What a breath of fresh air. Thanks to the writers and the NYT for this lovely piece. We love NYC when we have a chance to go and this piece reminds me of why.
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The sketches and stories featured in this column make me realise yet again why I love New York! Thank you to all the contributors who have taken the time to share your encounters and adventures...the human touch is much-needed these days.
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I go to Katz’s four or five times a year. Boy the neighborhood is fun. Like a modern take of the 60’s village.
Anyway I had a corned beef sandwich.
I passed on the bread mostly and ate it with a fork.
One sour, one half sour and one tomato pickle accompanied my feast. It was heaven on Houston.
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It's been awhile since I last encountered the NY Times Metropolitan Diary, which was always a favorite diversion into the human side of NYC from the serious news of the day/nation/world. I wish that I could find this diary more frequently.
I enjoyed both the posts as well as the comments. Thank you.
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A very well dressed woman in conversation on a mobile phone boarded the bus and sat down next to me. I could hear snips of business this and finance that as she conversed. Suddenly she pulled up her purse and pulled out a date book and dug around to remove a crayon to enter some notes as she completed her phone call.
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Excellent car exhaust "hacking" story and the sketching story. I love NYC, I don't live there and sometimes thankful that I just an onlooker and occasional visitor. Keep it going.
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Very wise move on hubby's part, to bring wifey daffs instead of blue hyacinths she wanted; back in the day (sixty years) at my school library (not a large room) there was always, in the spring, two large bowls of blue hyacinths; at first, I thought I liked them....but soon I could hardly bear the over-poweringly
strong smell - like being at the theatre next to a someone whose person and clothing hang with overwhelming perfume, from which one cannot escape....
I like those blue hyacinths too, but from inside, looking at a garden of them outside! Daffs, on the other hand, are mostly rather smell-less! Bring them on! Especially into a small room in hospital - the hyacinths would be so strong and soon so repellent as to deprive the dear patient of a natural breath of air.... Not a good recovery from surgery.... Way to go, hubby!!! Of course, the flower-vendor may not have had any..... we won't know....
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@Elizabeth Barry, Canada
Actually the daffodils latin name is narcissus and the name does not come from the god Narcissus, but from the fact that they are highly fragrant, so much so that they are considered narcotic, so that is the connection.
Unfortunately some modern daffodils are not fragrant. I have made it a point to get the fragrant ones for my garden, in addition to the fragrant hyacinths whose fragrance is delightful, at least to me. To each his own.
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Love the sketching story. It brought to mind M.C. Escher.
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@CP We were at an Episcopal church in the West Village earlier this year for my grandson's baptism. In the pew directly in back of me and over my right shoulder was an attractive woman whom I did not know. Through the service I could see she was busy with something in her lap while the service progressed. After the service, she approached my daughter and the rest of our family and handed her a lovely sketch of my grandson. We all smiled and thanked her as she walked away. It is in a frame today on the wall of my daughter's apartment.
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Re: Blue Hyacinths, indeed the comfort of having her husband there. I will need hip surgery soon and just lost my husband to cancer. How fortunate are those who have loving partners to be there. Wonderful story.
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@Jody When I had hip surgery, I had long since been divorced. My two grown children were with me - going into surgery and coming out.
A friend or two will do. Any one who knows you and is willing to do it to support you.
What's important is that your suport person or persons be yours, not the hospital's.
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@Jody good luck with your surgery. sorry to hear that you lost your husband. Please take care of yourself.
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@Jody
Ms Jody I want you to know that the whole time you are in hospital you are surrounded by people who care about you: before, during, and after surgery. You may not be awake and never see us, but we're there. I know it's not the same, but you will not be alone.
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Re: Close to Home:
You say stockings, I say pantyhose,
You say nylons, I say stockings,
Stockings, pantyhose, nylons,
Let's throw the whole thing out!
PS: Wonderful Metropolitan Diary of chances, not so far from serendipity.
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Fun stockings/nylons/hose discussion here notwithstanding (I say stockings, you say whatever...), I love the story from the Nebraskan trying to hail a cab near a construction site. I ❤️ New Yorkers. Best people in the world.
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Re the lovely story about asking for flowers, permit me just a bit of snark.
The writer had just undergone major surgery. Before going under, her husband (like any decent partner) kindly asked her what he should bring. Her request was simple and perfect: blue hyacinths.
I realize it didn't matter to the writer that her husband brought her daffodils instead - his presence was what really mattered.
But, for goodness' sake, why couldn't the husband get her the hyacinths? Were none available in all of Manhattan? Or was it just another case of excusing men - "oh, they're just guys, what do you expect? They can't get things straight."
OK, enough snark. I hope that the writer is fully recovered and I wish her and her husband the best of health.
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@Raye, but if he'd brought the blue hyacinths, there would be no story for the Diary. Sometimes having a good story beats getting exactly what you want!
(Or he could have searched and found none, and brought some photos of Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket on BBC. But that might not have been Diary-worthy either.)
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@Raye Did you read the part where she said that she just wanted the comfort of her husband being there? The flowers really didn't matter. I'm not sure if you've ever been in love, or have had the kind of relationship that Ms. Nelson and her husband have, where nothing really matters but having each other. See, that's actually the point of her story.
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@Raye
Maybe her husband didn't have enough time to search "all of Manhattan". Why do women have to constantly bash men for - well - everything?
37
Please, please revive us with this sort of writing frequently. Too often when I peruse what’s available to read in the NYT - and other publications = I find I don’t have the courage to dive down yet another dark hole. This was delightful and not at all insignificant.
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I adore these little vignettes. This is one of the best "crops" I have seen in a while. The poem about various structures that seemed like sweet treats reminded me of one Good Friday when I had been fasting since dinner on Thursday. I was driving to church in the evening when I spotted the pure white walls of the California State Capitol coming up on the left. I began to feel my mouth water... and then realized that I was so hungry, subconsciously the building had made me think of a big, creamy, white-frosted cake! I could not help but laugh at myself ...
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Well this is unexpectedly wonderful. Thank you!
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The runner’s story confused me. When did he mention his sister being there? If they were out running, why was she wearing stockings? I must have missed something.
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@SRB
The car that had the problem the runner corrected by employing stockings was his sister's. So were the stockings.
My question is: Who wears stockings? I though pantyhose had cornered the market...
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@HapinOregon
It's true that in 1970 — and every year since — sales of pantyhose have exceeded those of stockings in the US for the first time. Perhaps by 1979, when that incident took place, stockings had not yet surrendered completely.
It's also plausible that the writer of that entry employed the word "stockings" as a convenient shorthand for some sort of long hosiery, encompassing possibly pantyhose.
Or perhaps his sister kept a spare pair of stockings in her car, just in case, and wasn't actually wearing them at the time.
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@HapinOregon, the story was in 1979. Wikipedia for "Pantyhose" says:
"In 1970, U.S. sales of pantyhose exceeded stockings for the first time, and it has remained so ever since. Pantyhose became a wardrobe staple throughout the 1970s and 1980s."
I give the story zero Pinocchios. :)
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Good entries!!
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