In which The Gay Recluse provides an update on a beehive of activity at 573-579 West 161st Street.
So it’s official, if “official” means by way of an unnamed receptionist at the architects’s office: 573-575 West 161st Street is going to be a 6-story condominium. We’re trying to scrounge up a rendering, but in the meantime, [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time of Photographs: May 10, around 8:30.

The oily black smoke of 100-year-old boilers disperses daily across the rooftops in Washington Heights, heedless of those who suffer from pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis. Officials and politicians? Not even footnotes in this story, which is about the aggregation of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station.

Consider the old panels on the subway platform wall, and observe the finely wrought precision with which each strip of peeling paint has by the hands of time been distressed in the subtlest shades of gold and silver, all [...]

In which The Gay Recluse serves brunch.

This was yesterday morning, after our first trip to Zabar’s since the Christmas Eve trifecta. We were almost nostalgic thinking about it, but ultimately relieved that it’s a mountain we will probably never have to climb again.

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Time/Date: May 4, around 8pm-ish.

I, too, have an obsession with the George Washington Bridge. However, mine involves a nagging compulsion to complete a football pass from the deck of the bridge to a buddy on the ground below.
–Ryan Pissed and Petty (March [...]

In which The Gay Recluse attempts to use a new “macro” lens.

So yeah: The Globularia stygia we bought last year at Stonecrop Gardens is in bloom.

These first two pix we took with the regular lens.

Then we took some drugs tried out a new macro lens.

We are reminded of a record cover for one of those [...]

In which The Gay Recluse sees you on the dark side of the moon.
We’d like to put forth the case that the most random graffiti can be found uptown.
Exhibit A: Spotted on the southbound platform of the 163rd Street subway station:

The cock is stupid, but we have to admit that the Roger Waters part made [...]

In which The Gay Recluse lives in an alternate reality.
For a long time we’ve kept an eye on the triple vacant lot at 573-577 West 161st Street, which we walk by  every day on our way to the 163rd Street subway station. In January, we were pleasantly surprised to see two of the three lots [...]

In which The Gay Recluse retires to our garden in Washington Heights.
Date of photograph: April 28, 2008, around 6:30pm

It’s hardly a secret that sometimes the spring garden looks better in the rain.

Today was one of those days…

One of our favorite plants is the creeping yellow groundcover, which we bought a few years ago at [...]

In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station.

Consider the old panels on the subway platform wall, and observe the finely wrought precision with which each strip of peeling paint has by the hands of time been distressed in the subtlest shades of gold and silver, all [...]

In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an old friend.
Date of Picture: April 24, 2008
Location: Our garden in Washington Heights.

Even as a child in Pittsburgh, we loved this table.

All winter it would sit out on the porch as we stared longingly at it.

Every May, when it was finally warm enough (this obviously before global warming), [...]

In which The Gay Recluse watches plants.
With a nasty apartment building looming over our garden, we felt we had no choice but to plant bamboo, and not the clumping variety either, but the running kind you read about taking over the earth. We rented a truck last summer and drove to a small town [...]

In which The Gay Recluse works in the garden.
Of all the trees that populate our dreams and fantasies, the dawn redwood — a deciduous conifer — must go at the top of the list. Long thought to be extinct, it was discovered in the 1940s in a secret canyon in China. (And not just on [...]

In which The Gay Recluse works in the garden.
Time of Photographs: April 20, 2008, afternoon (ish)

Today, a first in the garden! We heard an opera singer.

She was doing scales in a nearby apartment. Her window was definitely open.

She was loud! And she was struggling to hit her high notes. (She was a mezzo.)

There were [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Time of photographs: April 19th, 7:00-8:00 (ish).

Washington Heights is a place of extremes.

Even the clouds are intense.

Life is nothing but abrasive.

Washington Heights is completely bereft of visionaries.

But resonates with the dead genius of the past.

Here we have been destroyed by music.

As our hearing [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Date of Photographs: April 18, 2008

We’ve noticed that almost every chimney in Washington Heights is spewing thick, black smoke these days.

It’s definitely a lot worse than it’s ever been, which leads us to ask: Does it have anything to do with the rising cost of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and date of photographs: April 17, 2008, 7:00 - 8:00 pm (ish).
Originally the George Washington Bridge was meant to be clad in stone but fortunately they ran out of money.

This is not a pattern we ever get tired of looking at.

Even when [...]

In which The Gay Recluse explores the perils of uptown living.
Date of photograph: April 13, 2008
Location: The little park between Ft. Tryon and Inwood Hill between Dyckman and Riverside. (Approximately.)
Now that it’s warm enough to go outside and there’s plenty of wind, especially down by the river, we’ve been gearing up for one of our [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Date of Photographs: April 13, 2008

The clouds over the bridge were riveting today.

It made us remember: once we were in Vermont, on tour with the band.

We were eating dinner at a restaurant overlooking Lake Champlain.

(The sixth great lake.)

There was a beautiful sunset.

Some of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and Date of photographs: April 12, 2008, 8am, 9am and 8pm.

When we woke up, you could barely see the bridge. (But it looked great in the fog!)

The sun finally broke through and everything glistened. It looked surreal.

Tonight it was clear, which may [...]