coney Island and it’s fantastic in all its low-rent glory. The rides are crudely awesome, the crowd is kinda rowdy, and the typography will make you squeal with delight (if you’re a type nerd like me).
For Alex’s bachelor party two weeks ago, we dragged ourselves all the way out to Zum Stammtisch, home of the best German food in New York. (Especially since Yorkville and its plethora of German restaurants has pretty much ceased to exist.) It’s way the hell out in the middle of Queens, but it’s totally worth the effort to get there. Mark found it by accident years ago when we first lived together in Bushwick, and it’s a crime that we waited a full seven years to get ourselves back for a second visit.
Astoria doesn’t always look this saturated, but the light at the end of the afternoon on a clear day really does a lot to spruce things up.
It’s a credit to the glaziers of Montreal that I would wake up in the morning, all toasty and cozy, without any indication what the weather was like outside until I looked at the outer pane of glass in my window.
A clear afternoon and saturated colors do a lot to add a little charm to our rundown subway platform. (And now you where to stalk me when I’m commuting!)
In both Los Angeles and San Francisco, I saw a lot of well-preserved examples of kicky old signage. I think this is my favorite so far.
