Scattered Thoughts . . .

W hile my thumb continues to heal (which is going well), I've been working on the seemingly never-ending process of setting up my new computer and sorting through all the photos and videos from our trip.   Each day, I install more software that I use regularly on the new computer.  Just updating Windows 11 required a couple of days then I needed to set up the operating system the way I want it... which I'm still doing.  I have some new licenses to purchase for some of my software too so I still have a few more days of software setup to do.  I'm also waiting on another large hard drive to arrive too.  Since I have the room in the new hard drive enclosure, I decided to add a 22tb hard drive to store all my older archived photos so I will have easy access to all my photos.  Anyway, I've been busy with the new computer. In between installing software packages, I've been working on sorting photos from our long trip to Ohio with Lukey and Kenzie.  I hav...

A fter our short visit to Manhattan this past Saturday, we rode on the Long Island Railroad from Grand Central Madison to Rockville Centre then walked the few short blocks back to the hotel.  I have to say that, as a tourist wanting easy and quick access to midtown Manhattan, the new Madison extension to Grand Central is very convenient! I needed to make a short stop at a pharmacy so we stopped at a pharmacy that was next to the hotel.  While we were there, we picked up a few additional drinks for the hotel.  Below, we are waiting for Sheila to come out of the pharmacy...  we somehow got separated in the store so checked out separately... Six hours of sleep the previous night was now taking its toll on Kenzie.  She laid down to take a short nap with her new stuffed animal but I don't think she got more than a few minutes of sleep, if at all.  I managed to capture a photo of her lying with her stuffed animal though... Before long, it was time to drive to my ...

A s we were departing Rockefeller Center with the kids this past weekend, we were walking toward Sak's on Fifth Avenue.  When we got to Fifth Avenue I immediately noticed St Patrick's Cathedral and was reminded that we didn't get to show the inside of this cathedral to the kids when we were here at Christmastime.   We had hoped to show the kids this landmark cathedral when we were here Christmas week but it was locked up since it was nighttime.  On this warm morning, however, the cathedral was open to the public so we walked across the street to St Patrick's. Before entering the cathedral, we quickly went over a few rules and customs so nobody would make a fool of themselves in this famous landmark.  It would have been nice to do a tour of the cathedral but, unfortunately, we didn't have time for that.  I'm not sure the two 12 year olds would have appreciated the significance of what they were seeing in a tour anyway. St Patrick's Cathedral was perhaps Shei...

A s mentioned in my previous blog entry, we visited Bryant Park with the kids twice now.  This last time was just this past weekend during the warmer months so it didn't at all resemble the winter park with an ice rink like the last time we were at Bryant Park with Lukey and Kenzie.  If we hadn't told the kids this was Bryant Park, they might not have recognized it in the warm weather!  The park really does look a lot different in the summer months compared to the winter months. During the winter months, they jam-pack this park with a big ice rink, a locker and changing facility, a few different socializing areas, and close to a hundred small shops.  When all the winter seasonal attractions are packed away for the summer, the park looks completely different.   We quickly walked the few blocks from Grand Central Terminal to Bryant Park... Below, the Public Library is behind them as they try to get their bearings... Below is the back side of the Public Librar...

W henever Sheila and I are in Manhattan and are looking for a place to eat breakfast, we always head to Pershing Square.  The breakfast here is consistently delicious.  Even Lukey and Kenzie love it!  This was their second visit to this restaurant. I had a perfectly prepared omelette (and I'm pretty picky about my eggs).  I also had a glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.  Lukey and Kenzie had freshly squeezed orange juice with their breakfast.  The freshly squeezed juices are incredible! Lukey and Sheila had the French Toast on Challah bread which is delicious.  If I remember correctly, Kenzie had a fresh fruit bowl for breakfast... The main purpose of our visit to Manhattan was to visit FAO Schwarz.  Lukey and Kenzie had never been there.  Actually, we found out that they didn't even know this toy store existed because they had never seen the movie "Big".  Anyway, we still had a little time to kill before FAO Schwarz opened so we...

I never did finish writing about our Christmas trip to Manhattan so I should try to get back to that now since I am feeling well enough to write at the moment.   I came home from Manhattan with COVID and have been struggling with this virus and complications since then.  (We are now a week into March!)   As if that hasn't been enough to knock me down, I'm also now dealing with a significant re-injury to my extensive spinal injuries which may or may not be related to long-COVID inflammation.  I've had problems with COVID inflammation in other bouts of COVID so I'm leaning toward this spinal problem being triggered by the same.   So, for more than two months, I have been mostly couch-bound.  Needless to say, I never did finish writing about our trip to Manhattan with Lukey and Kenzie.  I'll get back to that now. Our pre-Christmas trip to Manhattan was so long ago at this point that I've forgotten about many of the details of this trip.  M...