Flea Marketing

Hello, friends.

I'm not a frequent visitor to flea markets but last weekend we went to one with Leo and Andi.  This huge flea market takes place a number of times during the year on an airfield in Stormville, New York.  It's about an hour and a half north of me so it's not too far.  Due to the large crowd it draws, Leo suggested we get there early.  So, we got up very early at 5:15 am and were out the door by 6 am.  We picked up Caterina and then continued upstate.  We broke up the drive by meeting Andi and Leo at their house about an hour north and then we followed them to Stormville.

The flea market is divided into sections and it even has a food court.  One can find almost anything  as there are vendors selling a variety of things.  We saw booths selling all sorts of things like antiques, furniture, socks, clothing, leather goods including bikers' gear, coffee, bird feeders, lawn ornaments, plants and veggies, incense, hair care products, kitchen supplies and lots of other stuff.  There was even a guy selling insect eating pitcher plants.

It was chilly but sunny day.  There was a good breeze too which warranted jackets.  I even wore a pair of knit gloves but it felt good to be outside walking around.

Here are Andi and Leo.   They were kind to bring bagels and juice for breakfast which we enjoyed once we got there.

I had Jim stand on the picnic table bench and take a few shots in either direction.  This was taken around 9 am so there weren't too many people there yet.  When we left it was packed and the car line to get in the entrance was backed up for miles in both directions.   It was a good thing we listened to Leo and got there early. 

This was the view to the left of where we sat to eat breakfast.

The vehicles you see belong to the vendors.

My mother-in-law and her boyfriend were vendors, too.  He makes wooden lawn ornaments and other cute things.  Thank goodness I had their spot number which made it easier to find them.

  Here are Logan, Jim and Caterina.

I bought a few things that day.  I found a vendor selling trimmings for a dollar so I bought some cute little fabric flowers and embellies that I can scrap or even use in my Project Life layouts.  I also bought some ribbon.  My favorite find of the day was a pretty blue bird feeder that now hangs from a shepherd's hook outside my house. 

After we left the flea market, we went back to their house where we had a great lunch.  After Leo did the fish rubbing that I mentioned in the previous blog post, he, Jim and the kids went fishing while Andi and I enjoyed some girl time.

When we finally got home that evening, I saw a couple of flies buzzing around my trash cans.  I made the joke that we should have bought that pitcher plant. 

It was a long day but as always, whenever we are with Leo and Andi, we have a great time.

Thanks for reading.  Here's hoping you find some bargains of your own.  

Fish Rubbing

Ever hear of it?  I'm a big time crafter and I hadn't heard of it either but it's pretty cool. 

We were visiting with our good friends, Leo and Andi, on Sunday when Leo decided to do some fish rubbing with the kids.

Leo pinned a real fish down on a board and then painted it different colors.

 He then laid a t-shirt over the painted fish and gently rubbed the paint into the shirt.  Here you can see Leo rubbing the shirt as Logan looks on.

 And here is what the finished product looked like. 

 

  Caterina took her turn painting the fish with her choice of colors. 

  And her finished product.

Once your fish print is on, all you have to do is turn the shirt inside out and iron it to heat set the paint.

Very cool craft, Leo!  Thanks for teaching me something new and for the shirts for the kids.

Memorial Day at the Rockaway Beach

After a week of rainy, damp weather, Memorial Day happily brought blue skies and warmer temps.  Unfortunately, it also brought some serious wind.

We were all eager to enjoy some pleasant weather and being that Memorial Day marks the opening of our local beaches, we decided to put that brand new wetsuit our neighbor, Dave, bought Logan to use.  Dave had mentioned he was going to go to the beach so we joined him.

Upon arrival at the beach, the damage created by Superstorm Sandy was apparent.  Many of the houses across from the beach had major damage.  The most stunning site, though, was the missing boardwalk.  I had trouble processing the boardwalk was actually gone.

These are the supports for the boardwalk.   For as far as I could see, there was no boardwalk in either direction.  This is the view to the left of where I was standing at Beach 91st Street.

