Snow! and The Lion King

Gazing out the window and commenting on each thing he can see covered with snow.


As a parent and as a person raised here, I have never seen anyone so absolutely delighted with snow! One would have thought it was chocolate drops falling from the clouds. I couldn't have planned a better time for this visit if I tried - except maybe one in a warmer season so we could explore the Statue of Liberty and other outdoor sites.


Waiting for a bus. Not owning a car is a concept beyond a 6 year old. What's with all of this walking? Where is your car? Any bus that went by -- "why can't we take that bus?". Charter busses, one going to the west side when we want to go north, etc.


We went to see the Lion King on broadway. My little mate kept asking why we were going to see that cartoon again. Once we were in the theatre he seemed wow'ed when the parade of animals came down the isle from the back and right past his seat. He enjoyed the singing, dancing, and puppet/people characters. It was sweet when he asked if there was going to be a sequel. I guess it is because he basically comes from a world of movies and not live performances.


Although photograph taking is strictly prohibited during the show I did manage to snap this photo of Keary as he sat during intermission. I never thought I would be able to see him sit stock still for 90 minutes but he did for the first act. Actually he was only restless during intermission. Once act 2 began he was once again transfixed. I think he liked it.

A Visit With Our "Mate"

Our 6 year old grandson is in the Big Apple to visit us for a while. I flew to Atlanta to meet him and escort him back for his visit with us. This was his very first plane ride. Upon entering the aircraft I asked a man in a blue uniform if he was the pilot. He said yes. So I told Keary that this was the person who would drive the plane for us to fly to NYC. The pilot asked if Keary had flown before and I told him this was a maiden voyage. Keary was invited up into the cockpit. Here he is sitting in the pilot's seat.

The co-pilot spent at least 10 minutes patiently explaining how each of the pieces of equipment was used and how it helped to fly the plane safely.

He flew like a champ. Sat by a window and marveled at all he saw. The take off and landing were smooth. When we flew over New York he spotted the snow and became very excited. Once we were in the city and getting out of the taxi in front of our building he immediately began making snowballs. It was all I could do to get him in the building so I could bring up the bags! Next his grandpop was dragged out into the garden to have a snowball fight. This visit is going to be fun!



Just before he came I bought him a nice warm scarf, hat and mitten/glove things in preparation for the cold. After feeling the temperature he put them on without a single peep of complaint.

When Friends Visit

This is Connie. We met Connie in 1976 when John was assigned by the military to Washington D.C. and wound up working in the same office. Connie is one of those people you are lucky to meet maybe once or twice in a lifetime. She is a special lady. Always there when you need her, willing to listen, dispenses great advice, and she easily forgives your foibles. john and I were lucky enough to share a dinner and breakfast during her short visit.


This is Barbara. Barbara played a very special role in our lives a number of years ago. She is an attorney. When we needed a referral for a custody case she came through for us. Although family law is not her forte Barbara found us a skilled, sympathetic legal pit bull. She drove up from D.C. with Connie and helped us have a great time during the visit.


Here is Trudy. She is a delight. This was Trudy's very first visit to New York City. Seeing the city I love through Trudy's eyes is wonderful. My biggest regret is that these three musketeers were only able to stay one night and two days. Trudy has promised to return when it is not quite so cold and it will be so much fun to show her Manhattan.


Connie's roommate from college is Carolyn. Here they are sharing some old memories and new photos. Carolyn lives here in the city and came to dinner with us.


Barbara and John chatting at dinner. One major topic was the Blackberry versus the Iphone. John was showing Barbara his Blackberry. I showed her my Iphone.


This distinguished gentleman is Cecil. John and I met Cecil at dinner. He also lives here in the city.

Thanksgiving 2008

Our Thanksgiving was really nice. For only the second time all of the family was together for a holiday. Grandparents (us), Four kids, Three significant others, and Four and a half grandchildren. John and I stayed with Daughter #1 and her wonderful partner. He cooked a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for all of us. Daughter #2 made and brought a chocolate cake that was to die for. The grandchildren had a great time with each other. The ages are perfect to have a leader, assistant leader and two willing followers. They are 8, 6, 4 and 3 years old. The half is just that - about a 20 week'er. She will be with us in time for the tulips to bloom.

