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Or, “A Tree Grows in Jersey City”

Our dear old friend Cotton recently moved into a new garden apartment that features, among other things, exclusive access to a relatively huge backyard right smack in the middle of Jersey City. Who knew these old brownstones actually oversaw semi-private yards? In her case, a large stone wall shields her from the other neighbors and with the trees growing from atop said wall, a sort of canopy effect is created. So in other words, it’s a good place to BBQ.

Since she had only moved in the previous week, we didn’t expect Cotton’s kitchen to be outfitted with all the BBQ brickerbrack, and it wasn’t, but we did alright in the end.

Oh, by the way, it’s Summer! Moreless.

This Spring season was tremendous. Starting from our indoor training in the first week of January, we emerged a new squad, willing 7 of our 8 matches. And after five months, our new Jerseys finally arrived!

Our final match took place in what is clearly Summer’s heat. But we survived, and Randall’s Island was once again ours for the day. These photos were snapped shortly after our win against the Village Lions.

You’re right, we do look good in that photo. Even though no one told that last few of use to fold our arms. Oh well.

Julia K, a relative new pal of mine, turns 23 tonight. Oh, youth.

And so with some reluctancy, I schlepped it over the Lower East Side to endure the screams of many a young person. But in the end it wasn’t so bad — got to chat with some geeky friends, enjoy the night air, and even talk about business cards a bit.

And somehow, out of complete coincidence, Cotton turned up with her out-of-town friends. So that was nice.

And for some reason, I felt compelled to drink a litre of Pepsi at midnight, and therefore I was awake until nearly 4 am, thus squandering the entire next day napping. See, this is why I don’t go out much…

On what has been the warmest day of the year so far, I found myself in Union Square, after a late lunch with friend and former co-worker Jen.

As usual, the perpetual circus that is Union Sq. was in full effect with the farmers and artisans out selling their wares.

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Due to the final bye week of our very long rugby season, we had Thursday off from practice. So I sent out an email to the gang to see if anyone wanted to say hello afterwork — and with the obligatory back-and-forth it was concluded that I was heading to Ulysses to meet up with Victor, and eventually his buds.

For some reason, I thought the Financial District would be quiet on a Thursday afternoon, but instead I was greeted by a previously unknown spectacle that is Stone St. on a summery evening. The street is closed and packed with picnic tables, occupied by workers in white shirts. When I say packed, I mean you can’t move! It’s like those street fairs, but every day, apparently. And you won’t find those custom-engraved mirror keychains of the Jets logo, for example. Those are restricted to the outer boroughs … mainly Queens.

I still insist that the Financial District reminds me of the City of London. Winding streets, narrow alleys, stone roads, white people in suits visiting pubs — it’s a pretty naked comparison. But still, since I don’t go there much, it always strikes me with a pleasant surprise.

After a long day of rugby, and wandering around Yonkers trying to find our way home, I headed to that strange land called Queens, where streets, avenues, places, and blvds, all compete for the same numbers.

Invited by Melanie, one of my new favourite people, Charlie, Francine, and I schlepped it out to Long Island City, taking the requisite detour from missed exits and generally bad navigation in the industrial heartland of that borough. Met some new people, re-met some existing people, snacked, talked, laughed, had a good time.

I need to start taking more pictures again.

By the way, this is what we were laughing at.

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Remember Hannah Thonet from high school? It’s her birthday. So I went with Kendra into the City for a bit of a reunion featuring such recurring characters as Meaghan Hislop and Cynthia Leger. Some new faces as well.

The Frying Pan is a restaurant/bar located in the Hudson River on some kind of floating dock thing. Seasickness without having to actually set off on a boat. Yay? Bad service and the lack of a jacket made me leave fairly early. But not before snapping one photo.

My new thing, perhaps? A challenge for a photographer to tell a night’s story with a single shot.

Apparently, guest bar-tending is a thing people do, mainly on the East Side. Normally, it’s other bartenders who pop in to a new spot, with guests and friends in tow, but tonight, it was our pal Chemda who has never worked behind a bar in her life. Luckily, it was a Wednesday night, so not exactly Cancún during spring break.

Girls will be Girls, I suppose.

Once a year, I can harang my old friends into venturing east of the Hudson for an evening out in New York. This year, we headed to dinner at Havana NY before descending on Chorus for Karaoke shenanigans. Good clean fun.

The occasion was my 28th birthday, which technically doesn’t pass until Wednesday the 6th. We missed an organised shindig last year, so it was double-pleasant to see the old gang on my birthday. Thanks for coming out.

This was also the first time that I used Facebook to organise the event. I received something like 18 “maybe” replies, as well as 4 or 5 “yes” replies from people who didn’t show. So in the end I could have just made individual phone calls to all the people I would have expected to come. Shows you who your true friends are, I suppose. Next year, maybe I’ll use Mixergy.com or some other invitation service.

Many photos and videos, so make sure you check out the whole post.

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For New York Rugby Club‘s annual Family Day, the men had the privilege of playing against Iona College, coached by our former teammate Matt Persanis. We spanked them, but it was a great rugby day all around. Many photos from that day are as follows, but since I’m behind the camera, I’m afraid I’m not in any of them.

That scenic background you see is the newly-finished field #74 at Randall’s Island.

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