Homesick Blues?

As a location photographer, not being tied to a studio or a particular place has made me ultimately mobile, so why in the world am I living in New Jersey?? I'm asking as a rhetorical question; really, I know the answer.

It's just that today, for some reason, I'm missing Brooklyn. I'm not from Brooklyn (Manhattan!) but I lived there for twenty one years, longer than I'd lived anywhere else. I grew very comfortable there, lived in a few different spots within a four square block area of Park Slope so I knew the neighborhood well. The neighborhood knew me pretty well too.

I'm getting comfortable in Maplewood too, so why am I missing Brooklyn? Well for one thing, there's nowhere to walk to out here. In Brooklyn, anywhere in New York City really, you can walk for hours and hours and pop in and out of book stores, restaurants, hardware stores, housewares stores, clothing stores, pizzarias, delis, shoe stores, bakeries. There's not one bakery in Maplewood. No kosher delis either. It's all a drive away in your car.

Got pizza & Chinese take-out here, sushi, bagels too (well, you could call them bagels)... somehow, it's not quite the same.

I'd like to take a walk.... Missing Brooklyn today.