New York, New York

Just to get everybody caught up on some of the happenings in the family. Recently, Randi and I made a trip to New York. The trip started out as a simple selfish attempt by me to go to a baseball game at Yankees Stadium one last time before it was razed to the ground. It turned into a four day weekend that included not only a Yankee game but also a ferry ride to Governor's Island, a day trip to Hyde Park, Vanderbilt Mansion, FDR's home, the Catskills, Spamalot, and a lot of walking around.

The Battery Park skyline from the ferry to Governor's Island. Randi and I were in NY during Christmas 2002, and it is still odd not to see those Twin Towers.

Waterfalls in NYC? Yes, it was a part of a new public art display, in which, they erected 5-6 of these waterfalls all around the south seaport. Give me waterfalls made of rock and earth any day.

On one of our outings to Grant's Tomb near Columbia, we walked by a church under renovation. These saints were getting a "face lift."

For some odd reason, this doorway struck me, and I had to get a picture of it. Some graffiti on the doorway of the "Roumanin-American Congregation of Talmud Torah." Of all the grand vistas in huge cities, it always seems to be the little slices of life that you remember the most.

Moss and spruce seeds sprouting roots on the wood shake roof shingle of a farm house in Hyde Park.

Home to one of this country's most influential families, the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park. It's not so grandiose when you use to take school field trips to the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, NC.

The Hudson River at we ascend into the narrow roadways along the Catskill Mountains.

Some huge, beautiful doors with intricate ironwork and stone work on a cathedral that we pass along the way.