Tag Archive: Link


Our last trip to the city

Filed under: Weather
February 10, 2010

was on Saturday, 30 January 2010. I promised myself to blog about it the next day. Well since the promise was only to myself … not like the promise to Mickie to give her a post of her own, … Mickie will have to wait a little longer I am afraid.

It was so cold Saturday, do you want to know how cold? I’ll tell you, it was so cold I wore my tights and my long underwear, and I was still cold! Em had her nail appointment that she refuses to miss so we went.

While she went for her appointment I went to the library, I got my card activated so I could go online. Of course by the time I got around to doing it, she was done with her appointment. But now for her next appointment I can go to the library and go online (not that I’m addicted or obsessive or anything). In fact I visited the library Tuesday before my doctor’s appointment since my internet connection at home was down. (It is fixed now.) Our network administrator (Dad) fixed it. So the first thing I learned Saturday was that even if your NYC Public Library sits in your purse for two years you can still get it activated.

We met for lunch at the Moonlight Diner. Then we walked from the diner to the New York Historical Society. It was very cold. Did I tell you how cold it was? It was so cold, I wore my leather mittens instead of my hand warmers. At the New York Historical Society there is a special exhibit of Lincoln right now, and there were men dressed in Union Soldier uniforms. One of them told me that Mr. Lincoln was always accepting volunteers and there was no height requirement! Tempting as it was …

Next was Central Park, where I took this picture. Can you see what I was trying get, almost in the center of the picture there is something you might think you wouldn’t see in Central Park in the middle of New York City. Can’t tell what it is? What if we get a little closer?

Now can you see? No it is not a dog, it is a coyote. Really! Em and I were walking along and she turned to me and asked, “What is a coyote doing in Central Park?” Now to tell the truth, Em does not read the papers. Since I work for the Conservation Department, I know more about these things so she always asks me. So I told her. “It lives here.” As we watched, it ran into the trees because there was some garbage there. Then it kept going around the pond and I was able to get this picture. Kind of neat huh?

Em wanted to go to Sephora so we went to the one in Columbus Circle. She had seen some glittery nail polish at the one on 42nd but they didn’t have any for sale. So she wanted to see if this Sephora had it and they did. Then we decided to head back to Grand Central Terminal. It was very cold. Did I tell you how cold it was? It was so cold, Em wanted to take the subway instead of walk. We went to get on the subway in Columbus Circle. I was confident it would be a snap since my dermatologist is near Columbus Circle and I have taken the subway to and from there. We needed the 1 train, so we followed the signs right up to the caution tape across the stairs up to the train platform. Next to the stairs was the elevator, when the doors opened to the platform where the 1 train stopped, more yellow caution tape. So we went back down and I got my map out (you know the one where I have to wear my reading glasses to see, grrr) and learned something else, the D train goes from Columbus Circle to Bryant Park. So easy! Then we just walked from Bryant Park to Annie Moore’s. So it was a fun day, but it was very cold. Did I tell you how cold it was? It was so cold …

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>FREE STUFF!!!!

Filed under: Uncategorized — 1 Comment

>Brit Gal in the USA is having a 2nd Blogiversary Celebration GIVEAWAY! Click here.

I have been following her for quite a while, in fact, this is not the first time I have linked to her blog. It is very informative, interesting, funny and educational.

So pop over to her blog and check out the free stuff you could win! US residents only.

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>Postcard Friday #55

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February 4, 2010

>Here is another postcard from one of my trips to visit my parents in Washington State. I like lighthouses. Don’t know why. If you click to enlarge the image, you can probably read the names of the lighthouses.

For more postcard fun, visit postmistress Marie Reed

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>Breaking News Alert

Filed under: Uncategorized
January 28, 2010

>The New York Times
Thu, January 28, 2010 — 1:17 PM ET
—–

J.D. Salinger, Author of ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ Is Dead at 91

J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, has died in Cornish, N.H., where he lived in seclusion for more than 50 years, his son told The Associated Press. He was 91.

Mr. Salinger’s literary reputation rests on a slender but enormously influential body of published work: the novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” the collection “Nine Stories” and two compilations, each with two long stories about the fictional Glass family: “Franny and Zooey” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.”

