Day 96- August 16

Musicals, A Walk in the Park, and Back to Brooklyn

 

By Al

Butler Park has a very good noon time series of performances.  Today they had an edition of
'Broadway at Butler Park."  They had performers from an upcoming play based on the movie "Christmas Story."  You know, Ralphie and his an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.  The musical will come out this winter.  If anyone is interested, they are still looking for an actor to be Ralphie.

The composers of the upcoming Christmas Story show.

The song about the Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle.


They also did selections from "Avenue Q."  I want to see this one.  They did one of the songs from the play called "It's a fine line."  The money line of the song is that "It is a fine line between being in love and a waste of your time."  I am glad I haven't had to worry about that for close to 40 years.

They also had cast members from :Bring It On:  The Musical" and "Rock of Ages."

Bring It On

 

 

 

Bring It On

 

 

 

Rock of Ages

 

 

 

 



Sally's Day

I spent the afternoon in Central Park.  In the evening, I went to a meetup knitting group in Brooklyn.

Meetup is an online service.  It allows people to post notices of social groups, and organize gatherings for those groups.  I reserved a spot for a meetup knitting group, which was scheduled to meet at a restaurant in Brooklyn.  I went on the subway during rush hour. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to get there- between walking to the subway, and then walking around Brooklyn looking for the location.  When I arrived,  there was no place for me to sit,  and when I stated that I was there for the knitting group, the women who were there ignored me.  I decided this was not a group where I wanted to make an effort to try to find a place to sit.  I wrote an angry note to the organizer of the group- if one reserves a seat for an event, one assumes that there will be a seat available.  So I went home- a 2 1/2 trip wasted- but for the fact that I got in a couple of miles of walking. 

 

Back to my favorite place- Central Park.  I realized I had spent little time in the upper third of the park- 86th Street and above.  So time to explore.

 

Central Park is surrounded by a 3-foot stone wall interspersed by 20 gates for entry.  Central Park was designed by Olmsted and Vaux on the principle that it was to be a park for all people- rich and poor, immigrants and citizens, young and old.  It was the first major urban park in the country (perhaps in the world) designed with that principle.  Previous parks had been designed for the wealthy. 

As part of the design, they named the gates for groups of people- some of them are girls, boys, miners (the 79th Street Gate where I usually enter), women, and farmers.  Many of the gate names have been obscured.  I took a   picture of the Engineers Gate at 90th Street because it is still quite visible. 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir- looking towards Central Park West. The Reservoir is 106 acres, and was designed by Olmsted and Vaux to distribute water to Manhattan.  It was named for Mrs. Onassis in 1996 to honor her contributions to the City.  She liked to jog in the area.  The reservoir could be seen from her 15th floor apartment at 1040 5th Avenue.  (Perhaps this illustrates "park for all people" idea- that a farm girl from Minnesota can walk around the same reservoir as one the most famous women in the world).

 The Reservoir looking east and south.  It reminds me of Como Lake in St. Paul- with the difference being the tall buildings in the background.  The Reservoir is encircled by two walking/running paths.  One is back from the water, and is tree-lined.  The other is next to the reservoir.  There are places where you can go from one path to the other. 

A beautiful walking bridge over another path.  The upper part of the park is much quieter than the lower part.  At times, one can walk 100-200 feet without meeting another person.

The Central Park Tennis Club.  I counted 30 courts- all in use.

Yoga class.  The northern part of the park seems to be oriented to providing people space for a lot of sports activities- although Olmsted and Vaux probably didn't envision jogging, yoga, and frisbee in their park.

Sally