5/10/03 Romanian Street Fair; Closer look at Bowling Green; Getting and Wrapping present for Ma; Stained Glass Arts & Crafts; Owen Job with Salmon and Sambuca:







I came across a Romanian Street fair. I didn't know there was such a thing. I was just going to the 4 or 5 train on Broadway, but decided to take a detour through the fair, which was along Broadway between Rector and Bowling green. The following photos are some of the things I saw:











Let's play "Which one of these is not like the others?" It's a game they used to have us kids play while we watched Sesame Street. Well? Which of the above photos don't seem to belong?











Last chance before seeing the answers!











Ok, I think 2 photos don't belong. How does the Italian sausage stand and the Chinese back massage stand fit in? I don't know either. But they were there. Fair hogs!




To truly immerse myself in the sights and smells, I purchased a 3 dollar Romanian sausage. It came with a piece of what tasted like plain rye bread, and some mustard. It was hard to fit the sausage in the bread, especially while walking. That's why we invented the bun. The bun is American Ingenuity at work. The sausage itself we cannot claim. I found all this out on the food network once. Anyway, the sausage was not particularly great, but I was really hungry, and it hit the spot as well as it could.


Walking down to Bowling Green, I heard a familiar sound. It was a band playing music. But it was a specific kind of music. At first I couldn't place it, but as I got closer, I realized... these are the guys who play in Penn Station! In fact, they're already on my website!!! So, here they are, side by side, with the photo I took of them last week:




Today on the left. April 30th on the right.

Don't believe me? Click on each to watch and listen to a video of them!!! It's the same group!!!

And in both clips, THEY ARE PLAYING THE SAME SONG!!!! (Listen for the 'chorus').




To the other side of me, as usual, tourists were flocking around the bull that stands in the middle of Broadway. I call it the "Broadway Bull." Visitors, for whatever reason, absolutely can not get enough pictures of themselves with this bull. I see this spectacle every time I go to my post office, which is across the street. But... this is the first time I've seen someone mount the poor thing.




The next thing I passed is Bowling Green. Usually I am walking through, but this time, I had a little more time to meander, and look around. Allow me a moment to share:

Bowling Green is a round park in the middle of Broadway. Traffic goes to the left and right of it. The Broadway Bull is at the north end, and the old U.S. Custom House, an ornate Beaux-Arts masterpiece sits at the south end. Battery Park is just across Battery Place, south of the park. The New York Harbor is on the other side of Battery Park, which was constructed on landfill. Before the land for Battery Park was filled in, the water came almost up to Bowling Green, making Bowling Green the true southern tip of Manhattan. Bowling Green was the first land ever to be set aside as a Park in Manhattan. In fact, a sign on the fence that wraps around this circular park tells of how the fence is original, dating back to before the American Revolution. Perhaps the tourists should be taking pictures of themselves with the fence, rather than with the modern bull sculpture.




The park is well used today during lunch hour in the Financial District. A greenmarket is frequently to be found on the southern side of the park. There is a water fountain in the middle. And about a month ago, the park was outfitted with free wireless internet nodes. So, you may now take your laptop into the park, sit on a bench, and surf the web for free, providing your laptop as a wi-fi card built in. Most new ones do. I saw two people with laptops in the park today.




From the south, looking north.




Reading this sign will tell you about how Peregrine Falcons apparently currently call Bowling Green Park their home.




This girl was sitting on the sidewalk, at the south exit of the park, apparently drawing the U.S. Customs House building. If I had any guts, I would have stopped and chatted with her for a while.




I got on the train at "Bowling Green Station," just on the south side of Bowling Green Park. [Yes, it was used for "bowling" for some time in its earlier years... A game that pre-dates our modern version by the same name.] I took the 4/5 uptown to Brooklyn Bridge station. When I got out, I was greeted by this sight in front of the token booth. Apparently, a vehicle had driven over the sidewalk, not knowing that is was hollow, popping out all the glass in the recently renovated skylight. The metal cables are part of an art installation from a few years ago entitled "Brooklyn Bridge." It's supposed to evoke the cables on the real bridge.




I got to J&R and bought the gift that I was getting Mommy for Mother's Day, which is tomorrow. It's a new phone. We speak on the phone with some frequency, and recently, hers has been acting funny. She's been complaining about how stupid her existing cheap-o cordless phone is, and so, I thought it fitting to get her a new one.




This is one of the first years I remembered to take care of the Mothers' day present ahead of time. This is definitely the very first year that I had it so together, that I could actually wrap it nicely as well.




Then it was time to go to Long Island to do an Owen Job. I would say overnight for Mother's day the next day. I decided, because I had ample time, to once again dodge LIRR fares by taking the subway to flushing. Here I am, reading my "Bridges of New York" book, on the Flushing Main Street platform. Who took the picture? Me. I'm holding the camera up with my right hand.




















From the photos, you should be able to glean the steps in the process. This is the arts & crafts part of making a stained glass piece. Basically, you use a light table (or window) to trace the pattern onto oak tag or poster paper. Then you number both patterns, and cut oak tag into individual pieces. The result is the pattern you will put the project together on top of, and the stiff templates you will use to cut the glass with. I used to marker to make the lines, and I cut off all of the ink left by the marker. The result is a set of templates with about an eighth of an inch missing. This leaves space for the copper foil and solder that will sit between the pieces of glass, holding them together. I didn't make templates for the border pieces that go around the outside of the project. They are the beveled glass pieces that are already the correct size. Because they do not need cutting, they don't need templates. Stay tuned. You'll see.




Here is the catering hall in which I performed my "Owen Job" this evening. The front looks like one of those waterfall faucets they sometimes have in high-end bathrooms. Except HUGE! And a little tacky.




Here's a car in the parking lot that my father pointed out because he thought it looked cool. I thought it looked... bright.




The photos.




People eat this stuff up.



They actually served the help! Only about 1 in 15 catering places will feed us. It was a special treat, especially because I didn't get a good serving from the cocktail hour.




I had the Salmon. It was actually quite tasty.




During dessert, they had a liquor table, with the small chocolate cups. I had some black romana sambuca. It was pretty good. Drinking on the job. We were already done, actually.




Most Bar-Mitzvahs have activities for the kids, who don't see the value in dancing the night away, even with the opposite sex. [Time out. By using the phrase "Opposite Sex" in this manner, am I accidentally jabbing homosexuals in the arm? Or do the more enlightened readers understand, in turn, that in this context "Opposite Sex" is used to imply "A member of the sex of choice?" In other words, is Member of the Opposite Sex a politically incorrect phrase? I mean, it's so convenient to use, as it is a concise way of communicating something that everyone pretty much understands!] And even if they do, they don't have the courage to do it yet. So, the people throwing these parties usually provide an entertaining adolescent diversion. This one was a bit opulent, though. They had a WALL OF VIDEO GAMES.




Loading the van. Daddy drove me back to Manorhaven, and I went to bed for Mother's Day tomorrow.