Description

This painting is of Sailboat Pond (formal name: Conservatory Water), located in Central Park, New York.

It's one of our favorite childhood spots in Central Park - So many great memories. A place where my brother, sister, and I could launch our miniature boats to travel the pond, like world explorers on a quest, and spend hours chasing them from one side of the pond to the other.

We were poor back then - just seven years since arriving in America - but nobody could tell the state of our family economy at the park. We were dressed-down-millionaires for all anybody knew - And we were in paradise!

The journey to Sailboat Pond was always a full-day event because the walk from our old uptown Spanish Harlem apartment took a while. First, we trekked a few long blocks on 96th Street, from Park Avenue to Fifth Avenue, and then down to about 70th street, where we entered the park. There was always an ice cream man at the park entrance, and his cart had chestnuts roasting. That smell, that sweet burning smell, signaled we had arrived. The long journey to the park was worth every minute because it was a fantastic other-world of endless fun, and it never failed to deliver.

My Red Sailboat
I always brought along my favorite Red sailboat to Sailboat Pond. It wasn't motorized; just a simple sailboat with a solid wood hull, a mast with sails, and a metal keel. Once launched, I needed to chase it wherever the wind blew - running around the pond and cheering it along. Sometimes, it got stuck in the shallow waters near the pond shore. A crowd would lend a hand to get it loose with a tree branch or some other trick, and it was on its way again - Sailing Away - Yay!

As I think back to my childhood memories - this place, these times - ripple through my heart like the small waves of the pond gently bumping against my little Red Sailboat.

Sailboat Pond is a beautiful place with lots of simple, fun things to do. A few big bronzes sit around the pond's edge where kids play; one is of Alice in Wonderland and another of Hans Christian Anderson. Benches hug the pond's perimeter, welcoming visitors to sit, chat and watch the fun unfold. Nearby is the old Carousel, the Children's Zoo, the main Zoo, and the Big Lake, so there was always plenty to do without going far - and most of it was free.

It is an early spring afternoon; the boaters are out as people from all walks of life gather around the pond and its surrounding hills. We were somewhere by the pond, with Mom, having fun. Dad was 41 years old, standing, painting from a grassy knoll near Alice in Wonderland. Inside of him was pure happiness, expressed here in this rendition of a typical day By Sailboat Pond.
❤️

Through My Father's Eyes