A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (only I wouldn't know that for sure, cause' I didn't get to Brooklyn. But I did see the bridge.)

A Tree Lined Street!

Dave spent a fair amount of time laughing at me because I kept exclaiming that very sentence while we walked all over The Village.  It seems kind of silly because I do happen to live in the mountains, which are surrounded by protected national forest, and I happen to care take some trees on my property (I don't figure I own them, not really) but there's something more quaint about seeing these sweet tree-lined streets with all the brownstones and beauty.

LeSigh.

Do you hear that City Of Prescott?!

Can I have a new tree to replace the one you ripped out in front of the shop 5 years ago?!

Please?

Actually, I walked around a lot in The Village kind of amazed at the amount of decorations and flowers and pumpkins that were all around.  Not only in front of the many shops, but in front of the brownstones as well.  There they were in all their glory, with no one touching them.

Wha?

You may not know about the battle of the planters/flowerpots I have had in front of Snap! Snap!, but finally gave up after having them stolen from in front of the shop, having the flowers ripped out and trailed down the street, people urinating and leaving their beer bottles and cigarette butts in them, having one of them picked up and thrown through a car window (apparently the continuation of a bar fight) and the last straw? Coming to work and finding them kicked apart while a homeless man who used to stop by and say hi and tell me how much he appreciated seeing my flowers, stood there with my shredded flowers in little containers he found at the thrift because he felt so bad (after cleaning up the entire mess with a borrowed broom from next door, all before I got to work because he knew how much I loved the flowers and he didn't want me to see this latest horror...such a sweet man.  Seriously.)  I walked by all this beauty and flowers in The Village, in the middle of Manhattan and I marveled at the beauty all around me that people chose to leave there totally intact so everyone could enjoy it.  I have no idea why people aren't vandallizing these things in a big city and why they are in our small town...but it did make me stop and wonder.

I'd love to hear your theories on the matter though...

Here is one of the mighty old fountains in The Village.  Obviously it's no longer working, but Dave said they take great pride in cleaning and restoring it.

I am totally in love with the face above the tile and can only imagine how beautiful it is when it's working.

We did take a little jaunt through Washington Square Park, which is under renovation, so Dave said they've been digging up skulls and other human remains for quite a while now.

Apparently Washington Square Park was a burial ground for mass graves at one point.

It was still very crowded though and can you believe it?  Not one person solicited me for drugs!  Last time I was there it was drug free-for-all where you could have gotten anything you wanted.*  I mean, it was a Drug Market to Washington Square as it is the famous Farmers Market to Union Square.

*I did not take anyone up on their offer of drugs, I just found it mildly amazing coming from a small town and only being 21 and whatnot.

Dave said it was probably because it was 10 am and it was a bit early for the drug dealers to be out and about on a Saturday.

And here's Dina talking on her phone in front of Tinsel Trading Co.

Oh Tinsel Trading Co.

Let me tell you a little story.  My mother had just gotten a book on Tinsel Trading Co. or more specifically, what was in their basement.  Apparently once there was a man who was into some sort of banking in NYC who was the son of a tailor and who loved trims and notions and beautiful things.  I believe he inherited his father's shop and during his lifetime his family never stopped buying notions and trims...even if you had just a bit of something leftover from someone, he would buy it.

Well, they have a shop full of the most delightful trims and notions, and I mean it is overwhelmingly eye-popping in there...and his grand daughter is now in charge of all things Tinsel Trading, and since they recently moved their store, she let a photographer go through their basement snapping shots...which no one had ever done before.

I had a wonderful time poking all around, and honestly could have probably spent hours in there, but as it was I gathered up a bag full of the sweetest little baubles and beauties for my mother.  She was amazed when I texted her where I was and said, "I don't believe it! Is it the REAL one?!"

Yes indeedy it was...right smack dab in the middle of the garment district!

I am so happy that she shared this book with me before I left for NY!

Come to think of it, I think we were looking at this book a month before I even knew I was going.  We're so intuitive in my family...

And here's Dina doing a little high kick at Rockefeller Center's ice rink.

We've already discussed how I chickened out because I was afraid I would fall and break something...and you would not believe the flack that I'm getting from people about this.  To which I have one thing to say...

I invite you to go out to New York and ice skate on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center and tell me how much you enjoyed it.

So there.

Rockefeller Center.

And a final stop in our trip to New York...and a place I've been longing to see since my first trip 19 years ago...the famous Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park donated by George Delacorte (the famous publisher and philanthropist) upon the death of his wife Margarita on what he declared to be the best plot in Central Park.  The giant bronze statue is surrounded by little sayings which you can read for yourself if you follow this link.

As you can see, I shimmied my tush up onto a mushroom and am hanging onto the door mouse and I have to say, I just love this picture about the mostest out of all the pictures of New York.

So, that's about it...our Fabulous New York trip in it's entirety.  I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did...