Thanksgiving Weekend (11/26-11/28)

The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed break. I spent Thanksgiving day with my family, which currently, of course, means my Mother and Father. We had our dinner at the Richards, a very nice family my parents know from church, plus a couple other lovely folks. I admit I was a little reluctant about having Thanksgiving dinner with people who to me are just acquaintances, but it turned out really enjoyable because they are a very warm bunch of people. After dinner, we watched a bit of the hilarious movie Galaxy Quest. Mom, Dad, and I sadly had to leave that party early though and we reunited with some extended family of ours--a couple of second cousins whom I have not seen in probably a decade. It was so great to see them again and reconnect. We took a stroll in Riverside Park and then escaped the evening chill in our apartment to eat pie and chat. Talk. Discuss. Converse.

Okay, so the rest of the weekend was pretty fun too. The parentals dragged me out to Tarrytown again, but this time we stayed over Friday night at the Tarrytown House hotel thingy. It was a pretty snazzy joint. Friday we visited a couple historical sites of the Hudson River Valley: Van Cortlandt Manor and Washington Irving's Sunnyside cottage. I got some pictures as you'll see below, but they're really not very exciting. Ah, well. We also checked out all the beautiful but somewhat creepy graves at Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. On Saturday, we took a very brief tour of Philipsburg Manor before we had to return our rental car and return to New York City! Which is where I live. Which is awesome. Can you tell I feel like being brief? It's very late at night right now and I'm tired.

PS: I love Adam Lambert and his album For Your Entertainment, which came out November 23. I've been listening to it non-stop. Highly entertaining. You should buy it. You know, a little holiday treat for yourself. Allison Iraheta's album Just Like You also rocks. Grab that one too. That's my plug for the night.

New York Living: Day 10

The sun came out today for a very welcome visit! The weather was totally gorgeous--the perfect temperature, partly cloudy, a light breeze. Aaahhh, yes.

I started off the day going to church. I found a Unitarian Universalist church pretty close by on Central Park West and 76th: Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York (4thu.org). And what a change from the little portable building I'm used to back in Tucson. Check it out:

Of course, there are beautiful churches like this all over New York. The people here were very welcoming and friendly. It felt like a perfect spiritual home and the service was conducted very similarly to the ones back at UUCNWT (uucnwt.org). It will do just nicely for me! I was thinking about checking out the famous All Souls UU Church (allsoulsnyc.org) on the East Side of town also, but since Fourth U is so close, I think it'll be the one I attend most Sundays. Here's what you see when you walk in the front entrance:

A closer shot of the altar (or whatever you call it):

The building had a huge organ like most of these old churches, as you can see from the gold pipes, but the music director just used this ornate antique grand piano, which I thought was so pretty I had to take a photo:

The intricately carved pulpit (which they didn't use, by the way) on the upper left and the chalice on the right:

The service today was mainly just to recognize some of the people who have served the congregation faithfully, so there wasn't a traditional sermon, but I can already tell that the minister will be a joy to listen to. She has a warm spiritual presence. Here's another view of the church and the street:

Since Central Park was right across from the building, I was compelled to take a few shots of the lush greenery:

After church was over, I walked down 76th, a quiet street lined with beautiful trees and 5-story townhouse mansions with detailed facades. I noticed one with boarded-up windows and a sign that said "Mansion For Sale." I thought to myself, "Hmmm, maybe one day..."

I also decided to take a look at a nearby flea market on Columbus Avenue. I found a vendor with all sorts of fascinating old Asian trinkets, charms, Buddhist statues, and even some antique pornographic woodblock paintings (obviously pre-photography era). I got a kick out of that, not gonna lie.

I decided to walk all the way home since I found there was street fair going on along Broadway in the 70's and 80's. It was basically your typical New York street fair with all sorts of vendors and food stands, and it was so much fun (of course, it would have been even more fun if I had some friends to enjoy it with). My personal favorite vendors were the several with cute bonsai trees and lucky bamboo arrangements. Another one that caught my eye was a High School Musical ("On Tour") merchandise booth!

I ended up resisting temptation today and I didn't buy anything. I came home pretty exhausted and had a snack lunch, but then Mom and Dad came home and the three of us took a little walk to Riverside Park, which is basically just a block or two-ish behind our apartment building. Here's Mom and Dad walking through our neighborhood:

To get to Riverside Park from our place, you cross a little strip of greenery between two streets called "Joan of Arc Island" that has a statue of its namesake:

I was mad that after this point my camera battery died, so I don't have any photos of Riverside Park here, but the beauty is that I can go back any day and take some to show you later! I had never been to this park before and it was hella gorgeous, with flower gardens, tall trees, and all that great New York park stuff. There were lots of people out walking their dogs and playing with their kids. We also took a look around the neighborhood and gawked at some of the more ornate apartment buildings on Riverside Drive. But I reminded myself of how blessed we are just to be living here in the Upper West Side of freaking New York City, and I got over my envy (mostly).

Whew. I was exhausted by this time because I haven't done that much walking until today! So I took a nap back at home until Mom got me up for dinner. Since it was such a beautiful day, we took our spagetthi and dishes up to the terrace on the roof (which is open for all residents in our building to use) to eat and enjoy the spectacular view. We can see the Hudson River and New Jersey from up there!