Another Seamstress?

My mother made all of our clothes when I was young. I wasn't allowed to use the sewing machine until about 5th grade, so I designed clothes for my dolls using scraps and held them together with pins. A couple days ago, Jennifer decided to make Bitty Baby a dress. She used Kleenex and Scotch tape. Very resourceful. And a lot safer than pins. Maybe the designing thing is in her blood.

Good Morning America: A Red Blur

We saw "Pirates" yesterday. (Bryce's contribution was phenominal, BTW). Just before the movie started, GMA called. Wendy, one of our BYU interns recommended Jennifer for a segment Wednesday morning. I had no idea what for. Who cares? It was chance for grandma to see her on TV.
We got up at 5:05 am, got ready and rode the subway to the 44th and Broadway studio. We had to be there at 7 am. It was for a Chris Cuomo piece on SUV safety. 10 children demonstrated how, even with a back-up camera, kids can go undetected. Jennifer was the last one in the line-up and one of the youngest. Most of the 5-8 year-olds seemed about 10. At the end of the segment, they put the car in reverse. Three moms were to move the kids, I was one of the mom's. It was typical TV: Hurry up and wait. But it was fun. Three rehersals. We were on the sidewalk, just next to where the crowd congregates in front of the windows.
This is Jennifer talking to Morgan, the producer. On the way home on the subway, I noticed my zipper was down. Typical. Good thing I wore a long sweater and I wasn't on camera. Bryce taped it for us. I have no idea if she even got any camera time. But it was another You Nork experience!

Post Script: I added A Red Blur" because that is all you saw. And grandma saw the red and didn't realize it was her. Like Mike Waczowsk from Monster's Inc after his face gets covered my the logo, "That was ME!" It doesn't matter-- we have a blog! And I shook Chris Cuomo's hand.

Memorial Day in Connecticut

We began the day at Grand Central Station. We were settled in wonderful seats ready for the hour-long ride to Connecticut. The boys were buying snacks and then they announced, "The train has been changed from track 24 to track 21. Talk about mass confusion. I didn't realize how many folks were on the train and that folks use this opportunity to get better seats. Silly me. I think we were given the true-to-life typical train experience. We had to get creative with our "real seats" on the next train. We sat in two rows, one in back of the other, at least. Our old seats had faced each other. I used my hour like a real commuter and worked on the church newsletter on my laptop.
We loved our five years in Okemos, Michigan and Weston, Connecticut is much like it. We had such a relaxing, wonderful time. We spent the day with Quint's cousin Jill, her husband Jan and their children Emily, Reice and Sebastian. The kids got along great. It was so pleasant. Jennifer didn't want to leave. Emily treated her like a princess. They played dress-up and with Emily's American Girl dolls. We had lunch and then the kids played with these cool bubble guns I found in Manhattan (Broadway about 82nd). Quint and Sterling paddled their canoe up and down the river along their property. Jill made a wonderful lunch and we were able to visit for quite a while. Quint saw them maybe 10 years ago when he was in Boston for the All-Star game — it's been a long time! Were off to the Weston Field Club after lunch. Jan took Quint and I on a scenic route. We travelled through the forest and by the reservoir. It was awesome. The club has swimming a large pool, a kid's pool, a lake and playgrounds under the trees, in the kid's pool area and on the beach. They treated us to dinner and then we were off for the train after a quick stop over at the house.
We had such a great time in Connecticut. It was a refreshing recharge from Manhattan's noise, heat and smells. The train ride home was even more creative. We were spread out between two cars — but at least we had seats! We arrived at home about 10:30 after the train ride, the subway and then the walk.

Harlem First Ward and Central Park

Alfonso invited us to attend his ward at Stake Conference last week. They were short a deacon, so Sterling helped pass the sacrament. He was the only white boy in Priesthood (all the boys meet together), but in Sunday school, there is a white girl (there is also only one class for the youth). They are going to Riverside Park for mutual Wednesday, so he wants to go with them and keep attending that ward. The building is actually closer to us than the Lincoln Center building. We took a bus (first time!) east across 125th and then walked three block north. It's a new building, five stories high. It"s partially completed. Meaning that they use padded folding chairs unstead of pews and the 4th floor (where the Relief Society meets) is a large room that doesn't have the lower acoustical ceiling yet and there is no door. The other part of the floor is sealed off. It is a beautful builing with room to grow. currently, the two Harlem ward meet there. One is Spanish-speaking.
The cool thing they do is that after sacrament meeting they ask all the visitors to stand and and introduce themselves. Then the enitre congregation says, "Welcome" to you. One of the counselors in the bishopric was conducting and he looked familiar to Quint. After we were welcomed, he commented that he had Dr. Randle as a professor at BYU for the research class. We also met the friends Professor Cutrie stayed with while he was out here last week.
For dessert with Sisiter Randle, I made two types of homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I have now decided that I don't like the white chocolate chips — too sweet. I had two choices: white and semi-sweet chocolatechips with pecans OR semisweet chocolate without nuts. If I had made pecan and semi-sweet choc ships that would have been perfect. But the kids appreciated the no-nut option, as did Sterling. We met in Central Park to eat them. We got off the subway at 79th strreet (I think... ) and walked three blocks to the American Museum of Natural History. We entered the park on the north side of the museum. We found Diana Ross playground. Then ate our cookies on the other side of this big rock.
Next, we were off to Turtle Pond. It is located just south of the great lawn. Some fellows there were feeding them. I doubt hamburger bun is the best food., but they did say they also fed them hotdogs. Ah, a true city turtle. They were of the opinion that they didn't get enough food, but I doubt it. There is lots of vegitation in the pond. Although there isn't a central basking place — just several rocks on the south end of the pond. We'll have to go during the day and see how high the turtles are piled up in the sun. Red Ear Sliders are kid of the "rat" of turtles, they are overbread and commonly dumped when they are tired of as pets. Another man commented that there is really no place for the turtle to nest. However, he said, by naming Turtle Pond as such, it has been christened as the cast-off pet turtle dumping ground. I think the lack of a formal nesting place is a good thing and probably planned. They said there is a large snapper, a map, the native painted and a cooter. But they are all outnumberd by the red ear. This is a shot looking straight down from the observation deck. The largest turtles are the size of our female river cooter. Our pair are aobut 12 years old. The "babies" in the pictures appear to me to be at leat a couple years old. Of course captive turtles, when kept heated all year, can grow faster than naturally kept turtles
This fellow also feeds "George"a red-winged blackbird. He calls on a reed, or the top of the post, or from across teh pond and this man answers him. The man holds out his palm, filled with seed. George come and eats out of your hand. He said he will do it to anyone. A while back, a man claimed to have been attacked by a black bird. The bird landed on his outstretched hand and pecked until he drew blood. The man was inscensed and demanded the birds be detroyed. He was ignored.

