'tis the season

Went with friends David and Michael to get 

a Christmas tree. Included in the deal

was a big bag of birdseed (?).  We browsed 

a bit—and we were definitely enchanted.  

So is your tree real or fake?

the road IS mine

And everyone else's! Headed up to Mass. for yet 

another Thanksgiving dinner (because I 

definitely need two 4,000-calorie meals in one 

week!). Hard to post from here, but will try.

I'm thankful

. . . for my brother and sister-in-law, 

who cooked this delicious meal!

Hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving too.

Municipal Bldg.

I love the top of this building
(clearly visible from the Manhattan
side of the Brooklyn Bridge).
It's down near City Hall (and across
the street from the criminal court,
where I once spent a huge chunk of
time on the jury of a major murder trial).

Happy Birthday

This is my friend Barbara, who's celebrating her 50th

and listening to one of the editors at our magazine

read a (very funny) list of "50 reasons why we love Barbara."

This started with my daughter Katie, who wrote a

list of "21 reasons why I love Lila" for her sister's

21st birthday. I suggested Barb do one for her sister

on her 55th (and then my colleague Lisa did the same

for her sister's recent 60th birthday).

My mom will be 89 in a few months—what do you think?

going home . . .

. . . tonight in a light rain—down the FDR, past the

Manhattan Bridge to the Brooklyn Bridge, with lower

Manhattan beyond. This picture doesn't really do

it justice, but it IS so beautiful, even in the rain.

apple pie for Thanksgiving

We all braved the bitter cold to get to the

greenmarket yesterday. Looks like there'll

be lots of apple pies on Thursday. I like

mine a la mode (but prefer pumpkin).

How about you?

homeland security?

Sure hope it never comes to this!

(Actually, I took this shot of the

Empire State Building from across

the river, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)

So why . . .

. . . can you never find one when you need one?

Perhaps this is why I never take cabs—although

I would LOVE to find myself in the Cash Cab 

 (license # 7N78) one of these days.

Techno Christmas

Okay, I give in — the holidays are upon us.

They're having a wonderful gift fair at Grand

Central. At the entrance is this "Christmas tree"

made of TV screens with images that change

every few minutes. Kinda cool.

namaste

I love this museum, and visit whenever I can.

Really hoping I can find time to see this exhibit.

all lit up

Love it when we light up the beautiful

architecture (as they've been doing in

Paris forever). This is the New York

Life (insurance co.) building, designed

in the '20s by Cass Gilbert, who also

designed the Woolworth Building.

Are you kidding?

Passed these places tonight on my
way to the subway after dinner
w/friends. I definitely don't need
the gift wrap, seeing as how I don't
yet have any gifts to wrap!
I guess it's all about the economy;
they're reminding us already because
they're afraid no one will buy anything
-- and they may be right!

They bottled it!

The manager of my fave neighborhood restaurant

shared this with me today.  I was pretty excited to

discover you can find "Parisian life in a bottle."

It's called St.-Germain, BTW, and it's delish!

(How come I didn't know about this?)

matching

Here's a house, in Queens, with a matching mailbox.
This neighborhood, near the Whitestone Bridge has
lots of properties like this one.
Personally, I'm not all about the McMansion, but
I love that these homeowners did this.

weekend fun

Or not. When I saw this, I thought I'd been

magically transported from 43rd and Madison

to somewhere in, say . . . Montana?

Chrysler Bldg.

This is just one of many, many, many photos

(this one shot from the office) that I've taken

of my all-time fave NYC building.

Learn more about it  here.

workout

All that candy yesterday (yes, I was weak)!

So—time to hit the gym.  Okay, this one's in

the Village and mine is near Grand Central,

but a treadmill's a treadmill and sweat is sweat.

Kourtney's mom strikes again

Every once in a while, the entire staff

gets an e-mail from Kourtney: "My mom

has done it again." And we know that

yet another large box has arrived, filled

with tasty treats for all of us to dig into.

We LOVE Kourtney's mom!

water

This is the City Hall Park Fountain, designed in 1871 by 

Jacob Wrey Mould. For some reason, it was moved to the 

Bronx in 1920. But when he was mayor, Giuliani

said "I don't think so!" and back downtown it came.

autumn in New York

Well . . . in Brooklyn. Prospect Park, to be exact.

We had a gorgeous, crisp, sunny fall day here

today—hope yours was just as glorious.

Tom's

This is Tom's, the best place for breakfast ever—

and it's right in my neighborhood.  

There's always a line to get in, 

but no one minds, because they hand out gratis coffee 

(also oranges, cookies, and even strawberries and 

whipped cream) while you're waiting.

 Gus, the owner, is so welcoming

(and informative)!

  Even the Swedish royal family loves it
(they probably ordered the pumpkin pancakes).

art for peace

Been trying to pay more attention to

the art that's all around us in this

city. This is Obelisk to Peace, by

Irving Marantz— at the corner of

Park and 34th Street.

par-tay!

There are a bunch of passageways in the west '50s

in Manhattan that run between crosstown streets

(very convenient when it's raining).  One of them

(part of the City Center theater complex) is used

sometimes for receptions, but they don't 

close it to pedestrians.

Went through recently while they were having a

get-together—and looked up.  The whole party

was up there on the ceiling!

what so proudly . . .

I'm still overwhelmed with emotion over our historic election. 

 Dug into the archives to find this shot of the

flag over the Brooklyn Bridge (taken the day I met 

PHX-CDG/Lynn, my friend from Paris Daily Photo).

let's make history

At 11-something on 11/4, I can't begin to tell you how

proud I am of my country for electing Barack Obama

the 44th president of the United States.  It was an incredible

campaign and a victory well-earned.  It won't be easy, but

let's move ahead and become friends with the 

rest of the world once more.

checking the polls

Can't wait for this election to be over, so I

can put down the computer(s) and the op-eds,

and go back to reading actual literature!

Doesn't everyone feel that way at this point?

(And I'm hoping the result doesn't make

me want to leave the country.)

last flowers of fall

Shot these on the North Fork of Long Island

on Saturday.  I'd like to dedicate this post

to my cousin John Ripley, a true hero, who

passed away this weekend.

Halloween encore

My brother's band, the Lone Sharks, kept Halloween
going for one more night with a party on Shelter Island.
Everyone caught the last ferry off the island.

Trick or Treat

It's New York's fabulous Halloween parade,

three hours of you-name-it! I love it because

I can enjoy it from 10 flights up—and I don't

have to find a costume. The highlight for me

was 200 or so people (with Michael out front

in red) all dancing to "Thriller." (I put a picture

here, but you kind of had to be there.)