A Miner Modification

Columbia University

Today we took the bus up to the Columbia University area. I have discovered I love to ride the bus. If you are not in a hurry, it is the best way to go. Not so many people, and you can see all the scenery on your route. The main reason we went to the area was to eat lunch at Five Guys. We had seen it there when we went to St. John the Divine Cathedral, and were craving good french fries. Good french fries have been scarce in NYC. After we ate we walked around the campus. I was surprised that it looks much like a college campus with a quad and everything. It was very cold outside, so we didn't stay too long. Dad didn't remember his camera, so no pictures.

Tonight we have family home evening. A brother Bushman who is a sealer at the temple and a professor at Columbia is going to speak to us. He has written a book about Joseph Smith and has had something to do with compiling the Joseph Smith papers. I'll let you know more later.

What we did on our winter vacation

Our two week vacation while the temple was closed for maintenance went by quickly, and yesterday we started back at the temple. We did many touristy things during the break. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and a museum on the lower east side called the Tenement Museum. The Tenement Museum teaches how many immigrants lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was one of my favorite places we went. While we were down there we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy. We ate dinner in Little Italy.

One day we went to Macy's and bought dad a new suit. We spent another day going to pick it up after alterations. That day we went over to the main NYC public library. There is an exhibit there of many rare or noteworthy books, manuscripts, and items owned by the library. One of note is the original Pooh and his friends that were the toys of the author's son and inspired the writing of the stories. We went to two Broadway plays-War Horse and Mama Mia. The puppets in War Horse were amazing, and Mama Mia had us smiling the whole time.

Some days we just stayed home and watched TV and rested.

Here are a few pictures that Dad took. The first is Washington Crossing the Delaware at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The second is a Picasso at the Museum of Modern Art. The painting Starry Night by Van Gogh is also there, but Dad did not get any good pictures. The third is the entrance to the tenements that we viewed while on tour at the Tenement Museum.

 

 

St. John the Divine

Last Thursday morning we went to an Episcopalian Cathedral located at 110 and Amsterdam. It is close to Columbia University. It was built (or started) in the late 1800's. It has never been finished as they ran out of money. The man who was our tour guide teaches architecture, so he was very interesting to listen to. Although we have seen some beautiful cathedrals in Europe, we learned so much more here, as the tour group was small, and we were able to ask questions.

Today (Monday Jan. 23) we start our two weeks of vacation as the temple is closed for that time for maintenance. We had to go to the temple this morning and work for half a day in cleaning the lockers, and clothing rental area. We hope to make good use of our time. Tomorrow, we are going to go shopping for Dad a new suit. We have tickets to War Horse (the play) and Mama Mia. We plan to go to the MOMA to see the Diego Rivera exhibit. Many museums are not open on Mondays when we have our usual day off.

The first picture is of the cathedral from a statue in the adjacent children's park. The second is of the    window on the side of the building. There are many beautiful stained glass windows. The rose window over the front doors (Dad didn't get a good picture of it.) is 40 feet in diameter. From the floor it looks like it's about 5 feet. Two football fields would fit end to end inside the cathedral.

 

New Years 2012

We had a good New Years and hope you all did too. I would love to hear from each of you about what is going on with you.

The temple was open on Saturday until after the 11:45 session. We had to go in at 8:00 am instead of 1:00 pm as usual, so we really worked a normal day. The only problem with that was we had not gotten home the night before until 11:00 pm because we have to stay and clean the temple after the 8:30 session. It was a short night. Anyway, after we got home we went out to eat with some of the missionaries and then played a card game at 10:00 that night until it was time for midnight. We went up on the roof of our building and watched the fireworks from Central Park. It was a great view as we were directly across from where they exploded. We did not have to look up at all.

Our church now starts at 9:00 am, so it was another short night. We have to leave here at 7:30 to catch the 7:43 train because the next one doesn't come until after 8:00. We only had an hour of church, but we were gone almost 4 hours as we didn't get home until 11:15 am.

This morning we went to breakfast with some missionaries and then to see War Horse. It is a very good movie. We had to go grocery shopping after that along with half of NYC. We went into Trader Joe's and left because the line was so long to check out. I don't care how much you save, I was not going to wait in two check out lines.

Tomorrow it is back to work. We are looking forward to the two week break the end of January. We are going to stay here and play tourists. We will go to some of the places that are not open on Mondays, our normal day off.

We have spent the rest of the day watching football.

As I said, let me know what you are doing.  I get really excited when I get an email from one of you.

Boxing Day Wanderings

It was so good to talk to all of you on Christmas day. We miss you greatly! On the day after Christmas Dad and I took the subway to 34th Street where Macy's is, and then walked over to Fifth Avenue to see the store windows and other sights. It was a long walk, but we saw many interesting things. We walked 34 blocks north plus the east-west blocks. The east-west blocks are much longer than the north-south. We certainly weren't the only people out doing the same thing. By the time we got home the streets were packed with people.Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend Update

Not too much exciting is happening here, but I thought I'd let you know what we have been doing.

