Labor Day in NY

Getting off at Delancey St., stumbled upon the filming of a Bollywood movie. They had covered the awnings of the stores with faux awnings to make Orchard St. look like a little India — so that instead of selling leather jackets they were selling saris, phonecards, etc. Stars; Sayif Ali Khan & Rani Mukherjee. (They weren’t there.) Woo hoo!

I wanted to stay and see the dance scene being filmed, but Gary was hungry, so we went into a little health food market/restaurant on Ludlow. Inside there was a small group of Amish people — I mean, I guess they were Amish — the women with the little cases covering their buns and long skirts. As I ate my scrambled eggs with tomatoes, I looked at a big book on early humans.

Spent a little time kicking around Soho. Looked at the complete Beckett and history of costume books at the bookstore on Prince St. G. bought a fountain pen (not a really expensive one) and I a Moleskine planner for next year. We took the train up to Central Park. I peed in an “emergency toilet.” We rode the carousel — the Wurlitzer played songs from the Wizard of Oz. G.’s feet didn’t reach the stirrups of his horse.

Then, coming out of the park, walking past the Dakota, who should we see walking down the street with a big entourage but Yoko Ono? She was smiling and very tiny.

Then, after a stop at Barnes & Noble by Lincoln Center, in front of which there is an astounding sculpture of gravity-defying boats, like an enormous bouquet, we went to have horrible “Thai” food. That was anticlimactic. But the fullness of the day totally made up for the badness of the food.

Onward to work, and to autumn.