Directly on the C in Cypress

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Lystria Hurley

The Neighborhood Cart

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Lystria Hurley

Prepping for the school year is arduous. Especially if one does most of everything on foot in New York City!

When I went to the Library to pick up books for the school year, I had more than I could handle.

The librarian looked at me and I looked at her.

I’mma go and get a cart. I can’t carry all of this.

Yeah, girl, I was about to say. You can make two trips.

I know but I should get them now because when school starts I won’t be able to get over her in time to pick them up.

Okay, then, I’ll hold them for you.

I left but really didn’t want to go all the way home to get a cart.

When I got the end of the block, I thanked God for the Bronx! There was a huge orange cart full of recycling items without an owner.

I felt bad about littering but I didn’t want the owner to come back to the spot and not see the cart and their bottles! So, I put all the recycling bottles on the ground along with the decorative cigarette lighter and took the cart.

The librarian was surprised to see me back so fast.

I found that cart on the street.

Wait, what?!

She looked outside and we shared a laugh.

You got to move fast now because I don’t want the owner to return before I return it! The paranoia is already kicking in!

She placed the books in bags and Jabari, the security guard, placed them in the cart for me.

While I was walking home, I looked at the cart handles and noticed that the cart was really a neighborhood cart! Somehow it traveled all the way from Home Depot which is a hour way on foot and once belonged to the neighborhood Supermarket, Fine Fare. Someone had put Fine Fare stickers all over it covering Home Depot.

Of course after my long walk and laborious journey, I left the cart on the block.

The next morning, someone had moved it around the corner and when I got back from Brooklyn, It was parked outside the chicken spot.

Cross in the Post Office

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Lystria Hurley

Ebony G. Patterson’s art at the NYBG

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Lystria Hurley

If you aren’t a plant person. If you aren’t someone who would naturally walk through a garden just to look and learn, then perhaps you may stay away from gardens.

If you are that person. I say, stay away no more. The New York Botanical Gardens is working with artist to make the grounds a bit more fun and interesting. Mixing the plants with mystical stories filled with history, fiction and fun.

Currently on view is …things come to thrive… in the shedding…in the molting… it’s a story, it’s an art, and it’s in a garden designed by Ebony G. Patterson.

Here are some ways to have fun while you are there.

First, ask a friend to tag along (or you can meet new people in the garden) and together, read the panel for understanding. If you don’t read the panel, you will start to ask questions. If you read the panel, you will start to ask questions for more understanding.

Secondly, as you walk through the grounds and inside the conservatory or library, continue to read the panels. (I am stressing reading because there were plenty of people asking questions that were answered in the panels and when I answered them, they asked me how did I know and I told them I am reading the panels. Most of them went back and started over.

Next, download the app, Bloomberg Connects.

Walk slowly though the exhibition. This is the only way you will see the hidden “secrets waiting to be unearth”. I walked through the conservatory twice and the second time I was able to “pull back the surface and reveal truths”.

My next suggestion is if you come across someone doing a tour,listen to what the person is talking about. I am not certain if there are tours often but we came across a man giving two people a tour and while we didn’t impose, because we were in the same space, he spent some time with us too.

Next, If you can, go on a Wednesday, for this is the same day as the Farmers market. If you get tired from walking from the conservatory to the library, there would be a plethora of food and drinks waiting at the end of the road. You wouldn’t have to walk back to the cafe (which is at the main entrance and may push you to leave).

At the library, right before you walk up the hill to the steps, you may also come across a table with NYBG employees. When they saw us, they beckoned us to visit their table which I am glad we did.

We participated in an art project, which gave us more information about the extinct plants. (We also learned about each vendor at the market ). In addition to the art projects that were spread out on the table, there were print outs of current job postings on the table and they employees answer questions about the job postings.