When the rain ended, we decided to go for a walk. On the sidewalk, I stopped to say hello to my favorite puddle.
Across Saint Nicholas, Sylvan Terrace was glowing in the late-afternoon sun.
We stopped to admire a cat in the window of one of the row houses.
The moon was already out over the mansion where George Washington had famously stayed during the Revolutionary War.
I wondered if he had conscripted any of the stray cats who live on the grounds into his army.
As usual, there were more cats than people to be found, which is not a complaint.
There's actually a group that takes care of the cats at the mansion; most have been Trapped, Neutered, and Released, which keeps the population from exploding. According to the woman in charge of the program, it also keeps the rats away, even though the city -- ignoring ten thousand years of anecdotal evidence -- claims that the cats have nothing to do with the improved rat situation.
A few of the cats are very friendly, such as this orange guy. You can tell that they've been spayed or neutered because the tip of their ear has been clipped.
Not far away, a copy editor had addressed a nagging tense problem with some graffiti. I was pretty happy to live in a neighborhood where Reagan was still considered worse than crack. #neverforget
There are some very beautiful apartment buildings nearby.
And some obsessive gardeners.
It was hard to disagree with those who had been complaining about the design of a new (seriously) children's museum and affordable housing complex at 155th Street. The critic in the New York Times said the design, by a famous architect whose name escapes me, reminded him of a straight-A student who forgot to bring his pencil to the exam.
The sycamore across the street was not bothered, however.
Back in our garden, a discussion ensued. "I like to consider all sides of a debate." -- Zephyr.
"That building was designed by a flying snake." -- Elektra
"I'm nervous about so many things." -- Dante
The little stray cat watched but did not participate in the debate. (Note that her ear is also clipped, which means she has been TNR'd.)
I cut back the climbing hydrangea pretty severely, with the hope that the vines will come back strong next year. This season was one of "recovery" after we (fingers crossed) managed to eradicate the scale.
Fall was here, but we had a final clematis blossom.
And a cluster of orange berries from the firethorn.
And the perfect autumn light.
And a nice pot to relax in.
Outside, the sun began to set on Washington Heights.
As the rest of the city prepared for another week on the job.
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10/11/2014
ORDER HERE
A RADICAL NEW MYTH ABOUT SEX, FAITH, AND THOSE OF US WHO WILL NEVER DIE
A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later, now working as a New York City homicide detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient civilization of gods and the people determined to bring them back.
In this colossal new novel from the author of The Metropolis Case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice collides with a new religion founded by three corporate office workers, creating something beautiful, illogical, and overwhelming. Part sex manifesto, part religious text, part Manhattan noir—with a dose of deadly serious, internet inspired satire—#gods is a sprawling inquest into the nature of faith and resistance in the modern world. With each turn of the page, #gods will leave you increasingly reborn.
Praise for #gods
“#gods is a mystery, an excavation of myths, an index of modern life, a gay coming-of-age story, an office satire, a lyrical fever dream, a conspiracy. One of the most ambitious novels in recent memory—and a wild, possibly transformative addition to the canon of gay literature—it contains multitudes, and seethes with brilliance.” —Mark Doten, author of The Infernal
“Matthew Gallaway’s #gods is a novel so brilliant, so funny, so full of strange and marvelous things, I couldn’t stop writing OMG WTF I <3 THIS SO MUCH in its margins. It’s rare to find a novel that so dazzlingly reinvigorates age-old meditations on faith and f&!*ing, art and eros. Luminous, enterprising, and sublimely cheeky, #gods tells the story, the myth, the dream of the human soul in all its glorious complexity.” —Suzanne Morrison, author of Yoga Bitch
“Matthew Gallaway’s storytelling manages to be both dreamy and serious; lean and luxurious. His words carry an incantatory power of mythic storytelling where beauty and savagery wrap around each other like bright threads in a gorgeous tapestry.” —Natasha Vargas-Cooper, author of Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America
“If the ancient gods were just like us, only more so, then the same could be said for this strange, wonderful book, in which the mundane sorrows and small triumphs of very ordinary lives glow ever so slightly around the edges, sometimes quite literally. At once an oddly romantic send-up of dead-end office culture and an offbeat supernatural procedural, #gods is terrifically weird, melancholy, sexy, and charming.” —Jacob Bacharach, author of The Bend of the World
'It’s to the credit of Matthew Gallaway’s enchanting, often funny first novel that it doesn’t require a corresponding degree of obsession from readers, but may leave them similarly transported: the book is so well written — there’s hardly a lazy sentence here — and filled with such memorable lead and supporting players that it quickly absorbs you into its worlds.'
-- The New York Times
Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine
Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.
Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past
Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.
Video: The Chaos Detective
The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.