Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘BY THE WAY’ Category

One Life Six Words What’s Yours?

Posted in Six Word Memoirs, tagged , , , , on December 6, 2010| 3 Comments »

Ernest Hemingway in Kenya, 1953

Image via Wikipedia

Six Word Memoir

The weekly challenge continues…can you describe yourself, your life, your passions, your goals in SIX WORDS?  No more, no less.  I certainly appreciate my readers who rise to this challenge and I love posting their Memoirs. We are unofficially participating in the SIX WORD PROJECT which originated with Smith Magazine.  The hook is that Ernest Hemingway was asked to write a story in just six words; “For Sale: Baby Shoes Never Worn”.

 

Watched Macy’s parade; missing New York! –Weez

Stop pressing snooze! Just get up! –startingoveringermany

Lucky me – a post-Thanksgiving feast – Heide

Up at four wrapping Christmas presents – Susan Celtic Lady

Stress, temper, weight – out of control – Me

And from the book: Not Quite What I Was Planning SIX-WORD MEMOIRS by Writers FAMOUS & OBSCURE

The psychic said I’d be richer – Elizabeth Bernstein

Grumpy old soundman needs love too – Lenny Rosengard

Mom died. Dad screwed us over – Lesley Kysely

Painful Nerd Kid – Happy Nerd Adult – L.J. Williamson

Read Full Post »

Squirrely Saturday

Posted in BY THE WAY, Fab Fotos, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna on December 4, 2010| 5 Comments »

Do I need to say more?

Sorry, thanks for the nut!

photo by Murray Head

Central Park, New York city,

Saving this for later

photo by Murray Head

 

Ocean Grove

"Can I please have some more"?

Photo by Lori

 

feeding the squirrel, peanuts

"Here you go little fella"

photo by Lori

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Top Ten Things To Do in New York City during Christmastime

Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

THURSDAY’S TOP TEN

New York City is fun at any time of the year (but you already knew that) – However at Christmastime there is an energy that vibrates through the month of December.  Well actually  I think it starts at Thanksgiving.  The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade marks the beginning of the Holiday Season here in Manhattan; Heralding the season from Herald Square!  So now it has begun and the streets are really crowded with shoppers carrying the colorful store brand  bags.  Workers that usually eat at their desks are dashing out to shop during lunch hours, tourists are everywhere in Midtown and stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to take pictures. And why are they all here? Because New York City is a great place to be at this time of year.

You can:

  1. Visit Rockefeller Center and see the magnificent tree and watch the ice skaters too.
  2. Drop by Grand Central Terminal to see the Holiday Light Show that is beamed on the recently re-stored ceiling.  And you can shop there too – besides the stores there is also a Christmas marketplace.
  3. Attend a performance of The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, it’s a holiday classic.
  4. But nothing is more classic than going to Radio City Music Hall and seeing the Rockettes! The Christmas Spectacular is a lovely wonderful tradition.  I ought to know because my grandmother used to take me when I was young, then I took Chiara during her childhood and this year Finley Ray went.  She is still a bit young for the Rockettes but the effects, the lights, and of course Santa Claus were not lost on her.
  5. Walk along Fifth Avenue and window shop or rather window-look at the dramatic and fantastic holiday window displays at Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and Barney’s.
  6. Stroll along Fifth Avenue in the evening and see the giant snowflake suspended above your head like a star.  And then walk past Cartier’s where the whole building is wrapped with a red ribbon and bow.
  7. Visit the Metropolitan Museum and behold the most beautiful Baroque Neapolitan Christmas tree.  The manger scene surrounds the base and is just magnificent.
  8. Take a break at Serendipity’s and drinks some Frozen Hot Chocolate.
  9. There are Christmas markets throughout the City, not as spectacular as those in Germany but they are here.  Check out Union Square, Columbus Circle and Bryant Park for a wide selection of craft items, art, outerwear and gifts of all sizes for all ages.
  10. In the lower level of the Citicorp Building, there is annual free model train display that you will marvel at several vintage sets run all through a staged country and city setting.  The Transit Museum also displays vintage trains in their shop in Grand Central Terminal.

BONUS IDEA – Buy some hot roasted chestnuts from a street vendor that’s New York!

