I’m starting with the men and women in the mirrors; at the Brooklyn Flea this afternoon, my good friend Laura (who is in town for a few days, we always have adventures) and I ventured toward new treasures and reflective objects.

Fresh from a walk through a rollicking street fair in Carroll Gardens where the entire band accompanied the drummer on air bongos (this is what you might call the “Rock Band Effect”),

we walked through the DUMBO Farmers’ Market toward the Flea,

which is, as advertised, held under the Brooklyn Bridge.

and met up with my friend Eudie from high school, who I ran into the other day in Park Slope.

It’s so nice to meet up with people years later and discover they are even more fabulous now than they were then.

As the lobster roll line snaked around most of the vendor stalls (next time!), we opted to try raw chocolate ice cream on dry ice (you can choose between cashew and coconut bases) and wander the flea.

Before leaving, we found sparkly slippers to keep easing on down the road (that Laura and I began Saturday night at a midnight showing of “The Wiz” at BAM punctuated with wild applause for MJ as the sweet Scarecrow)…

And before that screening, I admired the emerald trees as I walked through Prospect Park to the Farmers’ Market at Grand Army Plaza on Saturday morning,

charmed by the flowering lemon thyme

and sage.

Heading out with my friend Matt (a fellow member of the Park Slope Food Coop), we admired the glass seltzer bottles in Ronny’s Seltzer truck (a Brooklyn delivery tradition),

before hopping the ferry to Governors Island to see the PLOT09 art exhibition,

where everyone seemed pulled toward giant chimes,

that we could still hear faintly as we opened apple chips from the market and sipped strawberry cider (actually very good) along with “Womanchego” cheese.

I looked up at the trees,

and listened to the sounds of families playing games, this little girl toying with a bike.

Old-fashioned music awaited near a reception for the PLOT09 opening,

and children were similarly smiling and happy on a beautiful wooden play structure (I like the exposed dowel ends below) and the nearby miniature golf course on another part of the island.

My favorite piece in the show was Edgar Arceneaux’s installation (Edgar is one of the Knight Pulse/GOOD L.A. Community Leaders tapped a few months back) of a machine that transmitted eerie sounds at low frequencies from a closet in one of the old houses with flaking drywall that ring the island.

For many years, Edgar has been working on the Watts House Project (“a collaborative artwork in the shape of neighborhood redevelopment”), and so it was especially appropriate for him to suggest disquiet in such a way that could be reversed, or at least removed at the end of the exhibit.

Is it the sounds without and within that bring comfort in a house, that ease the mind? I listen to my new Brooklyn neighbors laughing, steel drums, and the thum-thum of the train as I fall asleep lately…

Related posts:

1. sweetgum, floating words, eating by color
2. envisioning sugar plums
3. sweet beets and food of record

1. Matt:
   June 29th, 2009 at 1:54 am

   Whoa–missed the news that you had moved to Brooklyn! We should get together some time. Until then, I’ll follow these lovely posts!

2. Kristen:
   June 29th, 2009 at 5:34 am

   Thanks, Matt! I am so excited to live here, and let’s definitely meet up. Do you know Matt Smith, btw (in the post above)? He’s been at NYU all year and you are both my professorial friends in New York named Matt :) (look at me, and I’ve just moved to town). Look forward to catching up on your recent work—

3. Mica:
   June 29th, 2009 at 7:43 am

   Raw chocolate ice cream on dry ice? Intriguing! I’m a little confused by ice cream that is “cunningly absent” of sugar and dairy, but I would definitely give it a try. After all, I did eat bacon ice cream…

4. Kristen:
   June 29th, 2009 at 8:00 am

   Mica, it is, although the font on that excellent sign is even better (and you know how I support the presence of dairy!)

   That bacon ice cream paled in comparison to those beautiful fortune cookies you folded two years in a row (here’s that 2008 post)—come visit and we’ll make batches of both!

5. Amanda:
   June 29th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

   As always, you entice me with food and art :)

6. Kristen:
   June 29th, 2009 at 4:30 pm

   Oh, thank you, Amanda. Love your recent henna tattoo that you blogged, btw—I’m always sad to miss Artomatic. Brooklyn is full of good things! Come visit!

7. Stuart Kennedy:
   July 1st, 2009 at 9:36 am

   It looks like Brooklyn is as full of color and life as hoped for. I hope it’s been a great transition from Miami.

8. Kristen:
   July 1st, 2009 at 9:53 am

   Stuart, Brooklyn makes me smile all the time. There is plenty of Caribbean in my neighborhood, so that’s helped ease the transition from Miami :) You should roadtrip up this way! Hope things are well with you—

9. dennis:
   July 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm

   hey, thinking about you today.. just got to aspen for a while..
   is bklyn going good? is there a way to chat with you off line? d

10. Kristen:
    July 4th, 2009 at 12:04 pm

    Dennis, great to hear from you, Brooklyn is amazing and exactly what I need right now. I’m so happy.

    And it’s a wonderful time to be in Aspen, especially with the Aspen Ideas Fest. I’ll email you so we can catch up—

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Posted Sunday, June 28th, 2009, 11:55 am * Filed in Art, Market, brooklyn, light. * Tags: farmers, governors, island, kristen, kthread, Market, new, park, prospect, taylor, york. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.