Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged bagel shop, juggler, King Tut, M&M, Murray Head, Times Square on October 18, 2010| 8 Comments »
On almost any day in New York City you will find unusual sights and sounds but Sundays are special.
King Tut
photo by Murray Head
Plain or Poppy Seed?
photo by Murray Head
Times Square Street Juggler
photo by Murray Head
Times Square Tourists
photo by Murray Head
Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Greenwich Village, Halloween, Murray Head on October 15, 2010| 1 Comment »
FAB FOTO FRIDAY
Counting the days/weeks till Halloween? YES ! Hope you enjoy these photos from Greenwich Village Halloween Parades past.
Bless You My Child
photo by Murray Head
Out of the Cocoon and Into the Night
photo by Murray Head
I'll Just Have the Salad
photo by Murray Head
Prisoner of Love
photo by Murray Head
I'm So Blue Over You
photo by Murray Head
Posted in BY THE WAY, Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Halloween, Holidays, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Trick-or-treating on October 13, 2010| 8 Comments »
Image via Wikipedia
Oh the sweet memories of youth! I can remember the eternal and annual question of the month – October that is: What are you going to be for Halloween? Now depending on who was asking, you either told or said “I’m not telling, it’s a secret”. I miss going out for Halloween and I’m talking about going out with my friends, not taking my kids out. My husband always did that because I LOVED getting dressed up and scaring the bejesus out of the kids who came to the door. I carved the pumpkins, set up the spooky music and had a ball! And I got to eat Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups between Trick or Treaters.
Anyway, I thought you might enjoy some Halloween inspiration as we approach my favorite holiday.
Yeeks There Are Three of Them!
photo by Murray Head
KISS on Steroids
photo by Murray Head
GREEN with ENVY
photo by Murray Head
Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Manhattan, Michael Bloomberg, New York City, Times Square on October 1, 2010| 2 Comments »
FAB FOTO FRIDAY
If you don’t live in New York , maybe you’ve read about how our Mayor Bloomberg is cleaning up the City, we don’t smoke, we don’t eat transfats…he has pedestrian malls in two of Manhattan’s busiest squares; Times Square and Union Square and he would like to eliminate most of the cars. Take away the cars, the MTA keeps increasing their fares and what’s left?
Take a look at the Signs of the Time.
Taking a break at 1927
photo by Murray Head
Wheels in the Wheels
photo by Murray Head
RED High Tops
photo by Murray Head
Flower Power bermuda shorts
photo by Murray Head
Please Rent a Bike
photo by Murray Head
Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Judy Collins, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Tony Kushner, Woody Allen on September 30, 2010| 2 Comments »
Image via Wikipedia
New York City has been called many things; The Big Apple, The Capitol of the World and is described in the most eloquent of terms, AND I call it a Cultural Cafeteria – a phrase that came to me a couple of weeks ago after we saw two movies that hadn’t been released yet and went to a Judy Collins Concert held in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art all in one week. And that’s only an itsy-bitsy smidgen of what goes on every night in Manhattan. It is really mind-boggling!
Here’s a random sampling: The opera, Das Rheingold opened at The Metropolitan Opera. The play, Brief Encounters, a British-born production played at Studio 54, The Joyce Theater featured the Batsheva Dance Company, The New York City Ballet Company performed Barber Violin Concerto and Opus 19/The Dreamer.
Angels in America, first American revival of Tony Kushner‘s masterpiece is in previews at The Signature Theater, the Film Forum is showing The Bridge Over the River Kwai and it doesn’t end there. Well anyway, you get the picture!
First we saw You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, the latest Woody Allen film – it was good, I liked it and I haven’t cared for some of his more recent movies. I think it was good that he wasn’t in it and it was very different from his earlier movies which were all about Jewish angst and Manhattan.
Then the next night we saw Jack Goes Boating and this WAS shot in real-time, I swear. Very very slow. It had its poignant moments and I always like to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman although this character was particularly sloppy, fat and very unkempt. I wish he would lose some weight.
The next night it was Judy Collins in Concert – the venue was the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What a place! What a voice! What a body! Judy is a wonder, she is 71 years old!!! Her range of octaves is phenomenal, her figure slim and her voice beautiful. We were crying when she sang Both Sides Now– the nostalgia swept thru the mostly baby boomer-semi-hippie crowd. We all had memories associated with that lush love song. Her show was full of glorious praise for her now-hometown, New York City and peppered with quips, anecdotes and self-deprecating remarks-she was really funny. She ended her show (which ran over in time) with a heart-wrenching rendition of Bring in the Clowns which brought the 200+ audience to its feet clapping and clapping and clapping.