On the following Saturday we visited the largest aquarium in the United States. A good time was had by all. There were multiple "touching tables" where the little ones could see and feel skates, shrimp, sea anemones, and horseshoe crabs. We also saw the largest whale shark living in an aquarium in the U.S. We were told that it is 22 feet long. It is not really a whale because it does not breathe air (not a mammal) but it also is not a true shark. It has an esophagus the diameter of a quarter thus only eats very small items.



Following the aquarium visit we walked over and ate lunch in the CNN headquarters. The kids liked that a lot too. Lots of giant TV screens on the walls with the news being telecast.

New Definitions for a New Era - Thank God!

OBAMAPHORIA: The postelection rapture that swept over Obama's supporters worldwide.
OBAMANATION: A twist on "abomination," expressed by evangelicals and other conservatives who oppose Obama's stance on abortion, gay marriage and other social issues.
OBAMARAMA: The celebrations around the Jan. 20, 2009, inauguration.
OBAMANOS: A play on "Vamonos," or "Let's go," among Obama fans in Mexico.
OBAMATOPIA: The political paradise that Obama's staunchest supporters hope he'll usher in.
OBAMALUJAH: Exultation shouted by his fans.
OBAMATRONS: The policy wonks who will occupy the West Wing of his White House.
OBAMASCOPE: Media scrutiny of the new leader. (Example: "One hundred days after Barack Obama took office, newspaper editors put the president's economic plan under the Obamascope.")
OBAMANATOR: Hollywood-inspired nickname for the new president – even if he's got what California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger contends are "skinny legs" and "scrawny little arms."
OBAMALICIOUS: Complimentary term used by those who like Obama's looks.
OBAMALOHA: Goodbye, Obama-style, with a nod to Hawaii, his birthplace.
OH-BAMA: Joyful exclamation, via headlines in the Kennebec, Maine, Journal, The Regisister Guard in Eugene, Ore., and The Namibian, from the southern African country of Namibia.
BAMELOT: Description of his presidency, from a New York Post headline that played on the youth and freshness of John F. Kennedy's administration that came to be known as "Camelot."
OBAMERIKA: Headline from the Croatian newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija.
BARACKSTAR: Description from those who believe Obama is "the Mick Jagger of politics" (from Slate.com).

My favorite is "Bamelot". This is the headline on the late city final edition of the New York Post. To borrow a phrase from Star-trek -- may he "live long and prosper".

Guess Who Has a "Man Bag"?

Yep, it is John, my old fashioned-straight laced fella. But he is also pragmatic. Walking the streets of Manhattan is so very different from jumping in a car and driving where you need to go. He was using a fanny pack and trying to use a scientific method of packing it with his current paperback novel, Ipod, emergency rain poncho, etc. So I suggested (frequently) a man bag for him. He has resisted for a number of months but we saw this one at a street fair yesterday and he relented. It is Army green - maybe that is what did the trick. I am certain that once we leave the Big Apple and move somewhere we need a car, the bag will have a new life in the back of a closet.

Presidential Politics

I try to keep this journal strictly as a vehicle for sharing our family activities. But . . . .

This morning we sat and watched a hero of mine General Colin Powell (USA ret.) on Meet The Press. We are a married couple of official senior citizen age as well as retired military. I have been a registered Republican for many years in the past. My hope has always been that the Republican party would have an umbrella under which people of many views could find hope for the future.

After much thought, exploration and now having our thoughts reaffirmed by General Powell we MUST support Sen. Barak Obama in his campaign for the presidency. I am of the age to remember life before Roe v Wade. I knew of classmates who went to back alley dirty motel rooms to have a pregnancy terminated. Some lived, some died, some became infected to the point that they could no longer have children. We did not have 12 and 14 year old children giving birth (or 15 year olds please note Ms. Palin). That was because they did not become pregnant in the massive numbers that we see now. With credit to a religious fundamentalist mindset we now see teenagers who consider having a baby as a status symbol. Adoption no longer seems a popular option.

