Monday, December 31, 2007

Watches and Sixth Avenue

Our goal today was to get to the Tourneau Time Machine on 57th Street. Why? To immerse Little Squid in his passion. They have a small "museum" and the lots and lots of watches for sale. While Little Squid was ogling at the huge variety of watches, I was actually shopping for a watch. I really wanted a nice one for my 40th birthday but am really picky when it comes to watches so my folks gave me money for it. The money is still in the bank and an inexpensive Timex is on my wrist. I saw a few that had possibilities but have to think on it a bit more.



I was not able to really capture the wonderful expression on Little Squid's face. He thought it was "extremely awesome!"
We then walked home via 6th Avenue, stopping for lunch at Jewel of India. Yum!







We also stopped for a spot of Geocaching near the public library and saw a double decker bus full of Santas dressed in blue.And now for a quiet evening at home.

From the Squid Family to you and your family, A Very Happy and Healthy New Year!!!

Girls' Day Out

Oops! Accidentally put this up on Sunday Socks instead of my own blog. And I wondered why there were no comments! D'oh!

Mom and Lil' Sis came into town today to see a matinée and had three free tickets for Madame Tussaud's so I joined them. Below are just a few of the photos. For more wax fun, click here.






Saturday, December 29, 2007

Chugging Away

Look! Some finished objects!

Daddy's Socks (modeled on Papa Squid's feet). Yes, I am 41 years old and still call my father Daddy. Want to make something of it?
And Mom's Mitts (modeled on Squidette's hands)And, there was indeed, leftovers from Daddy's socks. Dave, want your egg back? I kept it safe in a sealed ziplock bag.

***

On other topics, we are still dealing with our buggy issues and I admit to being obsessed and a little depressed about it this week. We've done much work on it this week and had a few bug free days but today ended that streak resulting in our surrounding all three beds in double sided carpet tape. Ick and arrgh! Yes, I have spent far too much time online researching this issue. Yes, it has fed both my obsession and depression. Blah! Just had to let you all know that I am not always the happy, carefree Mama Squid that I pretend to be online. Sorry to burst your bubbles.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Begun ...

... Squidette's new blanket.

Stats to date:

28 rows of seed stitch over 270 stitches.

3.5 grams of Cascade 220 Superwash per row with roughly 10 grams for the cast on row.

There were 4 grams left when I started the last row.

Yes, I had enough to finish.

14.5 minutes per row according to Time Boy.

Now I will set it aside and wait for Knitty City to get in the yellow that makes up the bulk of the blanket.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Day in Manhattan

Photo heavy post!!! More pictures available here.


What do Squid do on Christmas Day? (Please keep in mind that we are Jewish Squid.)

Usually the adults give or attempt to give blood at our synagogue's blood drive. We didn't do that this year since each adult gave in school drives not too long ago.

Instead, we took the subway uptown and walked home.

Sounds boring? Right?

Ah, but this is New York City and this is the Holiday Season.

As a general rule, I avoid Midtown like the plague during this time of year. Because, this is New York City and this is the Holiday Season. And everyone and their brother come out to see the sights. The last time I ventured in to midtown, on a workday during the holiday week, I found the sidewalks packed. As in sardine-like. Scary.

Last year, however, we took a chance after the blood drive and drove into midtown and parked. Gasp! Then we scooted around to see the holiday windows with a few handfuls of other people. Because we had the car to contend with, we didn't get a good feel for how many people were out and about. Apparently there were more then we realized.

This year, we decided to take the subway uptown and walk downtown. And here you go ...

Fifth Avenue (and connecting streets) during the Holiday Season.

We started out at Columbus Circle, 59th Street and Broadway and Seventh Avenue.


Walking east on 59th Street, we passed horse drawn carriages and Gainsborough Studios, which I never noticed before. Look at the detailed mosaic work in the second photo. Studios, by the way, refers to studio apartments -- one room.
As we approached Fifth Avenue we blinked our eyes in surprise as it appeared that people were going into FAO Schwarz. Um, what? It's Christmas. Everything, except Chinese restaurants, is supposed to be closed. Apparently not. No, no pictures, I was too dumbstruck as we wandered the aisles of a not-so-empty store.

