Murphy's Law

You remember Murphy's law, " Anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong."

Well, I hardly find this an inspiring slogan for a place where all these doctors, nurses and others from Presbyterian Weill Cornell hospital hang out...

Don't get me wrong, Weill-Cornell is extremely highly rated as hospitals go...

But no matter how good they are, the less time spent at hospitals the better.

This other pic just shows part of the big hospital complex which sprawls up from 68th and York and surrounding streets....all sorts of medical buildings...

I wonder why so many of these Manhattan East Side hospitals are built right along the East River. Weill Cornell escaped damage from Hurricane Sandy's storm surge, though, I believe..it is built up higher from the river than NYU, for instance.

Hand Lettering...?

I used to see a lot of hand lettered signs out in the countryside when I was a kid on our many travels.

These guys have decided "who needs a sign painter, it costs too much," I guess...

Also reminds me of all those old Westerns with their frontier signage at saloons etc.

Cheaper versions of "Gatsby" inspired clothes

While Brooks Brothers and Prada are marketing high-end  clothes inspired by "The Great Gatsby", there are a lot of less expensive versions around too...

I personally think the Brooks Brothers stuff (except for the "Spectator Shoes", which are cool) is a little too flashy...the less expensive early 1920's mens' suits actually look better.

Internet has a number of references as to how women can achieve "Gatsby" fashion looks for less...

This is not any big wave in the fashion world though, it seems to be like it is more of just a fair size ripple.

I understand that Tiffany is selling a lot of 1920's inspired jewelry, though!

Olmec Head and other sculptures in Hammarskjold Plaza

This area near the U.N. usually has some kind of modern sculpture on display. This is the weirdest installation yet...

There is a great Olmec god's head down at the other end of the plaza...from about 1100 B.C. or so.... that is more my speed

Dr. Dropkin's Waiting Room

Aha-- when I got to this waiting room this afternoon I was the only person there ( usually a number of people there of course)--so I was able to get a photo!

Ever since I reached my late fifties, I have had a problem with my ears waxing up and getting hopelessly clogged about once a year.

My lifesaver here has been Dr. Dropkin up near Weill-Cornell, --I thought specialists like him were a thing of the past but he is still going strong despite getting on in years. I wish I had his stamina and something I enjoyed doing as much as he loves his work.

Just had my ears flushed out today. He told me I had only "pinhole" openings because of all the wax and that I would have started having a real problem fairly soon if I had not come in.

His waiting room is a charming, restful place that is so completely different to some of the clinics I have been to at Presbyterian Weill Cornell that it is laughable...

One of my friends in California has a serious hearing problem, and has his ears cleaned every three months. He says he needs all the hearing he can get.

Just read the posting of a friend of a friend on Facebook whose ear clogged up and of course tried using a Q-tip which made it worse and then hydrogen peroxide, which further aggravated the situation...I once tried some over the counter cure which this fellow's doctor urged him to use and it made my ear worse  than ever...

Julia Richman Educational Complex

The Julia Richman Education Complex--really more the Upper East Side than Midtown-- however is a really interesting educational experiment.

It has a number of small schools that focus on different aspects/problems in education such as dealing with autism, and also bright kids whose English needs work, and so forth. I believe it gets help from the Gates Foundation nowadays..

I just peeked at their website and they are crowing that they managed to keep Hunter High School from taking over their building for some kind of science oriented place.

People in Manhattan place an enormous amount of stress on educational facilities,--it used to be a truism that the public schools were just "not the place" for anyone who could afford private schools, and for all I know that is probably still true...however, NYC has masses of talented and unusual kids to educate, and not all of them can go to private schools..

You can find out more about Julia Richman at their website

http://www.jrec.org/

Sunday Fun Day

Nice day for Southern style Barbecue and beer...not that many takers today though, looks to me like most natives of this area took off for the weekend to points unknown ( the Hamptons? Fire Island? Well, the season for that has begun)

Summer in the City

Very sultry Sunday...right now it is late at night and heavy rain and thunder are driving away all the heat we have been suffering through for the last couple of days...

It is just as well. Too hot for this time of summer....made everything in Midtown claustrophobic.

A Memory of Martha Stewart

Indian store still has photo of visit by Martha Stewart in their window...I guess she is still around, isn't she? Everything changes...she was so much in the news ten years ago it was incredible...

Summer Tomatoes are here

Tasty looking summer tomatoes are here now at Farmers' Market at Kips Bay Plaza.
This last winter was sort of strange, they somehow managed to keep coming up with produce except in the very worst weather...some of it must have been from greenhouses.

