Parked In The Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go- 

1. Thursday is National Walk To A Park Day. I know these celebratory days are mostly made up, but some are fun to think about. Do you live close enough to a park to walk to one on Thursday? Will you? The most famous park in the world is Central Park located in NYC. Have you ever been to Central Park? What did you think? If you haven't been is this a place you'd like to see? 

I'm about two miles from the nearest park but the road to get there isn't really conducive to walking. We do have walking trails in our neighborhood that run through the woods which feels parklike, but it's not a park. 

I've been to Central Park many times. 

We lived outside the city for six years before moving to SC, and we also lived in the suburbs back in the late 80's/early 90's.  I've spent many a day in Central Park. 

I love it. And you never know what you're going to see there. 

There are so many fun spaces in the park, and quite often we'd take our dog with us and just wander. I've written a number of posts on my blog mentioning and even featuring Central Park which you can find by searching Central Park on my sidebar. 

We had our super sweet Gordon Setter back then and Central Park was one of her favorite spots for squirrel chasing, bird stalking, and people watching.  We miss this girl. She was the life of the party everywhere we went.

2. Something you've done recently that turned out to be a 'walk in the park'? 

I'm struggling to come up with something here. Packed for a two week trip? I'm not a light packer so I made the executive decision to buy new luggage and bring a huge bag. Problem solved. 

3. Can you parallel park? Do you have to do this often where you live? 

I can parallel park and most of the time feel very comfortable doing so. You cannot drive in the UK without mastering this particular skill. I don't have to do it often here as I live in the country now, and I feel like parallel parking is more of a city thing. Every now and then in our little downtown area I end up parallel parking. 

4. The colors of fall...red, brown, russet, golden bronze, golden yellow, purplish red, light tan, crimson, orange red, and scarlet. Are these colors you like to wear? Is this your season in terms of color? What about your home? Would we see these tones in your home decorating? 

Have your ever had your colors done? Remember when that was a thing? People would have home parties and someone would come and do your colors. It was kind of fun to see all the fabric swatches against your skin and figure out which season fit you best. I'm an autumn. More or less. 

I love the colors of autumn, my favorites to decorate with for sure. I've always used the deep reds, golds, and russet tones in my home, and I think they also suit me in terms of my wardrobe. Don't tell anyone, but I'm a natural brunette. I have a lot of blonde highlights in my hair now because I feel like I need the lightness around my face, but I'm a blue-eyed brunette and I'm not fair skinned so autumn tones work. They're the colors of nature and they're my favorite. 

5. What part of history do you find most interesting? Elaborate. 

Wow. This is a toughie. I enjoy reading a lot of history, both actual historical events and also historical fiction. I read a lot of fiction set in WW1 and 2 which is probably my favorite. I love English history, castles and kings and that sort of thing, and I also enjoy reading about the American west and how it was settled and grew. I enjoy Biblical history as well. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My mother used to buy my girls beautiful Christmas dresses each year. This particular deep green velvet with the soft pink sash was one of my favorites. My girls loved it too. They both wore it around age 2, and it's one of the few I held on to through the years. 

The picture is a little blurry because I snapped it from another picture but the original is around here somewhere. Anyway, I pulled the dress out before my trip to the UK and took it to my daughter1. 

Her little miss is exactly the right age for it and she is all about a pretty dress.

Like mother, like daughter 💕

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 572

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Thursday is National Walk To A Park Day. I know these celebratory days are mostly made up, but some are fun to think about. Do you live close enough to a park to walk to one on Thursday? Will you? The most famous park in the world is Central Park located in NYC. Have you ever been to Central Park? What did you think? If you haven't been is this a place you'd like to see? 

2. Something you've done recently that turned out to be a 'walk in the park'? 

3. Can you parallel park? Do you have to do this often where you live? 

4. The colors of fall...red, brown, russet, golden bronze, golden yellow, purplish red, light tan, crimson, orange red, and scarlet. Are these colors you like to wear? Is this your season in terms of color? What about your home? Would we see these tones in your home decorating? 

5. What part of history do you find most interesting? Elaborate. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Forward March!

It's a little bit funny how much bloggers like talking about the weather, especially this blogger, but the weather impacts our mood, our plans, and oftentimes how we view the day that is in front of us.  So let's discuss the weather, and some other stuff too, but let's start with the weather, shall we?