Departing said monument to high priced toys, we sauntered down Fifth Avenue, by passing the Bergdorf Goodman windows in favor of Saks. First however, a pause to try to capture the beauty of the giant crystal star over 57th and Fifth. I do not do it justice. Sorry.

Then, passing Cartier, we pause to admire how they compensated for the construction work. Usually the building is wrapped in a giant red ribbon for the holidays. Notice all the people on the street. What happened to my empty city!
And on to DeBeers with it's "diamond" encrusted icicles.
Yes, we skipped the tree at Rockefeller Center -- I promise it for later in the week. We have to get to lunch near there this week so we'll get it then.

Saks took a snowman based approach this year.

I liked it a lot better then last year but I tend to prefer the simpler windows. They also had the easiest windows to photograph.

Continuing downtown we finally encountered Patience and Fortitude in their winter finery. Nope, can't tell you which is which.

And on to my favorite department store, Lord and Taylor.
Sorry for the massive refections -- these were not so easy to photograph even with the "through glass" setting on my camera.
They were pretty amazing, though.
At Macy's we encountered the Naughty and Nice List. I am, apparently, naughty. Yes, that is my head in the picture.
Their side windows are always based on "A Miracle on 34th Street." We pondered for a minute, what life would be like if the Macy's name were discontinued. What would happen to the parade? Our conclusion is that with all of the store names that have been dropped as the stores have merged, Macy's has survived because of it's iconic status with the parade and the movie. Yea, let us believe that.



Macy's is "doing" Shrek this year. We like Shrek.
And as we finish our walk, a decent shot of the main Post Office. I really love this building.
Hoping your day was a good one, no matter what you celebrate!

Tangled

I got caught up in my knitting last night.Blame my husband.

Monday, December 24, 2007

T'was the Day Before ...

And Mama was on a cleaning frenzy. While sorting out all of the books / magazines / papers lurking on the shelf beneath the coffee table I found this:

Click to enlarge and look at the last letter on the left -- it finishes at the top of the next column. Yup, Papa Squid was published at the tender age of 9. The New York Times Magazine, August 1, 1976. I found 3 copies of the magazine in an envelope under the coffee table. What it was doing there, I will never know but that is it's permanent home now.

After the frenzy, we headed out to the opera. Hansel and Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera. Orchestra seats. It was, to quote my son, awesome. (Actually, I found the first act a bit slow but the second was really good and the third was great.) Wednesday, Mike and I will return to the orchestra section for War and Peace. It runs 4.5 hours long. Don't expect to see a review until my brain wakes up sometime late Thursday, maybe Friday.
The tree at Lincoln Center.
The ornaments are different from last year. See the musical notes on some of them?

We then persuaded the kids to walk downtown to the newly reopened Second Avenue Deli. Off of Third Avenue.

On the way, we passed the giant Menorah at Grand Army Plaza, not to be confused with Grand Army Plaza.
No, it is not lit. Chanuckah is long over.

Continuing our walk South and East, we discovered this statue outside of The Lever House.

Yes, yes it is kind of disturbing.

Moving right along, we passed The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, all lit up and pretty for the season. The Waldorf is, as you may remember, the scene of my very first prom.
After walking through the Hemsely Building, MetLife Building (know as the PanAm Building to us old timers) and Grand Central Terminal (not to be confused with Grand Central Station which houses the subway), we finally arrived at the Second Avenue Deli only to discover that the wait was at least 30 minutes. We walked on, heading back towards home.

Crossing Fifth Avenue, I had to stop and take this picture and finally find out what the ribbons were all about.
They are Peace Prayers. The yellow represent prayers for those in the Service who have lost their lives in Iraq, the blue, prayers for lost Iraquies and their families and green, prayers for peace. More can be found here.

Then on to Hill Country for dinner. Mmmm ...

Now to put a few more rows on Squidette's blanket. I was not going to start it until after the New Year -- and hence not count the yarn so far acquired in this year's total, but my fingers got to itching and my brain to planning and so I did both. We only have 5 of the 24 requisite skeins so far -- the rest are on order through Knitty City (yes, it costs more then ordering on line but I'd rather support a local business, especially since we went there to see the colors in person instead of guessing off a monitor).