GOING BACK TO JUNE 2012

I can see that back in 2012 I was still just roaming the streets of Midtown Manhattan looking for neighborhood sights that interested me, and writing little stories about them.

Actually, I kind of like these little stories very much and so I am sharing them again

Oh yes, I see I note I mention I did not post much in June because of illness-- that was a bout of pneumonia which came out of nowhere and was extremely serious....good thing the antibiotic pack worked so well. Really put me out of commission, though.

It was strange of course, to have pneumonia in the middle of the summer, but there you go....

Remote control car and other toys

Man plays with remote control car on Midtown sidewalk-- fascinated little boy ( at upper right of photo) had to be dragged away by mother, he was enraptured. I was pretty interested in watching the high speed maneuvers of the car on the sidewalk myself...this car moved FAST, believe me.

I remember when I was about 12 I had a friend who built a remote controlled airplane...went with him and his father to way out to a huge field in the countryside where fellow enthusiasts brought their planes and flew ( or crashed) them

Have heard from friend who was so interested in equipment and model planes etc. just once since high school...he later was in the Air Force and was a cargo plane flight instructor, and then later flew cargo planes for 20 years or more. He now lives in Oklahoma and his main passion in his later years is riding his motorcycle...he complains about the roads way out in rural Oklahoma getting too crowded!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Gothic in Gramercy Park Area- Park Avenue South

Park Avenue South has all kinds of architecture ( a totally renovated modern looking building too)--
love this old Protestant Welfare League HQ building...what a Gothic pile it is...and of course the curious clock sticking out from building on Park Avenue South. What can symbolism of clock ornamentation mean?

It's...Megantic!!

What a stately entrance to the Megantic ( reminds me of Titanic!!) apartments in lowest Southern part of what people now call Murray Hill...

Of course, you will note security camera has been added to original design...

This was obviously designed as a "better class" of tenement building back when it was built ( late 1800's. probably) --and after going through who knows how many transformations is today I believe all "luxury" condos ( luxurious certainly as far as the price is concerned...)

Of course, it could still be a rental building with a few older people clinging on to their rent stabilized apartments ( not being able to move to anyplace else in Manhattan now!)

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Ben and Jerry's, ketchup

Heard on the BBC that Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream was the best seller in Europe...I really should look for some additional verification of this, but let's just believe the BBC for once ( despite what my friend Claire from Belfast used to say about "never trust anything the BBC says,"...)

Also heard on same segment how ketchup is very big in one European country...bet you will never guess which one...well, BBC said it was Sweden. Why Swedes like ketchup makes no sense to me but then I was never that big a fan of Swedish food ( except for the meatballs and I eat a whole lot less meat these days, like a lot of people. Oh yeah, herring is O.K. too....)

Searching for Our Roots

A friend of mine sent me back pictures from Hawaii some time ago, some of them of the incredibly overgrown and tangled above ground roots of some of the trees.

Generally speaking, Manhattan trees just grow right out of the ground around them, but for some reason on East 30th  Street between Lexington and Park Avenue South there are a number of trees with complicated roots which have worked their way above the ground.

There is probably a very simple explanation for this...something blocking the roots underground, most likely...

Also on these blocks are a lot of very old, simple brownstone sort of houses which now are worth a fortune for the kinds of yuppies who invest in the area...30 years ago people did not want the houses much at all ( crime was worse then, especially at night) and of course they were available for a smidgen of what they cost now.

There is also a lack of certain "amenities" like close-by supermarkets and drugstores to these blocks...it is much worse in parts of the Upper East Side though ( HOW do some people up there get their groceries? Do they have lots of items shipped in from outlets like Whole Foods? You can just guess that most of the food flowing into these fancy uptown places is organic, free range ( if not vegan), and probably includes soy milk ( which I now have heard is not really so great for you....although I am sure at some point someone like that Dr. Oz from the Oprah show was pushing soy milk just like he is behind all sorts of other trendy diet developments.)

Anyway, I took some pix of similar roots a while back but the lighting was not very good and I said then I would come back again and get some better photos...

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Heat Wave-- Peekaboo Views

Longest Day of the Year was also the hottest day so far...up to 97 degrees and very humid.

I have not been posting much lately due to illness, hope to get back to this blog now.

Peek-a-boo views of diverse kinds of architecture are revealed everywhere in Midtown...meanwhile, an ad for GNC Stores near Midtown Tunnel obviously portrays California lifestyle... GNC is not my favorite store, they went on selling the poisonous Phen Phen until the government absolutely forced them to stop pushing it... think they are just another health craze place that puts profits first ( happens too often in this society).

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