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Thursday, May 11, 2017

Thursday's Testimony: Completed Ride Two (Since Being Back in the Saddle)


As I mentioned last week in an entry here on Blogger, the month of May, is National Bike Month. I also discussed the fact that on Tuesday, May 2nd, I went tandem cycling with my captain, ZW, for the first time since I had an accident (not related to bike riding) in May of 2016. And I spoke about the aforementioned bike ride, recalling that ZW and I cycled up the portion of the greenway which runs parallel to the Hudson River and made our way to The Little Red Lighthouse

Last evening and into the night, I returned to the saddle for the second time since my accident; and instead of heading north on the greenway, which had become our routine, we cycled through the West Village heading towards the East Village; and then cycled through Soho; as well as the Lower Eastside, before cycling up the ramp of The Manhattan Bridge; in order to head to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. 

It is a route we've done on a number of occasions, including times when we met up with a group of cyclists to cycle through The Lights (Christmas) in the Heights during the cold winter months. We have also taken this route to witness a ceremony of Mayor Bloomberg lighting the menorah; and we've done the course with reasons in mind that were the same as our motivation for last night: to enjoy cycling a loop in Prospect Park, while being serenaded by an array of birds.

After we completed our Tour de Prospect Park last night, ZW parked her tandem, against a lamp post (as seen in the photo atop this entry); and we enjoyed a picnic of May Day Pesto atop a baguette, while a statue stood behind us who seemed to be interested in the tangerines we were having with our meal. 

The statue I am referring to is statue erected in the likeness of James S. T. Stranahan, and it can be seen in the following picture.



The monument is at the entrance to Prospect Park which is located between East Drive and Flatbush Avenue. Evidently the statue "resides" there because Stranahan was instrumental in securing funding and political support for Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

There was a full moon last night so our concern with having sufficient light to cycle back to Manhattan was taken care by Mother Nature. We took advantage of her generosity by stopping to enjoy ice-cream at a nearby parlor known as Ample Hills Creamery. A photo of this place (from their web-site) can be seen directly below.


On one of the pages for Ample Hills. the owners of the ice-cream parlor state: "...there were cows in Brooklyn. And the cows grazed on Brooklyn's lush ample hills. Although the cows are gone and the grassy hills have made way for rows of brownstones, the pastoral small-town spirit of old Brooklyn lives on at our neighborhood ice cream shops and in the playful, nostalgic flavors we create. We named Ample Hills after Walt Whitman's poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, which speaks of the connectedness of people across time and space..."

They also include the specific work of Whitman which gave them their inspiration. Here it is:

"What is it, then, between us?
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?
Whatever it is, it avails not-Distance avails not and place avails not. I too lived-Brooklyn of Ample Hills, was mine."

Ample Hills Creamery has an amusing sticker on a refrigerator door which is featured in the next image.


The location I visited last night happens to be near to a bookstore called Unnameable Books (see picture below),


I'm thrilled to learn this book store "buys and sell used and new books." 

I have now contacted them re their policy for considering new books for their store; as I hope the book I wrote with Cam, Words In Our Beak Volume One,


will be something they are willing to feature in their store. Fingers crossed. Toes too. Please stay tuned!

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES
...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

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