37 Days: Happy May Day!

Enjoying a beautiful May day in Brooklyn, I take the R train to Bay Ridge in the southwestern tip of the borough.  Here, I walk through the Narrows Gardens, a small garden bursting with color. Families sit beneath the shade of the large oak trees, and dogs chase one another around and around, shaking winter from their coats.  I meander through Owls Head Park, a large community oasis perched above the noisy Belt Parkway, with winding dirt trails that lead from the street level to the top of a grassy hill to an unobstructed view of lower Manhattan. 

As the sun begins to dip and the air cools, I take to the paved path along the Shore Road.  This stretch of path is today strewn with walkers, runners, rollerbladers, photographers, tourists, locals, families with strollers - young and old soaking in the sunshine.

Though butted up against the noisy Parkway, the view of Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is remarkable, especially from Pier 69, but all along the path.  As the weekday traffic slows and the sun sets, the area becomes more peaceful.

A handful of local men are beneath the bridge, fishing for striped bass, casting their cares out to the sea.

The sun disappears from view behind Staten Island and its bright light is replaced with midnight blue and dark orange, the colors of dusk.  The bridge lights up and what was once noisy, crowded and hot is now quiet, calm and cool.

Here in this city of millions, I've learned to tune out background noise, to share the space around me, and to patiently wait for crowds to disperse from popular areas.  Then the beauty of the city reveals herself, and I fall in love all over again.