random photos

Columbus Circle

panorama of Columbus Circle

vertical panorama of Time Warner Center

Plenty of options here.

The station has been renovated-is still being renovated.

I hear the train

There's the train!

stand back from the yellow line!

Wait for walk signal. same intersection as photo below. wanna guess what % of people wait?

That red car has been illegally parked. And it is there often.

free standing homes mingle with apartment buildings

good NYC style pizza

Queens Center Mall

Ranger and I went on another adventure today (two in one week-wow!).
This morning at the late late hour of 830 am Ranger decided he wanted to go out. HOW does a 16 month old make that clear? He first draped his jacket over his head. Then he brought me one croc and one clog, and tried to put my sneakers on his feet. When that didn't work, he climbed into the stroller and pulled his jacket back over his head.
huh.
So, I decided we would check out the Queens Center Mall. I'd been told it was pretty nice and had a good play area. AND everyone said it was easy to get to. It didn't open for shopping til 10 but that suited my needs perfectly.
I packed up our back-pack diaper bag, unfolded the lightweight stroller, and made sure I had directions for both going and coming.

I was asked no less than three times if I needed help and was I sure as Ranger and I made our way down the stairs to the subway. Granted, since it was just going on 9, people didn't want to have to wait for a slow moving mom and her toddler.

When we hopped off at Woodhaven and Queens blvd, and climbed the first set of steps, we saw these wonderfully decorated columns. The phone camera couldn't quite capture it.























On the Google map, the subway exit looked like it popped up in the middle of busy cross section of several BIG TIME ROADS.  So imagine my relief when I came out and saw that with two short crossings, well marked and signaled, I would reach my goal.























The nice thing about going to the mall before the stores open is I can let Ranger walk to his heart's content, and not worry about chasing him through stores. Not that I would bother with the chasing part- he'd just stay in the stroller. We shared some Dunkin Doughnuts and checked out all three levels and the lower level and the food court. It is a nice mall. 


And look! a LEGO store!























All in all we had a lovely adventure and I was more than happy to book it out of there just as the stores were opening (I didn't need the temptations- they have nice stores in there!).

My biggest complaint- and there's nothing to be done about it, is the lack of stroller access in the subways. I *KNOW* better than to put a lot of weight on my right ankle, since the doctor said it was unstable and could malfunction easily. But Ranger isn't up to the stairs, not really. So even though I folded the stroller, I still ended up carrying him. 

Guess who was more worn out from the adventure.

I hate advertising part 2

I know sex sells and all.  But there's innuendo and there's WTH?

This ad is for a very fancy high end GYM. The title is called "Confidence."  It's not too bad, though I fail to see WHY they had to have half naked lady as the confidence image. They could have had an athlete or depicted a mom/ dad chasing after a child on one half and them working out on the other... But this?

 This one though, this one is the worst of all of this gym's ads (there are several -balance and flexibility aren't pictured here).
This one is called "Endurance."
Why do I have to see this while I'm walking down the sidewalks?
I could understand if it were in a print magazine and I bought it- then it would have been my decision to open the magazine.












Grumble.


Ok, just to get those out of your head, here's a nice shot looking up coming out of the Columbus Circle subway.

Photo heavy post- random pictures from NYC

It only looks like the pedestrians are in danger

Did I show y'all this one already? The woman is pregnant.

patriotic fire hydrant on a lovely street

um, push or pull- it can't be both....

no ball playing, no carriages, no peddling, no loitering no sitting in front of building allowed

One of our baby sitters is an actor in this show.

Jack hammer!

steps that light up! Lincoln Center's renovations are almost all done

I read a blog where the author goes by Spuds, so I had to take this shot

Along Riverside Dr

This made me chuckle- an electronic tape dispenser.

little pumpkin big city- wait- that's not a bird, it's a spot of dirt on the outside window pane!

one of the unique aspects of Harlem's architecture.

if you look closely, there is a head depicted as hanging from one of the claws- that head has horns.

The big cathedral in the neighborhood of Harlem I was exploring in.

I like the build community part

if you look at the green sign, you can see that Disney funded this playground in Harlem.