January in NYC and I went outside

 

So true!

Look, in the dead of winter such as we are, I need to get myself all psyched up to go outside. That's the bottomline. I'm not out for a stroll any day of the week. (I'm also not writing in this blog apparently. But in my defense, I had a rotten case of Covid AND it was the holidays and the end of the year AND I wore myself out with the NaBloPoMo.)

Back on track now. January. Going outside.

The problem is, my step count plummets and my watch beeps at me alerting me about this travesty. YOUR STEP TREND is WAY OFF, SISTER. Then there's also the problem of me wishing to become a Flaneur when I grow up. To really qualify as a Flaneur, I feel one must have a lifetime of practice.

So my personal strategy to get my ass up and out for a wintertime walk is to engineer a series of destinations forming roughly a circle and then set off with this checklist, an adequate scarf and a lot of fortitude.

My first stop this past Saturday was at the NY Showplace Antiques on 25th Street. Honestly I was a little stressed out to go in there, not knowing what to expect. I always fear going places where I know there will be booths because what if I am subject to a lot of aggressive shopkeepers giving me the stinkeye for letting their wears go un-purchased. Or even worse, a lot of sad looking shopkeepers. Maybe also there'd just be a load of knock-offs and cast-offs and then I'd feel obligated to walk around but be extremely uncomfortable the whole time just waiting to leave. 

(I can catastrophize about anything. Just give me a topic and you will receive a showcase showdown of my amazing skill in dreaming up possible problems large and small which you can then feel free to worry about.)

Anyway, I had such a great time in this joint and I will totally be going back. There's a second floor that I don't quite understand, I think a lot of wholesaling that goes on there. But the third floor was eye candy for the likes of me:

So much to see at NY Showplace.

After I inspected all the wares upstairs, I noticed a basement and in this basement there are things that are going to be auctioned off.

I saw a bunch of art, some of which was very expensive and by completely unknown artists. To that end, I felt inspired. I mean, one of these days I will retire and tinker around with the drawers of art supplies I have accumulated over many years of sporadically using art supplies.

I kinda like this particular art: 

Bad photo but it's of what appears to be a drag dancer looking tuckered out. I liked the whole vibe of that interpretation. But then, I read the title of the art, which is something like "A party girl getting sick." 

So. spell broken. Not gonna bid because even if I like the work .. every time I looked at it I'd realize the artist was going for a sick party girl but wound up drawing a tired drag queen and I'd be reminded of the many times I failed to achieve my intentions.

Better photo:

Anyway, after I visited the showplace place, I went over to ABC Furniture and had a look see. Then I picked up some tea at Sullivan Street, and finally, I went over to that neat jewelry store on Bleeker.