white album

I went to New York with two very excited girls and came back from New York with two very exhausted girls and some wonderful memories.

They will remember the sheer exhilaration of being caught up in Manhattan for three days, the pace, the noise, the stop-start of walking up and down avenues and, of course, the shops which cater to every teenager's every whim. Whereas I shall do my best to block out the memories of places like Abercrombie & Fitch and Lady Foot Locker as quickly as possible, to sift them out of my brain so that I'm left with memories of New York in its pale, springtime splendour.

New York is looking particularly white at the moment. I love the blossoms on the trees that line the streets; when you look up to admire the buildings, you see them through a delicate lacework of dark branches and little white flowers. And there are spectacular white lilies around the Rockefeller Centre looking as if they have been planted for a film-set (then I remember that Manhattan has an incredibly theatrical quality, so I shouldn't be surprised).

I saw some beautifully pale architecture, too. These clean, white buildings have a wonderfully elegant simplicity to them, and I couldn't help seeing quilt patterns wherever I looked in midtown Manhattan.

Phoebe had her first pale, super-sweet American cupcake at Billy's Bakery, while Alice chose a whipped cream and cookie confection which rivalled some of the taller buidings for height and design.

Looking down I saw vast tracts of pale pavement stones and slabs, enlivened here and there by some lovely bright tulips (these are on West 57th St. near the very tempting Rizzoli Bookstore) and contrasting beautifully with my daughters' boots. 

My white album couldn't be complete without this photo of Phoebe in the Big Apple taking a photo of the white Apple apple.

Tomorrow, New York in a different colour.

                             ***

Later: here's the photo of the white bike, so beautifully adorned with fake flowers, in case you are wondering what the earlier comments are about.

Comments

[colleen]

i love your photos of places that i know. it makes me happy and thankful. anyway, i hope you're in nyc because your book is going to be published here! i'm sorry, i just can't stomach the weak dollar/strong euro exchange right now. but, i long for your book to be in my home.

[stacy]

The white bike is a memorial for a cyclist killed in that spot. There are memorials like it all over the city.

[little_lj]

I was just gonna say about the bike, but stacy beat me to it!

One of my favourite things about living in New York is the numerous photo opportunities. I always have my camera on me, and find myself wanting to capture everything in celluloid.

I love NY in the spring too, the flowers are beautiful - this weekend I went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, where they had an orchid show. STUNNING! I'll have a post of all the gorgeous orchids on my blog this week

I love your blog, it reminds me of home!

[Melissa A.]

Sadly, the white bike might be a memorial to a cyclist who was killed there. We have one here, and there are other memorials in other cities.

[Jennifer]

One of my favorite kind of cake--you can purchase the dark chocolate cookies (sort of like Oreo's without the middle) in supermarkets to make the cake at home. Made with fresh whipped cream, it's easy and heavenly.

[Abi]

That bike is just fabulous...got any more pics? I'm more in awe of your photography every time I drop by here :)

[teresa c.]

Your post made me think of a white quilt. Maybe I should go the a fabric store and finally have a go with a sewing machine: simple squares, like the one you showed in your book.
I loved the bike photo.

[Jan]

I would love to have been a fly on the wall as you showed the girls New York City. Makes me smile just to think about it.
I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[Gemma]

I love my visits on my own with my Mum. And to have one in conjunction with New York, which I am desperate to visit, would be the icing on the cake!

I gather I've missed a pic?!?

[Kristy]

I think that I would have enjoyed NYC much more through my girls eyes.I must take them one day but of being 4 of them it would require a second mortgage!

[Peggy]

It's great hearing how people view your hometown because they always see something you don't. "white" is not how I would ever see NY (more like 'grit' or 'grime'). How I envy you your trip (and on British sterling yet!).

[Valerie]

To affirm what other commenters have said, the white bike with the flowers is a memorial to a cyclist; they are all over the five boruohgs. There's one near my job and another hear my former apartment.
The dessert is made from packaged chocolate cookies and sweetened whipped cream. It is a favorite of my mother's. On an historical note, it was invented when refrigerators came in for the home (1930's? or 20's my mother was born in 1921) and was popularized in cookbooks that came with the then new refrigerators.
Just a didactic note on your nice blog! I wish you had taken pictures of some of our magnolias which reached their blooming apex this weekend. They are white and they are beautiful.

[Mary]

That's my city?! Thanks so much for showing NYC's beauty. Living here, I get caught up in the grayness of everything.

BTW, that's an icebox cake. I added green food coloring to the whipped cream and made one for St. Patrick's Day: http://tinyurl.com/55u4jy
The chocolate wafers get very mushy and the log is cut on the diagonal.