Read More: ~The New York Times~

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>It is the perfect day

Filed under: Weather — 1 Comment
January 25, 2010

>for umbrella hunting, I thought, as I stood on the train platform in my hooded sweat jacket and polka dot rain boots. The weather had been cold and we got snow, then it cleared up and we had had bright, sunny days, but still cold. Now it had warmed up and was raining.

Many people had umbrellas and I watched them. Long umbrellas like canes, short ones folded up ones to fit in a brief case or pocket book. Mostly black, but one with tan and black in a checkerboard pattern, one clear plastic with pink trim and one pink nylon one. One that looked like it was broken, but was still in use.
The wind blew across the platform giving me a momentary chill and a smile. Yes a perfect day for umbrella hunting. Would I be successful? Only time will tell.

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Last Saturday

Filed under: Beauty, Manhattan
January 23, 2010

Em and I went to the city. Normally we go down together, but this time we didn’t. Em likes to be on the train platform 20 minutes before the train arrives. I am content to be there 20 seconds before the train arrive. How have we managed to stay friends so long? **shrugs**

She went down first because she had to be there for her nail appointment. I get mine done on Friday evenings normally, yesterday I went early because of going to see the movie. That will be in a later post. I wonder if I can do 10 posts today? I went down on the next train and stopped at Sephora (looking for new perfume) before going to the nail salon to see how much longer she would be. I also stopped at a discount fragrance store. They didn’t have the perfume I was looking for.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, to pretty to stay at the salon and wait for her, so I went to Bryant Park. It is pretty near the salon and Em said she wanted to go to Central Park after her appointment. I couldn’t decide if this man was (a) people watching, (b) waiting for someone or (c) guarding the park entrance. I came in a different way so if he was guarding the entrance, I managed to slip past him.

There was ice skating at the park so I watched the skaters for a while, then Em showed up and we went to Central Park. You can see how bright and clear the sky was, the temperature was above freezing but the ponds were still partially frozen. We both had our cameras. I had my little one and Em had her nice one and we were both taking pictures of the ice. In my sidebar is a slideshow with all the pictures I took.

Walking around looking at the ice on the ponds reminded me of the very first time I visited Central Park. It was also the very first time I was ever in New York, city or state. D and Em were living in Brooklyn and I was living in Florida (I grew up in Florida, remember that for the trivia contest), I had come up to visit them, it was November. Being from Florida I of course was not used to cold and did not have proper clothing. Em loaned me a coat and took me shopping for boots. We went to Central Park with a friend of theirs, a very nice young man named Andy. I took a picture of him, but I have no idea where it is now, if it even still exists. We took a carriage ride. I don’t remember much about it, just that we took one. We bought doughnuts and threw them on the ice for the ducks. Yes I know, I KNOW. I used most of my roll of film (pre-digital camera days) trying to get a picture of the ducks landing on the ice. They were coming in to land on the ice to eat the doughnuts, and sliding and falling on their beaks. It was so funny and I wanted a picture of it. I didn’t get one. Anyway, that is what walking around the park last Saturday looking at the frozen ponds made me think of, and I haven’t thought of that in years. I wonder which one of my many albums the pictures are in.

We went to a new restaurant for dinner. I don’t know where Em finds these places. The restaurant is called Rothmann’s NYC and was very nice. Not super fancy (I mean, they had a TV in the bar with the game on!) but very nice. A place you can dress up to go to but you don’t have to be in super formal clothes (I was wearing jeans). So we each had a drink, Em got a salad and we split a steak. She got dessert and I got a second drink, however, the dessert was big enough to share (hear me laughing at how clever I was?).

All in all, another great day in the city.

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>Chicago

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>25-or-6-to-4

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>Bats Declined 90% Where White Nose Syndrome Found

Filed under: Uncategorized
January 18, 2010

>The bats are dying, some have been found with this white fungus around their noses, like this one. Isn’t he cute! I know I can’t be the only one to think bats are cute. Well, maybe.

Anyway this is only one of the causes, the other causes? They don’t know. The bat experts are the ones that don’t know, they just know that whatever it is causes the bats to deplete their fat stores and they starve to death while hibernating. Here are some links.

