Zabar's

My father and I walked through Central Park in NYC over the weekend to go to Zabar's. (If you haven't been to Zabar's, you haven't been to New York!) Zabar's is a famous appetizing store (and then some) on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It's open 365 days a year. They sell 8,000 pounds of coffee a week. They make a great onion roll, but are most famous for their smoked salmon and that is why we trekked across the park on Sunday.
Growing up we had bagels and lox every sunday morning for brunch. My brother and I would wake up early and accompany my father to a local shop called Toddy's Appetizing to buy a pound of Nova, a whole white fish, pickled herring, homemade cream cheese and a dozen bagels. Then we would stop at the bakery for ruglach, an eclair (for me), a jelly donut (for my brother) and head home to eat. It was the best part of the week.

Central Park

How cool was this guy?

My father walks much faster than I do.

Zabar's!

There is an art to slicing smoked salmon and the guys who work in Zabar's are masters. 

They have been schooled in the art form and have been doing it for many, many years. 

A few side dishes...

My dad wanted a picture of himself on the blog.

Too Early For A Hint?

There are two really great books of portraits on the market right now and with the holidays coming up, I am hoping someone in my family will buy them for me. If no one takes the hint,
I strongly suggest you buy at least one and invite me over.
Check them out below. The pictures are amazing and the blurbs
 that go with them are just as wonderful.

Comic Genius

http://comicgeniusbook.com/

Humans of New York

http://www.humansofnewyork.com/book

Happy Halloween!

I was looking through some old Halloween pics and thought I'd share a few of my favorites. 

I love how into it people get.

John Lennon!

Blue Man Group

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Dumbledore

Then again some people just don't feel like getting dressed up...

Fallen Leaves

The foliage is so beautiful up here that it becomes distracting at times but I feel like I have taken a million pictures of the trees so here a few pics of the leaves that have 

already fallen by the pond in back of my friend's house.

(and two pics of the pond)

The Dogs Are Back!

I went out over the weekend intent on photographing the foliage that is just starting to show it's colors up here but after driving by Compo and seeing that the dogs are now allowed back on the beach,  

I had to stop and check out the scene. 

This little guy came right up to me and just stood there, staring with his tongue out.

This handsome beast was awesome. Great Dane?

A Pointer, getting read to point!

New friends?

Everyone's happy when the dogs come back to the beach.

Sunday Morning NYC

A Day On The Farm

My sister and I had this great idea to take Alice to a farm where she could play with the animals, pick some fresh fruit and have a delicious farm to table lunch afterwards. 

Best laid plans...

It was a beautiful spot...

but unfortunately Alice didn't sleep in the car on the way up, which wouldn't have been a big deal if my sister hadn't forgotten the stroller! So my sister braved the hilly countryside with 30lbs of Alice in her arms all the way to the chicken coops.

It was fun for 30 seconds until Alice start dropping the eggs.

Then one of these guys pecked my niece's finger and boy did it hurt!

Of course Alice started crying (very loudly) and we had to leave the area. 

The food back at the barn looked delish but the line was a half hour wait.

Alice was cranky and hungry and my sister was tired and hungry (from lugging Alice all over) 

so we left the farm a half hour after we got there.

But we did stop back home in Westport and wasted money on the
 cutest mini pumpkins and strawberry corn.

September

My father always says September has the best weather. I used to think he was crazy because in my mind September only meant summer is ending, school is starting and then winter is right around the corner. But this week proved my father was right once again. The weather was sunny 

and mild and just brisk enough in the shade. The sky was so blue it looked almost fake and

the water at Compo was a deep gorgeous blue that sparkled from the sun. 

Enjoy September before it's gone.

 Here's a pic of my dad since his 70th birthday was last week 

 and he always says he's not on the blog enough. 

Happy Birthday Big B. 

Sometimes I get a little overcome by how how lucky I am that you're my dad.

xoxoxo

A (Fig) Tree Grows In Westport

According to wikipedia,  Buddha achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, a large and old sacred fig tree. Why am I telling you this, you ask? Because my friend Rachel has her own fig tree

 right here in Westport and after tasting them I think I have become very enlightened! 

Rachel's fig tree looks like a giant wild bush with big soft leaves and bendy branches. Most of today's figs were hidden towards the top and center of the tree so we really had to bend 

and stretch to claim our prize. It was definitely worth the effort. 

Figs are my husband's favorite fruit.

 Unfortunately for him, I ate all our pickings before I got home!

Not the most photogenic tree around but from this shot you can tell it was a jungle in there!

Rachel reaching for gold!

Mission accomplished!

Here a link to a great article about figs from The New York Times. It has a couple of 

yummy recipes for fresh figs at the bottom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/magazine/food-giving-a-fig.html

Bah Bah Westport Sheep

I've posted on this blog before about Westport's affinity for animals. There's the obvious dogs and cats, hamsters and turtles. A few people have horses and chickens seemed be to the rage a couple of years ago. Well now take a look at this, our friends (not farmers) got babydoll sheep! They are sometimes called miniature sheep and they are the sweetest things. They really do follow you around just like in
 Mary Had A Little Lamb and of course they are as gentle as a lamb.
The one in the picture above is actually smiling!

One more pic of "guess what" "chicken butt!"

Rainbow

There was a rainbow in Westport today. I caught it just as it was starting to dim.
My son is colorblind so all he could see was a yellow light and a bit of blue on one side. 

How sad is it to go through life never seeing a rainbow? 

There could be worse things of course, but still...