Last week was crazy.  The all knowing weathermen (ha!) told us we could expect to wake up to snow on Thursday morning, but nada.  Nothing. Nil.  Friday was a whole 'nother story.  We got literally a foot of snow.  It came down all ding dong day.  Our road wasn't plowed, but I ventured out to get my hair cut anyway.  I don't need to explain, do I?  I thought not.

Anyway, foot of snow Friday.
50 degrees and not a cloud in the sky on Saturday.
I'll take it!

We wanted to be out walking in all that glorious sunshine, but going to one of our favorite local trails would have meant trudging through deep snow, so we headed into the city instead.  I live in a beautiful little corner of New Jersey, where there are woods and lakes and bear, and I love all of that because I'm part country mouse.  I'm also a very large part city mouse, and New York City on a sunny Saturday makes my heart leap.

We decided to take the pup with us, and walk around Central Park for a few hours. Central Park is my dog's happy place. Her favorite thing in the world is stalking birds and squirrels, and Central Park is full of both.

They had snow over there too but not as much, and while the ground was still pretty muddy the sidewalks were clear.

We were not the only ones who decided a day in the park would be nice.  People were out in droves, biking, running, skateboarding, walking their dogs, pushing strollers, and of course simultaneously talking on their phones.  Yes, while skateboarding and running.

They were also sharing picnics on a big giant rock-

Blowing bubbles of the ginormous variety-

Painting themselves silver in an effort to entertain and make some money-

Napping while waiting on a train, bus, plane, friend?

This lady lugged her harp to Central Park-

I didn't even bring my purse.
We had important stuff to do too though...

...like soak up the sunshine on a sunny park bench.

Technically hubs and I were soaking up the sunshine, and she kept her eye on a squirrel in the tree just behind us. This little guy drove her to distraction, taunting her mercilessly by darting in and out of that hole in the tree trunk-

She finally gave up.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

Whenever we're out with our pup we meet a lot of people, because she is the sweetest, most beautiful dog in the universe. Strangers always approach us and ask a) what breed is she?, and b) is she friendly because I see her teeth? 

Yes she is super friendly, she's just in need of some doggy orthodontia, which we would never because a) I can't imagine what braces on a dog would cost, and b) her smile is part of her charm.

A family stopped to chat and told us they'd owned a Gordon for fourteen years. They agreed this breed has a wonderful disposition, and were all feeling a little nostalgic for theirs after seeing ours. They were from California and their daughter was accepting a marriage proposal as we spoke.  She had no idea her family was in town, and they were on their way to the Boat House to surprise her.  

What a gorgeous day to propose marriage. I mean just look at that sky!  I feel certain I'd love an apartment overlooking Central Park.

That one up top looks nice.

Lunch was a hotdog from a vendor cart and then more miles of walking, after which we went home for naps on the couch.

Sunshine, the city, and a snooze...the trifecta of a perfect weekend.  

Nice recovery March.  

Saturday. In the Park. I think it was the 4th of July

Not really. It was the fourth of February but that Chicago song replayed in my head the whole time I was writing this post so I had to put it out there. And there are more than a few pictures in this post but I believe I told you I have a new camera.

Hubs and I have managed to drop kick the couch slouch habit we sometimes have on winter weekends and have spent many hours out of doors enjoying the very un-winter like weather of 2012. It's still on the cold side here but so far snow has passed us by. We'll all just pretend October's snow madness never happened.

Back to Saturday.

In the park.

Central Park.

I love this place. What a magnificent thing to have in the middle of an enormous city. We spent the day walking and talking and people watching.

Well some of us did. Some of us spent the day harnessing every ounce of hunting prowess she posseses to stalk squirrels. The lawns are fenced off in the winter months to allow for reseeding so I think the squirrels knew they were safe.

They taunted her mercilessly but still, she persevered. She worked so hard she needed a coffee break.

I think my backyard hawk may have followed me here.

No matter the season there's always something to catch your eye in Central Park. There's beauty all around...

and then there's this-

a man wearing spring loaded shoes?

There was also this-

I was super pleased with myself for capturing this girl in mid air. I'm not sure why she was in mid air high above several levels of concrete steps in Central Park but she landed without incident and more importantly, I figured out the sport setting on my camera.

We bought a hot dog from a vendor because pretty sure that's the law here and then we watched two grown men blow bubbles.

They were amazing.

They asked for money to 'keep doing what we're doing'.

Can you make a living blowing bubbles?

We threw some $$ in their hat. The sun shining high in a bright New York sky makes one feel magnanimous.

