Ninety Years of San Gennaro

T Shirt from the Day

San Gennaro is a festival in Manhatten's Little Italy. We had heard about San Gennaro on the morning news, and loving pizza decided to go. "Go" does not mean hopping in the car and driving there, it means walking to the bus stop a couple of blocks away, waiting for the bus to arrive, finding a seat on the bus, getting off the bus at the subway station, walking down, down, down into the subway station, finding a seat, and hopefully, not having to make multiply transfers to our destination.


It was fun walking up and down Lafayette street looking at the various booths. Games, vendors, and hundreds of food booths.  So many people having fun and enjoying the Italian culture.   It was hard to decide what we wanted for lunch, but decided it would be nice to sit down while we ate.  We found a nice outdoor cafe and shared a small pizza, calamari, and mozzarella cheese and tomatoe salad.

After lunch we finished walking the rest of the festival street.  As we walked down the path we noticed a parade coming our way.  Lead by a gondola with Tony Danza ( movie star for you younger readers) and a woman sitting in the gondola, and was followed by marching bands and floats.

It was a fun day.  So glad we made the effort and experienced some of the New York culture.  Here are some pictures:

Float

Gelato

Donuts

Lunch

Sausage

Street View

Legal New York Graffiti

New York graffiti is simply beautiful.  It transforms old dilapidated buildings into works of art.  It is not done in the darkness of night either.  Here you can see a lift enabling an artist to reach the top of the building.  I wish I had the time to just watch and even visit with the artist.

Now, don't be getting any ideas..you might get arrested.

Orange is the New ???

Today we opened a new apartment in Jackson Heights.  Great neighborhood with nice people, shops, and restaurants.

We needed help setting up the new apartment, so we called on a few of the missionaries for help. More than needing the help, we just love spending time with them.  When the our work is done, we always treat them to lunch.

(Looks like orange was the color of the day.)  The two missionaries in front, Elder Opfar (left) and Elder Woodmansee (right), are the office elders. They are assigned to be our right hand men.  They call us every morning, Monday through Friday, to see what we need them to do.  I'll bet you wish you were so lucky! The other two missionaries are Elders Smith and Powell, who work in the area and were asked to lend a hand.

The other evening, Elder Johnson and I were working at this new apartment and walking back to our car we smelled french fries.  Lo and behold, we had parked in front of a restaurant that had homemade french fries, hamburgers, and shakes. We couldn't resist and went in for fries and a shake.  We began talking to our server, Miguel, and before we knew it he brought us a hamburger on the house. We decided then, that would be where we brought the missionaries for lunch, Emoge Burger.

Tomorrow we are opening another new apartment in Flushing.  The office elders will be helping along with Elders Jheng and Wu.  Perhaps we will be having Chinese for lunch (that's what we did last time with them).

We love spending time with the missionaries.  They are happy, wholesome, and dedicated young men and women who love to serve.  They live the example set by Jesus Christ by exhibiting charity and love for others.   The missionaries have strong testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ and know the only way to true joy is through living and following the commandments.  How blessed we are to be serving with them.

Missionary Treats

Missionaries love treats.  I think their mothers use to make them cookies for an after school treat.  I know I use to love to do that.  It's hard to say how many pounds of chocolate chip cookie dough I have produced in my lifetime.....but I think a few of those pounds have found their way to my hips.

So, I still make chocolate chip cookies and so many loaves of banana bread, 32 loaves this past week. but never seem to have enough to last a month.

Once a transfer, we participate in a new missionary training conference where we talk about, what else, apartments and how to keep them clean.  We try to make it fun.  One time we did a cheer, once a little skit, and games...like which cleaning product to clean what.

This last time I decided to do a different treat.  They took forever to make, a little less than 10 minutes each.  I needed 45 this last conference so I got busy in the evening cutting and pasting.

Here is what they looked like.  Pretty cute, don't you think?

Coney Island Fun

We sure had some fun this last Saturday at Coney Island. We asked another senior missionary couple, Elder and Sister Williams, if they would like to join us. They are from Seattle Washington and serve in the office as the "car " couple.

Saturday was a beautiful day, overcast with a cool, steady breeze, a welcome change from a long, hot and humid summer.  It was a long trip by subway, about 1 1/2 hours, but well worth it.   We left our apartment at 9:30, went to the mission office, walked to the train station, caught the R train to 57th Street in Mnhatten, and then transferred to the Q train.  We arrived at Coney Island 23 stops later at 11:30, just in time for a Nathan's hot dog at the original Nathan's hot dog stand.  Nathan's is celebrating its 100 year anniversary.

I can understand why they have been around for so long.  They are tasty, but I'm sure they are not considered a healthy meal.

When we first arrived there were not many people, but by the time we finished our lunch, we were glad we made it our first stop.  There was a long line for a hot dogs!

After Nathan's we walked along the boardwalk, stretching at least a mile  The boardwalk is nice with beach shops. food vendors, and carnival attractions on one side, and the beach on the other. The beach is simply beautiful,  I can certainly understand why, after working in the city and living in crowded apartment buildings, people flock to the beach.

We decided to be brave and ride one of the carnival rides.  We chose the calmest of the rides, the 150 foot high Wonder Wheel (its really what we call a Ferris Wheel).

Here's a little sign that gives some of the statistics.

Before we could qualify to ride, we needed to be measured.

I didn't realize I was so much taller than Richard!

Gosh, once we were at the top of the wheel I was reminded of how frightening heights are.  And of course, Richard wanted one of the baskets that swung.  By the second time around, I was relaxed and enjoying the view.

That was enough of the rides for these old "foggies" so we decided to venture over to the aquarium.  The Coney Island aquarium is amazing.  We enjoyed looking at all the varieties of fish.  The tanks were so realistic and the fish would swim right up to the glass and just look at us, as interested in us as we were of them!

Aren't they just beautiful!  Would love to have this in my home.

See how interested he was in all of the strange creatures looking at him.  He was a big guy.

After viewing the fish we went to the sea lion show.  The sea lions could do as many tricks as a trained dog.  How amazing.  We sat right of front and enjoyed the show.

I think he's sticking his tongue out at us...or maybe that's a offer of a kiss?

A good day was had by all.

Thought:
Our Heavenly Father blesses us in so many ways.  Look around at the beauties of the earth, the creatures, and all the kind and wonderful people in your life.  As you look at others, whether they are family, friends, or strangers, remember they are your spirit brothers and sisters.  They live lives like you and I, with joys, sorrows, and trials.  It takes such a little effort to smile and say a kind word.  That kind jester might be the only positive in their life that day.  Likewise you will be blessed by your charity and love.