Ever since I finished CLAUDE & CAMILLE, and in the final months of writing it, I have been compelled to go down to Riverside Park and the boat basin, a short walk from my building. It is a magical spot, quite odd and peaceful. Boats creak in the water, water sloshes against the pilings. My husband and I pick out the favorite boat we would like to own! The water changes color many times a day, and the shape and texture of the clouds are different every evening. I wonder how Monet ever managed to paint something which always changes; as he says in despair in my novel when he first tries at the age of 17, "How I am supposed to do it if it keeps changing, if it never stays still?"
We sit by the water as darkness comes and the lights come on in the Boat Basin cafe overlooking the water where, if we are fortunate, we can get a table to drink wine and eat something nice.
We sit by the water as darkness comes and the lights come on in the Boat Basin cafe overlooking the water where, if we are fortunate, we can get a table to drink wine and eat something nice.