*** There’s an UPDATED 2012 list available  at Top Ten Things To Do In New York City During Christmastime UPDATED!

Christmas tree, Rockefeller Center

Bright Lights-City Lights

Read Full Post »

Six Word Memoir Monday – Better Late Than Never

Posted in Six Word Memoirs, tagged , , , , on November 30, 2010| 7 Comments »

I’d like to think that it was the holiday weekend that caused the dearth of responses BUT since the responses invariably come in on Mondays when I post the prior week’s…..well Thanksgiving was on Thursday so who knows what happened???

My hubby enjoyed his birthday weekend – startingoveringermany

Living with menopause,  forgot the question – Karen

Mom turned 90- what a celebration! – Heide

Watching Fin watch the Rockettes – PRICELESS!

Calling on you all to channel your Ernest Hemingway and spew forth Six little (or long) words and tell us who or what you love, where you are in yourself, your life.  Sum it up in Six Words, no more, no less.  Anonymity respected is so desired.

Radio City Music Hall, Christmas spectacular, New York city

Still Kicking After All These Years!


Read Full Post »

Six Word Memoir Monday

Posted in Friends, Six Word Memoirs, tagged , , , , , on November 22, 2010| 1 Comment »

Illustration depicting thought.

Image via Wikipedia

Thank you (you know who you are) for bailing me out after my whining last week!  Great response to my weekly request for contributions to the Six Word Project every Monday.  They are as always terrific to read and speculate what your thought process was to produce it.

Planning another royal wedding! Oh my!! – Heather

Holiday festivities get earlier and earlier – Gail

Any pictures of the new baby? – Susan Celtic Lady

Really missing the sound of laughter – Weez

Economics rule-Emily decided on Florida – Heide

Talking to myself more these days – Me

And a few from the book, Not Quite What I Was Planning-Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure.

I asked. They answered. I wrote. – Sebastion Junger

Extremely responsible, secretly longed for spontaneity – Sabra Jennings

Joined army. Came out. Got booted. – Johan Baumeister

Almost a victim of my family – Chuck Sangster

Read Full Post »

“What we have here is the failure to communicate”

Posted in BY THE WAY, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , on November 21, 2010| 4 Comments »

Garden State Parkway shield

Image via Wikipedia

I’m living in a world where I am omnipresent-everywhere at all times.  If you can’t reach me on my phone a/k/a house phone now a/k/a my land-line, then you can call me on my cell phone OR you can send me an email on at least two of my three email addresses OR you can text me and I will get it on my blackberry…SO why is there a problem communicating?

That was a rather loosely-connected (sorry for the pun) prologue to what really happened today.  There was a break down in communication BUT not really because I couldn’t be reached.  However, I liked writing that blurb about the absurdity of how connected we all are.

I had to make an overnight food and turkey run to New Jersey so I could pick up my turkey that I am paying $2.65 per lb for in a town that is “kinda” on the way home to New York City while my friend is paying $2.39 per lb for the same brand turkey AND if I had bought it where she did and where I did shop today I would have not had to “race” back to try and get to the City before my daughter did.  She was driving in from Boston with a baby, a baby nurse and a 2 yr. old in tow and I HAD HER KEYS! Not good!!

Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving turkey,

I'd Walk a Mile for this turkey

Here’s the break down in communication – I told my daughter that I needed to use her refrigerator on Sunday when I brought the turkey home and her freezer.  Here’s what I said, ” Will you be home on Sunday or will the key be with the doorman“?  At which point she turns around and gives me the key.  Did I think it was her only key? NO!  Today as we are trading semi-hysterical phone calls while each of us is speeding to Manhattan, she says, “You said the afternoon” – did anything I say sound like afternoon.  Someone doesn’t always listen to whole sentences.   The baby will have to be nursed, Finley will have to be fed and they will be locked out.  Ever the fixer and over-giver I come up with a plan; first I call my friend who has a key to my apartment and ask her to leave it with the  doorman – that will work.  I call Chiara back and suggest she send the car to Queens with her baby nurse so she doesn’t have to park it or park it in her garage and take a cab to my apartment with the kids.  I don’t think she appreciated my suggestion at all because she said she would just have to go to a restaurant and wait for me. Needless to say I asked at least 3 times if she thought the doorman would have a key to the apartment since it was a corporate rental.  “NO” says she and “we’ve been through this before, he doesn’t have a key”!!!

