Fire escapes

Fire escapes are a defining feature of this city. Just do a quick Google Image search on “New York Fire Escapes”, and you’ll find hundreds of lovely photographed fire escapes. I happen to live on a pretty busy avenue, with plenty of people watching below me. I love sitting on my fire escape on sunny summer mornings as I sip my coffee.

I recently walked down West 20th street in Chelsea and found a beautiful vine-covered fire escape that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I captured a bit of its beauty in the shot above, but I remember thinking to myself — remind me to move here one day.

This summer has been particularly strange weather-wise. Living on the top floor of our Brownstone has made heat-control challenging. We don’t exactly have a great A/C system. So I am particularly thankful for our fire escape. The shot above was taken the day the heat wave broke with a much needed rain storm. Que gostoso!

We’ve been having a pigeon problem on our fire escape. Google told us that owls scare pigeons. So we bought one. We named her Joy after a great friend of mine. Joy watches over our fire escape when we’re at work, or while we’re sleeping. She makes sure the pigeons go elsewhere to do their business. Seems to be working nicely.

In a city with many apartments and few outdoor spaces, fire escapes are special treats.