NYSDEC

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

If you think it doesn’t matter that the bats are dying, think on this, one bat can eat 600 to 1,000 mosquitoes and other bugs in one hour. Every hour! They are bug eating machines! And in places where there are fruit eating bats, they are often the primary source of pollination for fruit trees. For some trees, the only source.

Besides being cool and cute, bats are important for the environment and our well-being. Imagine all those bugs that won’t be eaten.

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>Breaking News Alert

Filed under: Uncategorized
January 5, 2010

>The New York Times
Sun, January 03, 2010 — 7:30 PM ET
—–

U.S. Intensifies Screening for Travelers From 14 Nations

Citizens of 14 nations including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria who are flying to the United States will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that was imposed in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing plot, Obama administration officials announced Sunday.

But American citizens, and most others who are not flying through those nations on their way to the United States, will no longer automatically face the full-range of intensified security that had been imposed after the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, officials said.

Read More: ~The New York Times~

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>Lunch Yesterday

Filed under: Weather
December 30, 2009

>My old boss Gary (not his real name) sent me an e-mail. Not an unusual happening, we still work for the same Department, just he’s in a different region. He wants to get together for lunch or a drink. So we decided on yesterday.

Then came the deciding where to go and e-mails back and forth, we decided on a place. He tells me what train station he’ll pick me up at. The region he works in is next to the region I work in and I actually live in the region he works in, kind of funny, no? Oh well, back to lunch. So in the morning he sends me an e-mail, there was a sewage spill, and the parking lot at the train station he is picking me up at was flooded. He quips, “Good thing you are wearing your boots.” Below freezing? Bet your ass I’m wearing boots. Anyway, I get off the train and look at the parking lot, didn’t see any spill, he picks me up, drives through the parking lot and doesn’t see anything. We head on to lunch, and he calls the Regional Director to report on the parking lot.

Gary was underimpressed with the restaurant. I thought it was O.K. We decided to get drinks and a salad and head someplace else. I was kind of craving Mexican, hadn’t had any in a while. He checked out the tattoo on my shoulder and asked if he could see all my tattoos. “You just did Gary.” I had Kahlúa and club soda and he had a Bombay Sapphire Martini.

On the way to the restuarant, since he had gotten a call from the Regional Director we went back to the train station, drove further into the parking lot and found the spill, then Gary says, “There’s the Regional Director.” So we all got out and looked at the spill. It was a mess, there was water flowing everywhere and a grate had been removed leaving a 2×3 foot opening in the parking lot. Quite a safety hazard. Gary got on the phone with Westchester County to report it and tell them, they needed to send somebody to take care of it. Then we (Gary and I, the RD had to leave) drove down this road to see if we could find the actual break and found two (2) Westchester County trucks (well one truck and one car). That being done we resumed our quest for Mexican food. We headed for Dobbs Ferry.

“Dobbs Ferry,” Gary says, “Is loaded with restaurants.” We stopped at this little place (probably no bigger then my living room) with bad insulation, a surly waiter/bartender/cook, no wait, I think the busboy was the cook. Anyway, the food was good, I had beans and cheese enchilada in molé sauce with rice and black beans. Gary had a burrito. He asked the waiter if it came with anything. He looked confused and said, “No sir, everything’s inside.” We ordered our drinks, Gary got a margarita I got a Negra Modelo. The food came out right away, Gary looked at the burrito and said, “I’m glad I didn’t order anything else (as in additional food).” It was HUGE!

Having a little while to kill before I had to catch the train we started looking for another place. The restaurant was too COLD to wait there. The first place wasn’t open yet, the second place I wasn’t too crazy about going to, it was the place Gary had taken me a Christmas before and I got sick. Oh, you didn’t hear about that? Well if you didn’t, you’re not going to hear about it here.

We ended up at the second place, sitting in the bar, waiting for the train. I had a sort of martini with Pomegranate liqueur and vodka, kind of so-so. Gary had bourban. Then I had a Sombrero with a splash of Baileys added. It was very good. I will have to remember that. I took this picture from the parking lot, can’t you see how cold it was? Does anyone else think the river looks angry? I think in wintertime the river gets an angry look. Maybe I had too much to drink. Nah …..

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