Where were you?

I suspect each of has a story of where we were when the planes flew into the towers of the World Trade Center. Our friends who were in the city at the time have shared some of their experiences and the things that they have learned since that horrible day. We will always be mindful of those whose lives were lost and for those families who are now without beloved family members. Long time New Yorkers do mention that after 9/11, there were changes that occurred in the city and chief among them was that people became nicer to each other. While I have nothing to compare it to, I have to say that I have found many of the people in New York to be generous and helpful.
With this said, I just wanted to share a few photos from our visit to the 9/11 Memorial. It is a beautiful, sacred place. Our son-in-law had an app on his phone which allowed you to type in the name of a person who died on that day and it would pull up a photo of the person with a short bio. We typed in a couple of names and it was very emotional to read about a person whose life was cut so short in a needless, horrific event. I hope that even though many of us weren't in the city at this time, that we will each try to become just a little bit nicer.

It's Christmas Time in the City

No city does Christmas like New York. You just want to sing "Silver Bells" each time you step out on the street. Store windows are festive, colorful, and amazing. Every other block features a Christmas tree stand like the one pictured and the evergreen fragrance permeates the air. If you can read the sign, the Christmas tree stand in our neighborhood is the ORIGINAL Christmas tree stand. We caved in when we moved here and purchased a fake tree which has proven to be all right, but had we known that the original Christmas tree shop was right around the corner, we might still be enjoying the fragrance of a fresh evergreen Christmas tree.

Signs of Winter

I have blogged about how New York dresses up for winter by putting on winter doors. But there is a more beautiful sign that the season is approaching. Many of the sidewalk trees are surrounded by short decorative metal fences and during the holiday season they are either filled with pine boughs or my favorite, winter cabbages. My errands last week took me to the Upper East Side and this is what I found. We are enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather and bracing for winter. And while we can, we will enjoy the blending of the two seasons.

It's a jungle out there

I saw four new sculptures in my neighborhood today. Two elephants are at Columbus Circle, a bear is at 67th & Broadway, and I spotted Donald Trump's hair at Lincoln Center. No one will fault me for calling that piece of work on his head a sculpture. The wind was blowing about 15 mph and his hair didn't move. I think he must pay someone to "style" it for him and someone to tell him it looks good. I only caught the back of the Donald because I couldn't get my phone out of my backpack fast enough and the security guards wouldn't let anyone on the plaza while the Donald was filming his commercial. Or maybe I was stopped because I yelled out, "Hey Donald, nice rug!" Who knows?
At any rate the other sculptures are lots of fun. (see this website for more details http://www.themorrisongallery.com/woytuk_bio.htm)

Life does exist outside of NYC

This blog was to document my activities in NYC, but recently I had such a great experience that I wanted to share it. I will justify this by saying that everyone in the photo has been to NYC since we moved here. My sister and her husband recently returned from a two year humanitarian mission to Turkey for our church and to celebrate their return, all of my siblings and our spouses gathered together in Salt Lake City for a reunion. We went to two amazing shows, went to the temple together, ate some great food, and also were able to have a reunion with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins on my father's side of the family. I can't even express how delightful it was to spend time with family. I am grateful for family members who spend more time figuring out ways to love one another than to criticize; I am grateful for in-laws and a husband who just go with the flow; I am grateful that we will have eternity together because it is really hard saying "good-bye" at the end of such wonderful visits.

Deuce

We had so much fun a couple of years ago at the US Open, we decided to repeat our experience----only with better seats. Paul wrangled us such good seats I felt like I was Roger's doubles partner. A friend who was sitting with us leaned over and said, "It is taking every bit of self control I have not to yell out, 'Roger, I love you.'" You can understand where she was coming from even if you are married to the most handsome man in the world (and I am).
It was a great day and there is a good possibility we will return next year.

Earth, wind and ......

This past week we had an earthquake that lasted 10 seconds and a hurricane that didn't even last that long. We were prepared, however. The mayor did a great job getting everything buckled down in anticipation of Hurricane Irene's arrival early Sunday morning. Paul and I had our 72 hour kits ready, we had filled our bath-tubs with water in case we lost power and they couldn't pump water to our apartment, and we had two bags of M&M's. We went to bed Saturday night thinking that we would wake-up to trees and cars floating around the flooded city streets. Nothing happened. We had lots of rain and there was some wind, but nothing as strong as they had predicted. Battery Park City, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and places in NJ and CT certainly took the brunt of the hurricane. They had one reporter stationed near where we live and she had the audacity to report that the upper west side was in great shape. This after many of our friends and family had called and sent emails saying that they were praying for our safety and even suggesting that we were very brave to have stayed in the city when we could have fled. Please don't tell them that we hardly noticed the hurricane and actually we didn't even feel the earthquake either. Don't worry, Mother Nature, we still hold you in high regard.

The photos attached show me out on the pier just an hour after the worst of the storm had passed---see if you can tell if the wind is really blowing. The other photos are of the booksellers tables that sit on the street day and night. They were simply wrapped with tarps and rope and seemed untouched by the night's storm. These tables have been of interest to me for a long time. Each night, the booksellers just wrap the tables as shown and then the next day they show up and begin selling their books. From what I can tell no one bothers these tables during the night; this is a mystery to me and it also delights me.