what about the plastic animals?

Puff

There's a hole in the sky.

In the headlines:  Show Pride in Your State and visit the Eiffel Tower.

Shamrock Shake

This was the first time in many years that McDonald's made shamrock shakes widely available in the city.  On an impulse I walked into this Washington Heights McDonald's this afternoon and got one.  It has been so long since I've had a shamrock shake that I don't know if it tasted like they used to taste, but this one wasn't very good.  At least it was only 420 calories (not counting the whipped cream and cherry on top)!

Fire Trucks at Columbia-Presbyterian

After the doctor scolded me for "running" in the hallway (I was walking!), the nurse read me the riot act about the need to take it easy while she removed my stitches this morning.  Now I have a series of oh-so-stylish butterfly bandages glued to my nose.  Determined to follow doctor's orders I went to Jou-Jou, a nice little cafe on 168th street, for a cherry danish and cup of tea.   

It was so pleasant this morning that I took my second breakfast on the bench outside. Lots and lots of fire trucks soon filled 168th.  It wasn't clear to me if the building had been partially evacuated, but there were more than the usual amount of people, none patients, milling about on the sidewalk in front of the building.  I didn't notice any smoke or hear any alarms.  The firemen didn't appear to worked up about whatever was happening.  In short, it was a pretty boring scene.  I finished my danish, took a couple of pictures, and went home.

J. Hood Wright Park

This retaining wall collapse and subsequent landslide has received much less attention than the one further uptown.

3000 A.D.

3000 A.D.

The pole is a sculpture that is made of bolted plates of magnesium and aluminum.  Terry Fugate-Wilcox, the sculptor, estimates the plates will fuse together in 3000 A.D.  Hence the name.  If you're coming into town on the GWB you can see sculpture sitting between the four tall apartments to the right and the smaller Haven Ave. buildings on the left.

If you can see the sculpture from the bridge you can see the bridge from the sculpture.  If you walk to the east side of the park you can see this mini-GWB.

Omnipresence:  Starts and Fits has a very funny saga about a parked van.  Just wait until Aaron finds out that I'm also omnipotent!  I was called omnipresent once before.  It happened on a very fine day in May, 1993 right here, on Lehman Ave. just east of the railroad tracks.