A Day In The Park

Walking in Central Park on a bright sunny day and we saw this beautiful flowering tree and had to take a photo of it. Never seen blooms of this type before and the tree stands about 40 ft tall. Unfortunately the flowers do not have a scent to go along with its beauty.


This clock is located near the entrance to the Central Park Childrens' Zoo. The song that plays is "Younger Than Springtime".


On the top of the clock is a large bell. On the hour and half hour the each monkey next to the bell strikes it with a hammer.


On the left is an elephant marching on its two back feet. Next comes a kangaroo. Momma is playing a horn while her baby, tucked away in her pouch, is blowing on a trumpet. (click on any photo any it will be displayed at full size.)


Here a penguin is playing a snare drum. Following not very close behind is a goat.

Fleet Week 2008

A photo that caught a "tourist" near one of the Fleet Week information banners.

As related in the New York Times, "Fleet Week, a Memorial Day staple for more than 20 years, began on Wednesday as five United States Navy ships, a United States Coast Guard cutter and three Canadian ships sailed into New York Harbor with thousands of sailors and marines aboard. The Navy has docked the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, the guided missile cruiser Leyte Gulf at Pier 88 at 48th Street, and the cruiser Monterey and the destroyers Sullivan and Nitze at Stapleton Pier on Staten Island." We toured the Kearsarge on Saturday. It was awesome. All of the photos from this entry were taken on the Kearsarge.

John is trying to take a photo of the photographer (me) while standing behind a flying machine called the Osprey.


This is the Osprey from the front. The NY Times tells it better than I ever could: "On the deck of the Kearsarge is an exotic-looking aircraft that looks like a cross between a propeller plane and a Black Hawk helicopter. It is the much-heralded and controversial V-22 Osprey, known as a tilt-rotor aircraft because its rotors can shift from vertical to horizontal, enabling it to fly like a plane but take off and land like a helicopter. It is capable of the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop plane.

"The strange war bird looked even stranger in its habitat this week, with the Midtown skyscrapers as a backdrop. It rested on the bow deck of the nearly 900-foot-long Kearsarge, which carries helicopters and surface boats and nearly 3,200 crew members."

A photo taken from mid-deck toward the stern (rear) of the ship. The water is the Hudson River and the coast is that of New Jersey.

Could not resist taking this photo of an old soldier standing near Old Glory.

New York's finest is ever vigilant.

We found all kinds of equipment below decks. Trucks, landing vehicles, a mess tent (kitchen), etc.

This is the exit end of a piece of equipment used to get troops from the ship and onto the beach.

Tables were set up with lots of information and handouts on programs and equipment use. One of the most important to me was their environmental program to keep any plastic products from entering the sea. Any plastic on the ship is compressed into large circular disks about 2 inches thick. Once in port these disks can then be sent to a recycling facility.

This photo is from the deck of the Kersarge looking down toward the harbor. Can you see the Statue of Liberty? She is almost in the middle of the long boom on the crane.

Birthday With The Yankees!

For John's birthday we went to a Yankees night game. What added to the adventure was that we travelled to the stadium via boat! It is called the Yankee Clipper and it only runs to the stadium on game day/night. The boat was full and the views were wonderful! It took less than 1/2 an hour and we passed under so maaany bridges on the way.

Here is a photo of number 2 on the Yankees - Derek Jeter. He plays shortstop and many people in the seats near us were wearing Jeter shirts with #2 on the back.

We thought we would have pretty bad seats because of the price. But they were great! There is nothing like seeing a major league game in person. Popcorn, peanuts, hot dogs - get your hotdogs here. And we all sang take me out to the ball game at the 7th inning stretch.

The lineup was displayed on one of the giant electronic boards.

As each player came to bat their image and information was displayed. It helped those watching to keep track of the action.

The lights on the way home were magic. No better way to see the skyline than from a boat on the East River. Can you spot the building with the red and white lights on the top? That is the Empire State.

This photo is of the UN Building with the bright lights at the top of the famous Chrysler building on its right. The Chrysler has to be one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

Our trip home on the boat was an adventure in itself. When we went to the game the tide was out. When it was time to return home the tide was in. We approached the first kind-of low bridge the boat stopped. We sat in one place for a little while. John and I were on the top deck. A crew member came up to the deck and asked if some of the passengers would please move to the front of the boat or we would not be able to get under the bridge because the nose was up too high.

One last photo of the beautiful lights of our city.

Several days later I took John to a tourist trap Italian restaurant down by the old Fulton Market. The food was great! When we were being seated I remarked to John that we would not worry about the budget because it was his birthday. We ate and I gave the server my credit card. He was gone quite a long time. When he returned it was with the entire wait staff. They sang Happy Birthday in Italian and presented John with this absolutely delicious desert (free of charge). We had fun.

Just Hanging Out

Had a little problem with my hip. Dr said 1. Hip replacement 2. cortisone shot into the joint 3. try a narcotic pain reliever or 4. physical therapy. Can you tell from this shot that we went with option #4. And physical therapy is much more fun when you do it with a friend.

In the garden with our sidewalk chalk. This little one seems to really like me to make hearts. Almost had enough for a deck of cards before we were done.

Every heart just had to have a name in it!

And Where Were We Today?

The game is not until tomorrow but we just had to check out the commute. Not on the subway though, we took the bus-- Third Ave uptown, transfer to the Bx06 and over the river. The trip took us a little over two hours. John (a long time Yankee fan) just had to snap a photo of almost every item that had the name on it. This was the first thing we saw.


We will be seeing the game against Cleveland tomorrow night. After it took us the 2+ hours by bus in non-rush hour traffic we decided to take the Yankee Clipper. The Yankee Clipper is a ferry we can catch less than 4 blocks from the apt that will take us directly to the stadium in about an hour. And on the way we will get to see lots of wonderful Manhattan skyline.

Apparently the AllStar game will be in the Yankee Stadium this year on July 15th. I have been told that this game rotates around the country at a different location each year.

Reggie Jackson. Need I say more?

We got lucky while we were walking around someone opened a big sliding door and all of a sudden we had a view inside of the stadium. Of course John had to snap this photo. We are going to the game to help celebrate his birthday. For John's sake I hope the Yankees win (I'm a Dodger fan myself.).

Two Cool NY Ladies

Just chillin'.

Julliard J@zz

Although photos are not permitted, we were able to take the above one before the concert began. The band had 17 members. There was a large group of very varied brass instruments with each performer playing at least two and as many four instruments. In addition we had a piano, a guitar, a bass and drums. All of the pieces performed were written b Julliard students. Within the band there were a significant number of graduating seniors (I think about 7). Two of the compositions were conducted by their composers. It was a delightful evening. The audience was close to capacity and appreciative. Each piece offered an opportunity for solos by almost all of the band members. My very, very, very favorite was done by the bassist. He was amazing!