The Gates

Every now and then you feel pretty lucky to get an opportunity to witness a once in a lifetime event or experience. Last one I can remember was maybe a solar eclipse or the Hale Bopp Comet. Those things don't happen every day and if you prefer to stay inside sitting on the couch you will have missed them forever. Same thing goes for Christos Central Park Gates Project. This has been in the works since I was ten years old! (That's 1979, btw.) For twenty-six years they tried to get this thing going and finally in February 2005 it has been allowed by New York City to exist for only sixteen days. H and I are lucky to live within reach of this work of art and this is where we chose to wander today. Hurry up and come out to see the Gates because before you know it they will be gone forever and you'll sooner see another solar eclipse! It's probably worth mentioning that the "9" train we were on had to skip the 18th street station because of an ongoing police investigation of a MURDER on the platform. As the train drove by we saw all the detectives doing their thing. Gory details left out on this tragic story. Following the train incident we walked east to Second Ave. and 7th Street for lunch at a placed featured on Food TV's "Follow That Food" called Pommes Frites. Just go there! OMG! Also on Second Ave, at 4th Street, is an English style fish and chips place called A Salt and Battery. We'll have to check this out, too. After lunch we dropped in on the Apple store downtown to buy the dreaded iPod. Fortunately the line was too long and we had to bail out on making the very expensive purchase. The victory over the impulse to buy was short lived; roughly six hours later I succumbed to the pressure and we have now joined the 21st century.

Let's Go Racing!

My recollection of past and present NASCAR seasons is a bit foggy since I kind of fell off the NASCAR Buzz in the last couple of years. But since Sunday is the Daytona 500, I figured I should pay some attention. Here's my take on driver changes I wasn't aware of.Looks like Martin Truex will be driving the #1 Pennzoil Car owned by Dale Earnhardt Inc. (erf, Teresa). Anyway, this is not a schlep rock ride or car, althought it has been occupied lately by a few schlep rocks or obstacles: Steve Parks was on his way to super stardom in this car until he rang his bell a little too hard in Darlington and never snapped out of the coma that left him with the mind of a 12-year-old. Poor guy. Nevertheless lots of money goes into this team and I expect Marty to do very well. Being new in the car, he qualified for crap for the 500, but he will have a chance to "race" his way into the big show by finishing in the top 17 of 25 cars in one of the qualifying races that goes down this Thursday. Dammit! Why does he have to drive for the enemy? The next thing you know... I'll send a check to Howie Dean. HYEAH. Terry Labonte was canned by Kellogg's and replaced by Punk Jr., aka Kyle Busch. This kid is the biggest nerd and has way too much of an ego. I guess nerds who drive fast can keep that chip on their shoulders. Iceman Terry must be fishin' Lake Norman, N.C. Jeff Burton is out of the #99 car owned Jack Rousch and was replaced by Carl Edwards. Hmm. I thought this was odd. Why would Jack dump Jeff? Looks like Jeff got tired of Jack putting all his money into Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin while he got the short end of the stick. Apparently, Jeff has taken an offer by Richard Childress and is now driving the no. 31 Cingular car. You go, JB! Too bad I have to hope your engine breaks weekly, you fence jumper you! Looks like Robby gets to keep a ride going in the no. 7 car. Don't really know
what that is; all I can remember is that bum Bodine (cue-ball headed fool sr.) used to drive that number with Exide. Ward Burton is also on the breadline; guess he will be working in his wildlife refuge protecting the varmints he intends to shoot at. He has been replaced by Mike Bliss, the guy who wrecked no less than 36 cars in one season with "Viagra" painted on the side. Pfizer figured they'd get thing "up" and running by employing Mark Martin who has wrecked maybe only 2 or 3. Lastly, boo hoo. Rusty is retiring next year but both brothers Mike and Kenny, whom I admire, are both back in the saddle with Nextel Cup rides. These guys can't catch a break and they pretty much only drive in this series for a season or two before being forced to watch from the press booth or ride around in a glorified pickup truck.

Razzle Dazzle Recipe

Y'now I just love raspberries, by far my favorite berry of all time. Any shape or form be it artificially flavored in candy to the natural seeded preserves or just plain raw. This weekend was left without adventures in the wild and instead family obligations converged in mass seasonal birthday celebrations. In a six week span we have birthdays to celebrate for myself and my own brother and the mother, brother and father in-law. Forget about the Carvel ice cream cake - H honored all who've aged yet another year with the traditional and raspberry Tiramisu cakes from scratch. Not bad for the Dutch/Irish girl. Recipe courtesy of Food Network and Giada De Laurentiis

Naptime

The sun was shining and the grip of the bitter cold from the past weeks let up. We took a short four-mile round trip up 800 feet from the Tuxedo train station to the summit of Claudius Smith's den, who is Claudius Smith? Click Naptime Link above. on the way up we passed by a few ice walls with large jagged icicles. We met a nice couple who had spent the night in a natural shelter. Looked like quite a popular spot of late because there was a lot of packed snow all around from foot traffic. We planned to go farther and visit Elbow Brush but after a cozy nap that included drool, shakes, snores, and dreams we opted for an out and back and traced our tracks back to the depot.