Special for me was the fact that I, an adopted New Yorker, was sitting in the Temple of Dendur attending an evening concert. So many nights as Peter and I drove through the Central Park transverse we would see crowds in the Temple and wonder what was going on there after hours and how come we never knew!
What a night! What a week! I LOVE NEW YORK!
Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged California, Harvest moon, moon, New York City on September 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Well according the article linked below the answer is NO. It seems we have selective memories and when weird things happen to us, we may note there is a full moon and decide surely the full moon is responsible for this lunacy.
Lunacy and the Full Moon: Scientific American.
Alright so the moon was NOT responsible for the past few days of madness – even so…coincidentally then this is what came down since that big fat Harvest moon began to rise on Thursday night:
THURSDAY: I had planned to leave for the shore in the early afternoon; it had been two weeks since we had been there and I missed my little cottage and was sure our feathered and bushy-tailed friends thought we had abandoned them :(. Trying to leave early was difficult since I was trying to set up appointments for Chiara and Tom to see apartments this weekend without me: She (Chiara) sprung this surprise house-hunting trip on me.
I checked my voice mail and had a message from broker stating she wanted to show my listing on Friday at 3pm. Of course, why not-FRIDAY at 3pm!!!! Why wouldn’t I want to leave the City on a FRIDAY during RUSH HOUR so I could show an apartment which might take all of 15 minutes. I questioned the broker; did she see the web photos and floor plan? Could they make it any earlier? She said she would see if they could make it at 2pm and I said “FINE” I’ll be there. Thursday night the phone rang at midnight!!! It was the co-broker calling, thinking she was calling my office to tell me her customers could make it at 2pm instead of 3pm. Good news even it was late.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Before I left for the weekend, I needed to iron some things. The phone rings and it is the co-broker and now her buyers can’t come till 2:15pm – Whatever!! Peter and I drove to the showing stopping in Midtown to pick up some paperwork which was supposed to be left for me – NOT THERE!! ! So onto the apartment to show and lo and behold we see that East 50th Street is in the frozen zone. No stopping allowed; police barricades on both sides of the street. I HAD to stop to get out of the car – don’t you know a cop threw his cruiser in reverse and came barreling back to reprimand us! Since I jumped out so quickly and Peter took off, he just gave us a dirty look.! if you don’t live in New York City then you probably don’t know what kind of self-imposed gridlock and lock-down the City goes into when the UN is having some sort of special session. Streets are blocked off, traffic is clogged up and the diplomats from around the world are eating out in the best restaurants and the President is throwing a special event of his own at the Museum of Natural History – SO effectively both the West and the East sides were a mess! Got to the apartment and NO MORE show sheets! Of course not. True to form the buyers were in and out in 15 minutes or less.
SATURDAY MORNING: Susan called from the car and said she was following the ambulance which was taking Joe, our host for that evening to Emergency Room. UH OH! Should I or should I not go to the vegetable stand and get the last of the ingredients and pick up Susan’s vegetables??
SATURDAY EVENING: Joe was finally released from the hospital and still wanted us all to come for the cook-out! So at 7pm with Joe sleeping soundly with the afterglow of his morphine drip, Michael stepped up and played the most gracious host and cooked a delicious meal. It had been a long day for everybody with a lot of stress, strain and phone calls, so about 10:30pm we headed home.
SATURDAY NIGHT LATER: I just got into my pajamas, took out my lens and the phone rang! Susan had gotten a phone call from Heide who apparently was in a lot of pain and had been throwing up for several hours – OMG! Jim called 911 for an ambulance (can you believe this was his second 911 call today!) and I said we would get dressed and meet them over at Heide’s. The ambulance was already there; Poor Heide, she looked very pale and was a little delirious from being de-hydrated. We grabbed her meds, her keys, her cell phone and insurance cards and took off behind the ambulance for the ER. I tried several times to reach her daughter in California and thankfully, at about 1:30am she called back. Heide was about to go for a stomach X-ray.
SUNDAY AM: We stayed with her till about 2am and by that time we knew she;d be there for the rest of the night/morning. I told her to call me in a few hours to pick her up if they let her go. We went home, crashed and the next thing I knew it was 9am. The phone hadn’t rung so I assumed Heide was still in JSUMC. Before I went to sleep I sent Trish an email telling her what had happened. Trish is the early bird in our group and she was at the hospital before 9am and passed on the latest news to all of us via email.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON: Susan and I went to Heide’s and got her important meds , took the trash out, turned off her computer and gathered some tees shirts and socks. We visited with her for a short time and promised to check in the next day.