On Friday, Dad went to the doctor to get his prescriptions renewed, and the doctor gave him a flu and pneumonia shot. He told Dad that some people had a reaction to the pneumonia shot, and he might run a slight fever. He ran a fever for two days, and his arm was swollen and red. He had to go to the temple on Saturday because he was the coordinator. That night he took some Advil so we could go out to eat with our friends the Zingmarks. We went to a soul food restaurant in Harlem called Amy Ruth's. It was recommended by some people at the temple. The food was delicious. Best fried okra I've ever had. He then was not feeling well on Sunday, so we didn't go to church. It is not safe for me to go to our branch by myself. I felt a bit bad about not teaching Primary, but not that bad.

That night President Garff had the missionaries over to hear a friend of theirs talk about their mission to Hawaii where he taught a class on entrepreneurship at BYU Hawaii.

Monday morning a sister who works at the temple had the sisters come to her house for brunch. She lives just a couple blocks from here in the penthouse of a building that overlooks the Hudson river. Her home is gorgeous-like looking at a magazine, and the food was great.

That evening the apartment building we live in had their Christmas party. They served dinner in the lobby. It was very fancy, but not much room to eat. After that we went to the Garff's to watch The Mormon Tabernacle Choir with David Archuleta for family home evening. (We were so happy to hear yesterday that he has decided to serve a full time mission.)

We have next Saturday off, so are looking forward to a 3 day weekend. I know you are all busy getting ready for Christmas. We will miss you so much. I get choked up just typing it.

Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular

From December 7th, 2011

On Monday we went to Radio City to see the Rockettes Christmas show. It brought back many memories of our dancing daughters. The tap numbers reminded me of the performance by Jenny and Debbie at the ward Christmas party when they were about 16 and 18. They did a tap number with Donna Mannewitz. Our cultural hall has carpet, so Bill Mannewitz had made plywood platforms for each girl to tap on. For some reason, I got the giggles and laughed through the whole number. I still smile when I think about it. The Rockettes did the toy soldier routine that Mandy had done in one of her showcases. All the kick routines reminded me of Katie and all the girls that we enjoyed watching so much. We did not get any pictures as Dad forgot the camera. After the show we went out to eat with our friends the Zingmarks.

We started our new schedule yesterday working the night shift.  We go at 3:00 p.m. and get home around 10:00 p.m. It is going to take some getting used to. Many nights on the day schedule I went to bed by 10:00 p.m. I am really tired this morning, but I'm sure I will get used to it.

Celebrity Sighting

From December 1st, 2011

You can't guess who came to the temple today.  David Archuleta!  Dad and I were the witness couple on the session he went through. He is just as cute in person as he is on TV.

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week was a busy one. The temple was closed on Wednesday. The missionaries went to The Botanical Gardens in the Bronx where we saw a show at the conservatory called the train show, but it was more about the buildings that you see in picture one. This is a replica of the immigration building at Ellis
Island.

These building were made of foam core and then covered in all natural materials such as grass, leaves, bark, and pine cones.

That night we went to the opera. It was Don Giovanni, Mozart's most famous opera. As Dad said when we got home it was 3 1/2 hours of pure torture. There were no sub titles, so it was hard to know what was going on even though, I had read the plot on the internet.

On Thanksgiving Day Dad got up at 5:00 a.m. to help save places for the parade. We had great seats and the weather was great. It was cold, but as soon as the sun came over the trees in the Park, it was perfect. I added two pictures of the many, many balloons for the kids to look at.

Things don't look as professional as on TV, as many of the balloons have been patched and painted over.

We went to the Garff's for dinner. They cooked the turkey, and we all brought the sides. I made rolls, cranberry salad, and a parcel torte.

The temple was open on Friday and Saturday, so it was back to work.

Today was church.

Tomorrow there is an event here in our neighborhood called "Winter's Eve." There will be a tree lighting, singers, and street vendors. I will let you know how it is.

I have a cold and have done something to my foot that makes it hard to walk. Hope it all goes away soon.

First Snow and First Concert

On Saturday October 29, NYC had a record breaking snow storm for the month of October. Central Park got a total of 2.9 inches, but had over 1000 trees that were damaged or destroyed. The leaves were still on the trees, so the weight of the snow broke the branches. Parts of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut got as much as 15 inches. Many people were without electricity for days. There are still homes in Connecticut that are without power today which is Nov. 6.

On Wednesday we had tickets that had been given to us by a temple patron for a concert at Carnegie Hall. It was the orchestra from the Mannes school of music. They played very modern music including Stavinsky's Rite of Spring. In the program notes it said that a riot broke out the first time that piece was played in public because it was such a change from what people were used to. I did not really like any of the music, but the whole experience was interesting. We were able to walk to the hall in less than 15 minutes, and when we got there we could see Times Square. Things here are closer together than you would think.

Today was the NYC marathon. The finish line was in the park at 66th street. As we came home from church we saw many runners that had just finished the race coming down our street. Helmut you should apply for the race next year. You would be able to be home in 5 minutes from the finish line.

Here are a couple pictures Dad took of the snow from our window.