High Bridge Water Tower

Saturday, October 4, 2008 was part of Open House New York Weekend. We decided to take advantage and see a couple of things that are normally closed to the public. The first thing we did was walk up to the High Bridge Water Tower to ascend the stairs inside and get a 360-degree view of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

This graceful water tower, located in Manhattan’s Highbridge Park at 174th Street, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been a visual landmark on the heights of Manhattan overlooking the Harlem River since 1872. The tower was not part of the original Croton Aqueduct. It was added to serve the growing number of residents in the villages of north Manhattan, which were at an elevation higher than the Croton Aqueduct. (The Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. It brought water by the force of gravity alone 41 miles (66 km) from the Croton River in Westchester County into reservoirs in Manhattan, where local water resources had become polluted and inadequate for the growing population of the city.)

After water from the Aqueduct crossed the High Bridge, it was pumped up to a seven-acre, 10.8-million-gallon reservoir next to the tower. The Highbridge Pool was built inside the old reservoir in 1936. The water tank in the tower served the small number of customers at an even higher elevation. Extending up the 185-foot height of the octagonal granite tower are two iron pipes that reached to a 47,000-gallon tank, now gone. The water was pumped up one pipe to the tank, and flowed down the other.

View to the top of the tower from the bottom of the stairs with the 2 huge pipes.

Stairs

Window

Ella, mom, Grandma, Lexi & Dad at the top of the platform. Those huge windows behind us were open. We had to hold on to Lexi & Ella very tightly to make sure there were no *unfortunate accidents*.

The view to the north- The bridge in the foreground is the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, which connects the Cross Bronx Expressway to the George Washington Bridge. In the background is the Washington Bridge, which connects the Cross Bronx to West 181st St. You're also looking at the Harlem River with Manhattan on the left and the Bronx on the right.

The view east- the High Bridge into the Bronx. The bridge, which connects High Bridge Park near West 174th Street, Manhattan, and West170th Street in the Bronx, is the oldest bridge connecting two boroughs. When it was built between 1837 and 1848 it actually connected two separate towns, since that area of the mainland would not become a part of New York County until 1874 (and the Bronx would not become a separate county until 1914!)

High Bridge has featured a walkway since the 1860s, although it never had roads for auto or horse traffic. But in 1960, the walkway was closed, never to again reopen, because of local knuckleheads throwing objects from the bridge onto Circle Line boats in the Harlem River.
In recent years, High Bridge Park (on the Manhattan side at Amsterdam Avenue and West 174th Street) has been spruced up by New York Restoration Project, a group spearheaded by Bette Midler.

View to the west- The George Washington Bridge and to the left of that you'll see 3 tall buildings we call "the Towers". That's where Columbia Medical & Dental students live and we have several friends that have lived in those buildings. Just behind the GWBridge & the towers is New Jersey. In the foreground is the (drained) pool that we visited many times this past summer.

View to the south: On the left are a bunch of housing projects that are in the former location of the Polo Grounds (home to the New York Giants baseball team- of Willie Mays fame). That big red x is where our building is- it's actually behind the white building that the x is on... it is shorter than that building, so you really can't even see it in this photo, but it gives you an idea of where we live in relation to the water tower. And if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you may even be able to see the Empire State Building out in the distance.

View to the southeast: Can you see the new & old Yankee Stadiums behind that row of 4 housing projects?? That highway is the Major Deegan, aka the NY State Thruway, aka I-87. And a slice of the Harlem River. And some of the commuter rail tracks, MetroNorth.

Writing Celebration

Everyday, Lexi's class has something they call Writer's Workshop. They take time to write and illustrate a story. They are encouraged to write their own words (gibberish or not) and also to tell their teachers about the story. On Friday, October 3 all the parents and family members & friends were invited to a writing celebration in their classroom. Each child had gathered all their stories from the first month of school and had *published* a book. They took turns standing in front of the class to read the title of their book and the dedication (Lexi dedicated her book to me!) and then a couple of their stories. It was a Spanish day and Lexi was able to say a few things, but she is obviously more comfortable speaking in English, so most of her presentation was in English. We weren't able to bring the book home (they are currently displayed in the hallway of school), so I snapped a picture of each and every story. I'll only post a few here.
(That's Ramon, the assistant teacher, and Cindy, the head teacher, with Lexi).

(This is when I was at a Pepsi Fest and I found a dandy lion that was so big.)

(I saw Ramon on the slide and I wanted to go on the monkey bars with Luciana.)



(Un sol brillante. Un poquito de luna y muchas flores.)


(We went to Costco on a Sunday and my daddy was smiling and Ella just laughed. My mom was holding Ella but then she decided she (Ella) was going to walk).
**We did NOT, in fact, go to Costco on a Sunday.**

(Aliens trying to get out of the water.)

