STL CDPB On The Road: Queens

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On Saturday, my nephew and I went to the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens, the part of New York City where I grew up. More about that soon. Later, we drove a short way to Long Island City, the district across the East River from the United Nations in Manhattan. I ran some of these pix by a CDPB colleague, who told me I should use this for today's post. But my favorite is the one below. No idea what was going on between those two but my title for the picture is "I'm Leaving."

WHAT'S ON FOR SUNDAY: my nephew and I are going back into the city and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan, cameras in hand. The rest is left to fate.

TOMORROW: Pssst, Mister. Wanna buy a bridge?

STL DPB On The Road - Back Home In NYC

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This is being written late Friday night: flight into La Guardia today arrived early (!); took the Major Degan Expressway up the Bronx side of the Harlem River to look at the new Yankee Stadium (a big traffic mistake); over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey; then back into Manhattan for a big family dinner at Dos Caminos at 50th Street and Third Avenue, the best Mexican restaurant I've eaten at in a long time. Some of us walked a short distance to Rockefeller Center to see the lights. That's 30 Rock itself in both of these pictures. Like the sign says, this is my New York.

WHAT SMALL INCIDENT HAPPENED ON THE WAY BACK TO THE CAR THAT I SHOULD WRITE A LITTLE STORY ABOUT: several of the group, particularly the teens and twenty-somethings, had to go real bad before the drive back to New Jersey. Since we were walking right by it, my sister suggested we go through the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. So here were ten of us, trying to look casual, exploring the refined halls of the Waldorf hunting for a place for the kids to pee. I think the embossed luxurious paper towels were worth more than the memory card in my camera. No one questioned our presence.

TOMORROW: more NYC.

Winter Whirl

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The St. Louis Zoo had the carousel running during the Wild Lights display last weekend (see post of December 23). It was cold and dark but the kids didn't care. I set the camera on a tripod as my fingers got more and more numb and this is what came out.

WHAT'S THIS AIRPLANE TICKET SAY? 12/26/2008 R CROWE STL - LGA 11:10 AM. That's New York City! Yippie!

TOMORROW: something in Manhattan, I hope, but the picture remains to be taken.

Thursday Arch Series (Christmas Edition)

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Merry Christmas From St. Louis

Here we are, near the end of another year. Santa advises us to "wine a bit - you'll feel better," a concept endorsed by some of our CDPB colleagues (you know who you are). I must have been a good boy all year, 'cause look what was under my tree! (Below. left.) Well, actually we don't have a tree - haven't had one since the kids moved out. That's not important to us. We have each other.

I am grateful that my wife and I and our two children are all together today; that we are all healthy; that we all have jobs; that the mortgage or rent is all up to date and that there's enough left over for a couple of bottles of that stuff Santa is pushing. We don't need no stinkin' tree.

WHAT HAPPENED ON OUR QUEST FOR AN OPEN RESTAURANT LAST NIGHT: our favorite Vietnamese restaurant was closed, too. There is a stretch of South Grand Avenue with a regular United Nations of ethnic restaurants. We ended up at Mangia Italiano, happy as can be. They were busy! Two of the five lawyers in my office are Jewish so I asked their advice earlier in the day. Get Chinese carry-out and go to a movie, they both told me. Now there's a Christmas tradition.

TOMORROW: winter whirl.

There is a new Arch photo today on GATEWAY.
It's kinda cheesy but you might like it.
Oh, and a story! Everybody loves a story.

For Your Consideration

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This post is not a comment about The Salvation Army. Just a combination of elements for your consideration on Christmas Eve.

WHAT'S MILDLY ANNOYING THE FAMILY: my wife, son and I were going to dine out tonight. However, St. Louis premier (well, only) Nepalese restaurant that we planned to visit just decided to close this evening. Hmmm, what about our favorite Vietnamese place? Oh, the challenges of the non-traditional middle class.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series (Christmas Edition) and a new Arch photo on Gateway.

Wild Lights

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The St. Louis Zoo, one of the best around, has a thing going on this holiday season called Wild Lights. Much of the area is covered with Christmas-style lighting displays on animal themes. These are just a couple of examples. I may post more after Thursday. By the way, if you were standing in front of the bottom display, the fish would appear to leap out of the water on the left and move in an arc until it plunged back in on the right. With a 3.5 second exposure, you see all the stages at once.

WHAT THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS FULL OF: ice, and quite suddenly. I can see it from my office window. It's gotten down to about 7 F. / -14 C. here lately and, of course, much colder upriver. I'd love to get over to the riverfront and shoot it. In my spare time, of course.

TOMORROW: a Christmas Eve thought.

Even Highway Patrolmen Get The Blues

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These officers from the Missouri Highway Patrol attended the official opening of the rebuilt section of Interstate 64 a week ago. Clearly, they lack enthusiasm for the ceremony. Was it disdain for the officials giving tedious speeches or had they worked the night shift before the 10:30 AM ceremony? Hope they feel better.

If I did what some of our CDPB friends do and inserted a song into this post, it would be Elvis singing Blue Christmas.

WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT: edited the photo for my combo Thursday Arch Series - Christmas Day post. Hope you like it.

TOMORROW: wild lights.



There is a new Arch photo
today on GATEWAY.