Obama is not perfect. However, his campaign is not based on division. His base is the American people. Not a particular class, income, age, profession or faith, just people. I am proud to say that I am one of those small contributors to the Obama campaign. Hope is what we need for our future. Not more years of Bush programs, laws etc. that attempt to regulate our life style, medical decisions and beliefs.

Enough said.

Knee Surgery

Here is Dr. Ron Noy. Six days ago he performed surgery on my left knee. We saw him this morning for a follow up visit. He held still long enough for me to snap this picture. Dr. Noy is an orthopaedist. He is a very unusual orthopaedist. You wonder "Why?" That is because when you have an appointment with him he doesn't take a look and then say "surgery". Yes, he is indeed a surgeon and a very good one at that (in my opinion). That pesky knee was worked with in physical therapy for 10 weeks before we talked surgery. John and I would walk in this wonderful city and at the end of the day my left knee looked like a cantaloupe.

Back at work but at least holding still long enough for this snapshot. Ever met a physician, a board certified specialist, who gives his patients his cell phone number? Well here he is.

This sweet lady works with Dr. Noy. She greets, makes appointments and adds a smile to the office.

Here is the patient 24 hours after surgery. Dr. Noy said I would be using something called a cold machine. Never heard of one of those before. It is actually a replacement for the traditional ice bag. It consists of a motorized box (it is gray and sitting on a table next to the bed) with an insulated set of tubing that leads to a sealed pad. The pad is placed on the surgical site - in this case my knee. When operating, a stream of water chilled by the motor to 38 degrees F, is delivered to the pad and then circulated back to the motor unit. The temperature is selected with a sliding button. You keep the cold on the site 24/7 for the first week. Luckily my laptop is handy and I can keep up with some special friends in Thailand.
Tomorrow the physical therapy starts, again.

Iron "Man" ? Nope. Woman of steel!

Here is Marisa. We met when she became my physical therapist. Is she good? Wow, yes. As you can probably tell . . . she is one fit lady. These photos are from last Sunday. One of Marisa's patients talked her into participating in her very first half-Iron man competition.

I asked - What exactly does this entail? It seems as though there is swimming, biking and running. And on Sunday it poured down buckets of rain. The swim was in a reservoir somewhere in the hinterlands of New Jersey. YUK! Marisa's goal was just to finish all three legs of the competition. And she did! Although she thinks she was the slowest -- 20 competitors dropped out and did not complete the challenge. So Marisa not only made her goal, she beat 20 other people (probably men).
CONGRATULATIONS MARISA!

Living Near The United Nations

We love the neighborhood where we live now. It is called Kips Bay and it is fairly near the United Nations. Little did we know that when the General Assembly goes into session the streets and avenues to the north of us become a quagmire. The busses and auto traffic wind up bumper to bumper. Just about every intersection has at least one uniformed officer to help with the traffic. Of course in order for us to get to either our dentist or physical therapist we must go north! Walking from our apartment is not a problem because they are both within a 30 minute walk. BUT on the days we volunteer in the a.m. and have to get to one or both of these offices it becomes a real challenge.

This morning on our way to the library we walked down the ramp from our building and found a line of maybe 6 or 8 SUVs assigned to the Ambassador from China. And every one of them was double parked! But in the end I must admit that there is no other part of this city where I would rather live - including overlooking Central Park.

Today is Saturday. Every Saturday representatives from 4-6 local farms bring their produce into our neighborhood and set up a stand. The stands are also at the base of the ramp so we don't have very far to go. Our fruit "guy" is outside of our building 6 days a week with his fruit stand. I guess there isn't much of a chance of our going hungry! I think we just might miss our New York living once we get to Hawaii.


This cauliflower was so pretty I just had to take a picture of it. (I am really getting old if vegetables excite me.) It had an 18 inch stem.

Ritual Dances of Bhutan - The New York Public Library

John had never been in the main branch of the New York Public Library -- you know the one. It has those two huge stone lions perched out in front of the main entrance. This branch does not have books you would go in to sign out and read. It is basically there strictly for research. So we went in and browsed in the Map room, the library store and the history/geneology room. It is a little boring (and quiet) so after a while he was ready to leave. We walked out of the front door and walked into a performance of a Cham traditional dance from Bhutan. The dancers were at the bottom of the steps and people were gathered around watching.


