Imagine

a world in Peace... Sometimes I think if we just keep imagining it, that is exactly what will happen. Thought you would like this photo.

Walking Along Sixth Avenue

Thursday I had the good fortune to walk along Sixth Avenue with my camera at the ready. It was pouring out, so the early morning rush hour was wet but I think relieved because at least it was cooler! I took cover at a cafe on Bleecker Street where I had my final cup of decaffeinated Joe, forever. I think it was a nice way to say goodbye...more on that another time. This was my view out the window at the cafe. I couldn't help but notice the beautiful Miss Empire as I walked. She kept ducking in and out of clouds. Isn't she lovely?

Then I came upon the old Limelight. This church was converted into a nightclub. I went there once. It was fun. That was a long time ago. It's closed now.

Here is another shot of it with taxis zooming by. I love the bright yellow.
These guys look like they are having fun. I wish more people would bike around the city -like in Copenhagen!

I had to take this photo. It was such a burst of color against a grey rainy day.

A walk along sixth avenue wouldn't be complete without a shot of the Jefferson Market Branch Library. I always liked that clock tower!
I hope you enjoyed the photos. Did any of them bring back any memories for you?

R.I.P. Randy Pausch

I posted here when I first heard about Pausch's last lecture. It was amazing. Randy Pausch passed away this morning at his home in Virginia.
Thank you Mr. Pausch for a life well done. You have had a positive effect on many lives.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, God bless you and may you rest in peace.

Pictures from Saturday nights barbecue

Thinking of Saturday and looking at some photos I thought, why not share a few? Here is the traditional pasta salad my dear friend makes for everyone. It's delicious. It has black olives and feta cheese in it, a tasty combination.

The kids set this tent up so they could play in it when it got dark.

I love the way these chairs set up a unique graphic design. Ginger steals the show in the corner there! She couldn't help but pant constantly. It was so hot and humid.
Finally, dark enough for my adorable niece to play shadow puppets.

wow, what a weekend!

Last night I finally finished watching Dan In Real Life. I had to see it, mainly because Steve Carell is in it and like most comedians I think he is a good actor. Anyway, I liked what he said at the end of the film. Talking about life and how most people make plans, he said, "...plan on being surprised..." So true I thought, because I have to tell you no one was more surprised than me this last weekend when I picked up the early Sunday edition of Newsday on Saturday and saw my other blog, Long Island Daily Photo featured in an article written by Darren Sands. When Darren first wrote me in May I wasn't really sure what to think. As a writer for Newsday, he told me he wanted to do a feature article about LIDP. Hard to believe, I thought, why me? I do love this blogging stuff. I can't get enough of what is happening in the blogosphere. There are just so many interesting people out there sharing their interesting experiences.
So let's just say when you consider how much time I spend (a lot) writing and taking pictures for my blogs, I felt pretty lucky standing in Waldbaums early Saturday morning finding the story written in Newsday's LI Life section about Long Island Daily Photo.

Yes, I knew the story was coming out, but I had no idea what it was going to be like. Never having been interviewed I wondered, did I talk too much? Would I be a good representative for the blogging community? -which I love, by the way. Opening up the paper in the supermarket, I immediately found the article. I could hardly believe what I saw. It was hard to hold back my tears of disbelief and joy. I may as well have left the building because upon my discovery I could barely focus on much else after seeing that yes, this was indeed true, Darren actually wrote the story and it is now published in Long Islands largest newspaper. So much for my anonymity!

I didn't want to read it until I got home so I could share it with my husband and son. After all, these two people are a great inspiration to me-one can't help but be creative when you live with such great creative minds. So husband and son loved the article Darren wrote and they loved the photos he included. So thank you husband and son for always being there for me. Thanks Darren for writing your beautiful story. Thank you Mom and Dad and my dear family and friends for visiting my blog, encouraging me. Thanks Blogger for hosting my blogs. Thank you my fellow bloggers for all of your inspiration, especially Eric Tenin who inspired LIDP and Petrea Burchard who first welcomed me at Paris daily Photo. and lastly but definitely not leastly thank you Quasi-Mom for telling me I should start a blog way back when.
I know, I know, all of these thanks may sound a little too much like an acceptance speech at the Oscar's but now is the time for me to be grateful and thankful- and that I am. Oh yeah, thank you Jesus...
Here you see one of my favorite animal lovers holding the baby of the family who just turned three yesterday. Happy Birthday Priscilla!

