…… of pictures from this past week.
I wasn’t sure what I’d have to write about, until I started looking through my pictures from this week and then thought, “Dang! I’ve been pretty busy!”

So I started selecting pictures to use for this post and ended up with way too many to write about.
Which means that I’ll have to post them and try not to write too much about them …… so as not to bore you all to tears.
I apologize now for any tears you might shed.
Feel free to close this window and go hang out on FaceBook or Pintrest.
I won’t be offended.
Much.

So last week I had a lunch outing in Central Park. We ate at the Boathouse. It was beautiful and the food was very good.
But also so expensive that we all kind of choked a bit when the bill came.
This place wasn’t on my bucket list, but I have since added it …… and crossed it off.
It’s a lovely place, but my recommendation would be to go take a couple of pictures and then eat somewhere else.
Because, for me, food is food.
And not worth having to leave your first born for collateral.

After lunch I walked through the Park. I absolutely love that Park.
But who wouldn’t?

I thought this was a great tree and really wanted to climb it.
But I resisted the urge.

This is the “Stuart Little Pond”, though that’s not the name of it.  It’s where you go to rent those sailboats that you control with a remote.  It was a very peaceful place.

This is the Alice in Wonderland statue.  It’s right off of the above pond.

I love this picture.  That’s because it shows something that is SO typical.  Two dads (not with each other) who are hogging the remote to the boats while their children sit and wait to get their turn.  They waited quite a while.
Men.
Sheesh.

I went out the other day to run some errands.  While I was in line at one store, waiting to check out, this woman came up next to me with this stroller.  I had to take a picture of it because it is SO New York.
You need to look very closely.  Check out the right corner of the handle on this stroller.  There’s a bike bell there.
Only in New York.
A bell on your stroller to tell people to get the hell out of the way when you’re coming!  LOL!

That same day, this is what I came across on my way to get those errands done:

Ummm, yeah.  Meatrushmore.  Made out of beef jerky.
I have no idea.
But they were there all day, giving away samples of their jerky.

And I’m truly at a loss for words here.  What this “guy/thing” had to do with beef jerky was, and still is, beyond me.  But tourists seemed to love having their picture taken with him/it.
To each his own.

Thursday nights in my building are BBQ nights in the summer. They set up a grill and a buffet on the roof and everyone goes up there to eat and hang out with each other.

A storm came rolling in later that night.  But it was still beautiful. At least to me.  And it was a very brief storm.

Last Saturday our church had a picnic in the Park.  It was a beautiful day for a picnic.
And …… bonus news …… Daughter #3’s boyfriend’s parents were visiting that weekend and they went to the picnic.  So I had the pleasure of meeting them.  They were very nice and I enjoyed meeting and talking with them.  🙂

I had to leave the picnic to attend our Soaring Spirits NY regional group meeting, which was at the Central Park zoo.  It’s a very small, but decent, zoo.
You have to look closely here, but this is a female peacock, sitting on her nest, which holds one pretty large egg.

This is the male peacock, hanging out in an adjacent tree.

And this was a pretty cool sight:  a young-ish leopard hanging out right up against the fenced enclosure so that we could all get great pictures!

The next day my friend Jeni and I went to see the play that won the Tony for Best Play …… AND for Best Actor in a Play. It was “All the Way” with Brian Cranston.
And I have to tell you that he was excellent. He deserved that Tony 100%. If you’re in NY, or going to be in NY in the near future, try your hardest to see this play. You won’t regret it.
I promise.

On Monday Jeni and I went with another friend to Christie’s Auction House to see all of the wonderful items that were going to be auctioned off two days later from the Clark family.
Our book club had read the book, “Empty Mansions”, and met the author so we were very interested in seeing all of the things that we had read about.
It was an amazing experience.
So amazing that we decided to attend the auction on Wednesday, before we had to leave for our next book club meeting, which was being held out on Long Island.

And just in case you’re wondering …… that violin? It’s a Stradivarius. We were hugely blessed to hear it being played by a man who just asked if he could try it.
Amazingly beautiful.

This picture is entitled “Girl Fishing”.
It sold for 3.4 million dollars.
Seriously.
Holy Cow!!! 🙂

These were our paddles. Which we were able to keep out of sight.
Thankfully. 🙂

On Tuesday I gave in and decided to go see “Rocky”. And though I really didn’t care for it overall (the songs were way to hokey and who hasn’t seen the movie??), I really did enjoy the staging, especially the last 20 minutes when they took everyone who was in the center orchestra, rows 1 through 7 or 8, and led them onstage to sit in bleacher seats, facing the boxing ring and the audience. It was very cool. And THEN, the stage moved forward, where it ended up on top of those first 7 or 8 rows. The audience on the side rows were encouraged to get up and stand next to the boxing ring, so that it looked like a real boxing match.
It was very innovative and I was glad that I went to see it, just for that (and extra glad that I received an email that gave me a pretty large discount).

These are pictures from the very lovely home of our book club hostess in Long Island:

These pictures are of the sun set this past Thursday night …… from our rooftop:

It was a very nice evening. The days before had been very hot and humid and then yesterday those hot temps were swept out of here and it’s been oh, so very, very delightful.

Daughter #2 flew into town last night.  Yay!
Daughter #3 flew out of town this morning.  Boo.
She’s in a wedding tomorrow in Florida and will be back Sunday morning.  I’m taking both of them to see “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” Sunday.  And I’m just as excited as they are …… even though I’ve already seen it.  I’m thrilled to be seeing it again, and am excited for the two of them.  I know they’ll love it.

Today D#2 and I went down to Chelsea and enjoyed the Chelsea Market, and then we walked the High Line.  It was a beautiful day with perfect weather for walking around the city.
And so we did.

Tonight we experienced “The Ride”, which is a bus that has its seats stadium style and facing an entire wall (and ceiling) of windows, through which to look out at the sights (and sounds) of New York City.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

If you’re still with me, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the narrative. Thanks for hanging with me.
Tomorrow we’re joining some friends to experience karaoke and then going to a show tomorrow night.
It’s going to be another full, and very fun, day.

Happy Friday/Saturday, Peeps.
🙂