Although we live in a concrete jungle, this city was well planned. Thankfully, on days when it feels like a grind it's easy enough to find some green space via all the square parks throughout the city. My local fave is Madison Square Park (my photo above). This time of year there is a hopeful glimmer in the eyes of everyone walking through, excited for the warm weather to come. I see people doing Tai Chi, teaching yoga classes, meditating, kids playing on jungle gyms, dogs frolicking in the off leash dog park ... and there's always some kind of art installation, food festival, farmers market or live music. My Mom was a volunteer at the park back in the '80's when I was a wee tot, and worked to get the kid's area in the northern end up and running. The park staff will soon disassemble a beautiful video projection that sparkles at night called Scattered Light by Jim Campbell and make room for the next project. Yesterday I saw them planting flowers. Hurry up Spring! For more information see
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/
Eternal Spring popped up for the month of January this year, with a 5,000 sq ft indoor park in Nolita. This goes to show how much New Yorkers miss their beloved green space when it's frigid. They project movies and even have food vendors like Luke's Lobster that you would find at a real outdoor park here. I heard that picnic baskets were being curated by the folks from The Little Owl too. Ahhh ... only in New York!
