Joyce Kilmer Park and Goodbye NY!

After our viewing of the strange "Thoth" man we headed toward what we hoped was the exit of Central Park. I couldn't help getting a few last picture of the pretty architecture around me!I gave the camera back to Joel as we got close to an exit and he got a few great pictures of the NY skyline!

Here's the view from about where we parked. The big, gold, shiny Trump Tower hotel was just behind us but I didn't get a picture of it!

Our goal was to head to The Bronx next to see the Joyce Kilmer park and as we went along the buildings got more and more Gothic!

Here is our first glimpse of Joyce Kilmer Park! For those of you who don't know, my maiden name is Kilmer and I've been told we are somehow related to Joyce Kilmer. He was a hero of mine growing up and I was inspired by his poetry and modled some of my own after it when I was a teen. We actually passed it by once before Joel realized that little park was the one. I was fairly sure it was but apparently Joel didn't hear me mention in the traffic next to the NY Yankees stadium when a game was about to start. So after getting all turned around and shooting off in the wrong direction we had to stop at a gas station because Abby had desperately needed to use the bathroom since leaving Central Park and just couldn't hold it a minute longer!

After I got her cleaned up (if you recall she had some issues regarding her bowels which she was still suffering from at this point) which involved actually dunking her little bottom into a sink full of warm water, and then we were back on the road!

Sadly, we couldn't find a place to park anywhere due to the Yankees game but Joel patiently circled the park a couple times so I could at least get some pictures!

Now would be a good time to share with you the poem he wrote entitled "Trees" which has led to his fame!

"TREES"

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

That is a really nice poem I think! It's happy and light and has a clever ending that always makes Joel chuckle! I've read a lot of Joyce Kilmer's poetry and its all refreshing, kind of a 'tip your hat at life, grin, and wink' feel to it. I think perhaps he was an optimist. Anyway, He died during WWI in a fox hole which lead (so legend has it) to one of his fellow officers to jumping out and killing 8 Germans with his bare hands because of the outrage he felt at the world losing such a man. So I thought that a good American poet who gave his life for his country deserved a plaque of some sort explaining who he was in his own park. Maybe there was one that I simply couldn't see from the road but here's one that everyone could see quite clearly!

Notice the bright red sign telling dog owners to clean up after their dogs? I understand the necessity of such a sign but for Pete's sake, at least put it somewhere else not right under the sign for the park! Show some class people! So I took another picture and cropped it so it would look how it should look!I managed to find a sign that didn't caution dog owners but no plaque!The park did seem very nice though it was a little small and people seemed to be enjoying it!It's a nice, bright, green spot to relax in the middle of a busy, dirty city where people could come and look at all the splendid trees. Here are the buildings on either side of the park. They were very ornate! Then it was time to try and find our way out of the city! I found more interesting muralish/stone work thing to take pictures of!Here we are under the elevated train! It was rather scary driving under there and having to turn off the road between the giant supports of the bridge! We got cut off a couple times too!The Bronx got scarier and scarier as we went along and at this point we made sure the doors were locked up tight!

After doing a three point Uie in the middle of traffic and thinking we took two wrong turns we somehow navigated out of the city and onto the George Washington bridge.As the sun set we left NY and had to make a pit stop in New Jersey where Abby added to the smell by needing another fresh change of clothes. Fortunately we were the only ones in the rest stop because Abby had done a really, really fowl smelling job and I had to use the sink to clean off her pants because I was not taking that odor back into the van! Finally Abby dozed off and we were all relieved since she had decided to cry for most of the time since we left Joyce Kilmer Park!Katie nodded off soon after and we had a quiet trip the rest of the way home!So that was our trip to NY city! I have edited some of our happenings while there because there is simply not enough time to write it and I didn't want to bore you with too many details! Joel and I might go again someday without the girls and see some more things at our leisure. I thought Christmas time would be fun to which Joel responded, "That would not be fun!"! I'm thinking snow in Central Park and he's thinking icy NY traffic, frantic Christmas shoppers, and perhaps hypothermia! :)

Next I'll blog about the 4th of July or perhaps Katie's birthday party! I'm sure you're all holding your breathe in anticipation! :)

Central Park!

