September is the perfect month to sit in the park and people watch.  It’s no longer hot and not yet cold, the trees are still lush and green, and everyone loves strolling through the park enjoying their day.

Last weekend I photographed a gorgeous and sweet family in Central Park during the morning, and after we were finished I decided to sit down on a park bench to eat my granola bar, drink some water, and relax.  My mind wandered to my never-ending “to do” list, and I remembered our group’s 30 minutes posts were due the following week.  I thought it might be fun to do my entire 30 minutes from the park bench on which I was sitting, to share with you the fun sort of people watching I get to do on a daily basis.

I photographed the New Yorkers and tourists strolling past me in a pretty steady stream, and listened to snippets of their conversations — mothers telling their children to slow down and be careful, businesspeople yelling on the phone at their assistants, teenage girls making plans for that evening with their friends, tourists speaking to each other in French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.  I watched them taking pictures — lots of pictures — and wondered what would come of these images.  Will one of them be framed on someone’s desk one day?  I excitedly watched people walking their dogs past me.  New York dogs are one of a kind — I secretly believe that they think they own this city.  So many of the owners let them stop at the edge of the water to watch the boats…  I never knew dogs were so interested in boats!  I reminisced about when I was young and had a scooter, and smiled watching the kids’ faces as they flew past me with their parents or nannies shouting at them to wait up.  I envied the pre-teen who had one of those space-age hands-free scooters and immediately looked them up on Amazon to see how much they were (upwards of $600 = wayyyy too much for a fun, frivolous purchase).  I snapped a photo of the inscription on my bench before I left:  “Hushing my deepest grief of all, and filled with tears that cannot fall,” inscribed for a loved one who almost reached the age of 100, quoting the words of Tennyson.

The 30 minutes flew by and I was happy I had stayed seated.  Life looks pretty great while sitting on a park bench in my favorite city.

Psst!  Now that you’ve checked out my view from a park bench in Central Park, go check out the lovely, kind and talented Cindy Cavanaugh from down under in Sydney!