There's a greenway that runs along the Hudson River, from Battery Park at the southernmost end of Manhattan, to the George Washington Bridge roughly six miles north. This particular stretch, far west of Greenwich Village, I think of as my backyard.
I try to come down here every night after work because being on the river calms me down and puts everything into perspective. Maybe it's because the play of light on the water provides a sense of spaciousness even as it creates optical illusions, turning three dimensional shapes like a ferry boat into two-dimensional scrims like the backdrop on a set
After 9/11 it was hard for me to walk along the river. I could only make it a little ways downtown before I would start to cry and have to sit down on the path and wait until I could collect myself. As the weeks and then months passed, I could make it a little further before breaking down, but I would always be arrested by the sight of these old pilings, poking up out of the water. They looked to me like sentinels, or ghosts. Fingers pointing up to the sky.
Now I walk along the river, and sometimes I don't even think about that day, the bright blue heavens, and the bodies falling through it.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Photo Hunt 51: Water
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9 comments:
Great picture and wonderful words.
that is a gorgeous picture! :-)
Thanks! I took it with my phone. LOL
It's a beautiful view, the pilings make it more interesting. I can see why you would want to walk there.
Great shot!!! I have so many shots of the Pacific, but I went with where I live now... AZ
Wonderful shot of New York. We have friends that live in Brooklyn and I came up to take care of their apartment for two weeks while they were in Europe. The view out their windows was gorgeous and haunting at the same time. A storm rolled through and obliterated the entire skyline for about 20 minutes... during that short time, life felt normal. Then the empty patch came back into view. We feel fortunate, as Alec was supposed to have an interview that morning at the Trade Center, but was running late. Thank goodness.
It is a great city and I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks there as a .... "resident".
Hi
Lovely photo and very touching words.
I've just joined Photo Hunt, will start this next Saturday and I have managed to put a word link on my sidebar to both the photo hunters site and to the blogroll on my site.
What I haven't managed to do is put the logo, Photo Hunters Participant on the sidebar with a link to the home site. (I just have the logo picture, not connecting to anything.) I can see you have done it and since we both are on blogger, I must be able to do it too.
So far I have only used the blogger add a page element set up which has served me well so far. I know a little bit about html so would consider going into the template directly.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
jmb
That's a beautiful photo you took there but have to say that I got even more out of reading your accompanying words.
Sounds like you've currently got a healthy, even if not entirely happy, medium going with regards to your ruminations as you walk along the river. I.e., 9/11 shouldn't be easily brushed aside and forgotten even if the memories of it aren't pleasant. At the same time, life goes on and it's great that you can continue to see beauty where others might only see darkness and/or hell.
Lovely skyline - beautiful.
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