Cityscape, Landscape from a Fire Escape

We're taking care of Frances, our upstairs neighbor's cat, while her humans are out of town getting married. I took this shot of the backyards standing on their fire escape last night.

It's interesting looking at the view you see every day from a completely different vantage point. It's like my bizarro backyard. I also learned a lot. Apparently one of our neighbors has built a roof deck and I've located the source of the constant sound of construction (blue tarp above the flowering tree).

This is a shot of old grapvines that grow over a metal trellis, both installed by the ancient original landlord. When it is hot in the city, it is easily 10 to 15 degrees cooler under the vines. It is where John asked me to marry him thirteen years ago this month and is an excellent location to read the Times and have bagels and coffee on Sunday mornings. Sometimes in the summer, after we put the kids to bed, we watch movies out there on the portable DVD player and share a bottle of wine. It has a militant population of mosquitos, though.