Sunny SkyWatch Friday

Could it really be a week since my last and first Sky Watch Friday? The really big surprise was SkyWatch now has their own site. So if you would like to participate, go here and check them out. They are a really cool group of people who love watching the sky. & don't worry, it's not too late. Officially it starts Thursday evening, with so many beautiful skies to see from all over the world, people check out other peoples posts all week long.
It has been nothing but heat and sun here for the last week, so I tried to photograph the sun, without looking through the lens of course...

What are sea veggies anyway?

My first thought that came to mind was, why seaweed of course! Truth be told I know there is so much more out there about sea veggies that I have no knowledge of. So I did a quick search and came up with some interesting info from Dr. Weil. Go here if you would like to know more about sea veggies. I hope you find this article to be as informative as I have.
The information I found most exciting is the recipe Dr. Weill posted called a DLT sandwich, the vegan alternative to the BLT. The idea is to replace the bacon with dulse that is quickly sauteed in olive oil. I've been a vegetarian for at least 17 years & I do miss my BLT's, though not how I felt after I ate them! So I will definitely be willing to try this.
Besides according to the good DR, seaweed is packed with vitamins A, C, E, B complex and B12, calcium, potassium and iron. Sounds like a no brainer to me.

Have any of you tried sea veggies before? What have your experiences been like?

Speaking of the sea and all of its veggies. Here is a photo of the road I travel on when I go to the beach. Notice how different the terrain is around the ocean. Pretty cool huh?

"If I don't drink milk, where will I get my calcium?"

Dr Christiane Northrup asks this question in her book Women's Bodies, Woman's wisdom. What a great book, so thorough and informative. I am currently reading the chapter Nourishing Ourselves with Food. Her answer to the question is dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, collard greens and broccoli. She goes on to state that most of the worlds population gets its calcium from greens. On pages 732 and 733 the DR has two pie charts. One chart shows the conventional American approach to calcium intake where 3/4 of calcium is consumed through dairy products & the other chart shows only 1/8 being consumed through dairy products. The interesting part of this second chart is the other calcium sources. A little more than half of calcium come from the dark green leafy vegetables, about 1/4 from fish, legumes and sea veggies and another 1/4 from nuts, dairy, and "other". The other is listed as mineral waters, molasses and calcium fortified orange juice and herb infusions.
This kind of information always inspires me to eat a wider variety of foods. The foods listed here also happen to be foods rich in vitamins, mineral and antioxidants. It seems like a good model to use to improve overall health. One thing I have never really gotten into is sea vegetables. I always hear such good things about the health benefits and after reading this I think it may be time to check them out. I'll keep you posted.

I missed my weight watchers meeting this morning!

Yikes! I can't stand the thought of missing it. I'm writing down what I eat today and I am definitely walking for an hour- at the least.
I've been exercising a lot this week and my hip has been bothering me. I need to commit to more stretches because I don't want to give up running. I am too addicted to the runners high to give that up.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."~ Eleanor Roosevelt

friday sky watch

This is a cool idea started over at wiggers world. Every Friday people with all types of interesting blogs post a photo they like of the sky then enter their site's url over at wiggers world where other skywatchers can check them out.
I took this photo while on a cruise for a friends graduation party. We were just approaching the Whitestone Bridge .

This is for Lisa...

and everyone else who enjoys a good story. Please go to my last post and check out the comments where you will find a woman named Lydia. Click on her name and read what she wrote about in her profile. I found it to be one of the most compelling profiles I have read since I have started blogging.
Then please come back here and tell me what you think.

For those of you concerned about Priscilla...

she survived another fourth of July! It was tough on her. I could tell by the way she wedged herself between my leg and the side of the couch. It was almost as if she was trying to stop herself from her involuntary shaking and vibrating.

Other updates for the day include my weight loss from my last two Saturday morning Weight Watcher weigh- ins. I'm down .2 one week and 1.6 this week. However small these amounts may sound, these two losses joined together have brought my total weight loss to 11.4 pounds.