 

This is the view to the right.  I was also surprised by how high the sand was under the supports.

 

I was saddened to see such damage but there was hope to be seen too as I saw stacks of wooden planks which means they are going to start rebuilding the boardwalk. 

Once we got settled on the sand, Dave and Logan took a walk to see the newly built comfort station.  I caught this picture of them as they were on the way back. 

Logan decided to try the new wetsuit and go surfing.  The water temp was only in the 50's but he was determined.  Jim helped him into the suit.  It was hilarious to watch them trying to get it on.  You can tell from Logan's face, they were working hard.  

Once it was on, however, he looked like a surfer dude with his board in hand.   He was happy to have it on because it kept him warm from the blowing wind.   About that time, I was wishing I had a wet suit, too, because I was freezing.  

I love this shot of him.  The wind had the zipper pull behind him flying.

Here he is waiting to catch a wave. 

Paddling.

Getting up.

He enjoyed surfing but it was just too cold from the wind so we decided to call it a day.  I was so glad as the two towels I had wrapped around me weren't providing much warmth or protection from the wind.  We packed up and headed back to the car.

I'm looking forward to going back later in the summer to see what progress has been made in rebuilding the boardwalk.

Intersection Pictures

Ok, so you read the story of how the timing of the traffic light was changed due to my request.  I thought I'd show you the intersection.  I should have included pictures in my previous post but I kept forgetting to take my camera with me.

Logan and Caterina had an early review class today for a chemistry test they are going to take tomorrow.  (We'll be up early tomorrow again so they can go to another review class.  Ugh!) Happily, I remembered to bring my camera as we were leaving the house today.  I took these pictures while we were waiting at the light.

This is at 6:30 in the morning which accounts for the lack of life in this picture except for those two  pedestrians. Trust me, an hour and something later which is when we usually go through that intersection, the picture will look quite different.  There will be double parked trucks of all sorts, from sanitation to tractor trailers, on either side of the street because their drivers have left them to get their breakfast and coffee from that coffee shop on the left just after the Just Tints car detailing shop with the blue awning.  Traffic will be backed up for blocks because of the light and the bottle neck created by the trucks.   

This is the view coming from the opposite direction after I dropped off Logan and Caterina at school.  That side will also be bottled necked because of the coffee shop on that side, again, just after the auto body place on the left.  You can see 2 trucks already double parked there on either side of the street creating that bottle neck. 

While things are better now since the timing change, traffic will never flow perfectly smoothly there unless they stop the trucks from double parking.  However, those hard working men need their coffee to make this city run so we will continue going around them.  Nonetheless, I'm happy because that timing change shaved extra minutes off my commute and in this city, that's a good thing!

Here's hoping your commute is a good one. 

One voice...

or in this case, one email, can bring about a change, even in a city as big and dynamic as New York City.  It comes as a huge and pleasant surprise to me as well that a simple request submitted online to a city agency could not only be acknowledged but then fulfilled in a relatively short time frame. 

No doubt you're wondering to what am I referring.  Well, every day I travel the same route to take Logan to and from school and to generally get around in my neighborhood.  After years of experience, I've determined it's the best route due to it having the fewest traffic lights.  If you know anything about NYC, there's a light on nearly every single corner.  It can take 20 minutes to go just a few blocks because of all the lights.  My tried and true route has worked for years but in recent months, one particular traffic light has been messing up a carefully mapped out travel plan designed to get me where I need to go in the shortest time. 

This traffic light was causing a back up blocks long and it would take 4 or 5 changes for one to actually get through that intersection.  The light was longer on the north/south street and shorter on the east/west street and this was a problem because the east/west street has by far the higher traffic volume.

So one day last January after sitting at that light way too long and way too many times, once I got home I went online to the Department of Transportation's website.  After a bit of searching I discovered I could request a traffic study on that light.  At the time, I wasn't even sure such a thing could be done.  I just knew I'd wasted enough time at that darn light.  I submitted the traffic study request and this is the response I received...

Thank you for your email concerning the timing of the traffic signals on Steinway Street and 20^th Avenue  in Queens .

Signal timing cycle lengths usually fall between 45 and 120 seconds. The timing for each signal is determined based on traffic volume and traffic patterns in each particular area. Our Signal Engineering Division will conduct an analysis of the signal timing to determine if the signals are operating properly with adequate amount of time allocated for safe crossing of pedestrians.

The careful consideration of all relevant information is necessary to reach a solution that will be in the best interests of public safety as well as allowing for well managed street operations. The Borough Commissioner will inform you of our findings and recommendations by end of March 2013 .

Information about traffic signals is available on the DOT web site at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/faqs/faqs_signals.shtml.

The safety of our residents is of primary concern to the NYCDOT.  Please be assured that we will fully investigate this matter.  Your participation in transportation issues which affect your community is greatly appreciated.

Customer Service Division

New York City Department of Transportation

Ok, so after reading that, I didn't really expect anything to happen.  After all, this is New York City, a city of millions of people and nearly 12,000 traffic lights.  So imagine my surprise when the following emailed attachment came.

This is in response to January 10^th e-mail to the 311 Customer Service Center regarding the operation of the traffic signals at the intersection of Steinway Street and 20^th Avenue.

 

As a result of our investigation completed last month, we have modified the timing of the signals at this location (and adjacent intersections) to improve coordination.  We believe this change will alleviate the problem outlined in the e-mail.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

 Sincerely,

Dalila Hall 

Deputy Borough Commissioner 

Can you believe it?  Isn't that something else?  I'm very happy to report traffic is moving much better at that intersection.  Good job New York City!

 

Winter Woes

I guess my asking Mother Nature to keep winter away fell on deaf ears because we've got another snow storm in full swing right now.  It started as sleet earlier tonight but now we've got big flakes and it's sticking.

It's hard enough hobbling around on crutches and a walking boot in good weather.   This snow is just making things harder.  I need spring and a new ankle. 

On a happy note, I saw carts of pretty, colorful flowering plants outside the supermarket today.

Spring can't be far away if they've got the plants out for sale, right?  Until then, I'll keep singing the song........snow, snow go away.

Snow, snow go away...

come again another day.   Oh and dear Mother Nature, would you please make that day many months from now.  Looks like winter just doesn't want to let go of her grips on us.  Here we are March 16 and it's snowing right now. 

I'm so ready for spring.  It's been a long, cold and snowy winter.  I want to go flower shopping at the nursery and replant them in my flower boxes that will grace my porch.  I want to buy a couple of lovely hanging plants to hang from my awning, perhaps a Million Bells plant or two.  I just love this plant with all its happy little blooms.

 Here's hoping wherever you are, spring is springing up all around you.  

 

Good and Bad from Sandy

As you know, a monster storm hit the Eastern seaboard last week.  The devastation is nothing short of staggering.  I'm still reeling from the pictures of the destruction.   Many are dealing with complete loss of everything they owned and worked for their whole lives.  Others are still dealing with on-going power outages.  There are many in my office who still do not have power. 

We were very fortunate in that we didn't sustain any damage other than 2 downed trees on our block one of which can be seen here.  This tree missed Jim's car by 6 feet.  We never lost power although our lights flickered for hours threatening to go out. 

The next two pictures are of my neighbors clearing a tree off of Dave's (in the blue jacket) car.  If you read my blog regularly, you'll remember Dave is the wonderfully generous man who bought my son a surfboard recently.  Logan and I helped for 2 hours to bag up all the branches while 2 other neighbors sawed the tree down into manageable pieces.  It was windy and rainy at times but through teamwork we got the tree all cleaned up.  The amazing thing about this was other than a broken antenna, Dave's car was undamaged.  And another amazing thing is those 2 men don't speak English yet we all came together to help Dave when he needed it.  I thought that was very cool.

 The below picture is from a downed tree 4 blocks from my house.  This scene is repeated everywhere around here.

While some things are returning to normal like mass transit, there is still a major gas shortage here.  Jim waited on line 3 1/2 hrs yesterday only to purchase $40 worth of gas.  Later in the evening we stopped at another gas station and got on a many blocks long line.  Thankfully, we waited only 20 minutes before the gas station closed due to being out of gas.

We live across the street from a college.  We learned parts of the college are being used as relief centers and 500 refugees from the hard hit Rockaway Beach communities are being housed there in the college's 2 gyms.  I gathered 10 bags of clothing from my house and made a donation yesterday.  I also collected stuff from friends of mine like Loretta (Eddie's mom - Eddie is a friend of Logan's) who donated an unbelievable number of 20 different coats and lots of baby stuff including the car seat below.   Loretta also collected stuff from her neighbors.  This is some of what I dropped off yesterday.

When we entered the college yesterday, I was touched to see so many cars lined up to drop off their donations.  I saw people giving diapers, strollers, food, clothing, all sorts of much needed items.  Below you can see cases of donated beverages stacked up. 

Here you can see the backs of Logan and Jim as they brought our donation up to be collected.

The lady talking to the man in the orange vest is Neeta.  She is Raja's mom.  Some of you will remember Raja who is one of Logan's best friends.  The relief worker was telling Neeta of their dire need for shoes, ice and refrigeration.  When I left her she was going to buy a refrigerator to donate.  She'd already given a van full of stuff.  

There is such suffering going on in the aftermath of this horrible storm.  So many have lost so much; it's unimaginable.

But yesterday, as I stood there looking around while Jim and Logan unloaded the car, I also saw something good.  I saw lots of people, total strangers in fact, coming to the aide of those in dire need.

To put it simply, it choked me up.  It still chokes me up.  Thank you New York!

3 Cheers for the Teacher!

Hi, everyone.

I have some great news that I'd like to share.  Drumroll, please....

Tomorrow afternoon I will be conducting a product demo at Michael's and will soon be teaching scrapbooking classes there.  Yippee!

I'm all excited and nervous at the same time.

So if you're in the neighborhood of the Rego Park Michael's on Metropolitan Avenue, come on down.  I'll be there at noon!

Wish me luck!!!!!!!

Comic Con 2012 - Picture Heavy Post

Jim, Logan, Eddie, Raja and Caterina went to this year's Comic Con at the Javits Center last Saturday.  It was a much anticipated event for them, especially Jim. 

Here is a picture showing just some of the people that were there.  The picture below shows just the entrance corridor. Talk about a sea of people.  No wonder it took them 2 hours to find each other once they got separated.  Caterina who writes for the school newspaper spent most of the day downstairs on the lower level interviewing stars from TV shows like Haven and other celebrities.

Next we have some "good" characters.

 Green Arrow

 Ironman and Hulk.  Yes, there is a body in that green costume!!!

 Captain America.  (I'm not sure who the black and yellow girl is.)

 Aquaman.  He's looking mighty regal isn't he? 

Then we have the villians.

Catwoman and Bain

 Harley Quinn

 Poison Ivy posing with Batman and Robin

 Venom.  Spidey was there too somewhere.  In fact, a friend of mine saw him on the subway train that day. 

 Darth Maul

 I have no clue who these two are but with horns like that, he can't be a good guy.  LOL

Then, of course, there were the zombies.  I heard there was a "Walking Dead" parade in the afternoon.

Next up...I don't know who they are supposed to be but they obviously spent time on their costumes.

Naturally, there just had to be Playboy Playmates there.

Not sure why her face is covered but those contact lenses are cool!

Take a guess who this guy is.  Betcha won't get it!  Well, maybe the "golden ticket" will give it away.  That's Peter Ostrum from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 

Let's not forget the pro wrestlers.

And in all this, my husband was to be found grinning from ear to ear with some Storm Troopers.

They all had a great time and are already looking forward to next years' convention.