It all began with the first meeting of the
freshman seminar
when I had to take a picture of Paul Dimaggio
to show that memory was expendable (only in the good sense, of course).
Then we needed to document Benjamin's violin
with his name and vital statistics
lest one of the holligans at Johnson Park decide
to make it their own.
Of course, these events were just the prelude to the
main events of the weekend. It was freshman parent's
weekend, so we went to campus and took the obligatory
mother and daughter
and father and daughter
pictures before a person passing by insisted that if we didn't
let him take this picture
of the 3 of us, Sarah would be traumatized for life by not
remembering who came to see her that weekend. His comments about
trauma caused me to take this picture
on the way home to make sure I wouldn't be traumatized by
a camera with a broken battery. Jane
was fairly incognito as she got ready to go to New York for an
overnight and so had to miss the visit to Sarah's room
that Benjamin
seemed to enjoy. After taking a picture of Sarah with
Robert Accordino, her RA,
we felt that the only thing left to do was to observe Sarah's
bicycle
standing regally in the rain and then declare Freshman parent's
weekend a success.
Later that day, Benjamin and I decided to brave the rain and go
to the Princeton/Colgate football game where we ran into Jon and
Jonah
and sat with them as we watched the cheerleaders
scream for the score
to change against an ominous sky. The little raiders
didn't scare the tiger
even as Mr. Number 15 practiced kicking
hoping that he'd get a chance to show his talents before the
game ended. He was a very lucky man because after blowing a
field goal that should have been a chip shot, Benjamin and I
showed them the way down field so that Princeton could snatch
victory from the jaws of defeat and snag a 14-10 victory.
Back at home, Benjamin was sorting pennies on the chess board
using the handcuffs as a prop for the obvious reasons as the bags
of recent decades
grew and we still needed to sort the silver
and handle the English coins
before we could head out to dinner at a new restaurant
appropriately chosen for parents weekend to take Sarah
to a recent in a distant town that had been recommended by
people who knew the area.
On Sunday, I drove the car to parking space #63
where I parked by this sign
and then got on the train, though I took pictures of neither the
machines nor people selling tickets.
When I got off the train, I passed by the large needle
that commemorates the garment district and observed that
getting you name into a sign for $5 is the new New York thing
especially if you are Ashley, Jessica, Hellen, Alexis or Joser,
though I've never met a Hellen or Joser myself.
At the north end of Times Square, I saw a Cadillac
coming out of the billboard across from the Tkts booth
where the choices seemed to be limited. So, I continued on to
Fifth Avenue.
As I approached, there were loud noises and then I saw these
gentlemen heating their drums
so I knew something was about to happen. As the people gathered
around
feather hats seemed to be everywhere
as the dancers got ready
and the drummers were enjoying the warmth
of pre-heated drums. The dancers watched
as Cuba approached
with escorts
and photographers
while this guy
had to control the traffic flow. The pride of Cuba
rode by as the Dominican Republic approached
to celebrate the Hispanic community
which allowed me to sneak across the street and on to the Waldorf
Astoria
where Jane was staying. After a picture of the chandelier,
the friezes,
and the potted palms
in the lobby, Jane, Kaylen and Courtney arrived
but they had to go up to their room to get enough light
for the pictures
to come out.
Once back on the street, we watched Mexico with its
elegant costumes
pass by as the traffic was held back
to let the next float appear
only to be followed by Paraguay
led by its float. The man with the funny at
let this person pose with him
so that I could get a group photo as Bolivia
got ready to enter the parade. Jane was distracted for a
moment by this cell phone flag
which was perfect except for the girl in the photo
who was happy to not pay roaming charges.
Panama was next
with fancy dancers
after which Peru
came and then Puerto Rico
and their dancers
while Jane and Kaylen had gone to HMV
to get some batteries (and probably a little bit of quiet).
These groups paraded by
while these groups
waited to come on to the parade and we tried to find our way
away from the noise and tumult.
Even Times Square seemed quieter than the parade as we
headed over. We recorded the billboards
and wished that we could have some cup of noodles
to warm ourselves. Next we saw an exact replica of Jane's
cell phone
above the police station
and took this picture of the Gilmore Girls billboard
for Kaylen. We took the subway from here descending the long
escalator
before debating whether we could take a picture of Jane and
Kaylen
in the subway station. On the other end, we were in Washington
Square Park watching the dog run
even though we didn't stop and read the sign for People and Dogs
only. The man in this umbrella stand
seems to have overcharged us in the shadow of the arch
and his pretzels
have too much salt on them. After watching the musicians
and using the facilities
while observing the service truck
that had forgotten to bring paper towels for the last few
years.
wonder of wonders, we ran into Gary
from Dillon basketball games of the 80's and 90's before his
legs gave out and he got an honest (well, not totally honest)
job on the sidewalks of New York and he said appropriately
kind words to Jane about the joys of being my child. Wit
Fiorello La Guardia
to guide us, the trip down town was easy. We took these pictures
of T shirts that define grammar
and good judgment
before crossing the street to the Fcuk store
where they could have used some T shorts from the store
across the street. Dom
was one of our favorite Soho stores as we made our way down
to Canal Street and were greeted by this elegant limo
that must have been carrying someone important.
Once on Canal Street we took pictures of Burger King
and McDonald's
in Chinese. This man
got in our way as I tried to take a picture of the fire hydrants
of Little Italy as we made our way to Ferrara's
where the menu
made Jane
Kaylen
and David
fall into stupors that could only be relieved when Jane's cookies
and hot chocolate
arrived along with David's steamed milk
and Kaylen's eclair.
David's cannoli took many tries
before the light was right
for this final photo.