Old News

Don't come here for current events. The impetus for this post is an article from last week's New York Times about the Central Park sheepfold (former location of Tavern on the Green). I am obsessed with Central Park. It's my sanity and amazing by any standards. Starting when M was just a few weeks old I would walk with her in the sling for hours, miles, sometimes all the way up to the Reservoir, around, and back home. We did this through December on a daily basis, rain, sleet, snow or shine. I vaguely recall at some point it was really nasty out and I discovered that I could hold her and dance to Ave Maria to get her to go to sleep without going outside.  Looking back, the walks were completely insane but at the time it was just what we did. I would pack a ziploc bag with an extra diaper, a few wipes and a burp cloth and off we'd go, usually along the Bridle Path (passing the spot where R and I got married). I don't even know if I have pictures of this since we were almost always solo and I didn't have a camera phone at the time and I remember thinking that the camera weighed too much to bring (it's a small camera I don't know what I was thinking). It sounds kind of sad and crazy but in some ways it was one of the happiest times in my life.  I do remember occasionally reaching a point of exhaustion, hunger, not sure if I could make it home in one piece. Sometimes I got a fried fish sandwich at the Boathouse.  I explored the Ramble and spooked myself out a few times (too much SVU).  One time when I happened to bring the very large stroller we got caught in a massive rain storm up near the Great Lawn (25 blocks from home). R was out of town and I didn't see any way to take a cab home with the stroller (I wasn't even sure if I could get a cab). M started to freak out so I put her in the carrier and huffed it home. I was soaked to the bone but she was snug as a bug. Even this, I loved. At some point in the springtime I discovered the Sheep Meadow. It was a mom and baby mecca, everyone brought a blanket and threw their kid down and you were almost always guaranteed to find a few moms with babies the same age as yours. Shortly, M became obsessed with pushing her cart everywhere and we figured out a way to hook it on to the stroller so we could take it to the park. Being unsteady on her feet, the best place for cart pushing was the large paved playground at the south end, so we went to the Sheep Meadow less. Once she started walking unassisted, party time shifted to the playground across from the Sheep Meadow. I couldn't help but notice they were messing around with Tavern on the Green and then one day !....aaahhhhh...! (cue rainbows and unicorns) these amazing food trucks arrived. All of a sudden, heaven got a lot better. Hot dumplings and Mexican hot chocolate? I'll take it. I don't want to undersell my other favorite new development in CP which is a Le Pain Quotidien smack in the middle of the park (just north of the Sheep Meadow, east of the croquet green) - also incredible and fantasy-like.  Anyway, we're not as tough as we were last winter (this city mouse is rubbing off on me) and we've been missing the park. Though we were there last weekend and trucks are still representing. Can't wait for spring.