Found money

Night is falling quickly and patches of Henry Street are deep in shadow. I'm walking north, towards home, when I see a man crouching beneath a tree. As I draw closer I see that the man is accompanied by a dog, and he is, in fact, scooping the dog's droppings into a bag. The man -- well dressed, middle aged -- stands and, holding the bag of dirt in one hand, the dog's lead in the other, he briskly walks past me.

As the man strides north, a young couple approaches from the south. They stop and point to a spot in the shade beneath the tree. I can't see what has drawn their attention. Did the man miss some of the dog droppings? The couple hurriedly confers with whispers and sweeping gestures. The young man darts forward, snatches something from the ground and calls after the older man, "Hey ... hey, mister!" But the dog and his walker are moving quickly, fading into the gloom, and they are either can't hear or have chosen to ignore the young man's cry.

The young man returns to his companion and shows her whatever he grabbed from the sidewalk. He is clearly distressed that he couldn't get the older man's attention.

I am still walking north, I've nearly reached them, and I cheerily, brazenly call out, "Hey whatever that is, if you don't want it, I'll take it!" I expect a wisecrack in return, but the couple eyes me nervously and, without speaking, start moving away when the young man suddenly stops, turns and places the contents of his hand atop a brownstone wall. I watch them scurry across the street, see the object on the wall flutter in the breeze and walk over to see what he's left there.

It's money. Cash. U.S. dollars. Four dollar bills, carefully folded together. I pick it up and continue home with found money in my pocket.

Spring? What spring?

If it hadn't been for a "Happy Equinox" e-card received today, I'd hardly have known that this was supposed to be the first day of spring. The sun never came out, the wind never stopped blowing. It was a good day to stay inside, sip steaming hot tea and listen to the patter of the rain falling on the windowpanes.

The e-card said:

At this Equinox claim the power of Life.
The power of manifestation
The power of budding childlike hope
Renewed as the year wheel pivots
At the moment of balance between darkness and light.

Claim the power of hope renewed
From which will come manifestation of all your desires.
There is no fruit or future without first
Filling yourself with life now.
Embrace the Spring's sowing and budding
That will drive you towards
Your Summer's growth and Autumn's harvest.

Live now.
Bite into a piece of fruit.
Smell a flower.
Suck on the tender crook of your own elbow.
Blow someone a kiss.
Think of your beloved's open mouthed grin
Crooking at the corner of his or her mouth.

Namaste

A stroll down Court Street

Chilly but clear St. Joseph's Day, perfect for a stroll down Court Street through Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.

Went to the Cadman Plaza Post Office and sent out a big, heavy package, looked through the sale books at Barnes & Noble, browsed the local book section at Book Court, poked around the used books at the Community Book Store, flipped through the greeting cards and pretty soaps at Shakespeare's Sister, watched the counter girl carefully placing meringues in a box at Sweet Melissa, and picked up some lovely food for the new few days. Lentil-rice salad and hummus from Sahadi's, fresh-from-the-oven pita bread from Damascus Bakery, red grapes and lemons from a greengrocer's stand, sfingi and zeppole (made specially for St. Joseph's day) from Court Pastry, rice balls and home-made sausage with broccoli rabe from Esposito's New Jersey Pork Store (easy to find -- just look for the enormous ceramic pig dressed like a chef in front of the store) and (oh, my!) delectable pumpkin ravioli and walnut sauce from Fratelli Ravioli.

Lingered over a good book and coffee at the Brooklyn Bread Cafe, saw the crowds emerging from church clutching leaves of palm, basketball players running and shooting in Carroll Park, a pair of great danes straining at their leashes, two little girls playing Ring Around The Rosie (Mother's comment: "You are NOT going to "all fall down" in the middle of Court Street. Wait 'till we get home and you can fall down there."). Mix in a little flirtation with a stranger, a little sunshine, and end up with nice day out and about in beautiful Brooklyn.

Sahadi's

Barnes & Noble

Community Bookstore

Sweet Melissa

Fratelli Ravioli

Brooklyn Bread Cafe

I'm mad at LiveJournal

I've been playing with my crummy old digital camera, taking some photos now and then, but I can't figure out how to get them to display on LiveJournal. Grrr, LiveJournal, why are you making this so difficult?

I tried uploading them to Yahoo! Photo but couldn't figure out how to link to a specific image. Tried uploading them to PhotoBucket, but that doesn't seem to work unless I switch from free LiveJournal membership to paid (no, I don't want to pay for membership).

Now I'm going to try this blog thing. I downloaded Picassa from google, then I was prompted to download Hello from google (or perhaps from Picassa, I'm feeling a bit lost right now), and I'm not sure that I can make this happen, but I'll give it a try.

Can I get a photo to show up? We'll see.