Devil's Playground

It's obvious I'm not getting out of the city enough - or taking enough time off. Hence my obsession with community gardens, parks and other greenery. In this photo, I show a pleasant scene with people in a gazebo in La Plaza Cultural Garden. As atypical as it may be, I'm sure you can see through the thinly disguised veil to hide my true motivation - another garden shot. Sorry. Of course only a New Yorker would feel a need to justify an "indulgence" in nature at the expense of all the exciting cultural things one should be doing. In the world of film, such indulgences are fodder for award winners or box office smash hits: men living with bears, trekking after penguins or living in the wild ala Thoreau. And then there is the busy busy ethic, a defining characteristic of our culture and particularly a place like New York, an ethic that basically says any and all busyness is good and is sufficient to justify one's existence. And relaxing is at least a venial sin. By this definition a gazebo could be seen as the devil's playground ...