NY Botanical Gardens

Last friday as I sat in Newark airport waiting for my flight to Ohio I called my sister Lois. She was visiting Tamsen and so was halfway to NJ. I tempted her to come up and visit with a promise to take her to the NYBG to see the Chihuly exhibit. She took the bait and was waiting for me at dad's house when I arrived home from my trip. So Tuesday morning we headed over the GWB, into the Bronx and truly into another world. It was a perfect day to visit the gardens and walk around. I am so glad that Lois made the trip, we had an awesome day.



 

Inside the greenhouse



 

The Rose Gardens were beautiful



 

Visions of Chihuly's sun




 

Dad really enjoyed the gardens. He said he liked the flowers far more than Chihuly's work. I loved them both

Chihuly's orbs floating around with the water lillies and lotus plants are magical

 

The season's last lotus
I loved the whisper of a tail these fish have
How amazing is this arrangement?
I guess the Chihuly did this couple in, walking around the gardens all day made me want to sit down and join them 

Suzanne and Billy Get Married

On Sunday Jay and I went to Suzanne and Billy's wedding. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. Ernesto threatened to storm on the day but instead the sky cleared for them and there was not a cloud to be found. I have watched Suzanne grow up in our office, it seems like she was just a kid when she started there and now she is married! Billy, her husband is wonderful and I wish them nothing but the best. Although I am a little envious of them, they are honeymooning for a month in Greece.....wish I was there.

This picture captures the essence of what I love about the people I work with, they are so much fun. I love this picture of the four of us laughing. And this other picture is of us all. I have worked for Mark for 19 years now, starting just after Kyle was born. These people are like my family and are definitely my friends. This picture will be added to many others from weddings in the past. We have gone through, Lisa's, Dana's and then all three of Barbara's children's wedding. Hair was higher, waists thinner but smiles have always been present. I am so lucky to have a job I love with people I like to be around.

WTG Suzanne and Billy!!!

 

Kyle

I am so proud of my son. Kyle is very dedicated to being a fire figter in our town. He comes home most weekends from school to be around if there is a call, as well as to serve on call for our ambulance corp too. Last week there was a drill at a house around the corner from us. The house was going to beripped down to build a new McMansion and the fire department got the ok to runa practice session there. All the firefighters came, geared up and pacticed fighting a fire. They let me come along to photograph the event. Of course my favorite model was Kyle- Look out NYC Firefighters, a new cover guy is coming along.


 

Some things just don't make you smile....

Such as gettiing the news that your laptop is fried and it is time to get a new one. I love my IBM and they don't make them anymore.... I am just so sad

Some things just make you smile

This morning I received an email from a friend and it held a link to a video that you just have to smile when you see it. I certainly do not have the time nor the focus to figure this all out but admire people who do. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnQgrKQzseo

Can you hear that?

Can you hear that contented sigh of my heart? Last night I had my whole family under one roof again and all is well in my world. Shelby's plane landed somewhere around 3:45pm. You could feel the joy of all of the parents from the People to People group as that ARRIVED showed up on the board. Then as I was waiting for her to get through customs I got a call from Jay. His plane just landed. It turns out he was at the same terminal that we were at and he was able to make it down to where I was before Shelby cleared customs. It was great. After a quick stop to pick up dinner from Bensi we were home. And my heart is happy.

Celery Farm visit

Kyle and Meg asked me to have dinner with them, trying to distract me as I sat around waiting for Saturday to get Shelby, and then my dad stopped by so they invited him too. We went to IHOP for a breakfast dinner (yum) and since it was so beautiful out we went to the Celery Farm for a walk before heading home. The lighting was perfect so I brought my camera to get some new pictures of Kyle and Meg. They came out really good and now they are trying to figure out which one os facebook worthy. I wonder which one they will choose?



 

The lighting was not only good for people pictures, but everything looked good in the setting sun. I had fun shooting picture after picture.
Blue Heron
dragonfly and its reflection
golden blue heron
Kyle's shot of the setting sun and the lookout tower. 

longest days

These past couple of days have been some of the longest in my life. Shelby is still in Europe when she should be home. Yesterday morning I got a phone call at 4:30am from a teary Shelby. They had arrived at Heathrow to fly home and found that their plane had been cancelled. With the misunderstanding of a 15year old, she thought that there were 8 people with bombs on her plane. I feel sick again just writing this. It was so hard to hear the fear in Shelby's voice and not be able to rush to her, to comfort her. And once she got off the phone I had no way to reach her. Nothing was better than reaching her at the hotel People to People arranged for the kids last night. She was much more calm and not so afraid anymore. We didn't know when she was going to get to come home but she was safe and that was all that mattered at this point. Shelby and I talked for quite awhile- can't wait to see that phone bill. P2P called last night and said that after a day visiting Windsor castle the kids would be flying off to Germany. They would spend the night there and they were trying to get them on a flight home on Saturday. Thankfully I got a call today that there is a flight for them tomorrow morning and Shelby should be back on NJ soil by 3:15 pm. I can't wait.

Chihuly at the Botanical Gardens

This morning I headed to the Botanical Gardens ( www.nybg.org ) to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit. I love things that make me feel like a little kid again and that is what this man's art does for me. When you enter the gardens and start to walk up the path all of a sudden you see "The Sun" at the reflecting pool. The flyer says that there are over 1000 pieces of glass in this installation. It weighs over 4,600 pounds. Looking at it you cannot imagine how it was placed in the pool but however they did it you are glad because it is spectacular. I enjoyed listening to the kids from different camps comment of this piece, they all were excited about it.