OY what a weekend – so what part did that big old moon play?
–
Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Central Park, Murray Head, New York City, RED on September 24, 2010| 3 Comments »
FAB FOTO FRIDAY
I SEE RED – PART FOUR
If you’ve been following my blog OR receiving annoying daily emails from me about voting for my fav Fab Foto Friday Fotographer, Murray Head – then you know that I have a Friday series of Five Fotos which I think are FAB. Murray is usually the photographer (but not always) and recently he entered a Photo Contest for the Greenwich Village Parade. TODAY is the last day to vote at http://wildfireapp.com/website/302/contests/54092/voteable_entries/8138655 (don’t know if I made the link “live” or not but you can cut and paste to your browser). Anyway I have been running series of photos under the heading: ART IS WHERE YOU FIND IT and as a sub-category to that I have posted Friday Fotos known as I SEE RED or RED IS WHERE YOU FIND IT. The Friday Fotos are FAB or at least I think so and you can look in the archives by clicking on the Fab Foto Friday category on the home page. I hope you like these! All photos were taken in Central Park which is an endless source of rich subject matter.
Glorious Red Tree in Central Park
photo courtesy of Murray Head
Red Umbrella in Central Park
photo courtesy of Murray Head
Red is the Color of My True Love's Hair
photo courtesy of Murray Head
Red-Jacketed Street Performer in Central Park
photo by Murray Head
Making Up is Hard to Do
photo courtesy of Murray Head
Posted in Fab Fotos, Friends, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, Halloween, Holidays, Murray Head on September 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Like what is she talking about? Well if you have been following the blog then you know that MOST of my FAB FOTO FRIDAYS photographs are taken by Murray Head. Murray has photographed the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade many years and has entered a contest sponsored by the Parade organization. HE NEEDS YOUR VOTE!
All you have to do is click on the link below. No registration, No email address required, No Nothing – just click and vote. Please don’t use your other two votes – we doing BULLET VOTING the real American way. Thanks so much and for further inspiration here are a couple of his photos from previous parades!
Clown in Greenwich Village Halloween Parade
Feeling Blue Over You
http://wildfireapp.com/website/302/contests/54092/voteable_entries/8138655
Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged New Jersey, New York City, New York Times, Terrorism, Upper East Side on September 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »
There’s no question or denying that nine years later, we have NOT forgotten but the raw wounds have healed into white scars. I’m sure every blogger planned on writing a post about 9-11 and many started with the question; Where were you on 9-11? I know where I was; walking back from the primary polls with my husband in the Upper East Side when a car stopped to speak to our Assemblyman and shouted out, “Did you hear? A plane hit Grand Central”. We looked at each other and said, well that’s seems pretty crazy-how could a plane hit a building that is much lower than the ones surrounding it. When we reached the corner, I got on the bus to go to work and then I heard people talking on their cell phones-it wasn’t GCT, it was WTC!
From that point on, I’m sure my story is similar to thousands of New Yorkers who were on their way to work; what to do? how to get there? I was afraid to go into the subway. The buses were mobbed. Two other women (strangers) and I shared a taxi to midtown. My cell phone wouldn’t work. From my office I called Peter, the horror unfolding. We couldn’t get internet access to a TV station….I walked home from 55th Street along with thousands of scared, worried New Yorkers. The Avenues were thronged with people heading north, the smell of smoke was in the air, the fear was palpable. I had the presence of mind to get some cash out of an ATM machine before that too was impossible and I walked on. I stopped at pay phone to tell Peter I was on my way.
That afternoon, my friend Helen and I walked to Lenox Hill Hospital to give blood – they didn’t need any; because blood is ONLY needed for survivors!
That night, my friend Gail, and my cousin Christine stayed at our house, there were TV’s on in every room and like zombies we watched the towers fall over and over and over again, as if perhaps the next time they wouldn’t crumble.
The rest of September was spent in mourning, anxiety and fear. The only comfort I remember was the sound of the fighter jets as they zoomed around Manhattan for several days after 9-11. I thought, ‘we are an island, they are protecting us’. October was worse as the New York Times began to publish a brief bio for each of the thousands of victims. Each day there was a full-page of death; the Portraits of Grief – I remember crying on the bus on my way to work. I was so depressed, I thought maybe I needed to go to therapy.
I purchased some photos taken by amateur photographers that horrific day and those that followed as new revelations of the wreckage became known and were recorded for posterity. I framed the pictures, hung them in my office and gave one to each of the kids because we should never forget!
