For the non-cynics

Pup kisses. More from Socrates Sculpture Park below

Valentine’s Day, like most holidays, has lost its meaning for a lot of people. It’s been unaffectionally dubbed Singles Awareness Day. People rant about how it’s yet another day for couples, who celebrate year-round anyway, to gloat about their love and sicken everyone else. It’s a Hallmark event, they say, meant to bolster post-holiday sales. “You should celebrate each other every day!” they claim.

To that I say hogwash.

I, for one, take a lot of things (and people) for granted. It’s just human nature to get so used to something that we condition ourselves to notice it a little less. I enjoy having a day dedicated to capitalizing on that year-round love, whether it’s for a relative, a friend, a lover. We get to be sillier than usual, profess our affection ad nauseum, and have an excuse to spend  a moment, a day, a weekend — the rest of the world be damned — indulging in each other. A whole year of flowers, pink anything, and sugary love notes would be entirely too much. A year of ignoring obligations to express your affection for someone is called an obsession, and, in some cases, stalking. Holidays are precious in their brevity, never giving us the opportunity to neglect them.

I guess you could say I’m a holiday fatty. I hope you are, too.

Phil, Lola the Jack Russell and I spent the weekend at the Brooklyn Flea (of which I have no pictures because of an unfortunate incident with my memory card), dinner at Landmarc, where we sat thisclose to a couple arguing and breaking up. (Awkward, but still fun. Maybe I’m just evil.) and, as you’ll see here, frolicking in the snow.


Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale work in a unique environment that encourages strong interaction between artists, artworks and the public. The Park’s existence is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of our urban environment.

socratessculpturepark.org

Much of the city’s snow seemed to have settled at the park. All of the dogs romped freely, but Phil, being his Type A I-must-have-everything-under-control self, kept Lola on a leash. That didn’t stop her from hopping about all rabbitlike, though.

She anticipates.

Attack!

She leaps with perfect form.

Sniffing under the tree.

Hi!

The yellow brick road to elsewhere.

See more on my flickr.

14 responses to “For the non-cynics”

  1. you’ve done it again, bolipata! i love zee pictures. i miss lola dearly (sometimes phil)! let’s plan our bmore trip already!

    by the way, i LOVE vday too and i don’t care who knows it! it’s not just for lovers. it’s for friends too. 🙂

    1. Let’s go early March! I really want to check out the aquarium.

      Be proud. Some people take themselves too seriously, as if enjoying fluff holidays and loving people year-round were mutually exclusive. Pfft.

  2. Totally agree with you on this one! Awesome pictures, too. New York is beautiful covered in snow!!

    1. Thanks, Lizelle! The park was really gorgeous in the snow, but I admit I was relieved to step on bare concrete outside the gates. My feet were frozen. I hope you had a great weekend!

  3. I would have loved to received flowers, but I still had a good Valentine’s Day. Heheh. But I was totally okay with pigging out & watching movies. Looks like you had a good day too! 🙂

    1. I love pigging out and watching movies, too. Sounds like the ideal weekend to me 😉

  4. arg your story just depressed the hell out of me!!!!!! curse you woman

    1. James, what did I tell you about that? There’s no crying in baseball, er, life. Hop to it.

  5. Glad to know there’s another holiday fatty out there. Lola is absolutely precious!

    1. I hadn’t seen Lola since around Christmas, so I was extremely excited to have her for the weekend. She even rode the subway and strutted down the sidewalk. Such a city pup.

  6. AH! Sorry I totally forgot about the Flea! My bad! I’m glad you had fun. The memory card malfunctioned bcs it knew that I was supposed to be there. Next time…. Socrates Park is right next to Costco–which I have a card for, btw, so if you ever want to buy anything in bulk, or split something in bulk–let me know. lol.

    And I totally agree on the Valentine’s day stuff! I hung out w/ my brother and my bff–ate delicious Valentine’s Day-themed treats and watched the Olympics with the ones I love.

    1. In that case, you and my memory card owe me a trip to the Flea!

      Whoa, there’s a Costco nearby and you have a card for it? This is important information you’ve managed to leave out. Let’s go. Now.

  7. […] I love capturing passersby, Lola and Phil are my favorite photo subjects because they don’t mind when I trail them like a creeper. […]

  8. […] But Lola wasn’t daunted. She threw on her rain jacket and marched outside. Snow, after all, is her preferred form of precipitation. […]

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