The Bronx Zoo, an Old Friend and a New Friend

Roger and I attended Nobel Jr. High in Northridge, CA and Chatsworth High School. We endured Mr. Hyman Lubman for AP History, we had AP English together and of course, Play Production. We graduated in 1979. He, being much smarter than I, works with DNA and has lived in Connecticut for 2 years. He brought his six-year-old son, Justin, to the Bronx Zoo so we could meet again after 28 years. Jennifer and Justin hit it off and she couldn't quite understand why he wasn't coming to our house. When I asked her her favorite part of the day, she said it was making a new friend. Quint left the zoo early to meet Sterling's shuttle. He arrived about 6 pm. Then they took off for the skate park at Riverside Park at 108th. They got home a couple minutes before we got home from hour-long subway ride. Ah those holiday hours and changes. After dinner, we took Ster down to Times Square and Toys R Us. We got home at 11! Good thing this city never sleeps.

The City Quilter & Heckscher Playground

I decided we had waited long enough and Quint had something else to do... so Jennifer and I headed off to The City Quilter on Friday. I mistakenly thought I had seen it all (and owned it all) from the quilt stores in Utah. I was wrong. Jennifer had to walk to our next adventure and the shopping bag rode in the stroller. They have great stuff. Really cool felted dog kits and books, the neatest purse patterns and some fabric I coudn't live without. I resisted the felted dogs kits until I finish the other 100 or so UFOs in my studio. Check out their website. http://www.thecityquilter.com/
We met Q at Columbus Circle for a nutritious lunch of yet another hot dog in Central Park. A breeze was coming off the fountains, Jenifer was saying"cheese" and we had to test the new camera again. Chris Cutrie owns the same camera so he adjusted our default settings. When Sterling arrives, maybe we will post photos of another child. Though he will never sit on a wall, cock his head to the side and say "cheese."


The purpose of this trip to Central Park was to try out Heckscher Playground. Oh my gosh! We didn't know it's a WATER playground. Ah! the advantages of being young. Take off your top and get in the water. The playground has the cushy, non-slip floor of recycled tires — including the towers and elevated waterways kids can explore. Slides, tunnels and fountains, oh my! She would enter a tunnel from the towers on the left and pop up on the right side of the fountain. It was a nightmare to keep track of her, but she had a blast. She was soaked. And happy. And tired. We got home at 6:30 and she fell asleep while I was making dinner — and didn't wake up until morning. Now that was FUN. The shorts she wore have been soaking for three days. Wet metal slide, sand and water=dirty bum.

Fairway

There is neighborhood deli at Teiman and Claremont Streets (I think it's Columbia Deli) and then along 125th street, east of Broadway, toward Manhattanville is another grocery store. But Fairway is the big grocery store. It's been there about 6 years. Professor Cutrie came out to NYC on Thursday. He will be the advisor next year. So we took him to Fairway. This grocery store is also located in Harlem, but on the west side of Broadway, almost to the river, almost under the expressway and about 1/2 mile north of the I-House. (Quint says it's 1/4 mile, but when you are carting the groceries home, uphill, it feels like a MILE.) We found out they deliver for about $7. So DEAL! Here's a photo from the outside. Then Jennifer in the refrigerated ROOM. It is so cold, they have jackets for you to wear. The meat, dairy, fish, and perishables are in there. Dressed for a hot day, I wore sandals. I thought I would lose my toes! The delivery was wonderful. It took about an hour. I only had to cart the bags upstairs in the elevator. Three trips with the stroller. On the last visit to the grocery store I broke the plastic spokes on our $14.95 K-Mart grandma cart. I did find a hardware store in Harlem that sells the sturdy ones. $24.95 for a 4-wheeled one. I found the hardware store on the walk home from the Post Office. That evening we went to Dinosaur BBQ. It's actually across the street from Fairway.(Becasue you can never walk up and down that hill too many times ina day!) We got lucky. Only a 45 minutes wait... that turned into an hour and 15 minutes. Great food. Grocery shopping, the post office... then Dinosaur BBQ. That was enough walking for Thursday. On the way home from Fairway, at the corner before the hill is the Cotton Club. Outside the nightclub during the day is parked a car I think is funny.