Friday, April 12, 2013

Recent Pictures, a few comments

It's been a year since Gail had here hip replacement surgery in NYC so we went down for her to get a check-up.  She's healing wonderfully, everything progressing the way it should, she was encouraged by her surgeon to start running again a little bit.  We took some time to see the sites.  Here's a picture from the Empire State Building on a clear, crisp morning- Gail had never gone up before.  We passed on a coin collection, which got its start when my dad brought home wheat pennies from his store when I was a pre-teen, to Brian Collins whose step dad co-owned the store.  As always we visited Pale Male in Central Park, I even got to see him shred a pigeon.

Recent Pictures, a few comments


The Empire State Building is cool, but you can't hang out on the roof like you can when visiting our friend Glenn at his building.  Fellow Adirondack camper Roy was able to join us too.

Recent Pictures, a few comments



We escaped the crowds and hustle-and-bustle of Manhattan by going over to Brooklyn for most of a day.  The library was quite cool with a very ornate entrance a library deserves.

Recent Pictures, a few comments



The reason for heading out to Brooklyn was to visit the botanical gardens next to Prospect Park (free on Tuesdays).  We had seen an exhibit featuring trees of NY in Central Park and learned of a species called Caucasian Wingnut, and then happened upon the very one that was part in the exhibit.  We also were amazed by the bonsai trees, some over 100-years-old.  There was a line to get pictures of the flowers pictured on the bottom, but I haven't researched it yet to find out why it's so special.

Recent Pictures, a few comments

Glenn's new office comes with a driving range.  I could have spent the next two days here, but Gail had other ideas.

Recent Pictures, a few comments


The new garden beds.  This was all asphalt last summer.  I brought the soil in from beds that were on the neighbor's property.  They couldn't be fenced in there and this spot will actually get more sun; from the roots of the winter rye it's obvious things should grow well.

Recent Pictures, a few comments




Transforming the back forty.  Building a patio with rock, aesthetically nicer than the asphalt the table and chairs used to be on, if I get the rocks arranged nicely that is.  The first one was a challenge, 300+ lbs. and no one around to help get it into place.  The rest are seconds from Fingerlakes Stone, more commonly known as Llenroc.