Saturday, December 27, 2014

Saying Goodbye to a Fallen Police Officer

News in the city today highlights with the funeral of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos and what his death symbolizes to the nation. This is another spring-like day with temperatures again in the 50's. Right now thousands of people are gathering in Glendale, Queens for the funeral. The service is expected to draw 25,000 police officers from around the country and beyond. JetBlue offered many of these policeman the opportunity to fly here today free of charge today. It all begins at 10:00.

Officers, family arrive for NY policeman's funeral   AP - December 27, 2014




Christmas in Brooklyn with Grandma

December 26, 2014 - On a sunny spring-like day, with the temperatures in the 50's, my daughter Zsia, her husband Jon, and their sons, Michael, 16, and Dylan, 14, came for a visit from New Jersey. Along the way we stopped at Caesar's Bay Bazaar a shopping center in Bath Beach, Brooklyn located on the water at Exit 5. Caesars Bay has been in existence for decades. It was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 but has recovered and is better than ever.

The cornerstones of the shopping area now consists of Best Buy, Kohl's, Toys R Us, Babies R Us and Modells. Back in the day, Caesar's Bay had a flee market where many of these stories now stand. It was a hangout for many teens who came there to socialize and shop for great bargains. Zsia took pictures to text to her sisters before we left along with comments about their past. Remember when ... Jon is also from Brooklyn but he didn't meet Zsia until college.

A visit to Kohl's proved successful as Grandma bought the boys clothes for Christmas. Next, it was off to dinner back in Bay Ridge then to Grandma's house for their annual reading.

Dylan has the new iPhone 6 Plus which allows him to use his thumb print, instead of a password, to access the phone and all the things it does - a really cool feature. Zsia's friend has my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and showed her some tricks you can do with the pen which she passed on to me. She further suggested I take a class at Verizon on use of the features - good idea.

Jon's father Joel turned 71 today. We used the photos to email a Happy Birthday Message as he is in Florida. Jon and I talked about the health of people in their 70s today. He said 90% have health issues. I am lucky enough to be in the healthy and happy with no issues nor meds.


Jon, Dylan, Michael, and Zsia outside of Kohls






Grandma's Apartment


Embracing the energies of the Verrazano Bridge at Sunset



Peace and love for the New Year





Christmas Day - Noah and his mom, Nikki, at JFK airport on their way
to San Diego with his Samsung Chromebook 2 - a gift from Santa.

Childhood friendships often last forever ... Charlie, Sasha, Matthew, and Noah in San Diego