A Chelsea Morning and a Squirrel Afternoon

It has been a cool, foggy, rain filled week here in New York City, definitely more like April weather than May. I had a routine doctor visit this week and went over to his new office in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan, on 7th Avenue.  7th Avenue is also known as "Fashion Avenue" due to its role as a center of the garment and fashion industry and the famed fashion designers who established New York as a world fashion capital.   I passed the Fashion Institute of Technology, at 7th Avenue and 27th Street, which is part of the State University of New York.  It is New York City’s internationally recognized college for design, fashion, art, communications, and business. The Museum at FIT is open to the public and is one of a select group of specialized fashion museums in the world.

Next, I passed the Chelsea Television Studios at 221 West 26th Street (between Seventh and Eighth  Avenues) where the Martha Stewart show is taped.  It can be hard to get tickets to see her show because of the large demand, but I was fortunate to be able to attend a taping a few years ago with a couple of friends. We were there for the segment on Lady M Cake Boutique which featured the Mille Crepes as their signature cake.  It is made of no less than twenty paper-thin handmade crepes layered with ethereal light pastry cream, and then the top is caramelized.  Each audience member was served a slice, and I remember it just melted in my mouth with goodness!  Martha was very nice and stayed after taping to answer audience questions.

I then passed The City Quilter shop at 133 West 25th Street.  This fun shop has over 4,000 patterns of fabric but it specializes in New York City prints!  My daughter and her fiance are wearing reversible aprons that a friend made as part of a bridal shower gift from fabric she bought at The City Quilter. Don't they look cute?

After my doctor visit, I walked east towards the Gramercy/Flatiron neighborhood and Madison Square Park.  I've shown this beautiful little park on my blog many times before, and I never tire of visiting it. One side has a wonderful view of the iconic Flatiron building, and the other side shows the Empire State building in the distance.

All the rain we've been having has made the park grass very thick and green, and some of the park's peripheral border hydrangea bushes were in bloom, along with giant allium plants.

Two years ago I took these photos of the pink hydrangeas that dominate the park, which you can read more about in this post. They have not yet bloomed at this time.

On this park visit, I headed over to the famous Shake Shack.  I had not eaten this morning, because I had a blood test at the doctor, and by 11:30 AM I was famished. Luckily, I arrived before the large midday lunch crowd had formed a long line.

The Shake Shack opened its doors in 2004 and quickly became a neighborhood favorite for locals and tourists alike. Their Shake burger, hot dog and frozen custard have been voted among the best in the city. They are open daily from 11AM till 11PM.  Click on the webcam on their web site to see the current activity around their location.

I had the yummy single Shack Burger and French Fries along with a bottle of water. Everything was so good!  I know I'll never be a skinny fashion model on Fashion Avenue, so I didn't worry about this indulgent brunch.

As I ate a little bird sat across from me as if to keep me company.

Then this furry fellow came down from the tree, right behind the bird, and stared right at me. Obviously, the smell of food was alerting all the park's wildlife that lunch was being served!

Soon birds and squirrels began arriving in droves, looking for dropped or discarded crumbs under the tables.

This squirrel found a piece of French fry and sat at the table next to me to eat it.

He liked his lunch as much as I did!

 (One caveat: I would never advocate throwing human food to wild animals, as I know it isn't good for them and can harm them.  Plus, it can also make them quite aggressive and lose their fear of humans which is not a good thing.)

As I left the park I saw another squirrel sitting on the back of a park bench. He was covered with bits of paper, as he obviously had just emerged from a trash can.

In his hands was a nice cheesy hamburger wrapper which he was thoroughly enjoying! 

 I think if I had to be a squirrel in New York City, I'd like to have my home in a tree in Madison Square Park next to the Shake Shack -- wouldn't you?

Zelda, the Wild Turkey of Manhattan

Look closely at this photograph.  Yes, that creature walking in the middle of Water Street, in downtown Manhattan,  is a wild turkey! 

My husband took these photos with his blackberry phone camera early one morning last week, as he was on his way to work. The wild turkey he captured is the legendary turkey named Zelda, who has been living in Battery Park in New York City since 2003. 

According to a New York Daily News article, the wild turkey was named after Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, because the woman also was found wandering in the park after a nervous breakdown.  The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation web site states that wild turkey populations live in various parks across New York City, including Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan, the Greenbelt in Staten Island, but independent Zelda may be the only one this far south in Manhattan.  Zelda is so famous she even had a segment on All Things Considered on National Public Radio.

Zelda obviously likes the excitement of living downtown. Here she is stopping a bus in its path!  I wonder if she wanted to hop on to catch a sale somewhere?  Hey, Zelda, wait for me!

"B" is for Birds

I am joining Jenny Matlock's fun "Alphabe Thursday" event and the letter for this week is the letter "B"   I know it's not very original, but I couldn't resist sharing some photographs of local birds that I took in the past few weeks.   After looking at my photos I think the letter "B" is also well  represented by the color blue, as the winter skies were uncharacteristically bright the days I took some of the photos.  I was even  able to add a third "B" to this  post as you'll read towards the end.

