you have to know someone

one of the reasons we went to New York in the fall was to wander around Central Park and see the trees in their Autumn colours…  we found watching the ‘ice skating’ to be humorous…  one man fancied himself quite the skater and was just ripping around at dangerous speeds and ‘snowing’ strangers that were convinced he was going to run them over… oh wait… that was the farmer…  he was doing that…   I’ve boycotted zoos and aquariums for quite some time now… I even made a complaint at a Cabella’s in Phoenix one time that their trout tank was not big enough… and why not put the trout back in a river?

but we figured this zoo didn’t really have any animals in it anyways so we might as well wonder through it…  our favourite part of Central Park Zoo was the volunteer ladies that were at each station and would give us little tidbits of information…

I did a little research into becoming a volunteer at the zoo… kind of a retirement dream of mine…  living near the Park and volunteering a few times a week… I found out that it is rather difficult to become a volunteer… it is a prestigious position that helps if you know someone… the perks are you get free admission to the zoo and the surrounding three zoos…  you get 25% off merchandise and tickets to a volunteer party held in September…  and you only have to work one day a week…

these little old ladies were the highlight of the zoo for me… not the Red Panda’s that did not move or this goat that was only interested in head butting a post… no the volunteer old ladies were the real draw…

as we wondered farther along we saw two dads pushing strollers through the park… it is my middle child Ethan’s dream someday to find a lady that will financially take care of him and he will raise the children and most importantly strap one to his chest and wander around with other dads who have babies strapped to themselves…

so this picture was for him.. so he’d keep the dream alive…

we had intentions of stopping at the Boathouse and taking a romantic row boat ride… instead we opted for watching… due to the fact that I am not co-ordinated… the farmer also would not let me rent a bike… he’s seen me ride a bike…

we have been to the MET museum and loved every moment of it… but we were starved and needed to eat… we had already had hot dogs off of food stands but needed something more…

we stepped into a place called Nectar of 82nd Street… mostly because of the name and our curiosity as to what nectar they were serving up…  it was yummy and the people watching was excellent…

last stop of our wanderings was Grand Central Terminal…  I dream of attending a party here someday… or spying on a party here…  just beautiful…

to tide us over until our next meal we stopped in Chobani on Prince Street and wow… how refreshing… gave me some ideas of how to jazz up yogurt breakfasts for the kids…  you can look over their menu and get many great ideas…

probably my favourite supper was at the restaurant attached to our hotel… David Burke Kitchen… they had pictures of farmers all around the dining area… just no grain farmer… we took offense…

  

the farmer was too hungry and spoiled my picture of his crab cake…

a leaf fell in the farmer’s drink…  yes… his drink… watching him trying to navigate holding a martini glass was fantastic entertainment…

he tried to switch drinks with me because mine looked more manly… I made him drink what he ordered… for some reason he didn’t look like James Bond with his leaf martini…

in my ignorance I ordered a giant cheesecake lollipop tree that the server said he’d bring a small portion out for me… apparently they serve larger trees than this…

just down the street at City Winery I had tickets for us to see Joshua Radin perform… it was lovely… we chatted with some Manhattan moms that had their kids in fencing…  and they call hockey ‘ice hockey’… like there is another form of hockey…  the farmer was not overly impressed with the sad love songs that kept coming from Joshua but enjoyed his evening…

one thing we did learn is that there are single, available and aggressive women in New York… looking for love…  screaming at poor Joshua Radin…  if you are looking for a single woman in her early 40’s… go to New York… there are a few…