I was raised on a small rural farm between two rushing rivers not far from the western shore of the Chesapeake with luxuriant greenery and cultivated fields not even topped by the best of Vermont’s prolific shades of green.
After leaving home and hitchhiking 6000 miles in a Summer of Love east-west-east roundtrip, I ended up in New York City, where I spent most of my adult life.
Now, after seven years as a Vermonter I can indulge myself locally in the greenacres and only look back to recall or revisit my storied life in the concrete canyons.
Without prejudice for one or the other, with equal joy to celebrate life’s happy trails, it is always a pleasure to relive and share New York Moments.
I first saw the sun set on 23rd Street at a young age by simply turning the corner at Lexington as I walked west on some errand or journey in and around the city.
What you see in this brief video is what many of us “New Yorkers” have frequently seen by virtue of being part of the lifeblood and vitality of the center of the known world – Manhattan.
Enjoy:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/weather/2014/07/12/vo-rare-red-sunset-manhattan.wpix&hpt=hp_t2&from_homepage=yes&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F#/video/weather/2014/07/12/vo-rare-red-sunset-manhattan.wpix
city summers
One thing I miss about the big cities in summer is that hot, hazy time near sunset. Rooftops, skylines, and people out and about. The air hot and heavy. Summer music blaring. Fountains spraying. Stoops. Brownstones. Overdressed businesspeople leaving air conditioned high rises at the end of the work day. Taxis bouncing about. (Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park kinda captures it a bit, as do a few films by Spike Lee.)
In DC, I used to like to ride my bike over to the Capitol porch overlooking the Mall. The Washington and Lincoln monuments glowed from the setting sun, and you could watch the heat rise and distort the air, making the incoming planes to National seem to waver and wiggle a bit in the distance. The pollution would cause some great sunset colors.
As for the canyon, I haven’t been there in person at the appointed hour, but have heard stories of how New Yorkers wait for the lights to change then run out into the street to snap photos of it. (Someone once said there was so much attention on the sun’s position that a celebrity could be jumping up and down naked behind them in the other direction and no one would even notice.) This action is repeated as long as the sun is visible, which must be quite a sight.
Sunset in the concrete and steel canyon
I saw that earlier, a beautiful glimpse of the sunset framed by the immovable art that is the city. Great time lapse!
Between the sun and the moon over NYC
“When you get caught between the moon and New York City
I know it’s crazy but it’s true
If you get caught between the moon and New York City
The best that you can do (the best that you can do)
The best that you can do is fall in love” ~Christopher Cross
https://www.google.com/search?q=super+moon+over+new+york+city&tbm=isch&imgil=oimuMcTN1NMdBM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcQpFZREQGh9kZ4-03ro26gQLy1C2IcnCMVHIAj3dbmXRSWAbRGN%253B1000%253B602%253BEQE5l2taD11NkM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fall-that-is-interesting.com%25252Fsupermoon-new-york-city&source=iu&usg=__HbfyqVBQ-25gHGRWHZae48uB27Q%3D&sa=X&ei=WJ_FU7PiFuawigLpwYBw&ved=0CDAQ9QEwBQ&biw=1063&bih=682#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=oimuMcTN1NMdBM%253A%3BEQE5l2taD11NkM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcdn.all-that-is-interesting.com%252Fwordpress%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F05%252Fsupermoon-over-new-york-city.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fall-that-is-interesting.com%252Fsupermoon-new-york-city%3B1000%3B602