September 16, 2017

Clouds.



George in the sun.



Margaret Hamilton: Almira Gulch/ The Wicked Witch of the West (WWW.) As I get ready to go see Wicked.

September 9, 2017

Sunflowers in the sun.



Washington Square Park.



Figured I have to take this picture now before they take it it down or put up a plaque outlining his misdeeds.



Different colored carrots.



P.E. and D.D. Seafood.

February 22, 2016

Happy Birthday George !



Watching the last season of The Good Wife,learned about NSA's Three-Hop policy on phone surveillance:

"According to declassified documents, the NSA operates under a rote legal procedure for querying domestic phone metadata. The agency begins by identifying a “seed” number, with reasonable and articulable suspicion of terrorist activity. Next, the NSA has discretion to follow up to three degrees of calling separation (“hops”.)The NSA is authorized to retrieve a complete set of phone records at each hop, and just one call in the past five years appears sufficient to make a hop."

February 22, 2015

Happy Birthday George.



I will watch the Oscars tonight. As usual. I have not seen any of the nominated pictures. People at work rave about American Sniper. I like Michael Keaton, so today I will buy and watch Birdman.



A new style of Tacos will be today's meal. Steak will be the meat.



Well, it was on sale and I do like trying to figure out exactly what he was trying to explain.

February 22, 2014

Happy Birthday George ! I still marvel at the history that wasn't taught : Washington's Owning over 300 slaves.



Flowers in the sun. Beautiful day. Went to P.E. and D.D. Seafood for squid and scallops. Will add shrimp for a red sauce seafood linguini.



Never saw this before. Tyson Chandler prevents ball from going through the cylinder with his own head after a dunk. Offensive interference and a metaphor for the Knicks season of doom.

March 19, 2011

Spring issue of Edible Queens is now out. Their web site highlights a great Queens BBQ place: Legends / Ranger BBQ.



Bright, sunny day at the Greenmarket. Pickings are still pretty slim.



Mutsu Apples.



Back of Washington statue.



Supermoon is here !

March 6, 2011

I am all alone on this dreary rainy Sunday. It won't be long and the house will be full again. So I cook for the week: Chicken Cutlets, Sausages, Meatballs and Pork Chops. Been taking lunch to work lately, better than eating out. I usually print out some reading material. The best of last week was an interview in the Paris Review of Jim Harrison.



Sometimes you have to go Old School: Samuel Smith Brewery.



This and The Oatmeal Stout are classics.



Finishing up Chernow's Washington: A Life. My admiration for our first President has increased ten-fold. Also, I always knew Madison was interesting but now I have to dig deeper.

February 21, 2011 - George Washington's BD

Yikes ! More snow.



Pretty scenery, though.



Well, it is George Washington's Birthday celebration, not President's Day. Here is the NYSE take on the matter:

Washington's Birthday was first declared a federal holiday by an 1879 act of Congress. The Monday Holiday Law, enacted in 1968, shifted the date of the commemoration of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February, but neither that law nor any subsequent law changed the name of the holiday from Washington's Birthday to President's Day.

Although the third Monday in February has become popularly known as President's Day, the NYSE's designation of Washington's Birthday as an Exchange holiday (Rule 51) follows the form of the federal holiday outlined above (section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code).



Time for Lasagna.



Cadillac Margaritas too. This brand El Caballo Estrella Tequila is 100% de Blue Agave and about $5 cheaper than Jose Cuervo. Tequila is Tequila. I also use Gran Gala Orange Liqueur instead of Grand Marnier because it is half the price. A mixed drink allows many variations.



The Ninth Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party at Madison Square Park will be June 11th and June 12th.



Today's NYT has a good interview of Walt Frazier. A book I have in my collection, Rockin' Steady has been re-issued.

Q.The revised book still has the segment about how you caught flies to get quick hands. Do you still do it?

A.They don’t come around me anymore. [Frazier laughed.] They heard about my reputation. They stay away from me now.



Robert Vaughn in The Magnificent Seven also had a thing about flies.

Lee: [Grabs at three flies - opens his hand] One. There was a time when I'd have gotten all three.

February 11, 2011

Tomorrow is Lincoln's Birthday, this picture captures the young man on the rise.

April 6, 1859: Letter to Henry L. Pierce
This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.



Still plowing through Chernow's Washington: A Life. I guess I had known it before but it was astonishing to see the number of Slaves (over 300) owned by Washington and his family. Chernow in an interview states:"I really felt that it was not a trivial fact of this man's life that he owned 300 human beings."



Egypt will put the Middle East on the right path , the alternative is unthinkable. Mubarak is no longer "Cling Tut." My recent readings involving Lawrence of Arabia schooled me in the development of the Modern Middle East by France and Great Britain with the Balfour Declaration. T.E. Lawrence preferred that the Arab states map their own destiny. The State of Israel also figures in the balance. The next couple of years will be interesting. The new era begins. Good luck world !



I'm a spy in the house of love
I know the dream, that you're dreamin' of
I know the word that you long to hear
I know your deepest, secret fear
I know your deepest, secret fear
I know your deepest, secret fear
I'm a spy, I can see
What you do
And I know



Time to kick back and take a little time off, like a four day weekend. Can't believe I was granted a Snow Day for dragging myself to work on January 27th. Will make use of it on Valentine's Day.



Rose sculptures on Park Avenue , a new public arts project by Will Ryman. Nice touch of color for the Winter.



Beer for the weekend is the Newcastle Brown Ale DraughtKeg. Smooth and tasty, not heavy at all.



With Egypt the biggest story in a decade, Time goes with Singularity as the cover. Computers will think like humans do by the end of the 2020s. Singularity — at which the progress of machines will supersede that of humans, put at 2045.

February 22, 2009

My youth was partially spent reading Classics Illustrated
Comic Books. Typee being one of them.



Omoo (90 down NYT Crossword 02/22/09) and Typee were downloaded from Project Gutenberg and reading them is my project for the week.



February 22, 1732 - Happy 277th George !



The Seventh Annual Snapple Big Apple Barbecue Block Party returns to Madison Square Park June 13-14, 2009, from Noon–6:00 PM.




Mary Wells opened for the Beatles in 1964. She is always on
my playlists.