Uh oh, more graffiti

Shame Armenian Cathedral here has not scrubbed off graffiti that started on its side wall not so long ago...it is getting worse. Only way to stop it is to keep cleaning it off continuously.

Endless Parade of Tourist Buses on First Avenue

On any weekend, First Avenue presents an endless parade of Tourist Buses headed uptown past all the Hospitals North of 23rd Street ( Veterans Administration, Bellevue, NYU Dental Clinics, NYU Langone etc.)--Here in foreground one of the new Citibike stands (which some residents hate with a passion, especially in Greenwich Village) -- saw writing in colored chalk next to one bank of bikes. with words to this effect, "this is stupid, New York is not Paris!" Then I believe they washed that away...person who wrote it will probably be back to write another sidewalk protest, however.

Manhattanhenge

Oh yes, forgot all about the "Manhattanhenge Effect" that takes place every year when sunset aligns with the street grid....sun setting at Western edge of cross streets, such as 34th Street here.

Good Humor Bars

Nothing could be more archetypically American culture than a Good Humor bar and other such packaged little ice cream treats... Personally, although I love ice cream, I limit my consumption of it EXTREMELY...it is like an occasional treat, not something I want to make a habit of!

Montessori School still there

Montessori School in Kips Bay continues as ever, it seems.....I used to know how Montessori method worked exactly, however, it may have changed since I last read about it and who knows how this school has adapted the original method...Probably still puts emphasis on how it helps introduce children to the world around them, with very simple concepts of experiencing the world being explained in terms children can  understand

More Rain on Sunday?

Another photo I meant to post earlier but forgot to do so! Industrious pedicab driver is out and around the minute a thunderstorm had passed over...he was probably out during height of storm too, (but who knows...maybe he found some place to take shelter)

Project building entrance

Public housing entrance in Kips Bay was designed for high security...guess they need it..this is higher end housing of this kind, nearby City project, the Straus Houses, has very grim entrance...

Strollers on 42nd Street

Took this photo about ten days ago, meant to post it earlier...because it is part of ongoing theme of how people are living in Midtown Manhattan....I was out around working hours and noticed that I saw a number of people with strollers and baby carriages on busy 42nd Street...this is part of a general trend of young families squeezing into typically undersized Midtown apartments in order to be closer to work...

Heat wave and quiet Saturday

HEAT WAVE continues...supposed to break after Sunday...mild weather compared to what is happening elsewhere in the U.S., certainly...Very happy to have air conditioning today...city quiet this weekend, many have already started their summer ritual of leaving Manhattan for the Hamptons or someplace..

Heat Wave Strikes

The first big heat wave of the summer is here...as the temperature approaches 90 degrees Fahrenheit and persists that way for several days, many people seem stunned at first...it really is so unseasonable...

Vilolin Repair Shop

Aha, a store not that far from Madison Square that seems very well established-- all they do is repair old violins...preferably, very old violins. People who are in one of these specialized areas of interest probably take the existence of this store for granted, which you can never do in Manhattan. 

It really is such a shame that so much of Manhattan's commercial diversity in being destroyed in the rush to convert more and more places to simply being luxury housing...with the ever vocal Mayor Bloomberg being among the chief instigators.

Time to Light Up

City ordinances forbid smoking in all sorts of areas, especially park spaces. These men edge just out of the forbidden area near Madison Square to feed their habit.

I cannot be too preachy about all this --as an ex-smoker who had to quit dozens of times before I could stick to it, I know what a difficult addiction it is get out of.

Statue Store

Shop specializing in sculpture and statues has these winsome ladies out front to attract the eye of the passers-by.

Bottle (and Can) Man

One of the many, many people who are out gathering up bottles and cans in their big plastic bags all the time before taking them to stations where they can redeem them for money.

I understand that in Buenos Aires these people are all given uniforms ...which is a clever way of making the whole business seem more natural and legitimate.

The Citibikes are here!

Yes, the long awaited "Citibike" stands are spring up all over Manhattan like the proverbial toadstools...

Saw how someone had written with colored chalk on the sidewalk words to the effect "This is all stupid...New York is not Paris!"--but I think they washed this away-have to go back and check, maybe same person went back and wrote it again).

And I wouldn't be surprised. There is enormous resistance to this scheme, it is causing a commotion in some neighborhoods such  Greenwich Village, where the citizenry are all "control freaks" when it comes to the aesthetic and tactical nature of their spaces...

Well, they have reported some glitches in the system so far, but we have to to see how many people actually steal the bikes or if they just fail to attract the amount of use their proponents have claimed they will.