What a beautiful day it was to be at the zoo. Finally it feels like Spring is here, with warm enough weather to open our Transformation Facepainting concession, starting our 18th season of turning people into animals at the Bronx Zoo. After this tough winter it was great to be back at the zoo. Lorraine and I got there before it was open to the public in order to load in the equipment, and I’ve always enjoyed watching the zoo wake up and get ready for the crowds.

The artist we had scheduled for the opening day was Jennifer, and as soon as she was ready she had our first customer of the season, a cute little girl who she painted up as a penguin, an animal the zoo is featuring this year in it’s annual Run For the Wild fundraiser. As we were leaving, I was happy to see that her next customer was a man in his twenties, who was there  with just his girlfriend, it seemed, and no kids at all — it’s great when the adults get painted. Jennifer was turning him into a tribal-style grizzly bear.

http://www.bronxzoo.com/

Working at the zoo is really just an excuse to head over to Arthur Avenue and load up on Italian food supplies. Adding to the pleasure of the morning was discovering that De Lillo, my by-far favorite Pastry Shop, had just opened in a beautiful new, bigger location, with real room for tables. Now it’s possible to get in and out with out having to worry that you’re going to knock somebody off their chair with the packages in your hands as you squeeze by their table. So we sat before going shopping. Lorraine had the berry pie and I had the perfect pastry, a sfogliatella. Heaven.

http://delillopastryshop.com/

We got home in time for me to spend the rest of today gardening, which is the most essential way in which I experience this season of renewal. The stars lined up for me yesterday as well, for as I was out there in the backyard, turning over the earth as I expanded my vegetable garden, feeling the life coming back into the land,  the Rebirth Brass Band was playing live on the radio, on WNYC’s Soundcheck.

We were down in New Orleans around New Year’s Day, and I went to see the Rebirth Brass Band on their home turf for the first time, the Maple Leaf Bar — a transformational experience. I’d seen them before but never there, and I can still feel the energy of that loud, loud music going through my body in that packed bar as they went from song into song without pause, just driving the crowd on.