Artful Blogging in the West Village

This weekend I took the subway from my home in Brooklyn to the West Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

The weather in New York City has been absolutely lovely the past week and many people were out strolling around and eating at the outdoor tables in the corner cafes.

Many windows were open to welcome the breeze!

I walked past Saint Vincent's Hospital with tears in my eyes, as it closed recently due to financial constraints. It had been a Greenwich Village institution for over 160 years, and was New York City's third oldest hospital.

I had my first job in Saint Vincent's Hospital  as a "Vincenteen" when I was in high school. The hospital gave Vincenteens the opportunity to train to work part time as nurse's aides in an effort to encourage young women and men to consider nursing as a career choice.  I worked weekends and during the summer months and enjoyed both the work and the opportunity to be part of the Greenwich Village scene.  The Village was always an interesting, and chic, place to visit!

The poet Edna St.Vincent Millay was named after the hospital, as you can read in the sign above. It is very sad that the hospital closed, and now a whole neighborhood is left without available emergency care and a full service hospital in close proximity.

I continued to walk along West 12 Street towards Eight Avenue and passed many beautiful brownstone homes such as these.

This house partially obstructed by scaffolding on a building next door that was undergoing repair caught my eye as it had an informational plaque on it. I always stop and take a look at these as there is so much history in the Greenwich Village neighborhood.

So fascinating!

I finally reach my destination!  The Ink Pad is located at 22 Eighth Avenue.  It advertises itself as "New York's Only Rubber Stamp Art Shop."  Let's go inside.

It is a long and narrow store but it is filled to the brim with rubber art stamps and papers, embellishments, inks, crafting tools, magazines and books from hundreds of vendors.

There were all types and themes of rubber stamps for sale, but I was there to purchase a magazine which I knew they would carry, and whose summer issue was released on May 1, and put on the shelves for sale.

It was the 2010 summer issue of Artful Blogging Magazine!  I was very excited to see it as a photograph from my blog was published in this issue in an article about the Pink Saturday event held every week by Beverly of the blog "How Sweet The Sound."

Can you guess which one of these wonderful photographs in the article is mine? (all photos can be enlarged by double clicking on them -- then use your browser's back arrow to return to this post)

This is it!  This photo was in this post: "Pink Saturday Christmas Chandelier."  It is a photograph of a 1,900-piece, Louis XV chandelier that once hung in the main banking hall of J. P. Morgan at 23 Wall Street. The two commercial properties have been converted into luxury condominium apartments and the chandelier was saved and put on permanent display as a design element.  When I walked by the building in December the chandelier's beauty made me do a double take and I went back to take a photo of it ... pure serendipity!

 Information  from the Artful Blogging Magazine website:

 "Welcome summer with the new issue of Artful Blogging. Sit back and prepare to be inspired by the most visually stunning blogs on the Internet. From photographers, to mixed-media artists, to authentic souls, we present a bounty of artists to be your guide as you journey through the world of blogs. Whether you have a blog of your own or just admire them, you will find no richer landscape to spark your own creative fires."

It was such a thrill to see one of my photographs in a magazine, along with so many other beautiful ones.
Thank you Beverly for hosting the Pink Saturday event each week and giving us all the opportunity to be published in this way. Part of the joy of blogging for me has been joining the challenge of weekly events and meeting so many wonderful new bloggers through them!

I am adding this post to the following weekly blog events: Susan's "Outdoor Wednesday,"  Jenny's "Alphabe Thursday" (the letter is "P" perfect for Pink Saturday and pink chandelier),  Claudia's "Friday Finding Beauty" and Beverly's "Pink Saturday."  Please visit these blogs on their respective event days and take part in all the fun!