After we parked we walked to the entrance of the park which of course I took a few pictures of! Except when were in the car Joel had control of the camera and I had to ask to take a picture of something but when we got to the park he relinquished control of it to me! So, I took lots, and lots of pictures because its in my blood or something (my brother and I can fill up a memory card faster than a person can sneeze!) and didn't have to constantly annoy my husband with my "OOOOO! Look at that! Get a picture of that Sweetie!" followed by much gesturing and please, please, pleasing!Anyone recognize that particular statue featured below? I had to take a picture of it because its the one that the Prince in the movie Enchanted posed on while he is searching the crowds for Giselle. It was a very exciting moment for Katie and I when I spotted it! Here's a beautiful scene that some schmuck managed to get his head into! I didn't crop him out so I could have proof that New Yorker's aren't as concerned about getting out of the way of your picture as some people are in other cities. I suppose its because if they did watch out for cameras they would never get where they were goingThis was one of my favorite areas of the park. Everything was damp so all the bark was dark and the leaves were so bright green that it took your breath away! Also the humidity took your breath away because it was so thick you could barely breathe but at least it wasn't hot!The Statuary was astounding in the park! I took so many pictures of beautiful moldings! Joel just rolled his eyes at me whenever I would stop and obsessively take pictures of a particular pattern that caught me eye which was practically all of them! Shanna and Joel would abandon me as I snapped away until I came to my senses and scampered after them!

Here are some shots of the beautiful fountain also featured in the film "Enchanted" which if you haven't seen it you really, really should!

Here's Joel! There were lots of people there because there were two guys performing over to the side. I think it was a tumbling act or something, I was too busy taking pictures of other things to notice!

I think the birds really add something too the picture! Everywhere we went in NY there were pigeons, lots and lots of pigeons! They were so tame you could have walked up to one and kicked it! In fact I almost ran over a few with our stroller which delighted Abby!

At this point we released the girls from the bondage of being strapped into their strollers! We figured it was a good safe-enough place to let them run around! They loved looking at the fountain! Katie even recognized it as the one for the movie!

Here's Katie smiling... Abby smiling...and Joel smiling!

I love this picture of Shanna and I! Joel did a great job taking it! We both smiling and look great! I never look good in closeups!

Ohhhhhh! Don't we look Sweet?! :)The girls weren't so enthusiastic about posing. There were so much more interesting things to do like...

chasing doves! Katie thought that the dove was just a pigeon until I explained to her that white pigeons are called doves which she thought was very silly!

Katie got quite close to that bird! If she had been bigger I think she might have caught it! :)Anyway, she had fun trying! Abby had fun running after the bird, Katie, or just plain nothing!Things were so ornate in the park! That picture below is of the base of a telephone pole! I suppose everything was that way because everything was so old. I wish people still built things like that! It is my opinion that ,when possible, even ordinary, necessary things should be made beautiful! I suppose that is why I like quilting!

This was taken under the bridge that Joel was standing in front of a few pictures back. The murals were beautiful as was the ceiling but I couldn't get all of the walls because there was a bum sleeping on one of the benches. I have seen a few bums before but there were quite a few more around NY! Of course some of them might have been people with homes that were just catching some Z's on their work break or something.
And now for the moment my brother has been waiting for! Thoth! god of...ummm...American Indian...Aztec? Something! He was so strange I had to take his picture! Apparently he had a documentary done on him that won an Oscar. I had no idea at the time otherwise I might have asked to get my picture taken with him. Then again, maybe not. I don't know If I would actually want him to touch me!I will leave you now because I have to start dinner but I still do have more pictures of NY!