The February Edit
Winter walks, museum visits, and good lunches across Westchester and New York.
I know I’m not alone here, but I am tired of winter. Tired of snow. Tired of ice. Tired of “bomb cyclones”. So this month’s Edit reflects the season: day trips that are mainly indoors, neighborhood parks close to home, museums, and small outings that don’t require much effort.
Three Winter Walks, On Repeat
Finding non-icy places to walk this month was a challenge, so I kept returning to the same few spots: Mathiessen Park, Scenic Hudson, and, once the sidewalks cleared a bit, the loop at Lyndhurst.
All three sit right along the river, and what made these walks different this month were the huge chunks of ice floating in the Hudson. Some days it looked more like Alaska than the Hudson Valley. Nothing dramatic about the walks themselves. Short loops. Familiar paths. But the river was never the same twice. These were very much “get outside, move a little, head home for hot chocolate” walks. And honestly, that was enough.
Bedford Day Trip: Mast Market, Books, and a Movie
It took me an embarrassing number of years to fully understand the difference between Bedford and Bedford Hills. Bedford is especially cute..
Mast Market recently reopened here after a fire destroyed their longtime Mount Kisco location. It’s part café, part everyday market, and the kind of place you stop into for one thing and leave with much more, largely because everything is so beautifully packaged.
Mast is probably best known for its chocolate, which the Mast brothers have been making since 2007, but what makes the place work is how comfortable it feels. We had grilled cheese and tomato soup, which felt exactly right on a cold afternoon. Shelves are stocked with pantry staples, artisanal jams, and small batch things you didn’t know you needed (until now).
Follow that with a stop at Bedford Books and, if timing works out, a movie at the Bedford Playhouse. A good winter outing.
Old Greenwich as a Day Trip
I’ve written about Greenwich Beach before, but this was the first time I headed to the area for a full day trip instead of just going straight to the shore. I bypassed swanky Greenwich Avenue and instead headed to Old Greenwich, a small town with Norman Rockwell vibes. Sound Beach Avenue is lined with cafés, restaurants, and locally-owned shops that make it easy to spend a couple of hours without any planning.
Because it was a rare, downright balmy 40 degrees, we ended up sitting outside at Sweet Peas. I ordered the citrus chicken salad and Phil got the India Bowl. Afterward, we stopped at Birch Bakehouse for coffee and cookies, which alone makes the trip worthwhile. Candy Connection is a fun old-school candy store, and Athena Books is exactly what I love in a neighborhood bookshop.
Before or after lunch,I can’t recommend a walk around Greenwich Beach enough. From November through April, there’s no beach pass required. You can thank me later.
Bonus: We tacked on a visit to the Bruce Museum in downtown Greenwich on our way home. Small enough to turn it into an easy add-on, but a legitimate museum with several interesting shows. My favorite this visit was the Warhol flower prints from the Brant Collection.
Don Carvajal, Irvington
Irvington has several coffee spots, but Don Carvajal is the one I return to most often. I stopped by one Saturday morning to meet friends, and it turned into one of those rotating neighborhood gatherings. People kept coming and going. I knew more faces than I expected. Maybe because it’s February and no one is getting out much, but everyone seemed to have the same idea. Hector, the owner, made his pistachio latte, which alone is reason to go. But more than that, it reminded me how good it feels to be a part of a real community, especially on a cold weekend morning.
A real neighborhood gem in the best way.
Hudson River Museum – Modern Women/Modern Vision
I was lucky enough to get invited to the opening of a photography show at the Hudson River Museum, which is always a fun way to get out of the house, see a new show, and catch up with friends. Jess from Bloomy Dobbs did the cheese, all from women-owned producers, which was a nice detail for a show about women photographers.
This exhibition brings together nearly 100 photographs by women, including Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, and Barbara Kruger. It was one of those shows where you keep recognizing artists and images as you move through the galleries.
The photographs are part of Bank of America’s collection. Since they don’t have their own museum, most of these works are usually in storage or shown in different cities. This is the first time the collection has come to the New York metro area, let alone down the road in Yonkers.
It’s on view through May, and worth seeing while it’s here.
Museum of the City of New York – He Built This City
Queens-born truck driver Joe Macken built a hand-carved scale model of New York City. It took him 21 years, and it’s currently on view at the Museum of the City of New York.
To say it is cool is an understatement. The finished model measures 50 by 27 feet and includes all five boroughs, plus parts of Long Island and New Jersey. Every building was made by hand using balsa wood, cardboard, glue, and paint. He began with 30 Rockefeller Plaza and kept going and going.
Bridges, streets, skylines, entire neighborhoods. The longer you look, the more you recognize. It’s on view at the Museum of the City of New York through September.
Morgan Library
I’ve walked past the Morgan Library countless times, but I don’t think I had ever been inside since before the Renzo Piano renovation in 2006.
The Caravaggio painting currently on view was what finally got me in the door. It’s a portrait of a boy holding a basket of fruit, but what makes it feel different is how real he looks. Not a saint or a religious figure, just an ordinary person – flushed, slightly disheveled, and completely human. This painting changed art forever, and you can see why.
I also loved the main library itself. The scale of the room, the vaulted ceiling, and the walls lined with books make it one of the most beautiful interiors in the city.
Reading More Than Usual
One upside of all this cold weather is that I’ve been reading more. Two books I finished recently — Strangers by Belle Burden and Paper Girl by Beth Macy —couldn’t be more different on paper, but felt strangely connected while I was reading them. Both are memoirs written by women roughly my age, which may be part of why they resonated..
The authors grew up at the same time as me, just in different places. One in Ohio, one on the Upper East Side. I didn’t grow up in boarding school with a trust fund, and I didn’t grow up in rural Ohio on a Pell Grant, but somewhere in between. And yet I found myself relating so much to each of their experiences in different ways. Belle’s 90s New York felt especially recognizable, and Beth’s return to her Ohio hometown and how much it had changed stayed with me.
Seeing the month like this makes me realize I actually did do a lot, even if it was all close to home. But honestly, I am ready for spring.
If you found a new spot to check out from this post, click the ❤️ button. It brightens my day and helps others discover local gems through Go Love NY. Thanks for reading!
These are such good recs, Robin. Never thought to walk around Lyndhurst in the winter. Adding to our bucket list.
Oh and I’m embarrassed to say we’ve yet to go to the Bruce (though I highly recommend the restaurant/bar across the street - L’escale - for Greenwich people watching, esp in the summer. 💃)