Last rose of the season blooms for Halloween

The leaves are coming down in Riverside Park:

One rose still blooms outside the 105th Street dog run:

Flowers along the upper paths look rough around the edges, but still pretty:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Lost world in Riverside Park.

A few weeks ago, Esau, the hairy man, and I walked north on the Forever Wild trail. Beyond the tennis courts, somewhere around 121st Street, the trail disappears in an overgrown meadow. There we stumbled upon evidence of a lost world existing beneath our feet in Riverside Park.

Riverside Park Tyrannosaurus rex.

A very grumpy park worker was mowing the meadow, completely unaware of the beasts lurking in the jungle. We forged on.

This is a blog about the things you discover when you’re out walking the dog.

Esau contemplates New Jersey.

About a year ago, my family and I moved back to New York City after 16 years in Dallas, Texas. Our two cats and the dog moved with us into an apartment in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights.

Every day, sometimes twice a day, I walk the dog (I’ll call him Esau – you know, the hairy man – to protect his privacy) in Riverside Park. Sometimes we walk along the river. Most of the time we walk on the lower promenade and the upper woodsy paths, including the Forever Wild bird sanctuary. Once in a while, we stop into the 105th Street Dog Run. At night, we usually stay out of the park, and walk instead on the upper promenade along the west side of Riverside Drive.

The park is full of strange and wonderful things. Red-tail hawks. Raccoons. Feral cats. An enormous dead fish stretched out on a rock. Miniature tepees that appeared one day and disappeared the next. The smell of skunk. Boxes and baskets woven from downed twigs and small branches. Intricate driftwood sculptures. An old boot on a stick. A dinosaur in a meadow.

Really. I have pictures. I’ll show you.