Backwards Skate

Hellooo Fringelings!

It’s been a little bit since I last posted.  You know what they say, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then shut the fuck up.  Really it’s just been hectic.  Nerd Child is home for the summer, which is wonderful, and Mother in Law is in the hospital, not wonderful.  On the bright side, she’s recuperating, getting stronger each day.  Art Child is not finished with school yet, the NYC public schools are in session until the end of June every year.  Just making sure that even with a late start to summer weather, the kids and teachers have plenty of sweltering days in the classrooms.

This has, of course, all involved a lot of back and forth and running around.  Yesterday, Mother in Law told me I need roller skates.  I agree, and would like the ones I had in middle school/high school, with the emerald green wheels and matching green sparkle laces and furry green pom poms.  Yes indeed, I was stylin’ those Friday Nights at the Roller Palace.  For some reason, my clearest memories involve the inevitable point in the night when someone’s wheel would bust off, and there would suddenly be a thousand little ball bearings rolling across the floor.

Alas, my wheels are long misplaced, and I suspect if I tried, I’d be skating backwards when I tried to go forward.

Yesterday Man Child called me to touch base, and maybe, just maybe, give me a little nudge along the lines of, “Hey Ma, wtf?!  You haven’t blogged.”  So I brought my camera earlier today, to catch a few pics of St John The Divine, and the assault construction taking place on its grounds right now.  In my opinion, this cathedral (Episcopal) is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, in the city.  Interesting, too.  Construction began in 1892, and has yet to be completed. The campus involves something like 11 acres, and they offer a lot of free or inexpensive programs and classes for the public.  They also house one of the fancy private schools of NY.  Somehow, they’ve found themselves running with a deficit.  There was a huge fire over ten years ago, and if I had to guess, I’d say they’re still trying to make up for the cost of restoration and clean up.  Several years ago they leased a corner of the property, and allowed an apartment building to be put up.  Now comes another one, this one much closer to the church itself.  As I walked around with my camera, able to see in through the back along Morningside Ave, it broke my heart a little.  They don’t have official landmark status, and I’m not familiar with the politics of this type of thing to know why, but somehow, seeing the excavation for the foundation up against the gorgeous granite and carvings, it feels wrong.

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12 comments

  2. Ok I loved all the photos just saying, next I can skate if skating involves putting skates on ones feet and then falling over or doing the splits if not then I can’t skate………

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  4. I see what you mean, Mrs Fringe. It’s a gorgeous building, quite magnificent. To have modern ubania encroaching on that, messing with that, feels more assault than construct.

    *sigh*

    But maybe it’s not so bad. I guess it’s how you look at it. The integrity of that cathedral is intact for the most part, right? So, that construction is less like major surgery and more like a bad haircut.

    🙂

    Glad your MIL is doing better. Glad you mentioned roller skating because that reminded me of the happy times spent at Fantasy Roller Rink. We used to go there every Saturday. We didn’t own our own skates, not the white lace-up ones, so we rented ours. I wasn’t really good at it but I liked it anyway, skating there with my three sisters. We had those metal skates at home, the ones you clamp onto your shoes. We’d skate the bumpy cement sidewalk all around the block.

    Fun times.

    As for nerd child and this blog, I’m glad he gave you a little nudge. I didn’t realize how much I needed my fix of Mrs Fringe.

    xo kk

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    1. As a longtime NYer on a budget, I’ve got built in bias against yet another modern, hideous high rise for people who can pay astronomical rents, encouraging landlords all around them to raise theirs–inflating “market rent” once more. 😦

      Oh yes! I remember and had those metal skates (with the key) when I was younger, the cracks and bumps were the most fun–I can just feel my skinned knees 😀

      And thank you ❤

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      1. You’re welcome. You know, I wasn’t thinking beyond the building itself, didn’t consider the socio-economic ramifications. . .

        I live in lower middle class suburbia. We don’t have astronomical rents where I live. In my city, home values have plummeted in the last five years. My little house was valued at almost twice as much before the recession.

        I guess it doesn’t matter, there is always a downside. Which means, conversely, there is always an upside. Right?

        I know, I know, I’m incorrigible, Mrs Fringe. Caint hep it. 😉

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  5. Gods, those pics are gorgeous. Makes me miss the city even more. That doesn’t many me…*twitch…insane or anything…right? Exactly!

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