The next glitch came when we left the Orchard and because time was really of the essence, I suggested that we drive north on Rte 18 or Rte 9 and my driver thinks we should stay on Rte 34 till we hit the Garden State Parkway or the NY Thruway. Welllllll as we headed home on Rte 34 we saw a sign for the GSP and so we turned right…right into some beautiful countryside, looked like horse country BUT no Parkway.  About 20 minutes later we finally saw the entrance to the Parkway and I just knew we would never get into the City before she did. Damn it anyway!!!

I said I would call her once I was thru the tunnel and I did and guess what?? She was in her apartment – seems the doorman had a key after all (which I said I thought he would since IT WAS a corporate apartment).  But what do I know?

The other break down occurred when I tried to dash into a beauty supply store to pick up a few things and my card was declined – WHAT??!!!  I’m not even going to go into that issue – I run out of the store and to the car to get another card.  Did I mention there had been a line of people behind me in the store, oh they were thrilled. Back in the store, thrust my American Express at the girl who says, “oh we don’t take American Express”. Well, that’s that – I leave the stuff and as I run out the door, I hear the cashier calling out that she has a void!!!

 

Read Full Post »

What’s the Most NON-TRADITIONAL Dish on Your Thanksgiving Dinner Table?

Posted in BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , on November 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

Traditional Thanksgiving meal in New England

Image via Wikipedia

It’s time to get you guys more involved in what goes on here…I mean it’s hard sometimes for me to come up with the whole post, it’s holiday time, I have to plan, shop and cook, I have a job and that means I have to be at the office and also out showing apartments…and I’ve been babysitting Finley a lot lately because Mommy and Daddy are running around Manhattan checking out schools and getting checked out themselves.  Soooo now you see why I need to you to participate, contribute and literally help me out.

I’m going to start this off but I’m warning you I don’t think I’ve had too many NON-TRADITIONAL dishes at Thanksgiving over the years.  On the other hand since  I was born as a third generation American of Italian and German heritage, ethnicity did play a role in any holiday meal. Let me think….well when I was a little girl and we would go to my Grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving, what I remember was not eating any turkey. It’s not that there wasn’t a turkey, at least I think there was, but I don’t remember eating because by the time Grandma served it I was too full.  Why? Because Grandma always served Ravioli first!!! I don’t remember if there were Meatballs and Sausages too, but I wouldn’t be surprised!

Then when I used to spend Thanksgiving dinner with my first husband’s family, there were definitely some traditional to them – NON-TRADITIONAL dishes on that table.  There were a lot of things stuffed besides the turkey;  We had Stuffed Artichokes and Stuffed Mushrooms which were stuffed with basically the same bread stuffing that was in the bird!  Now I can see some of you trying to picture this because in your house the stuffing was probably made with cubes of crouton-like bread and how do you get a cube into an artichoke leaf?  Physics dictate you can’t and you can’t!  But my mother-in-law’s stuffing basically  consisted of grated Italian bread crumbs, grated Parmesan cheese and chicken broth.  She did add a small amount of sauteed onion and celery but not enough to alter the consistency of the dressing which was pretty much porridge-like – now you see how you could mush it into the artichokes and plop it on top of the mushrooms?

Then there were several years when I spent Thanksgiving with my Aunt Marian and my cousins in New Jersey.  Dinner was fairly traditional  in  that there were Mashed Potatoes, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Creamed Onions, Turnips…and Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage. My uncle was German and hence the cabbage.

Over the last several years I’ve kept a pretty traditional Thanksgiving table with tweaking the standards and adding other vegetable sides, keeping the desserts traditional-well traditional for my family anyway.  I’m saying that because as I’m typing I realize that I often make a Pumpkin Cheesecake as well as a Pumpkin Pie. That’s a tradition I kept from my mother-in-law and it is dee-lish-us!

