Beauty

So, New York is good for one thing - photography! With a good angle you can capture some great pics!

Greece

We went to my mom's, best friend's, restuarant today. I can say that there are aspects of New York that don't totally irritate me. As we sat at the front with the big windows open and the nice breezed blowing in, we at watermelon, grapes and cheese with bread - I totally wanted to go to Greece! Nothing ever inspires me to go to Greece, but today did. That's just one of the great memories I have of Greece (and I went 23 years ago), sitting on patio eating watermelon, cheese and bread. Hmmm, maybe Greece is in my future? Not sure yet. I need to get Grand Rapids, MI and Jamestown, RI out of the way first and then we'll see - not sure if I can convince Scott to go, but I hope so.

When I first met my step dad, some twenty years ago, he used to always ask me, "Why do you walk so slow, everyone in Houston does?" and my reply has always been, "It will be there when I get there". I was sitting in the car yesterday waiting for my mom to run an errand and I was people watching. EVERYONE is in a hurry here. I mean everyone! Even little old people who look like there are going to fly with the wind don't like people to pass them on the sidewalk. I don't understand, what's the rush? Although it explains why there are absolutely no overweight people here. I think it also explains why there is a Starbucks every fifty steps and why just about everyone smokes here (cigarettes are $8 a pack here). It's like they need fuel to keep up the crazy pace around here. I mean is the building going to vanish if they don't get there in time? New York truly defines a rat race.




What's the rush? It's like all New York breeds this certain type of mentality. To be in the front, to be on the top, to have the most, to get the most, to have the best, to be the best - why can't these people relax and smell the flowers? It's very rare here that you can even smell flowers, why not enjoy them?



Everything just reeks capitalism! There's nothing wrong with it, but if you eat, sleep and breath it - then nothing else will matter eventually.

Scott & Leni in the sitting area across from the WTC site.



















Ground Zero was under contruction:













Central park










Zachary's first subway ride.

Just different

So, as much I absolutely LOVE New York - I would definetely HATE to live here. When I was single and ready to go it was a totally different story. Now I have Zachary, which means ready to go in about 15 minutes. Not to mention having to carry him and his stroller up and down the subway stairs (and there are many). To go anywhere is an ordeal - even without him most of the times. You can't just jump in your car, go to your destination, park, shop and leave. OH NO - you have to decide which destination is most important to you, decide which route is most cost efficient and the path of least resistance (hardly ever is it both), figure out what time of the day would be best, and then take 3 hours to do a simple 15 minute Houston errand. Bluh!

One example: When Scott was in town we wanted to go to Whole Foods and have a picnic at Central Park. Sounds simple? Ha! I looked up Whole Foods locations and it said it was in Columbus Circle - oh my gosh! anyone who's ever been to NY knows where that is - well, it seems that NY likes to induce it's rat race by hiding everything INSIDE - you see, nothing is visible from the street, the facades are like Mardi Gras masks and you have to guess what's inside. So after a little searching and wasted efforts we finally asked someone and they told us in was in that building and pointed to a midrise size office building - who'd a thunk? Then we have to find the elevator to get the stroller down. THEN, after we decided what to eat we realized there are line markers - you know the ones that say "If you are here there about 50 people in front of you and it will take approximately 4 minutes" - that's sign wasn't so bad except I think we were at the 150 people marker. After we shopped we mosied on over to CP (for those of you have never been the park is something like 240 acres) so we asked someone what a good place to chill and eat was - he snickered and actually came up with something cute - when we realized it would take us 20 minutes to walk there, we plopped down at the first sight of picnicers.

Travel: 1 hour
Prep time: 2 hour
Lunch: 20 minutes

Getting home: Priceless

Jammies

SCORE!!!! - We went to Old Navy tonight and I bought Zachary 6 pairs of Jammies for $24 - Can you say SCORE? But I will say shopping in NY sux!!! I went to Old Navy and Marshall's and they are like a ZOO - I have been twice and both times the same thing. I couldn't find anything - I was on my hands and knees for the PJs.

Good night!
Len

The Benches

So today, Zachary and I, went for a little stroll through Astoria (Greek town) and I noticed something. First of all, each little, teeny tiny house has these teeny tiny yards that are like 8 x 8 feet. Each yard has totally it's own personality - some have grass for a make shift yard, some have plants, plants, plants, some have statues of frogs, people and even Jesus - but then something occurred to me. Some of the yards have cute little benches to make it feel nice and homey and as you look at the cute bench and think, awe how cute is that? you notice - THE CHAIN, HOLDING THE BENCH PRISONER WITHIN THE TEENY TINY 3 FOOT WROUGHT IRON FENCE- I mean do they really steal benches here! This is crazy!!!! Not to mention that as I walked by some of the yards, with my 2 year old in tow mind you, some of the people working out in their yards were eyeballing me as if I might do something to damage or steal something from these munchkin yards. Oye Vey! is all I could think.