Sunday Afternoon in Bay Ridge: Fifth Avenue Festival 2016 presents Anaka in front of The Hideout between 84th and 85th Streets

(Video courtesy Dwayne Mendez)

Thursday Night in Bay Ridge: Lyndol Descant at Greenhouse Cafe

(Videos courtesy Mike Beitchman)

Saturday Night in Bay Ridge: Narrows Community Theater presents "Seussical the Musical" at the Fort Hamilton Army Base Theater

(Video courtesy JDSski)

Friday Afternoon at Fort Wadsworth: Ceremony Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Verrazano Bridge featuring P.S. 22 Chorus

(Video courtesy Right of Way NYC) (Video courtesy Staten Island Advance)

Friday Evening in Bay Ridge: Narrows Community Theater's "Shrek the Musical" and Bart Tesoriero at Summer Stroll on Third Avenue

(Photo courtesy larra30)

(Video courtesy JDSski) (Video courtesy Mike Beitchman)

(Video courtesy JDSski)

Sunday Evening in East Williamsburg: New York's Alright Fest presents Hank Wood & the Hammerheads, Savageheads, Die, The Impalers and Razorheads at The Wick

(Videos courtesy unARTigNYC)

Sunday Afternoon in Bay Ridge: Fifth Avenue Spring Festival presents LaUra on Fifth Avenue

(Video courtesy Alia Fahme)

Monday Afternoon in Bay Ridge: A Walk Along the Water

This afternoon, needing to clear our head, we took a walk along the water just a few blocks from where we've been staying in Bay Ridge: first along Shore Road and then over the Belt Parkway around and under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

It was a lovely walk, reminding us how we've loved this place forever. As we headed home, on 99th Street between Fourth and Third Avenues, we were startled to see two brick mid-century homes next to each other, each of which had a stained-glass panel with a vent that featured a sailboat, the same kind in our small bedroom in the house on East 56th Street where we grew up.

We were grateful to be reminded of this sailboat. We used to look out of the window a lot as a kid and think about the little sailboat.

Early Thanksgiving Morning in Bay Ridge: Occupy Sandy Volunteers Making Thanksgiving Dinners at St. John's Episcopal Church on Fort Hamilton Parkway

Just a few blocks from our current home in Bay Ridge, very early this morning, the amazing volunteers from Occupy Sandy, which has done such wonderful work during the last few weeks since the hurricane, were busy preparing what seemed like zillions of Thanksgiving dinners for people in hard-hit areas.

The kitchen began prep work at 8 a.m. yesterday, was open all night, and volunteers were here even at 2 a.m.

We're really grateful for Occupy Sandy on this Thanksgiving.

Early Tuesday Morning in Bay Ridge: After Hurricane Sandy at the Narrows and the Verrazano Bridge

We survived the brunt of Hurricane Sandy in Bay Ridge without a loss of power. Going out at 8 a.m. to the walkway across the empty Belt Parkway by Gravesend Bay, the Narrows and the Brooklyn side of the closed Verrazano Bridge, the waters were angry and choppy.

When we got there it was close to high tide and the waters started going over the rail but it was raining lightly. It started to rain hard.

Here are some pics we took of the parkway entrance and Shore Road on our way back home.

Early Monday Morning in Bay Ridge: Watching Hurricane Sandy at Shore Road Park

At 7:30 a.m., With New York City shut down, we walked a few blocks from our new Bay Ridge sublet to Shore Road Park

to see what Hurricane Sandy looked like so far.

Since New Yorkers were warned to stay out of parks, this was either daring or foolish, as attested to by branches that had fallen.

Luckily none fell on our head.

Back on the safety of Fourth Avenue, we saw this poster for the young challenger to the incumbent Republican congressman. Democrat Mark Murphy is the son of John M. (Jack) Murphy, our old congressman from the 1960s, whom we used to write frequently during our years as an annoying teenager.

Back on Third and Fourth Avenues, the 24-hour Walgreens was still open, as were most of the mom-and-pop (mostly Bangladeshi) newsstands/delis (which have replaced the candy stores/ luncheonettes of our Brooklyn youth in the 50s and 60s) and the (very Greek) Athens Market.

Yesterday afternoon, after we braved the lines for food, water and supplies at Foodtown,

it seemed like everything was shutting down: the Starbucks on Third Avenue at 92nd Street;

Century 21 on the 86th Street shopping district, where the Christmas decorations already are up;

and of course the subway system, shown by this sign that went up in mid-afternoon yesterday at the R train terminus at 95th Street station entrance.

This morning we stopped in every place that was open except the laundromat and a tailor shop because we felt we needed to buy something.

Our umbrella never got opened because of the wind, but we had on a down parka with a hood (over just a Brooklyn College T-shirt). By the end of our hour's walk, the winds had picked up a lot from when we started out; it was definitely noticeable. At some crossings, the water was already making puddles. These sandbags were trying to stop a store's basement from being flooded.

It's a pretty anxious day in New York, but at the early hour, looking out over the Narrows to Staten Island, with light traffic still moving on the Belt Parkway and the Verrazano Bridge, it seemed quite peaceful and beautiful.

Saturday Morning in Crown Heights: Awaiting Hurricane Sandy at the President Street Subway Station

At 7 a.m., on our way to teach at the fabulous Fashion Institute of Technology, we saw that the New York City subway system is already awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.

Tuesday Morning in Bay Ridge: Breakfast in Shore Road Park

In need of the solace of greenery and water, we left Williamsburg early this chilly but sunny morning, taking the G train

to Fourth Avenue and then the R train

to the end of the line at 95th Street in Bay Ridge,

where we picked up a venti iced tea and multigrain bagel at Starbucks on Third Avenue and 92nd Street and made tracks for the 58 acres of Shore Road Park.

We walked down the path near Third Avenue

and the park, abutting the Belt Parkway along the Narrows, stretched out in front of us.

One of these little animals playfully ran up to us with a ball in its mouth.

The view of the Verrazano Bridge and Staten Island is always great from here.

Driving on the Belt Parkway, we were always puzzled by this sign, the only one we know in Brooklyn that gives the mileage distance to three boroughs. Today we saw it from the other end, as the Belt goes through the park.

Anyway, it was wonderful to be outside in Shore Road Park, to walk and then sit, on this unseasonably cool morning.