Luckily we always have our cameras with us when we are out walking. We were given a brochure that described what we were seeing. It says:
"Cham is the ancient ritual dance of Tantric Buddhism that has been preserved and performed in Bhutan for centuries. Performed at special religious festivals, the dances typically impart moral instruction or illustrate teachings. During performances, both the performers and audience members accumulate merit. The masked performers are always male and usually monks."


The clothing has bright beautiful colors and the dancers do a lot of whirling and moving so getting a good photo is difficult.


This photo shows the large black hats that were worn. The hats looked a little like Mexican sombreros but had a metal sculptural structure projecting from the top. Each dancer held a drum. The brochure went on to explain:
"Here, the monks of the monastic fortress of Trongsa perform two common examples of cham. The dances feature wrathful deities that destroy evil demons. As in much of the art on view in The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan at the Rubin Museum of Art, wrathful forms of deities personify tantric techniques of transforming greed, ignorance, pride, and other spiritual poisons--demons we all possess and that stand in the way of our reaching enlightenment."


These two monks provided the beat for the dance we saw. They sounded a loud chime or maybe it was a gong. They had our backs to us to we couldn't really tell. However, it was immediately evident to us that the monks we saw were not like the ones we had seen in Thailand. The color of the robes - mustard and burgundy look different from what we are used to seeing. The clothing of monks pictured here are typical of those we see in and around the city - on busses or walking.


John was able to capture some of the action in this video. (good job John!) We plan to visit the Rubin Museum later this week to see more of the culture of Bhutan.

Do you know where Bhutan is located? We did not so we Googled it. Bhutan is (according to Wikipedia) a landlocked nation in South Asia. It is located amid the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by China. Bhutan is separated from Nepal by the Indian state of Sikkim. Bhutan is also the last remaining monarchy, constitutional or otherwise left in South Asia.

A Visit to Ft. Hamilton (Brooklyn)

Nestled under the Verazzano Bridge is the entrance to a small military installation. It is listed on the WEB as "The Army's Ambassador to New York City."

And here is a handsome retired Army officer on his way in for a visit. Most people spend their lives in the same town or state. We, career military families, make our home wherever we are sent. Although we know no one at Ft. Hamilton (or any other Army installation) we have the feeling of returning home when entering the gates of any military facility.. It is difficult to explain.

Old guns, tanks and equipment are commonly displayed.

This is a photo of our version of a department store. It is small but it is ours and we love them no matter what the size.

The grass is trimmed, flowers are cared for . . . and memories arise. I guess that is the main reason that when the time comes we will be pleased and proud to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. It will be a going home for us.

There is a plaque on this house that says General Robert E. Lee lived there once!

This photo shows the top of the Verazzano bridge. It goes from Brooklyn to Staten Island.

Last Photos in NYC for DeaSha

And here she is with the Empire State Building floating just a little bit above her left hand. We learned that the Empire State building is considered one of the 8 wonders of the world.

Lovely lady standing in front of the United Nations.

The United Nations' General Assembly building is in the background.

The wall with an inscription behind DeaSha is across the street from the Secretariat building in the United Nations complex.

The General Assembly building is where all member nations meet to discuss world issues.

On the left you can see the top of the Chrysler Building. It is art deco in design and a signature landmark in this city.

Time to say goodbye.

Lots of smiles but wish she could have stayed just a little longer. Oh well.

Street Fair Shopping for Lisa

DeaSha came to NYC with a definite mission assignment. Find purses for Lisa! And she was diligent in her task. We visited two street fairs today. Each street fair had at least 6 boths/vendors with purses.

She looked and she looked. She matched colors, styles, prices. Wow. What a shopper! We all hope that Lisa likes the choices DeaSha made. At the end of the day we had walked 5 miles.

And when we returned home we were greeted by a young lady who wanted to serve us coffee. She has lots of cups that we have collected in the past few weeks from fast food restaurants.

Here she is offering to pour from her tea/coffee pot for her Aunt DeaSha.

Line up those cups so they are ready for her many guests.