People in Bryant Park

Yesterday, as you might recall, I joined my birthday celebrating sis-in-law, and friends in NYC. We were to have birthday brunch at Bryant Park Grill. To get there I passed by the east end of Bryant Park. What a gorgeous oasis! Another incredibly beautiful spot in NYC. Aside from the people, who are just fantastic (look at that little old man), can you even believe the size of those begonia planters???

OOPS! Looks like guy in front doesn't want his face to be seen! Little old man has turned the corner, purple girl and friends are still chatting....and do you see that strange man on the side walk straight ahead that seems to be doing strange things???

Walking through, walking through!

A slice of life amongst the ginormous begonia bouquets...

~~~

xoabb

expect anything!

A Salute to Another Very Nice Man

And a photo that has nothing to do with anything...except I like it...

Oak Tree Fungus Beauty

As you may or may not recall, my only son, Bly, is cursed with losing his wallet. As you may or may not recall, my son, Bly is also blessed with incredible luck in having his wallet always safely returned to him every time he loses it! It's happened again...Oh dear...I must....Oh dear...

TO BE CONTINUED LATER THIS MORNING.....CAN'T FINISH NOW....MUST GO TO BED...PLEASE CHECK BACK!!!! ARRRGGGHHH! (I'll try to make it worth the revisit, really, I will!!!)

8:22 am: I'm back! Got sidetracked last night...MOS told me several weeks ago that a buddy of his from college would be coming here to stay with us for a few days, if that was ok (it was). What he didn't tell me was that friend was arriving last night. Kind of put a crimp in my blogging time. The three of us spent quite a bit of the evening talking about his across-the-country trip and looking through his incredible photography portfolio.

Back to Bly and his wallet:

First time he lost his wallet, a lovely lady found it and returned it to him. Second time he lost his wallet, and returned it to him. Third time? Another lovely man.
Phone rings. I don't recognize the number, but it's local so I answer it. Male voice: "Is George there?" Me: "Sorry, no, can I take a message?" Guy: "My name is Skip and I have his wallet. I found it in the street when I was out jogging. It has his license and bank card in it so I was able to figure out the phone number." Me: "________." Guy: "Excuse me, you still there?" Me, sputtering: "Yes, it's just that this has happened before to my son and every time some wonderful person has returned it." Guy, chuckling, "Guess he's just lucky."
Fast forward two days later. Bly had spoken to the gentleman with his wallet and told him he was working double shifts and would try to sneak out to pick up his wallet late on the second day. That day, I was sitting at my kitchen table around 6:00 pm when I noticed a lady jogging to the side door. I opened the door...and was handed Bly's wallet. After thanking her profusely, she said it was no big deal as she and her wallet saving hubby were just out for ice cream. They live all the way over on the other side of town. For the third time, not the second but the third, here is proof that there are very decent people left in this world! And that Bly is incredibly lucky. Hey there, big guy, I wouldn't be pushing it. That wallet luck of yours is bound to run out!

Maybe this'll help you keep track of it. Just don't lose your pants!

See that nice convenient loop he can attach to his pants' belt loop?
Think it'll help? Nah, me neither.

~~~

xoabb

A Salute to a Very Nice Man

Yep, you read that right (sigh). This is another tale of a miracle happening in the life of my son, Bly, and his poor beleaguered wallet. As you might recall, in the very recent past, Bly lost his wallet and it was returned to him by a very nice and honest woman with everything intact. Read on, dear friends, read on - the saga's only getting better!

About a week ago, as GB was driving Bly to the train, he asked his dad for some money.

"Why do you need money?"

"For train fare to the city." MOS replied.

"Why do you need that when you have a monthly pass?"

"I, uh, well I must have left my wallet on my desk at work."

Of course, the two of them then had that very special father-son exchange I'm sure many of you are familiar with. I won't go into detail here other than to say I'm quite sure sarcasm and swearing was involved.

Fast forward several hours later when GB returned home. Well, looky there! Just look at what was waiting to be discovered!! Why, it was a brand new, just sent, never been read, fax. Imagine that, it was a fax from some unknown person asking that he be contacted as HE was in possession of a wallet which belonged to a GB, and he would like to return it. (I just knew this had to have been the exact moment GB began to mutter under his breath: "Dammit, and with this kid's unbelievable luck, his damn wallet will ONCE AGAIN be returned with every damn thing in it!" GB later confirmed to me that this, in fact, was quite true.)
Since both husband and son share the same name, GB quickly checked just to reassure himself HIS wallet was in his pant pocket - and of course, it was. (Considering the fact GB hasn't been commuting to the city by train for many many years, don't you think he should have just known this and not had to check? I'm just sayin'!) GB then jumped to the brilliant conclusion that Bly, aka GB the Younger, had once again lost his beleaguered wallet.

GB the elder then put in a phone call to Bly, aka GB the Younger, to tell him that once again he was the luckiest luckiest human on earth. Of course, once again, the two of them had that very special father-son exchange (sigh). Again, I won't go into detail here other than to say this time I know sarcasm and swearing were most definitely involved.
Bly called Mr. P. and they arranged to meet at the gentleman's office in the city the next day. Of course, the wallet was given back to him............of course with everything in it.
I'm thinking we're going to start calling it The Miraculous Boomerang Wallet, no more beleaguered wallet, because it's obviously not!

