It is a beautiful day here in NYC. I am out walking around with friends.
The dogwood… not dogwood… tulip trees… are blooming everywhere!
Time out at McSorley’s!
Old St Patrick’s Cathedral
To Brooklyn Bridge
by Hart CraneHow many dawns, chill from his rippling rest
The seagull’s wings shall dip and pivot him,
Shedding white rings of tumult, building high
Over the chained bay waters Liberty–Then, with inviolate curve, forsake our eyes
As apparitional as sails that cross
Some page of figures to be filed away;
–Till elevators drop us from our day . . .I think of cinemas, panoramic sleights
With multitudes bent toward some flashing scene
Never disclosed, but hastened to again,
Foretold to other eyes on the same screen;And Thee, across the harbor, silver-paced
As though the sun took step of thee, yet left
Some motion ever unspent in thy stride,–
Implicitly thy freedom staying thee!Out of some subway scuttle, cell or loft
A bedlamite speeds to thy parapets,
Tilting there momently, shrill shirt ballooning,
A jest falls from the speechless caravan.Down Wall, from girder into street noon leaks,
A rip-tooth of the sky’s acetylene;
All afternoon the cloud-flown derricks turn . . .
Thy cables breathe the North Atlantic still.And obscure as that heaven of the Jews,
Thy guerdon . . . Accolade thou dost bestow
Of anonymity time cannot raise:
Vibrant reprieve and pardon thou dost show.O harp and altar, of the fury fused,
(How could mere toil align thy choiring strings!)
Terrific threshold of the prophet’s pledge,
Prayer of pariah, and the lover’s cry,–Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift
Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars,
Beading thy path–condense eternity:
And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.Under thy shadow by the piers I waited;
Only in darkness is thy shadow clear.
The City’s fiery parcels all undone,
Already snow submerges an iron year . . .O Sleepless as the river under thee,
Vaulting the sea, the prairies’ dreaming sod,
Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend
And of the curveship lend a myth to God.
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Father Z…don’t think that is a dogwood. I live in the south and they are JUST now starting to pop out…THAT is a tulip tree.
I hope you were able to stop in and see St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church which is right across the street from McSorley’s.
Yes, that’s a “saucer magnolia” aka “tulip tree”.
BTW, I’ve been waiting (did I miss it?) for someone to mention John Allen’s piece of 3/26 “Keeping the record straight on Benedict and the crisis” in which he took issue with NCR’s editorial. It’s the best defense of the Holy Father I’ve seen. Here’s the link: http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/keeping-record-straight-benedict-and-crisis
It was in the ’80’s here in WI on Thurs and Fri; cooled down to the ’40’s on Sat and Sun. But with rain and the humidity the grass is greening and the buds on the trees are beginning. Hopefully we’ll “catch up” with some nice weather. Glad to see the “tulip trees” in NY. Spring in the NE is a very beautiful thing; the flowering trees in CT where I lived for a while were just spectacular.
Have a great time, Fr.Z!
Oh! Corned Beef? Spicy mustard? Now I need a snack. Looks sooo good! Happy to see you out and about celebrating Easter! Enjoy!
The Saucer Magnolia, M. x soulangiana, isn’t really a tulip tree.
Some people call it that, but that creates confusion with the real tulip tree a/k/a tulip poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera.
Saucer magnolia
Tulip tree
The tulip tree is a relative of the magnolias, but it’s a VERY large tree, easily topping 50 feet. Old ones can be 150 feet tall and massive in girth, easily 10 feet in diameter. We had one in the front yard of our old house that was at least 20 feet around.
It is the best honey tree for volume in the Upper South. We kept three hives going on the produce of that one tulip tree.
Here in Ann Arbor, we had rain on Good Friday and beautiful sun on Easter. Very apropos.
Nice to see that McSorely’s still serves that elegant cheese platter.
I really enjoy reading your blog. Thank you so much and have a wonderful Easter season.
Junior’s is good, but please tell me you’ve been to Katz’s this trip.
There is no substitute.
While it may still be true, I remember McSorley’s as a relatively low-cost establishment. The beer went down easy and the sandwiches were very tasty in the late 1970s. As you can see, the original dust from the 1840s still remains.
Perhaps you remembered Abp. John Hughes when you stopped at St. Patrick’s on Mott St. And Junior’s in Brooklyn is a special treat. But the “Z” train wouldn’t get you there from Cooper Sq. or the Municipal Building. It’s a long walk over the Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhanttan side to Junior’s. But the other lines from Chambers would help.
Salutationes omnibus.
Cool pics, Father Z! Glad you’re having a great time in NYC!
Those deli pictures are making me hungry!
Corrigendum:
From your pictures,
(a) it appears you may indeed have walked from City Hall to Junior’s — appx 2.3 miles according to Google, with the wonderful views and
(b) that you did remember Abp. Hughes at St. Patrick’s on Mott St.
Salutationes omnibus.