April 20, 2009

Squid's Eye View NYC: Day Two: PART I

Day Two began early and went so long that this day will have to get covered in two, count 'em two, blogs. We started the day by taking the MACRO view of Manhattan when we boarded the cheesy, but fun CIRCLE LINE. I wish I could remember the song from those old commercials. I just remember the footage was from the 50s! We took the 3 1/2 full around Manhattan ride. We saw where Sully landed the plane and heard the crews' stories of how they went to the rescue. We went under every bridge and got to see the skyline from all sides. Our guide probably came to NYC to be a Broadway Star. He had the voice for it. But, you know what they say about the lights on Broadway....

The day continued on by us covering most of Wall Street and the waterfront and hearing some great jazz, but more on that in Part II



The NY skyline is sadly not what it was when I lived here. It's painful to me still. But, there is still much to behold in the Empire and Chrysler Building.


The Staten Island Ferry. Worth taking just for all the movie trivia. We may just do that before we go...


They are taking these old subway cars out to sea to create an artificial reef for fish as an eco project. Recycle, Reuse...


Notice his peace sign hat. LOVED this guy! A most excellent NYC dockworker.


And we ate bagels. Although you wouldn't believe how long it took us to actually find one. Yo, it's New York! Where the bleep are the bagels!

Stay tunes for Part II.... must go eat more bagels and prepare for our adventures today.

April 19, 2009

A Squid's Eye View From New York:Day One

The Squeeze and I have touched down in NYC. It's always strange for me to come back here. In some ways I will always consider myself a New Yorker. But, in other ways I'm just another tourists asking which train is express now. It has been a ton of fun seeing NY through my Squeeze's eyes since he's never been here before. In all the hustle and bustle through my years here, for instance, I never looked UP at the ceiling of Grand Central. It's so gorgeous. Makes me wonder what else I missed. In an effort to carry a lighter camera (survival) and not take a million pictures I've already taken of NYC (artistic choices), I've been relying heavily on my new lensbaby. I'm still getting my mojo on it, but the results are fun.


The day of the redeye was really interesting at The Loft. There was a MAJOR pot bust: DEA, guns, camera's, stakeouts - the whole nine yards. The cops ended up giving us their cards in case we ran into any trouble at the airport due to possible contact high exposure for lack of a better desciption, yikes. But, that's for another blog!


Apparently I started walking like a New Yorker the minute we landed. The Squeeze kept having to tell me to slow down! Old habits die hard. Our first taxi ride.


We are staying in Chelsea at a friend's apartment. What a fantastic location for us. We headed right over to Chelsea Pier. All of that was built after I left, so it was fun to explore. The girlie umbrella is mine.


The first subway ride was fun. The Squeeze was digging it. He's also brought his camera and it's been really interesting watching him express himself that way, as well. I pulled out the lensbaby. He looks adorable in the beret, no?


We checked out our friend's "Guide to Vegan Eating in NYC" book and settled on a great place called the Dosa Hut on the East Side. I meant to take a picture of it before we ate it, but we were both too hungry to wait even for one shot. GREAT Dosas. Brought back great memories of Nepal for me.


A lensbaby stock shot maybe?? Korean delis don't seem to have the salad bars the way I recall, but on the other hand there are gourmet delis on every corner now so who needs the salad bar!


Grand Central through the lensbaby.... I dig it. It reminds me of a shot my dear friend Jacqueline Veissid took (check out her website to the right) with an old polaroid camera she has. She's had that piece published and sold.



We headed up to Times Square from Grand Central. I still can't get used to the newer, so called improved version. There's a part of me that misses the peepshows and hookers!


We headed over to "Music Row" and visited Manny's, and Rudy's, and Sammy Ashe's. The Squeeze had a field day trying guitars.


He tried to barter the price down on this one, but they wouldn't have it. So, he passed.

Our first whirlwind day (including the redeye!) ended with WAITING FOR GODOT at the Roundabout Theater. It starred Bill Irwin, Nathan Lane, John Goodman, and John Glover. What a cast. It was the most slapstick version of the play I've ever seen, making it also the most fun. We had great, great seats and it really ended a perfect day in NYC for us.

April 6, 2009

Thar She Blows!!!



Beth and I took advantage of a beautiful day and went whale watching (well, we pre-bought tickets so we were going rain or shine, but it sounds better that it was a "fancy" on a sunny day). We saw a gray whale and two fin backs. Tons 'o fun!




April 4, 2009

Today in Long Beach....

It was a busy day in Downtown Long Beach.... It was sort of a crazy day actually. There was a bike race in downtown, a cheerleader event at the convention center, the Saturday Farmer's Market in the Arts District and the yearly transformation from beach town to military dmz as they prepare for the Long Beach Grand Prix in a few weeks: tires, wires, and bridges. The community garden was hopping with lots of gardeners planting and harvesting. And I went a little crazy trying out my new lensbaby. But, at least I wasn't the guys drinking on the deck at The Auld Dubliner checking out the cheerleaders!


The Arts District Saturday Farmer's Market was going strong. I bought some organic lemons, asparagus, goat cheese, and some homemade dips.


Not my potato harvest, alas, but inspiration for next year. You can't tell because of the lensbaby effect, but they look almost metallic. Gorgeous!!!


Long Beach is a very friendly bike town most days anyway. Almost all the gardeners use their bikes to get there. This is Sue's bike which is pretty old school compared to the ones that were tooting around waiting for their turns to race!


Coming around the corner at full speed. I'm pretty proud I managed to get something (anything) in focus given my lensbaby isn't The Composer, so I have to manipulate, focus, and shoot all at the same time without locking the focal point in....


**********************The Squid's Eye View From The Loft******************


Finally, the day ended by running into our loftmates Kristin and Ray (on their way to the garden). We met back up for a beer on the patio of The Cellar in the basement of The Loft and watched bikes race past. Later we shared some wine and cheeses at their place before we walked across the street to try out the new restaurant Wokano which opened this week. It's quite an investment in downtown Long Beach and really exciting (or dangerous!) to have a kickass happy hour in a gorgeous place just feet away.... The Squeeze had a gig so missed all the fun!

Spring in the Garden



Spring has definitely arrived in the garden. More pictures to come....