He Said, She Said

The pictures for this day are not in order, but I guess that doesn't really matter.  I spent some time at the library on 5th and 42 Street.  It's a beautiful building, inside and out.

 I walked in the park and passed by this pair of shoes with no owner in sight.  I looked around for a barefoot man but never saw him.  I can't explain it.

One of the many park bridges

When I first saw these geese in the water, I thought they were meekats.  I knew that was crazy and then as I got a little closer I saw they were geese.  I like the reflection of Mt Sinai and the new research center they are building.

One of the coolest things ever happened as I was heading back to the apartment.  There is a big turtle pond near the Great Lawn.  I have seen turtles on logs out in the pond.  Two park workers were bent over looking at something right beside the walkway as I passed by, and one of the guys had his cell phone out taking a picture.  I stopped and walked back and saw it was a turtle laying her eggs.  She had already laid one and I watched her lay three.  It was pretty amazing.

There was a big storm today with very loud thunder and lots of rain.  This is just after one of the downpours...St Patrick's Cathdreal.

I stopped in a souvenir shop just to take a picture like this.  I was hoping to find a collection of green Statues of Liberty but they had just a few of those.  I like how they look all bunched up together.

Overheard

While walking around the city, I have overheard all kinds of conversations.  What makes it really interesting and curious is that I hear just bits and pieces, never the whole thing.  I started making a list of all the little pieces I have heard that made me either laugh or wonder what was going on.

"And her toes like went OVER the edge of her sandals!" A young woman alone, walking in Central Park, talking on her cell phone, completely disgusted.  I was glad I had on tennis shoes.

     

While on a walk in the park, a little boy posed a question to his dad (I didn't hear the question) and the dad responded, "I like to listen to the birds WITHOUT the violin playing!"

"It's all good.  Just trying' to make it happen." A young guy passing me on the sidewalk

Walking along Madison Avenue, we heard this from a very Russian-looking man dressed in a white shirt and gray slacks.  "In the Cold War they had a reason...."

A group of teenagers, mainly girls, was walking up 5th Avenue.  They looked like they were in the city on a school trip.  One of the guys was overheard saying, "I'm not really a 5th Ave kind of guy but...."  I had a feeling that to hang with that group of girls, he was going to have to make quite a few more concessions.

On the subway, one guy speaking to another sitting across from him, "You know the funny thing is if I get that money, I don't even know what I'm going to do with it."

At the Hell's Kitchen Flea Mkt, two women were eating their lunches under an umbrella beside their booth while visiting with a guy who was working the booth next to them.  There was lots of laughter when I overheard one of the women say, "You got too many women.  You said you got too many women."  Quickly the guy said, "I don't got too many women.  I lied."  The peals of laughter could be heard all over the flea market!

Overheard at a coffee shop:  "I thought his girls were in school in Switzerland."

When kids are around, there's always something funny overheard.  I loved listening to the children as much as watching the big polar bear at the Central Park Zoo.  One little boy standing with his mom and dad and watching the bear swim back and forth said, "He swims just like you Dad!"

And a little girl asked her mom for some food to feed the polar bear.  The mom told her no, that they couldn't feed the bear and then the dad, in perfect dad form, says, "YOU are the polar bear's food!"  Sweet dreams!

And in the increasingly competitive world of NYC elite preschools, there's the mom at the zoo who was trying to give her kid a leg up (I guess).  While changing her baby (probably 18 months old), she said, "Do you think the sea lion knows opera?  You will have to teach him!"

I suppose some jobs in the city are totally boring as exemplified by the Clyde's Pharmacy doorman.  He said to a couple of the clerks as I was walking in, "Oh, we forgot to add to our list of dictators the guy in Syria, Assad."

And an admission from a man I thought I would never hear in NYC, "I was sure I was right but I wasn't smart enough to argue with him about it."  (Said to a woman!)


In a gallery of modern design highlights at The Met, a mom and her roughly 10-year-old son had this exchange: 
Son:  THAT'S JUST A CHAIR!
Mom:  [In a lower voice] It's modern art.
Son:  WELL MODERN ART IS LAME.
Mom:  Ssshhhhhhhh