I am now officially at the total weight loss of 23 pounds when I started Weight Watchers 4 years ago. The first time I was in WW I was a member less than a year and after about 3-4 months I developed a bad attitude so guess what happened? I wound up quitting only to find myself back there last November.

Happily at least I didn't gain all of my weight back. Though it has been a slow process, I have found the most important thing is just not quitting. If I do that I am simply quitting on myself. I don't ever want to do that again. It has always been hard for me to focus on my appearance. So much so that it sometimes feels uncomfortable when I do. But I am getting more used to it now mainly because it feels good to be healthy and that is a direct side effect from losing weight.

Now I feel I am at a turning point in my weight loss. I'd like to lose eight more pounds by the end of the summer and see how I feel. I'm leery about ever finishing because at this stage of the game I believe it's a lifetime program for me. I would like to achieve lifetime status at WW & see what that feels like.

Seen here at the Rose Center this photo is for the important teenagers and "tween" in my life who are patiently waiting for me to download my flickr photos from our weekend together.

Freedom

Happy fourth of July my dear friends! Today looks like rain in these parts. It's a grey day with a humid heavy feeling. I'm not looking forward to my Yorkie Priscilla quaking with fear when the fireworks start. Apparently we have many patriotic fellows around here who so enjoy the meaning of the holiday they feel compelled to reenact the origins of our liberation by setting off what basically sound like explosions. I guess it's kind of fun...

photo courtesy of Ian
I plan on doing whatever makes me happy today. Hopefully this will sustain me when I face the evening with a shivering, vibrating, fearing for the end of the world as we know it Priscilla.
On another note, if you enjoy reading about music and like looking at captivating photography, go visit two fabulous blogs that I have just added to my interesting places on my sidebar here. Both blogs are similar in their unique perspective and for that reason I find them interesting places to visit. Lines of Oration is a blog mostly all about music and the concise original opinion of the blogs author Double Hawk. The Butterfly Effect is a lovely photo blog written by Arnold Layne whose black and white photos all seem to be linked by a thread of mystery and intrigue.
I feel lucky to have found these new places at their inception and I look forward to watching both blogs as they develop.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln

God only knows what else he is capable of.

There he goes my son, heading to the golf cart ready to take it for another spin. I had no idea he could drive. He went out for the first time with his Dad and a close family friend who insisted that Ian drive them out to the course. There was a whole line up of carts ready to leave and there was my son in the drivers seat. The cart seemed simple enough to operate. So as they drove away there sat my son looking confident when barely a second passed he turned to the right and drove directly into the line up of cars next to his! I tried not to look. The negative possibilities were endless, but since Ian was driving I felt like that in order for me to be a good parent this was one of those situations where it was essential that I be there whether I like it or not.
All the manly golfers behind them had to stop their carts and wait until Ian backed up his cart and straighten it out so there was, how shall I say, some beers before noon direction being given by the golfing men. In other words, lots of shouting and cursing by the men waiting to golf. Ian was climbing out of the cart trying to escape, but our family friend Tommy wouldn't have any of it. With a look of glee in his eyes Tommy insisted my son sit down and take his time backing up the cart (thereby etching a place in my heart forever) as Ian proceeded to floor it in reverse & crash into golfers behind him. By this time the manly golfers saw what was going on and perhaps sympathized a little as they recollected their own early driving days. The tension subsided as they more patiently began to laugh a little. Seconds later my son drove off acting perfectly capable and I imagine somewhat thrilled as if nothing had happened.
Let's face it though, a nearly fourteen year old can only watch four men golf for so long. Why drive them around having to stop and wait when he could drive his mother around the golf course uninterrupted?
Yeah, that was exciting and unexpected (for me). Let's just say I sprouted a few grey hairs that day, two when I had to grab the wheel and two more as I shouted, "Brake, brake!
At some point while driving his Dad and friends around Ian realized, yes, I can do this and I do it rather well. Ian came back from that experience somehow changed. Sitting beside him watching as he navigated the narrowly paved course the word fearless kept entering my mind. Ian is acting fearless I thought, and this scares me.
What concerns me though is how my son is now totally convinced he can drive. If I gave him the car keys so he could go run an errand for me, I believe he wouldn't think twice about obliging. I guess it's good, this teen spirit. If kids didn't feel compelled to move forward, life wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Thanks Uncle Paul for lovingly watching over your nephew Ian.