[Joanna]

All that lovely white ... and especially the bike - it would be good to pick this up here, when I think of the number of people killed on their bicycles in London, it's the most elegant memorial, as well as a beatiful reminder to drivers - life-enhancing rather than guilt-inducing

Joanna

[mindy]

Hi Jane,
Lovely photos, as usual. Was this your first trip to NY? I remember going as a child, maybe 6 or 7, and being completely enthralled with FAO Schwarz. We also went to see the play, The Secret Garden--good times. :) I'd love to go back and experience it all as an adult!

(PS. I've been visiting your blog for a long time and am so inspired by it! The writing, the photos--I even began my own blog last month: www.vintageplum.blogspot.com. Thanks for being such an inspiration!)

[Sarah]

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Can I just say Phoebe's hair is gorgeous? I love full long hair. ;)

[Alice Saltiel-Marshall]

You left off with the tantilzing tidbit of going off somewhere with your daughters and until today's post I wondered - WHERE? You are simply brilliant at weaving a story, always with your own special perspective. Love the New York White Album and look forward to the other colours!

[amy]

i am glad my city showed you a good time!

[Janice]

I am sooo jealous. I am dreaming of going to NYC again. I visited years ago around my birthday in October and just loved it. Did you see 'Pricked' the extreme embroidery show at the Museum of Art & Design? I can't get there but I think I'll have to have the catalogue instead. I'll get there again one day!

[mereldevil]

Thank you for sharing your travels.
I love my village, but I don't see a lot more, I'm having a lovely time seeing the world through your pictures.

[willow]

I've yet to get to NYC in any season. Los Angeles is about all I can take, and I have it all the time.
I particularly liked the white buildings photo. Amazing architecture.

[Betsy]

That is soo much fun; mother/daughter trips are the best..

[Sherry]

It looks like you had a wonderful time. If I can not go, then at least I can read your blog!

[catherine]

What a wonderful and special time you must have had together! Looking forward to hearing and seeing more. Yes, Phoebe's hair is beautiful (must be the cupcakes!).

[Teresa]

Jane what a lovely memory of New York you have made for you and your daughters. (We obviously had the snow though).
And what a wonderful lot of interesting comments from the New Yorkers themselves who read your blog.
There had to have been a visit to Purl and other craft shops - can't wait to see what else you did in that most exciting city.

[Georgia]

You've inspired me to get off my bum and catch to train the hour into "the city" as NYC will always been known to me. It always feels so far away, but really it's not! I always feel like I have to do EVERYTHING when I'm there, but I just need to visit more often. Glad you and the girls had a wonderful time.

[terry grant]

They are called "ghost bikes" here in Portland, and are, indeed memorials to cyclists who are killed on the streets.I pass one daily for a 15 year old boy killed about 3 months ago by a bus. Breaks my heart every time I see it.

[julia fc]

So quick a trip, but I did one like that to London two years ago: 14 year old, 3 days, a thousand kilometers of walking . . . great grand fun.

[Karen]

Zebra Pudding - yum. It is a holiday favorite in our home and our son always makes it for Christmas dinner with crushed candycanes sprinkled on top.

[abby]

I read this post from Portland, OR, where I'm moving in two weeks. The pictures you shared were the first thing that made this relocation from NYC seem real... and scary. (Well, the scary part has been rearing its head for a while.) I can't believe that I'm leaving, but I can come back and visit whenever I need to.

[monica]

ah the Rizzoli bookshop... do you remember that glorious movie in the 80s 'Falling in Love'? with Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro? I've seen it again recently and it's such an amazing snapshot of that time, just check the clothes out!!

[Anne Margaret]

I am just coming down from my London-visit high and laughed to see that you were in my country. I was reminded by you whenever I saw all the yummy English treats - the fairy cakes especially. What IS the difference between fairy cakes and cup cakes? I discovered Dolly Mixtures and wish I had brought back a suitcase full from Harrods. I passed longingly by "Candy Cakes" somewhere in London between Trafalgar and the British Museum (I think) and had a family reluctant to let me enter for fear that I wouldn't emerge! Delightful!!

[Heather]

Mm, I love the first two photos. The trees in the first one are Callery pears -- which are my favorites of NYC's most common street trees. (See http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/trees_greenstreets/treescount/treecount_boroughs.php for more on which street trees are the most common in each borough -- or, at least, were a few years ago.)

[Annone]

I have just come back from NYC too. Like you I had a wonderful time and I love it there. If you have more time when you next go, do head over to Brooklyn (easy on the Subway). My brother lives in Brooklyn Heights which I love and Prospect Park (designed by the same person as did Central Park) is lovely and more rustic than its Manhattan cousin. There is also the Brooklyn Promenade which gives spectacular views of lower Manhattan. And the Brooklyn Museum (best Egyptology collection outside the British Museum) and Botanic Garden (which has what is regarded as one of the World's best Japanese gardens (designed in 1915). Altogether, lots of treasures off the beaten track.