Our only desire for the day was to barbecue in our own backyard, which for us meant popping over to The Frying Pan at Pier 66a. An unexpected detour up to 110th street (to deliver homemade split pea soup) momentarily thwarted our plan until we realized we could simply park-hop our way downtown - Morningside to Riverside to Hudson River.
New Yorkers found every excuse to get out today: kayaking, biking, hiking, sunning, eating, skateboarding, strolling, sailing and sporting from volleyball to baseball were bursting along the waterfront.
It's Oktoberfest at the Boat Basin Cafe so we stopped in for a mid-point refresher, though we skipped the bratwurst. It's a great place to peer down at the peddlers passing by or to tuck-in under the eaves of the castle-like domed ceilings. Dogs are welcome and the two unruly ones that vied with the waiters for a morsel were not turned away.
We sauntered southward and my weary feet were rewarded with a fountain drink on fall-cooled pavers.
And eventually, yes, we made it home, well nearly, and trudged into the Frying Pan where we sampled seating until we settled on the top deck of the port side craft as the sun ducked behind New Jersey.
Never ones to skip an outdoor adventure we jumped at the invitation to join Aaron and Tammy for a trek around the Bronx Botanical Gardens. We'd been in snow for the Orchid Show and in Summer for the Chihuly's but this was our first fall forage. An added bonus were the Henry Moore sculptures sitting ceremoniously around the grounds as if in their regular chairs.
The lily ponds behind the conservatory sparkled with the flourish of Japanese Chrysanthemums in varying degrees of glory. There were the flowing ones, the flouncy ones and the feisty ones. These not-in-your-mother's-garden mums are much more dramatic in person and believe it or not the white mountainous one all originates from a single stem!
Did you know that bamboo is the fasted growing plant on the planet? As much as four feet a day in prime conditions. Now that would be a good specimen for the time-elapse video feature of my camera. Aaron actually has the exact camera as me so the day was not only visually spectacular but through several tutorials greatly increased my camera-feature-awareness.
And bonzai are the slowest growing. Some of the bonzai on view were over 300 years old and resembled lilliputian forests.
Our day at the garden even included a Halloween Hoorah! Bears, ponies and alligators mingled with the rose bushes and gypsies, princesses and superheroes trampled through the forests.
A final swing around the perimeter included an off-trail climb followed by a visit to the library for plant and funghi facts.
Actually, I skipped the funghi to slumber midst the sprinkling of the fountain. Guess I needed a break, like the perambulator of this abandoned broom and wheelbarrow.