One afternoon I sighted this group of starlings  resting high up in a tree.  They have a  beautiful iridescent shine about their plumage and are very "chatty," so they are hard to miss.  ( all photos will enlarge when clicked on)

These two young gulls were standing in the water of the Gerritsen Beach inlet.on a very cold day. They stood motionless for so long that I suspected that they were sleeping.

I saw this flock of pigeons in a local park taking turns using a puddle as a birdbath.  If you enlarge the photo you can see the water droplets being flung around as the bird in the water shook the water over his wings,   He's a little blurry but if you look closely to the top left of the puddle in this photo you can also see one of the wild parrots of Brooklyn watching the spectacle!

Mainly sparrows frequent my bird feeder every day.  I even caught one in flight!  They are the most common type of birds that I see in my area, and so prolific in number that they will empty this feeder in a few hours.  I buy bird seed in large quantities to feed the little fellows.

To see some spectacular bird photos drop by Betsy from Tennessee's blog Joyful Reflections  Many different types of birds come to her bird feeders and she often captures beautiful close up photographs of them for her wonderful blog.

If you enjoy watching the birds please join  "The Great Backyard Bird Count"  which is a joint effort by the Cornell  Lab of Ornithology and The Audubon Society that will take place February 12- 15, 2010

Some information from the web site:

"The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii.

Participants count birds anywhere for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period. They tally the highest number of birds of each species seen together at any one time. To report their counts, they fill out an online checklist at the Great Backyard Bird Count web site."

This information is used to determine if the health and well being of native and migratory birds are normal and the effects of disease, cold temperatures and invader species might be having on the bird population.

Just for fun I wanted to mention that I was "grilled" yesterday by Lisa from the blog called "Grandma's Briefs"! Her blog header made me laugh so much when I first saw it! Please click on the blog link to read my interview and say hello to Lisa and read about all her wonderful  grandma experiences.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

Prospect Park is a 585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough. It is a masterpiece of design by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park, in Manhattan. Constructed over a thirty-year period (1865-1895) it contains Brooklyn’s only forest, along with a complex natural water system, rolling meadows, shaded hillsides and many attractions.

There are many interesting statues in the park, this one of Abraham Lincoln, scuplted by Henry Kirke Brown (1814 - 1886), is my favorite. It watches over the Prospect Park Concert Grove area, which contains an impressive array of sculpture busts, including composers Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, and Von Weber, as well as the poet Thomas Moore.

This bust of the great composer Beethoven was sculpted by Henry Baerer in 1894

A poignant World War I monument, sculpted by Augustus Lukeman. It was dedicated in 1921 in memory of soldiers from Brooklyn killed during that war.

This 1905 Beaux Arts structure was inspired by the architecture of a 16th century Venetian library. It was originally used as the park's boathouse but now is the park's Welcome Center and also the first urban-area Audubon Center in the nation!

Part of the beautiful tiled interior of the Audubon Center and some of the exhibits which allow visitors to explore the world of nature.

Pedal boats may be rented, and there are also electric boat rides that can be taken that float along the area called the Lullwater; a placid waterway that meanders through shady woodlands and under historic bridges in the park.

After gliding gently along, you’ll emerge into the wide open vista of the park’s beautiful 60-acre lake.

It is wonderful to sit by the lake in rustic benches such as these and look out to peaceful vistas such as this.........

..........and this!

It will be especially lovely when the trees take on autumn color in another few weeks.

A man was playing a hauntingly beautiful melody on his saxophone in a walkway under an overpass bridge. The acoustics were of concert hall quality!

There are many shady paths to walk along in the park.

A beautifully ornate Victorian flower planter in the park.

This is the Oriental Pavilion, which features a stained-glass cupola and medieval, Hindu-inspired columns. It was damaged in a fire and extensively restored in 1987. Visitors now relax under the shade of its canopy.

The Prospect Park Zoo is within the park and
is operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, known throughout the world for its innovative ways of caring for animals while increasing visitor interaction. It is home to nearly 400 animals of more than 80 species!

The park's carousel was carved in 1912 by Charles Carmel, one of the foremost carousel designers of the time, and restored by the Prospect Park Alliance in 1990.

The carousel features 51 magnificently carved horses, a lion, a giraffe, a deer, and two dragon-pulled chariots. I remember riding it when I was a child, and my children rode it when they were young. I look forward to introducing it to my grandson someday!

Prospect Park is home to over 30,000 trees. Among them are several of New York's oldest and most magnificent specimens. The tree above is a Japanese Red Pine.

Can you spot what was sitting in this tree adjacent to a road that passes through the park?

It was a majestic red tailed hawk! He sat on this limb very steadily for a long time, watching the people who were gathering around to watch him!

He created quite a commotion as children on bicycles, jogger, walkers, the police, and even a firetruck on their way back to their station stopped to see him!

Prospect Park is a wonderful green oasis of beauty in Brooklyn, and truly as worthy of a visit as Central Park! It us surrounded by diverse neighborhoods and enjoyed equally by all. It was also the location of a large portion of the American Revolutionary War's "Battle Of Brooklyn," and I showed many of the significant sites of that battle that are in the park in this series of blog posts.

I am happy to link this post to Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer weekly "Outdoor Wednesday" event. Please visit Susan's blog today to see links to other blogs participating today with wonderful outdoor pleasures.