Category Archives: Observations

NYC – 4th Day, 4th Borough, 3 Surprises

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Surprise #1 – K-town.  Korea-town is booming and we stumbled on it by accident.  Andrew declared this the best food of the trip.  But then we’ve said that after every meal, even street snacks.

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Where’s Waldo?                                                This was not fair to snap it while his mouth was full.

*Operation Walk-the-feet-to-nubs has been textbook military success.  Only it isn’t the feet.  It is everything south of the hip sockets ordering full retreat and surrender to the opponent – the pavement of NY.
*We happened upon Ktown while antiquing in a midtown high-rise.  Talk about mixed metaphors.

Surprise #2 – The Highline.
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See the park on the raised railroad line?  One and a half miles of this shaded walk with the Hudson River to the west and the city to the east.  Every place you wished there was a seat to take in the amazing view of an east/west city canyon, there was one. Once again, people are amazing – the people who thought of everything and the people who accomplished it.

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What a great idea to keep the tracks but as an idyll in which to breathe and woolgather.

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But New York will be New York.

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And then it dawned on us – the city, the river, but no traffic.  Unobstructed walking.  Any horns are backdrops and inapplicable to the moment. No, not inapplicable, but transformed into music.  Passing the Penn Station train yards sounded like YoYo Ma giving an open-air recital.

Surprise #3 – Old friends and an amazing view.
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Charlie and Leslie Baldini of Staten Island (the 4th borough we hit).  And I must concede that Leslie was right; that incred pizza from DeNino’s is called “Garbage Pie” not “Garbage Can” as we have been saying for 10 years since the last time we were there.  Can we not agree that Garbage Can has more zing to it? We love these people.  Charlie’s church, Immanuel Union, is growing and through his long and faithful ministry here people are loved, served, and introduced to Jesus.

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Looking good, y’all.

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The Baldini Clan.  BTW Charlie is Sicilian so we were basically dining with Ray Liotta and goodfellas.

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Now here’s the Wow moment.  This is us in the wheelhouse of the Staten Island Ferry.  Little Bekah, who is now a beautiful little wife and mother, is married to Kenny Bossert, the captain of this boat.  So we rode across New York Harbor with a view like none other.  And here is where we unabashedly praised the Creator and said, “Help us give You back everything we are because You are so, so good to us!”

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Getting off the ferry, a little dazed with it all.

And so ends Day 4, 4 Boroughs, and 3 Gifts.  I love this city.

Guess Who Premiered On The Apollo Stage? – NYC Day Three

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Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  The colorful workers used GooGone to clean the rails and listened to mariachi. On a sombre note, a man told Andrew that the massive church, which seats 10,000, averages 300 worshippers.  That’s not the sombre part.  The fullest day of the year is not Easter or Christmas.  No, the man reported enthusiastically, it is early October.  Oh, what holiday would that be?  “Well, the feast of St. Francis!  The blessing of the animals.  It’s incredible, the place is packed to overflowing with people and their pets.  We had an elephant come for a while.  You could go out in the courtyard and the priests would bless individual pets.”  I thought of the moneychangers in the temple, such a misuse of a divine place. But then I was reminded that God is where His people are, and Andrew and I are His people.

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Psalm 45:1, and my blog motto!

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Will Hogue, I’ve found your journalism grad school – Columbia University

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And this moment on the Columbia quad made my whole day.


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Andrew looks over Columbia Teacher’s College at Union Seminary and Riverside Church.  Our day’s high point, literally, was intended to be the top of that tall tower, however when we got to the tower elevators and said happily, “We would like to go to the top of the tower,” the guy in the maroon vest, with zero remorse or sympathy, said, “Nope. Can’t go to da tower.  Closed to da public.”  I mean, no feeling whatsoever.  Clearly we were eager.  I love NY, but I will say that a southern man would have been gentler with this bad news.

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We walked miles to find this closed up tight as a drum, naturally as it was about 11:45 am, and so much not what we expected that we decided (rightly, we discovered later) that this wasn’t THE Cotton Club of Harlem Renaissance fame.  But New York redeemed itself from the mean guy at the tower elevator when a pure angel walked by and told us that no bus will stop at the bus stop where we were waiting. We would have sat there in Harlem all day waiting for a bus that wasn’t coming, like one of those skeleton memes.
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But we did get some great views from Riverside Park on the Hudson River of mid Manhattan.

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In keeping with a day north of the park, today’s lunch was Puerto Rican.  Isn’t she wonderful? That blob on the left was delicious; called mofongo al pilon, it was a little like our turkey dressing only instead of turkey it was crispy pork cracklings and fried chicken chunks, and instead of cornbread it was mashed green plantains. You spooned a mild garlic sauce over it. Plantain chips, cuchifritos, and salad completed this third cultural food foray joining Middle Eastern and Chinese.  Yes, I could live here if we needed to plant Tito Puente Presbyterian Church.
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More fun than Broadway!

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Wait, khaki pants, white button down, is that . . .?  Yes, yes it is.  Andrew was selected from the audience to . . .
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. . .bust a move.  He chose to do the chicken dance. And so I will leave you with that – Andrew doing the chicken dance on the Apollo stage before all Harlem.

Love from NYC!