Category Archives: Riffing

Speaking of Croatia

Pierrot and Pierrette. “It is truly unlikely that the occasion for this masquerade had anything to do with Halloween. This holiday has no tradition that I know of in Croatia.”

Just cause a place was a point of your origin, does not mean you haven’t overlooked some of its finer points.

For Instance, I never heard of a dessert called the bayadere which apparently is a specialty from my mother’s neck of the Balkans. I encountered one at Les Gateaux de Marie and have to admit it’s very addictive. I am a huge chocolate mixed with nuts fan.

The coffee at this little French bakery Cafe is far from solid. It’s the bajadera I come back for from time to time.

Speaking of La Bayadere, it’s also the name of a classical dance. While I never fully understood its virtues when I was the audience, it is an elaborate and much admired work. I think my imagination is stymied by the appearance of ghosts.

Marius Petipa conceived this dramatic tale of exotica and eternal love set in ancient India for a large troupe of his dancers. The title refers to the Indian temple dancer, Nikiya, whose ghost returns to seek vengeance and be reunited with her noble lover, Solor.

How the name for an Indian temple dancer came to grace a Croatian sweet, I cannot tell you. I will attest that the pastry is, like an Indian Temple Dancer, an exotic treat.

The ghost or a wraith of some sort is an oft seen character in ballet, from Giselle, Les Sylphides to the apotheosis in Swan Lake.

Thus closes this Halloween-themed episode….

Scenes

The L.A. Planetarium plays a prominent part in Rebel Without A Cause.

The teens from Rebel, watching the dire predictions of collisions and booms, are more engrossed in their own life angst. The adults in their lives can’t seem to provide them the guidance they need.

Officially named the Griffiths Observatory, it makes an interesting cameo in La La Land. It has appeared on TV episodes as well and some dozens of other films.

The Griffiths Observatory’s presence in Rebel was dour. In La La aery.

On a tangent that leads away from L.A. but still features a planetarium, I recall how much I loved stargazing. At least from the comfort of plush seats.

New York City has a well rated world-class planetarium of its own adjacent to our often-in-films dinosaur museum. The American Museum of Natural History is the setting for A Night In The Miseum, a series that is neither dour nor aery.

The observatory here in New York City is called The Hayden Planetarium.

And we’re once again back full circle to films. If not quite back to L.A.

Shorter this way

Trees are having their coming out party.

Why is it a shortcut if I cover the same distance? It definitely feels shorter when I turn on Cherokee to get 1 block down.

I still have to get from Cherokee Place to York. Why does it feel so much less arduous?

Sometimes even this longcut (sic) feels shorter.

There’s a jazz club just off 86th and Second. That’s exciting.

https://jeremysnyc.com/
501 East 79th emerges

There was scaffolding shrouding this corner for ever so long. It’s a pleasant surprise having this building come out into the daylight.

The Fall

It’s the best season.

Not just for the color on the trees or the crispness in the air but for its promise. The spring will overwhelm with expectation but the Fall has wisdom. It’s a temperate time of year, sometimes breezy, others balmy.

This bronze stag has taken its stand in our neighborhood for some time now.

This dental practice seems to be on a mission we as New Yorkers should appreciate. The goal, I gather, is to put a smile on our faces.

The return to school in the Fall used to require a visit to the dentist.

On the subject of: names

Names like Silverman have a history that connects the named with an occupation. Surnames were a later development in the human community.

It used to be that you would be directed to find Max. He’s the blacksmith. Max the blacksmith might become Max Smith in a shortening of his trade.

The mob, if gangster films teach us anything, will use a trait to identify a comrade in arms. Joey Triggers or Tony Safes might be a moniker in use. Since Joey and Tony come from a long line of Capistranos and Conamores they already have a last name. If they’d lived in the middle ages, the nickname would stick for the next generations.

Names connect us to our past.

What’s in a name?

Aaron Judge may be in the wrong field yet as an outfielder he broke Roger Maris’ home run record this year. Judge him not or judge him great.

Mike Hammer should’ve been a carpenter but The Carpenters were definitely, based on their name not their talent, in the wrong line of work. Perhaps they should have been called The Singing Carpenters.

(Yes I do know that Mike Hammer was a fictional sleuth.) MC Hammer, like The Carpenters, also finds himself in the singing game with Grammys to prove it’s for real.

I am certain you know a Singer who can’t or a Taylor who doesn’t? It’s such wonderful symmetry when the name and the doing align.

The Emmy-winning writer from Schitt’s Creek, David West Read has a great name for what he does.

Recovery

Sleep and convalescence are today’s topics. If you feel the exploration of this lulling you into the first aforementioned, perhaps it’s my expository skill at ye olde bedtime story. This staple of the nursery is now recommended for adults!

Speaking of adults, my friend Bill W. (No not 12 step b.w.) shared a Karl Jung YouTube. Pertinent quote for us today: “life truly does begin at 40; everything up until then is research.” On the very plus side, this also makes us all much younger. At 41 you have only been an adult for one year as I see it.

Don’t cry yet but I am also going to have to introduce the onion in this health alert. It appears that it is full of natural antibiotics. Who (besides Nat Geo from whence I was schooled on all 3 subjects) knew?

If the health benefits of that extremely healthful vegetable have not had the full benefit, you may be obliged to recuperate. In the not so distant past, you might have benefited from a long slow recovery period known to all as convalescence. It is coming back in vogue among the medical professionals.

Don’t expect a longer welcome while in hospital. Beds and staff are still in short supply. But do lounge about at home, having spouse and friends do for you while you take the time to get better.

Oh, and have someone prepare a nice salad with clementines, kiwi, avocado and onions- lots of them. Bermuda is a favorite, but I hear tell that the Sunion is designed to not bring you to tears.