Governors Island is a little drop of land in New York harbor. If you draw a triangle between the southern tip of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn, the island is floating in the middle. It’s a small miracle. There are quiet, tree-lined streets, a 9-hole golf course, historic forts and spectacular, panoramic views of the city and harbor.

It was off-limits to the public for decades because it was, first, an Army base and then a Coast Guard base. I lived there for a few years while in the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard abandoned the island years ago and now, thanks to populist mayor Michael Bloomberg, the island is open to the public on summer weekends. It’s accessible via a (free) short ferry ride from either Manhattan or Brooklyn. No motor vehicles are permitted. Just bikes. Here is 3-Year old on the (closed, unmaintained) golf course. That’s Manhattan in the distance.

There are events and concerts all summer long (check the above link). This past weekend, the annual Figment Festival was held. It’s an arts/music festival. Lots of big, outdoor, interactive installation pieces and sculptures. I love the impermanent nature of the festival. The stuff goes up for one weekend and that’s it. I went a bit overboard with the photos but here’s a sampling of some of the better pieces.

Inside the dark tunnels underneath old Fort Jay were two light and sound installations. This one allowed users to control the color and movement of the light by holding an orb containing a sensor. As you tilted the orb, the light and sound would pulsate and change color. I regret not having taken a video of this. It scared the hell out of 3-Year Old and she ran out screaming.

The other end of the tunnel featured a luminescent floral display. The sounds of frogs and crickets were piped in.

There was a 9-hole miniature golf course. Each hole was a sculpture. Honestly, they functioned a lot better as sculptures than they did miniature golf holes. Some of them were impossible to navigate, even for a seasoned mini golf pro like myself. This one was based on The Wizard of Oz. There’s the Wizard’s balloon, the yellow brick road and, on the right, the Wicked Witch’s feet protruding from under the house. Hole 7 was done in a cool Andy Warhol/Edie Sedgwick/Mona Lisa motif.

This was a bed of roses. An artist who works as a florist brought a dozen garbage bags FILLED with rose petals and spread them out on the ground.

There were a few large inflatable sculptures. 3-Year Old had the odd inclination to pummel this one with her fists and then give it a few solid head-butts. What’s with the aggression, I wondered?

8-Year Old was in more of an absorption mode.

This one had a free-standing end that could be picked up and toss around. After I took this photo, I pushed her aside and made her give me a turn. It was fun!

This was a star sculpture that you could crawl underneath and get inside.

Once inside, there were thick pieces of different color chalk that allowed you to draw all over the interior.

I would have been disappointed if there hadn’t been some bad art. This was a hill of molding bagels with an old TV and bicycle wheel. I think they were inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s playful Readymades but it was CRAP-OLA.

We packed a picnic and listened to some talented musicians while eating lunch in the grass. Leah, you should take a day and visit. You can rent bicycles. All you have to watch out for are the maintenance crew golf carts. And it’s never crowded! I don’t understand it! I don’t think many people know about it. When you’re on the Island, it doesn’t even feel like you’re in New York City anymore.

My current employer is located in midtown Manhattan. This affords me :90 minutes in Bryant Park before I start my day. I arrive around 7:15 a.m. There aren’t many people around.

I sit at the same table for the view and to access the outdoor electrical outlets they’ve installed. I can plug in! I watch the city come out of its sleepy fog.

Today there was a man practicing his bagpipe.

Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound.

Oh Danny boy
The pipes, the pipes are calling.

All the hits. It pays to put your earbuds away and listen to the world around you.

There’s an early morning T’ai Chi class that’s open to the public. People walk up, put their bags and briefcases down and enjoy a low-impact workout. I prefer a muffin and coffee in the morning.

Every summer, they open a patio in the southeast corner of the Park. There are Adirondack chairs and porch swings. It’s really lovely. You can grab a cat nap before heading to the office. It’s also a nice place to pass away, if it happens to be your time.

I could spend the whole day doing this. I could spend a lifetime doing this.

It’s been four days since my cell phone went for a swim in a pool. It’s been sitting in a bag of rice on my car dashboard all that time. I was assured by many sources that the combination of the extreme heat and the rice would draw the moisture out, but it’s still dead, dead, dead.

I decided to try and use this as a lesson in Buddhist detachment. I want to be less dependent on material things. After all, technology was suppose to set us free but I look around and it seems that we’re all enslaved by gadgets. Well, my plan hasn’t worked in the least. I miss my phone and want it back. Right NOW. I miss texting. I’m just a failed Buddha.

The outdoor art installation season is upon us. The sculpture garden on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the Big Fish, but you can catch performances and exhibits all throughout the city from now through September.

Kate Gilmore’s performance art piece, Walk the Walk, just opened in Bryan Park. It runs for five days during office hours. In it, seven women in bright yellow dresses (when it’s chilly, they don pink sweaters) pace back and forth along the top of a 10-by-10-foot plywood box. It’s suppose to represent a microcosm of the nearby busy midtown intersections. I think. I’m never exactly sure what the deeper meaning is. I just go along for the ride.

The girls randomly stomp their feet and if you step inside the cube, it sounds like a stampeding herd of buffalo. I don’t know if you can consider this choreographed, since the girls are walking randomly. Sometimes, they collide into one another and their energy ebbs and flows.

Does it work? Yeah, I suppose so. It was fun but I got a bit exhausted just watching them for :15 minutes. There’s no real beginning or end. They were pacing when I got there and still pacing when I left. They’re probably pacing as you read this. (I love that I happened to catch a police siren in this second clip. The soundtrack of my city.)