It takes a bold woman to go topless in a public park, even in New York City, where it’s been legal for a quarter of a century, and even on a sunny summer day when the temperature is, say, 80 or 90 degrees. It takes a bolder woman still to do it on February 29, when the mercury barely noses into 60-degree territory. But how often do we get a chance to go out on February 29? Once every four years at most — and since our merry band has only been meeting since the summer of 2011, this is only our second opportunity ever, and our last until 2020! And it was almost 60 degrees, so…
So: a couple of the hardiest among us girded themselves to brave the winds off the Hudson and headed to a favorite green spot near Chelsea Market for the quadrennial opportunity to say “Happy Leap Day!”
We came bearing miniature doughnuts fresh from the Doughnuttery across the street and copies of two really fantastic books: Naomi Novik’s UPROOTED (recently nominated for the Nebula Award! Yay!), and Richard Vine’s amazing first novel SOHO SINS.
At the start, there were just two brave souls present…
…but as we found our way down the block to a pedestrian plaza, a third joined in.
And who knows, maybe we’d have succeeded in recruiting a fourth if the sun had been just a tiny bit stronger.
From Chelsea we headed to a sauna near the Empire State Building to warm up properly. Sorry to say, no photos survive of the hours spent there, though they were pleasurable indeed. 🙂
All in all, a delicious afternoon, full of promise for the season to come. It’ll be summer before you know it! Won’t you join us? If you’re a bold, book-loving woman in the New York area and you’d like to be part of the fun, just drop us an email: toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com.
Go ahead. Take the leap.
Wow ladies, it was about 40 degrees colder up here in NH on leap day! We didn’t go outside without heavy coats on.
Any proposals of marriage? Anyone wearing breeches or scarlet petticoats? Great that you ladies are starting your own LYD tradition!
Reblogged this on clothes free life and commented:
Leaping into the chill to express top freedom
Is Gore Vidal’s “Thieves Fall Out” worth a read? And kudos to all of you for braving the weather.
Honestly? Not the best read. It’s fun, in a trashy sort of way, but it’s not the best book Vidal ever wrote, nor the best Hard Case Crime has published. Now SOHO SINS, on the other hand — that book is fucking amazing…
Ah, thanks!
A for effort, and braving the chill.
Smoking hot abs! 😉
On behalf of the owner of those abs, thank you. They took a lot of work.
Don’t recognise the third girl from previous posts. Did she just spontaneously join you on the spot? Looks like she enjoyed it: her smile got broader the less she was wearing. Can’t wait to see her on the rooftop. Well done her, and all you three brave souls.
No, she’s been in plenty of prior posts. She did just spontaneously join us the first time she saw us, in Bryant Park, but it was a couple of years ago, and she’s been part of the group ever since.
And a beautiful young lady she is too.
I just read the first few pages of Uprooted. Interesting premise. I have a predisposition to prefer forests as heroes rather than villains though. I get the feeling that the twist might be just that? Perhaps best not to answer that as it would be a spoiler.
It’s certainly more complicated than it appears at first.
Who took the pictures of the two of you together if there was no one else at the start?
We wrote there were only two brave souls present. Clearly they must have been a third soul who was less brave handling the camera. 🙂
Great photos of beautiful women!