Surprise!!!

My favorite kind of art is public art. And I especially like it when it sneaks up on me. Yesterday, when I began my epic 10 mile walk in Prospect Park I came across a new art installation.  The plaque says that it was created by Carole Elsner in 2009 and will be there until May 2017. It is called Dancer. You can buy a picture of it here or you can download my photo for free. And I want to say something about this photo that your totally entitled to download if you want. I took it myself. My grip is improving and I figured out how to hold my phone so I can take pictures again. I accidentally hit the replay button, so for your enjoyment you get a GIF

I was about to say that if I would've been paying attention to the newsletters I get from the Prospect Park alliance, I wouldn't have been surprised, and that the surprise was part of the joy that this art brings. However, in my superficial search through the Internet I did not find that this art was announced by the officials at Prospect Park. More information about this art can be found on this site and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the installation.

Today, I had some more surprises on the bus ride home from the gym. As I was getting on I heard a voice behind me say "I like your blog". So far there have been less than a handful of people who recognized me from this blog, but it is always a pleasant surprise. We chatted for a minute and I wish I can remember for sure but I think her name was Stephanie. So, Hi Stephanie.

I'm actually embarrassed right now to say that I'm not sure what her name was. Because the next moment someone else recognized me on the bus. She was a woman that I shared a cell with when I was in subacute care the summer of 2014. I hated it at that nursing home, there were only a few minutes of sunshine in an otherwise bleak existence. Physical therapy was great but only a couple hours a day. Visits from my friends and family were joyous, but they couldn't be all the time. But of all the other inmates in that asylum there was really only one person that I enjoyed spending time with. Laura was recovering from some serious surgery and was able to go home yet. She lived all her life only a few blocks from my house in Park Slope. Today on the bus she recognized me. She remembered my wife's name, and the names of both my kids. She also proudly told me she just celebrated her 90th birthday. So, damm, I should remember the name of the woman who recognized me from my blog.

The last time I saw Laura it took two people to move me from a wheelchair to a hospital bed. I couldn't get myself to standing from a chair and if someone helped me up I could not stay up without holding on with two hands. To say the least, she was excited to hear that in eight days I will be participating in the Brooklyn Half Marathon. I was pretty excited to tell her, also.