Nine years are a very long time and I have not forgotten. However, I am at peace with my memories and I keep one special victim in my heart and mind every day; Captain Timothy Stackpole, Division 11, father of 4 children, husband and hero. He died that day along with hundreds of other members of New York’s Bravest and New York’s Finest. With very few exceptions (two weddings), I have worn his name and rank on my wrist for nine years.
September 11th 2010: I ‘m working at a Flea Market in New Jersey, the bells toll, we are all silent for several moments while the memories of that sunny day in September flood back into our collective minds. We have not forgotten.
Posted in Finley Ray, Friends, New York Speaks, Only in New York on September 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »
So what REALLY happened on Tuesday, the day the Desperate Mothers of Manhattan set their collective jaws and bear down on the Nursery School system with the same intensity as giving birth is this:
Chiara strong arms a couple of her closest friends in Boston and those who she is sure love Finny and her enough to commit to this craziness. Who knows, maybe she bribed them or worse yet blackmailed them! At any rate, three good souls said “yes, I’ll help you, even though I think the whole thing is dumb”. Clearly you can tell they weren’t New Yorkers! Dumb? Why this is practically a rite of passage to become a denizen of the Capital of the World.
There was Jocelyn, a dear friend who happens to love Finley even more than she does Chiara! Jocelyn has babysat more times than I can count just for the joy of being with Finley and it was Jocelyn who formed the now world- famous and exclusive Finley Ray Fan Club. Jocelyn had to be at work on Tuesday morning and therefore she would have to go to her office extremely early so she could man the phone there before her own work began. Jo-Jo went willingly into battle.
Vanessa, affectionately known a V, had lived in New York for awhile and knew the frenetic pace and intensity with which things got done in Manhattan. So not-with-any-stars-in-her-eyes, V went off to her office at BC at the crack of dawn and prepared to attack upon command. Mmmmm, I wonder what her boss thought when she was at her desk so early in the morning AND the day after Labor Day!!!
Manno whose real name is Brandon was a reluctant recruit from the beginning. He’s known as Manno, a nickname that has lovingly stuck because Cash, Finley’s cousin could not say Brandon clearly the first time he met him and subsequently, Finley latched onto that easy to pronounce moniker. Now Brandon had strong feelings about the potential move which would not only take his fun-loving neighbors away but also put Finley, who is one of his greatest fans out of sight. AND on top of that, we have the elitist issue; the sheer audacity of this politically wracked, social-climbing, money talks and everyone else walks system which was distasteful to Manno from the get go. See Extreme Sports: Portable Cribs and New York Nursery Schools
The rest of us were family and really had no choice – we were all committed to the cause; Finley Ray MUST get into a good Nursery School!! Tom, the doting father was at ready by the phone at his desk at his very new job, prepared to call for as long as it took on company time because everyone in New York City knows this has to be done on this day; the Tuesday after Labor Day when a segment of the population goes crazy and resorts to pulling out all the stoppers to achieve success.
Chiara was in a command post in the City, housed in a corporate apartment and Finley, the object of this madness had been scooted off with a babysitter so there could be no distractions during the execution of the battle plan. Surprisingly cool and level-headed, Chiara issued directives through-out the morning and maintained control of her troops, redirecting when necessary. With the skills of an experienced battalion commander she led us all to victory in at least 8 of the 10 battles for the coveted application.
The morning started off jolly enough; we were part of a great adventure and in it together! So for the first thirty minutes or so, everyone happily dialed and re-dialed, assuming success was with the next ring. NOT SO! Pretty soon it began apparent that some equipment was better for this frontal attack than others; a land-line was an advantage, a fast internet connection a plus. How quickly what started out as fun rapidly turned into a repetitive task. And why didn’t the phone line at the 92nd St. Y ring? And what was going on with Garden House? Ring, ring, and then dead!! I’m pretty sure the circuits and lines across Manhattan were beginning to shrivel and die from overheating as masses of moms burned up the lines trying to reach their chosen schools.
An hour or so into this madness, some of the troops did have legitimate gripes. After all, it was no fun to be the one calling the school where the phone was constantly busy when others were achieving success and Chiara was issuing email exultations in their behalf. AND then of course there were work considerations; Brandon had a meeting, V had to do some work for BC, Jocelyn couldn’t keep blatantly calling from her desk. The breakdown in morale was contagious; Manno created new names for some of the schools, V wanted to switch assignments, Tom began suggesting even more schools (clearly undermining Chiara’s authority) and for a while it seems as if chaos had taken over our well-organized battle plan. Chiara calmed everyone down and by 11:30 the results were in. We had been successful for the most part and there was still Plan B to be put into effect. See
Find me on FB
Pbenjay's Blog 