As was written before:

Nice, decent folk still exist! That's so lovely, don't you think? Thank you Mr. P. for being good to my very very lucky boy. You're the best!

~~~
xoabb

My First MEME!!

I've been ~memed~ by that Mental Pause Mama, my lovely friend Ms. Lauren. I'm quite new to this and was thankful that both she and the person that meme'd her, Wine on the Keyboard gal Kacey, supplied some rules and guidelines to this new thingy (to me at least) we're doing.

Below, behold the meme rules:

(1) Link to the person that tagged you.

(2) Post the rules on your blog.

(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (In my case, I probably won't tag six people as I'm pretty darn sure I don't know six bloggers well enough yet to tag them.)

(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. (Or do as Kacey did and don't tell the folks you tagged. Let them find out when they visit your website!)

Hmmmm............6 random facts about me.......hmmmmmmmm.

AH-HA!

Below, behold the randomness:

1. I can't stand to go to bed if the kitchen's a mess. The rest of the house? Couldn't care less!

2. I always read the first and then the last chapter of every book before I read the middle chapters. If I like those two, I'll read the rest of the book.

3. I'm a mush that has easily lowered myself to crying over every Hallmark card commercial I've ever seen. My friend, Jules, does too. She is a bigger mush than me. That makes me happy. Her two daughters think we're both nuts. They could be correct.

4. Like Lauren, I also either cut or burn myself every time I entertain. I'd say that it must be a Southern thing, but it happens to Jules, too and she's from the Windy City.

5. I cannot abide fish and mushrooms in the same dish. It is gross.

6. I want to know the end of the story. Now. The story, whether it's my life, my family's/friend's life, a movie, a book, whatever, I want to know the end of the story NOW!

7. (I know, there's supposed to be 6, but I was just talking to my seeester and she told me I had to include the following because it is so how I converse with her.) On a fairly regular basis, Care will tell me "ANN, you're channeling William Faulkner again! STOP IT!" She accuses me of ~speaking~ in a "Stream of Consciousness" kind of way. She also claims it's quite annoying. Hmph!

Tag, you're it! (a note from 7/16/16 - all the folks I originally tagged are no longer blogging, so no reason to link to them!)

~~~
xoabb

Junk/Everything Drawers & WW Woes

Junk drawers.....who doesn't have one....or two....or three...or more? (Actually in our family, junk drawers are always called Everything Drawers.) Above is the daddy of them all. No matter how hard I try to keep this drawer neat, it NEVER is. As far as listing what's in there, it might be easier to list what's NOT in there. Like the kitchen sink, coat hangers, tho there is a clothes pin, toilet paper. The above is most definitely my entry for the contest Jules is having at her blog, though, as you can see below, I had more than one contender.

Junk drawer #2. This is full of stuff I use about once a year. Well, the knives on the right I've NEVER used......Perhaps it's time to shed myself of them? Ebay here we come!!

This is the after picture of a drawer that just last week would have been the heavyweight contender for worst drawer. Darn! Had I known about this contest I would never have bothered cleaning it out.

(Check out my brother's entry here.)

~~~

Pounds aren't melting...
The diet is not working!
Quick! Sew my mouth shut!

Must remind myself: "Weight Watchers" does not mean that I am to watch my weight go up.

~~~

xoabb

A Salute to a Very Nice Lady

Our middle and only son, Bly, went out to dinner with the family (minus me - other plans, YAHOO, thank you) last night. He had been out with a friend of his, who dropped him off at the restaurant. When Bly returned home, he grabbed his car and re-met up with his buddy and a bunch of other friends. Upon returning home around 8 that evening, (it was a very early dinner, pardon me, not very posh), it slowly dawned on him that he was no longer in possession of his wallet. "O what a shock!!", I cried, "you lost your wallet???" He looked at me with what can only be described as great irritation. Fortunately he refrained from verbally expressing his irritation. It most certainly wasn't the first time something important has been "misplaced" by Bly and most likely not the last, (sigh). Given the circumstances, I thought the sarcasm was well justified on my part, thank you!

Parents everywhere will empathize with the next part of this tale: Bly had been given cash or gas cards from various relatives for Christmas, along with a $300.00 monthly train pass from Santa. Both his dad, (GB), and his mom, (that would be me), suggested to him MORE THAN ONCE that it might be a very good idea to keep his non-replaceable train pass in his room during the weekend along with excess amounts of cash. Did he listen??? Hmmmmmm............what do you think?

He spent the next hour frantically looking through his friend's and his own car, then went back to the parking lot and looked all over the asphalt - basically retraced his steps everywhere.

While I was sitting at the kitchen table I had a brilliant and was hoping also a fruitful thought. (It's not often I have a brilliant thought that could be fruitful; they're usually just contemplative and not very fruitful...) "Hmmmmm......", thought I, "I think I'll check our voice mail.....maybe, just maybe someone has found his wallet and has left a message." BINGO!! There was a message from a lady who said she had indeed found his wallet and would he please call her. Bly did, and after a 20 minute conversation, he took off in his car to get his wallet. I, of course, was listening to his end of their conversation and it was obvious they were talking about more than just directions to her house. Of course, being ever the romantic mama, I had the two of them instantly falling in love, living happily ever after, and, of course, giving me grandkids to love, etc., etc. Motherly pipe dreams!

Bly returned home with wallet - and it's entire contents - intact. "How did that go?", I asked coyly, as mothers are wont to do when they want more information than they're willing to let on. "Fine.", he replied. "Tomorrow I'd like to get her a gift certificate to a restaurant or send her some flowers." After picking myself up off the floor, because in his near recent past, (you know, those ~less mature~ years), that kind of thinking would have never made it through his cranium, let alone out of his mouth, I said, a crazy mother thing: "Oh, maybe this is the start of something good." Bly looked at me as if I'd grown pink horns out my forehead. "Mother, she's at least 50 years old!." I slithered out of the room hoping he would forget our entire exchange. I'm sure he won't.

Nice, decent folk still exist! That's so lovely, don't you think? Thank you Ms. B. for being good to my little boy. You're the best!

~~~

The Iceman goeth
The ducks should be winging back
Where the Hell are they???

~~~

xoabb