We spent the weekend on Long Island.
Then some of us had to head back to Madison and show up for work on Monday morning, and some of us spent Sunday night in the City. I was one of the lucky ones. My flight didn’t leave until 2 p.m. on Monday.
The locals told us how horrible the weather had been in September and early October, but this weekend could not have been more perfect. Blue skies, puffy clouds, moderate temperatures. Warm days, cool evenings.
On Monday morning, we went to the Chelsea Market — a sensory feast in the truest sense of the word.
Especially in October when they celebrate both the harvest and Halloween. Produce is piled high in front of the store, plus more fruits and vegetables inside the Manhattan Fruit Exchange.
Chelsea Market is in what once was a Nabisco warehouse.
There are lots of niches and crannies, lots of brick walls and arches. And lots of areas to set up Halloween displays. These are not your run of the mill decorations — these would be in the professional class, if there was such a category. There are flashing colors in a rainbow of spooky hues. Chains rattle, and filling the halls are echoing howls and eerie screeches.
These ghouls were silent, but still scary enough. And tall. They were very tall, ceiling to floor tall!
I’ve seen this Fireman’s Carry Mural on several previous visits, but this is the first time I noticed that his fire coat sported grinning skulls — a novel decorating method that couldn’t be carried off successfully in too many places.
My favorite part of the Chelsea Market is deciding where to stop for food.
Shakes, bakery, just caught fish and seafood, chocolates, cheeses, gelato, nuts, Italian, Thai, French, comfort foods. The choices are endless. We generally snack our way down the hallways while admiring the arched passages cut out of brick walls and the aged, polished hardwood floors.
Once we had satisfactorily snacked our way from the front doors to the rear entrance, we headed for High Line Park. A long walk sounded like a good idea, and one of the most pleasant and unusual NYC walks takes place on the rehabbed High Line, elevated train tracks that is taking on a new life as an urban park .
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Last week she took a few days off to celebrate her daughter’s wedding. She left her camera in the camera bag for the wedding festivities, but she put in plenty of photo time while on a one day visit to New York City.