A city full of surprises

The other day I was shopping in our neighborhood and stopped in to see if the North Face store had a warm hat that would look good on me. The answer to that is a very firm "no," but as I was trying on hats, I looked over and noticed that the guy next to me was dressed like Elvis. Not just Elvis hair, but the Elvis white jumpsuit, white shoes, gold belt, and Elvis sunglasses. I desperately wanted to take a picture but couldn't find a way to do it without drawing attention to myself and Elvis.
Elvis may have left the building without being photographed, but take a look at the Santa's trying to get to work on the subway last Saturday. Santa and his helpers must be in demand this holiday season.

Post without photos----BORING!

I hope to add photos to this post at some point, but I will have to get them from Paige because she took all the photos while her family was visiting for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time with them. We were able to see the Macy's store Christmas windows, play in snow for the filming of Mr. Popper's Penguins, watch the balloons being inflated for the parade, eat at some fun restaurants and just enjoy being with Tyson, Avery and Payton and Paige and Brent. The weather was perfect and even too warm one day for coats!
Lat night Paul and I walked through our neighborhood where they were celebrating Winter's Eve. Bands were playing, restaurants had sampling tables out, jugglers were juggling, Christmas trees were glowing as we made our way from Columbus Circle, to Lincoln Center and home again. Christmas is in full swing in the city and it is a magical time to be here.

Fore!

Each time we have visitors, I try and show them all the familiar sights and then I try and add in at least one thing I have never done or seen. When my sister Ranonne and her husband came last weekend, the "something new" was hitting golf balls at the Golf Club on Pier 59. It is a multi-story structure with a net 200 yards out to keep the balls from going into the Hudson River. With my golfing abilities, no net needed. However, it was lots of fun and I did manage to hit a ball 150 yards if you count the distance it rolled.

Celebrating John Lennon's 70th Birthday

Paul and I decided to Come Together with hundreds of others in Strawberry Fields Forever to celebrate John's 70th birthday. You didn't even need a Ticket to Ride to play your guitar or violin or even to sing along. It was crowded and I did cry for Help a few times as we squeezed through all the people. With a little Instant Karma we were able to find a good place to stand. In My Life I have never thought that I Am the Walrus, but I do Imagine a world where we Give Peace a Chance and All You Need is Love.

Somewhere over the rainbow

This photo was taken out of our dining room window one evening after a rainstorm.
We were a little bit panicked at first thinking that the end of the rainbow (and its pot of gold) was sitting in Yankee Stadium, but we quickly determined that even Mother Nature wouldn't play such a nasty trick on us.

On the Avenue

Three weekends each summer the city closes Park Avenue to traffic from 72nd Street south to the Brooklyn Bridge. It is open to bikers, skaters, walker, and runners. Paul and I donned our cute bike helmets and hopped on our commuters (Paul prefers to call them "old people bikes) and rode the city streets. It really was lots of fun to cruise down Park Avenue around Grand Central Station, through Union Square, Soho, City Plaza, to the Brooklyn Bridge. Along the way, vendors were out hawking their fitness products and good food. One event that attracted lots of attention was the dumpster diving. The city had converted several huge dumpsters into swimming pools. We didn't get to take a dive, but we did get close enough for a photo.

Yankees spelled backwards

A true Red Sox fan knows that Yankees spelled backwards is "I-l-o-v-e-S-a-t-a-n," and even with that knowledge firmly implanted in our hearts, we decided we needed to see a game in the new Yankee Stadium. It is huge, gaudy, elaborate, and exactly what you would expect of the Yankees and with apologies to all our die hard Red Sox friends, we liked it.