And now it’s your turn.  Let’s hear what NON-TRADITIONAL dishes have become a tradition at your Thanksgiving Dinner table.  You can comment or feel free to email me at pbenjaytoo@gmail.com

Read Full Post »

Six Word Memoir Monday

Posted in BY THE WAY, Six Word Memoirs, tagged , on November 16, 2010| 3 Comments »

DSC04059 Six-Word Memoir banners

Image by godutchbaby via Flickr

Some weeks it’s great, some weeks it just sucks. NOT that I mean any disrespect to my loyal reader in Germany, Lora who DID write a Six Word Memoir this week – BUT she was the only one!!!! I’m shocked that there was only one contribution to our weekly challenge and I have only   http://liferealities.wordpress.com a/k/a Life in a Nutshell to thank!!!

Waiting to see what will happen – Life in a nutshell

On the sixth day, she pooped! – Me

I hope this NOT writing isn’t some perverse trick to get me to consult my book, Not Quite What I Was Planning, which is a compilation of Six Word Memoirs by authors,  famous and obscure.

1. Born in the desert, still thirsty

2.A sake mom, not a soccer mom!

3. She said she was negative, Damn!

4. No future, No Past, Not Lost

That’s it guys, I can’t write anymore, not sure why I am even still up and have to take care of Finny tomorrow morning.

Nite All!





Read Full Post »

Thursday’s Top Ten Quotes from Seinfeld

Posted in BY THE WAY, Thursday's Top Ten, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 12, 2010| 1 Comment »

The comedy show Seinfeld becomes popular.

Image via Wikipedia

So many of my friends (and me) think Seinfeld was one of the greatest shows EVER on TV.  Jerry and Larry David did genius work in developing the characters over the years and always maintaining a brilliant level of comedy.  The beauty of Seinfeld for me (now that I’m a New Yorker) is that the comedy is being made from the life I lead; the coffee shop, the dry cleaners, the Soup Nazi, rental cars, parking problems, going to Queens, oh it’s all so familiar!!  Yada yada, yada…

  1. “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking.  Number two is death.  Death is number two.  Does that sound right? This means to the average person who goes to a funeral, you’re better off being in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
  2. “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.”
  3. “Why do they call it a “building”? It looks like they’re finished. Why isn’t it a “built”?
  4. “My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty, and that’s the law.”
  5. “See, the thing of it is, there’s a lot of ugly people out there walking around but they don’t know they’re ugly because nobody actually tells them.”
  6. “To me, a lawyer is basically the person that knows the rules of the country. We’re all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem the lawyer is the only person who has read the inside of the top of the box.”
  7. “Men don’t care what’s on TV. They only care what else is on TV.”
  8. “I can’t go to a bad movie by myself. What, am I gonna make sarcastic remarks to strangers?”
  9. “It’s the financial equivalent of a complete rectal examination.”
  10. “Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?” “I like to get the Daily News.”

Read Full Post »

The New York City Marathon – 43,659 Runners!

Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , on November 10, 2010| 4 Comments »

Runners and their families and friends come from all over the world to run in this great marathon event.  Since we live along the route at Mile 18, over the years we have seen them all; world class lean running machines from Kenya, Spain, Russia, New Zealand and our own United States.  After the elite have zipped past us, surge after surge of hopeful runners race up First Avenue and they still have 8 agonizing miles to go.  Some are literally half-naked, some in colorful and bright running shorts, the women often in what looks like a bathing suit to me and of course the runners who are wearing tee shirts with their names and encouraging words on them and then we have the dress-up runners; Bunny rabbits, Super Heroes, clowns, funny hats. props of all sorts and as silly as they may look, I always remind myself that they’re still running 26 miles and I’m standing on the side lines drinking Starbucks.

Some years have been dangerously hot and others so cold I have no idea how they ran with not much on.  Also I’ve noticed there’s like a theme each year, not a real theme but a style or look  which consistently shows up.  One year it seemed like half the runner had bright yellow sneakers on, this year it was pull on sleeves – maybe because it was cool this year.

Elite Women Runners

NYC marathon

Encouraging Words

NYC Marathon

Warm Arms Bare Belly

Running Strong

 

Rippling Muscles

new york city marathon

I Know I Can Make It

new york city marathon

The Aftermath

 

All photos by Murray Head

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »