New York, New York

Although we made a quick trip in September for the Yankee's game, our real New York trip was planned for December with Norma & Bob.  We had a great time, eating, shopping and walking our way across Manhattan!

We left on Thursday and it was a beautiful day.  Approaching LaGuardia ...



Lower Manhattan with the Statue of Liberty Looking Very Small

Lower Manhattan with the Liberty Tower Rising Over the Crowd

Once we dropped our bags at the Palace, we headed for the deli and hot pastrami sandwiches before checking out the Museum of the City of New York on the upper west side.  Interesting film on the City's history - check it out if you're in town.  Of course, we hit Chin Chin for dinner - grand mariner shrimp - followed by a very COLD visit to Rock Center and a look at the tree.

2013 Christmas Tree in Front of Rock Center

Nan & Jerry Under the Tree

Norma & Bob Under the Tree

Pretty Lights and LOTS of Them!

Friday morning we were up early for a short-lived visit to the Today Show on the plaza.  It was amazingly cold, so we didn't last long!  Friday was a day of shopping from Elaine Turner on 82nd Street all the way back to the Palace on 50th.

Lunch at Via Quadranno was delicious and entertaining because we saw Steve Martin.  He was seated alone, just across the aisle from us, enjoying a bowl of soup.  This is a local place and we all had the good manners NOT to bother him, but it was kind of funny when he donned a fur hat and sunglasses before heading out onto the street.  You wouldn't have recognized him with that get-up!

This is one of my favorites sights in New York ... the beautiful tree in front of our hotel.

2013 Palace Tree

Friday night we saw Steve Tyrell at the Café Carlyle.  Good food and great show.  Sorry, no photos.  It didn't seem like a good idea, although I probably could have gotten away with it.

The forecast for Saturday was 3 to 5 inches of snow in the City and, as we arrived at Balthazar for breakfast, it started coming down.

Jerry & Bob in the SoHo Snow

It was interesting because the "early flakes" were perfectly formed and held their shape for many seconds before melting on our gloves and coats.  This is a terrible photo, but they were so beautiful.  As the snow event progressed, they were just messy flakes - I don't know what makes them more like crystals than blobs, but I'm glad we got to see them.

Poor Photo of Perfect Snow Flakes!

We shopped around SoHo and hit the ABC Home store.  Jerry and I popped over to Union Square Park while Norma and Bob were making our arrangements to tour Ground Zero the next morning.

Entrance to Union Square Park

Very Cold Squirrel Sitting at Base of Tree in Snow

Me, with Snow Building Up on My Hat & Scarf

I know that most folks don't like snow, but I LOVE New York in the snow and it brought back some fun memories of Chase trips - particularly the December Angelia, Angela & Brie got snowed in and had to stay over with Jerry and me because the airport was shut down.

View from Our Room - St. Patrick's Cathedral with a Dusting of Snow

We had important dinner plans for Saturday night and had to bring in "the Russian" to drive us to Gotham Bar & Grill in the Village.  We had a lovely dinner ...



Dinner at Gotham
(with a serious case of "hat hair"!)

This looks like an antique Christmas card, but it's the beautiful scene in the courtyard of the Palace Hotel on Saturday evening.

2013 Palace Tree - Facing Madison

Palace Tree with Villard Mansion & St. Pat's

Sunday morning was clear and COLD, with icy rain beating back much of the snow over night.  We headed to Ground Zero to pay tribute and our experience was a good one - due to Norma and Bob's efforts the day before.  After waiting in line, we passed security and soon were walking around the site.

I don't know what the architects had in mind, but seeing the memorials I felt that the double waterfall represented the collapsing of the buildings.  There are two fountains - one for each tower - and the names of those lost are shown around the perimeter.

Liberty Tower

9/11 Museum Construction

Names

North Tower Double Fountain

Leaving Ground Zero, we headed to the Trinity Church - always a beautiful sight.

Trinity Church

Graves Covered in Snow

Trinity Church Tower

And here is where I spend a lot of time ... Chase Manhattan Plaza between 1CMP and 2CMP!

Chase Manhattan Plaza w/2CMP

Walking and New York go hand-in-hand and we really put in the miles.  As our trip was coming to a close, we had to get in a little more upper east side shopping and no trip to New York would be complete without hitting the sales at Bloomingdale's!



Bloomingdale's Window - France

Bloomingdale's Window - Great Britain

Bloomingdale's Window - Italy

Bloomingdale's Window - New York City

Loved this bear workshop in one of the buildings.

Working Bears!

CLASSIC Christmas decorations ... Cartier panthers climbing the building of their Madison Ave store.  I'd love to have one of those panthers for our balcony at home!

Cartier Panthers

Last look around the City

St. Bart's on Park Ave.



Christmas Trees Along Park



Me at Rock Center w/Today Studios as Background

Go Yankees!

Farewell New York ... until next time.

Rest in Peace, Lefty

Lefty
Aug/Sept - Dec 4, 2013

I'm backdating this post, as things were too sad and hectic the day he was killed.  I don't want to dwell on his death, but when I went out to fill the feeder the morning of December 4th, I found him in the street.  He had made a nest of his own in a tree several houses down from ours and that's where he was hit and killed.  The driver can answer for their behavior - speeding and leaving an animal dead in the road - when their time comes.  He's buried in a pretty purple Christmas gift bag in the front flowerbed, where he first joined our menagerie.  I miss seeing him in the feeder holding his food with his elbow and one good paw and I miss him chattering at me when I stood by to let him eat his fill before the older squirrels took over.  Godspeed Lefty.

The Inn at Dos Brisas

We had a great time at the Inn at Dos Brisas with the executive team of Jerry's bank.  They needed to have an off-site strategy session and we all wanted to go out to Chappel Hill and stay at Dos Brisas, so we combined the two for a fun 24 hours ... wish we could have stayed longer.

 

We arrived and had a nice lunch in the dining room, then "the girls" hung out on the patio until check-in time while "the guys" were in a meeting.

 

Restaurant, Bar & Meeting Space

Jerry, Mark, Nan, Andy, Brenda, Joe, Mary & Deborah
(Poor Photo by Waiter)



Around 3pm we were able to check-in to our individual haciendas ...

 

Hacienda B

 

as you can see, we were really roughin' it in the country!

 

Looking into Living Room w/Fireplace from Entry

Living Room - Looking Back Towards Front Door

Huge Bedroom Overlooking Private Pool

WITH Fireplace!

Spectacular Bath ... and This is Only Half of It!

Moving outdoors ...

 

Outdoor Shower

Private Pool

View from Out Back

 

Cats would LOVE this huge screened in porch with "hanging bed"

 

Screened-In Porch

We had a lovely dinner, followed by a valiant attempt at a campfire ... the wood was too wet and I checked out earlier than those who actually saw it glowing!

 

Woke up early Saturday morning to watch a spectacular sunrise, then headed out on a long run to the entrance gates and back ... LOTS of hills!

 

 

 

Beautiful scenery on my run ...

 

The Road Less Traveled

Sunrise Over a Beautiful, Friendly Horse

Scarecrow Guarding One of the Many Gardens

Eating Breakfast

 

Each guest receives one activity per day - could be horses, skeet shooting, organic farm tour, wine discussion, etc. We had several guests not participating, so O.K. Estes (local horse expert) put on a Cutting Horse Demo in the arena and afterwards Jerry and I rode for about an hour with one of the staff members. 

 

This Horse Barn is Awesome!

Rolling Hills & Horse Pastures

 

Once the horses were back in the barn, we headed over to watch the Skeet Shooting.

 

Andy Lane was Shooting Clay Like an Expert

Brenda's First Time Skeet Shooting was a Success
(she did confess that her eyes were closed on a few shots)

Joe Stubbs Closed Out the Activity Shooting Lots of Clay

 

It was a short trip, but we had a good time and they actually got a lot of work done on Friday afternoon.  We're ready to go back and stay longer ...



Yours Truly - Tail Gunner

Yesterday, I woke up to an email from a gentleman in California thanking me for my December, 2011 blog post titled Heroes and Regular People.  More specifically, he was grateful for the photos of  Dad's WWII unit pictured with "Little Mike", their B-29 super fortress.  The reason?  His father passed away in July and just one week ago was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

After studying these photos, he was sure that his father was pictured with Little Mike - top row, third from the right:

Little Mike and Crew - 1942
Dad is front row far left

Seeking confirmation, I pulled out Dad's military file and tried again to read the names written 70 years ago on the back of the picture with the guys on an unknown flight line. 

Ice cold flight line - Dad is far right

The ink was just too old and faded, so I scanned the image and worked in Photoshop to enhance the writing so that I might be able to ferret out the names.

Enhanced scan of the back of the flight line photo

Dad's notes on the back of the tarmac photo said it was taken after a high-altitude flight where the temperature was 32 below.  After listing the men in order from left to right, he makes reference to "the man in the back" and there are several lines that I just can't make out.

 

Maj (Herman F.) Smith - Pilot

Lt (Daniel) Teelin - Copilot

Lt (Richard C., Jr.) Blanton - Bombardier

Lt (Gordon M., Jr.) Gibbs - Navigator

Don (Donald T.) Burner - Right Gunner

Bob (Robert W., Jr.) Walker - Top Gunner

Oscar Knapp - Left Gunner

Yours Truly - Tail Gunner

 

Those words leapt off the screen.  I knew it was Dad at the end of the line in the photo, but seeing his writing and the "Yours Truly" was just SO Dad.  Not the sick, frail dad ... but our younger Dad - with a sense of humor.

Capt. Manuel F. Iglesias - lead crew radar officer for the 444th Bombing Group, assigned to the 677th Bomb Squadron - was not on the list. Disappointing, but since only eight of the original eleven were in this photo I forged on with my research.

And then on the second page of a "restricted document", dated August 3, 1945, titled Central Burma Campaign Credit, I found the connection.  Stunning.

Central Burma Campaign Credit Roster
Page 1

Central Burma Campaign Credit Roster
Page 2

Central Burma Campaign Credit Roster
Page 3

Not only did Manuel Iglesias fly with Dad, I believe that they were friends given the red "tick marks" Dad made on this roster ... he was checking off the names of his team.

I did have one more photo of the group, so I repaired it and want to share it here in their honor.  When I have time, I'll compare the flight line photo with the other photos and attempt to identify the men by name.

Another photo of the 444th Bombing Group - 677th Bomb Squadron

In looking back at that 2011 blog post, someone posted a reply (that I didn't see until yesterday) and I need to follow up on that link to the past. I believe that there is (or was) a mechanic in Tennessee who was responsible for maintaining Little Mike and was stationed with Dad's crew in the "Burma Theatre".

The Lord does work in mysterious ways and I think it's fascinating that a blog post led to a connection with a WWII soldier and provided his family with photos they had never seen.  If there had been a way to make this connection in the last years of his life, I know that Dad would have loved the opportunity to spend a few minutes on the phone with Capt. Iglesias.

I believe they're catching up now.