We strolled along the edge of the park near Columbus circle and as we were walking a young man came along beside us and commented on hubs hat. Hubs was wearing a baseball cap from our girl's university, a small school in South Carolina. The young man was with a group of three young women and another young man and in that small world kind of way that happens to us everywhere we go, they were all graduates of that same university. They're a few years older than our girls but have mutual friends via sorority connections. We talked about our shared love of shrimp and grits, Main Street in Collegetown, and weekend fun in the Big Apple. Stuff like that always makes me smile.

After a long leisurely day in the park we headed to the car and look...we got bargain priced parking today!

We paid the ransom and headed for home.

Six more weeks of this sort of winter?

I'll take it!

It's not stalking when it's for a photo challenge

I normally don't blog on the weekends but I'm participating in a photo challenge this month so thought I'd hop on and add a picture. Today's prompt is 'stranger'. At first I thought that might be a little creepy, taking pictures of random strangers, but since I spent the day in Central Park I have more than a few from which to choose. I'm going with this one-

A mime.

Stranger or strange, er.

Either way it works for me.

In the City

'It's survival in the city....' I wonder if The Eagles might have been in the middle of a New York snow storm when they wrote that song lyric? Hubs had a meeting in the city this week and he asked me to tag along. Everyone knows when I say 'city' I am referring to 'the city' as in New York City, right? Moving on.

Did you know it's been snowing a lot here on the East Coast? Well it has. And we just can't seem to get away from it. It snowed almost two feet in Central Park while I was there. Do you know how many sidewalks and streets and crosswalks there are in NYC? There are many. Do you know how many people need to make their way along these sidewalks and streets and crosswalks on a daily basis? More than many. Its amazing you can get around at all but New Yorkers are nothing if not plucky and they do not let a little snow keep them down. Or in.

Hubs meeting was midtown in the Chelsea section of the city so we stayed there, actually not too far from the Empire State Building and the Fashion Institute of America. Tuesday night we decided we'd like to have Italian food for dinner and fyi- you pretty much cannot go wrong with Italian food in NYC. I consulted an app on my Ipad which is a restaurant finder. You enter your location and the type of food you want to eat and the distance you're willing to travel and it gives you restaurant names and details. I entered Italian restaurants within one mile of the hotel. It gave me 365 choices. I love this city.

Wednesday hubs had to skedaddle off to his meeting so I was on my own for the day. It was snowing so first thing I did was stay in my comfy hotel bed and sip coffee and read. What good is it staying in a hotel if you do not make full use of the amenities? I finally pulled myself together and walked about a block to a nearby coffee shop for more coffee and a freshly made bagel. Bagels are also something it is hard to get wrong in NYC. The snow was falling steadily but it was beautiful and I managed to hail a cab and ride it all the way to 89th and 5th. I've never been to The Guggenheim and it was a good day to be indoors.

The museum building itself was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is uber cool. You might recognize it if you've seen The International or Men in Black. They were in the process of installing something new so I couldn't go all the way to the top but essentially its a big spiral with artwork along the ramps and in special annexes off the ramps.

I could stand in front of The Hermitage at Pontoise by Pisarro all day...makes me long for a trip to the French countryside. Well, the French countryside on a sunny spring day anyway. Sigh.

After I left the museum I decided to walk for a bit. It was snowing steadily but it was nice. I walked about 40 blocks along Fifth Avenue, which runs parallel to the Park at that end. And by park you know I mean the park as in Central Park, right? Anyway, Central Park in the snow is stunning.

There were people walking dogs, sledding, cross country skiing, and of course there were still the usual crazies out for a run.

This girl looked like she needed a calorie laden four course meal but instead she was out for a run with bare ankles in the middle of a snowstorm.

I walked on past the zoo...

and continued down Fifth, past the lovely Plaza Hotel...

I strolled thru Tiffanys and admired the windows at Bergdorfs all decked out for Chinese New Year...

...then took a break inside Trump Tower. The Donald is over the top in many ways but this building is really beautiful. If you go all the way thru the lobby you'll come to an enormous atrium and it feels like you're sitting outside except its January and its snowing and you're warm and dry.

I ordered a salad from a little cafe in the back of the atrium called Obika, aka The Mozzarella Bar. They import mozzarella and prosciutto from Italy on a weekly basis and yum!

Why do I need so many words to tell a story? Good question. I don't know the answer but I just know that I do so I think I will tell you about my delicious dinner at Bobby Flay's restaurant in part two. Oh, and the snow. More snow. Lots of snow. Mustn't forget the snow.

Can we talk too much about the weather?

No we cannot.

And here ya go...you're welcome!