Reflections
The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx is celebrating Impressionism this month, with plein air painters scattered throughout the garden on Sundays. We took the D train up to 126th Street in the South Bronx, met cousin Marshall and his wife Eden, and then headed to the garden. The draw was famed painter James Gurney and his wife Jeanette, who were positioned in the Children's Garden. Note the homemade light diffusers visible in the photograph of Jeanette.
Before heading out to see Gurney, we had a lovely lunch at the Hudson Cafe on the Garden grounds, where Evelyn enjoyed a soft-shell crab dish, which was the standout. Of course I couldn't resist the lily pond, but what attracted my photographic attention was the reflected white dome of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Too bad botanical gardens have to crap everything up with signage, but you do what you can with what you got.
As we exited the Conservatory, we encountered a jazz band that was aping the look and sound of the Roaring Twenties, and doing it quite well. The trumpet player had a very sonorous baritone singing voice. The songs may be old and simple, but when played right, they still sound great. Very evocative. Nevertheless, I am listening to the Message and the Sugar Hilll Gang as I write this, which seemed more appropriate given our location (just north of Sugar Hill section of Harlem)
Tough sunlight: The photographs capture the conditions.
