Bob still rocking...

hwy diner

cool old diner along the way...

New Jersey turnpike....

...it's looks so much different in the movies...

central pk lake

terrific thing to do in NYC...hire a boat in central park and go for a row. Then wander into the Boathouse restaurant for a drink and meal...

after the concert...of which I will soon write something about, we headed here; 'Stone Wall Acres', getting in at midnight and crashing only to be woken up by silence, then birdsong, and that strange sensation that comes with an undisturbed sleep. It reminded me a lot of the Atherton tablelands and the peace therein...The B&B was an old farmers cottage from early 1800's, now restored...the stone wall it was argued may have been built by slaves...it stretched on through the countryside into and through forests, over hills and into valleys. Criss-crossing paddock and pasture for hundreds of kilometres across the state and beyond...it was impossible not to consider the human sacrifice beneath this enduring work of art.

bob and willee

okay, went to Bethal to the Woodstock site to see Bob Dylan and Willee Nelson play. did not disappoint. will post pics etc asap.

J-Lo @ Franklin St Station

J-Lo acting it up in a scene - set at Franklin St Station, Tribeca

Frisbe Central Park Action

and more...

park time action

J-Lo

Jennifer Lopez is in a movie which has blocked off about four blocks of our 'hood...
She's STILL Jenny from the Block.

central park....summer...frisbee action

Melted Cheese!!!!

They put it on everything!!!! From salads to stews to layering it on thick pressed between several hams on sandwiches Sooo large that one has to dislocate the upper and lower mandible and flip the head back just to take a bite!!!
When I order a bagel now I ask for less of everything. Less salad, less cold cut meats, or less salmon, fewer capers and a lot less creamed cheese!!!! Baffled, it takes a good half hour (this time spent with the attendant simply staring open mouthed into the middle distance), before he/she come to terms with someone wanting Less Food!!!

wise guys

I walked the other day from 34th Street and 7th Avenue down to the west village and then followed Hudson Street back down to Tribeca. Along the way a thunderstorm broke and I took shelter, along with several others, under a framework of scaffolding. Across the street on the corner of Hudson and Barrow was a small red brick bar. A simple sign in the window named the joint as the Barrow Street Bar. Through the rain I could see a man standing in the open doorway watching it cascade. I could make out only one or two people inside. The bar looked like the kind of place that this neighbourhood may have had many more examples of in times gone by and it was this and the persisting rain that drew me through the doors. Two men were talking in Italian and English as I entered and as I passed them for the bar my comment, 'rain's here to stay, thought I'd have a beer', seemed to go down well with them. There was no-one else in the bar but me, them and the barmaid, and over the course of the length of time it took to drink the beer I listened to these two guys and it was like watching an episode of the Soprano's. They had every tick, gesture and flick that we've come to know as being associated with the cliche, and yet they were the real deal. Eavesdropping surreptitiously I listened as they spoke about wise-guys and goomba's. If only I'd had a voice-recorder. They struck me as the real deal and the last of their type in a neighbourhood that has gone upscale. The best line I heard was one that they uttered almost in unison when talking about a colleague of theirs that they felt had been the undeserved recipient of a lucky break...."God gives biscuits to those with no teeth!"

Harlem & Jackson tribute

Rode all the way from downtown along West Street - along a bike path that follows the Hudson River, all the way up to 125th Street and into the streets of Harlem. It's a great ride and takes only about an hour and a half. Riding into Harlem was a buzz as there was a tribute to Michael Jackson taking place in the Apollo Theatre. The streets were blocked off and the queuing people rounded the block entirely more than once. Shops and cars and people with ghetto blasters (are they still called that) were playing MJ songs from his youth to his later years. Imitators spinning and moonwalking were mobbed by fans of the real and recently deceased King of Pop and paparazzi crowded around them as though all were witnessing the second coming of the man who may surely be an icon forever. Makeshift stalls were hastily clad together selling cheapskate keepsakes, such as shirts with the beatific beaming face of MJ smiling down or hot dvds of any and or all of His performances. Fried Chicken was on sale too: the gentleman who was touting the aforementioned food was heavily chastised by his rather formidable lady colleague who seemed to prefer him calling out 'Fried Chicken Breasts!' rather than his own preference of 'Big Juicy Breasts! Fried! (a slight pause, then sotto voce) chicken!' Riding home a thunderstorm broke through from about 100th Street down, rain pelting down and lightening cracking. But nothing mattered cos MJ and the folks in Harlem were dancing.

mean streets

Ambling along Broadway the other day I watched as a bus came to a halt, the door of the bus opened, the driver of the bus blasted the horn several times and yelled to a pedestrian on the footpath. I continued watching until the pedestrian that the driver was yelling to became aware that she was indeed the object of his attention. Then, once a sort of communication was made between them he directed her to look down between her feet to where she had dropped a bundle of notes from her purse.
Grateful she thanked the driver. He smiled, waved, then drove off, heading uptown.