(I have to draw lots of clouds, rain and umbrellas. I went to C-Town with my family. Here's the sidewalk. I made the sidewalk."

Then I noticed a bulletin board in the classroom with my Corduroy right in the center! The kids had all made their own little Corduroys and now have a whole board devoted to him. Cute!

Read for the Record Report

On Thursday, October 2, 2008, I headed over to Lexi's class at school to particpate in Read For The Record. I read the class Corduroy and I have never seen 18 4-year-olds so quiet and attentive! After we read the story we talked about all the new things Corduroy had done and seen while he was searching for his button. He climbed a *mountain* (aka the escalator), he entered a *palace* (aka the home section of the department store), he slept in a bed, he made a friend, and he found a real home. Then the kids each got a little button (made out of paper) and got to draw a picture of something they have always wanted to do or be or somewhere they've always wanted to go. I admit, it was a tough concept for some of the kids to grasp- coming up with something they've "always wanted to do." But it was fine. When they had finished decorating their buttons we gathered on the carpet again and I had each one stand in front and tell his/her classmates what they had drawn- what hopes & dreams they have, if you will. I drew that big Corduroy beforehand, and then each child taped their button to Corduroy's overalls.

At one point during the activity I called on "Lexi". Not just one, but two or three of the other kids yelled out, "Her name is ALEXIS." I guess she's Alexis at school. Wonder if she'll always want to be called that?

From left to right: Back row: Khianna, Kyrsa, Alma, Dorian, Edu, Alexis, me, Gianna, Justin, Amiel and Luciana
Front row: John, Alejandro, Danny, ??, Victoria and Elyse

Ella loves to sit in the little seats at the little tables in Lexi's class- here she is ready to draw:

100 Bottles of Beer

This happened back at the end of July but I completely forgot to blog about it! Occasionally we get together with some friends and barbecue on the roof of Columbia U's medical student housing. It's always fun. This year, a family with 2 little girls moved into the 'hood and Lexi and Ella seem to play well together. During this particular bbq, they were off playing by themselves for a long time. Eventually, an adult went to check on them and found this scene. They had scrounged up a whole slew of empty beer bottles from the trash cans (from the previous night's big bash???) and had been picking some flowers from the surrounding planters. I pose the question: Young and innocent or foreshadowing of the times that lie ahead?!

Happy Rosh Hashanah!

During Rosh Hashanah public schools are not in session here in NYC. And thanks to our neighbor & another friend, we came into 5 tickets for the Museum of Natural History. Technically, the museum is a "Pay What You Wish" museum, so we just donate $1/person and tour some of the galleries before heading home. But if you pay full price for a full-fledged ticket you are able to see the special exhibits going on, the IMAX movie and go to the Planetarium. Both Matt & Lexi were home and we met up with Allie & Zac for a day at the museum. We saw the special Horse exhibit, the Lizards Alive! exhibit (my favorite was hands-down the chameleon), the IMAX movie about ancient sea creatures, and the planetarium movie "Cosmic Collisions." Lexi and Ella spent a little time in the Discovery Room, and of course you can't go to the Museum of Natural History without seeing some Dinosaurs.... I think Lexi would tell you that this is her favorite museum.

Eating apples with Allie & Zac in the dinosaur room

While waiting for the train after our museum trip, Ella spontaneously put her fingers in her ears as an express train went whizzing by. She must have picked that up from Lexi!

SwingTime

This is some video of Ella swinging her right arm as she walks or runs around. Sometimes she'll wind up before taking any steps at all. And it's always just her right arm while she holds the left arm steady. We took this video at the Museum of Natural History.

Mishap at the Museum

While sitting on this bench, Ella would yell out to Lexi and then tap the bench right next to her, indicating that she wanted big sis to come and sit next to her. Lexi would come running over and sit down and Ella would greet her with a nice big hug. It was really cute. So I reached for the camera to take a little video of this game, and this is what I caught:


After soothing Ella, she didn't want to play her little game with Lexi anymore.

The Central Park Zoo

Ella & I went to the Central Park Zoo with some new friends Morgan, Asher & Sayre (introduced to us by Michal). This was the first time Ella and I have taken a little trip like this without Alexis. We were really lucky to see the polar bears during one of their active periods. One of them was swimming back and forth in the pool- we got a good look from above and then scrambled down to the glass viewing area to watch him turn around and push off the glass. I mean, they look huge from a distance, but when you are right next to the window as his enormous paw pushes off you can really see how large they are! We also spent some time in the penguin house (but those photos came out too dark), at the sea lion pool and the children's zoo.

Ella & Asher watching the polar bear swim

Another 5K Anyone?

I got a flyer in the mail for a 5K (benefiting the Hoboken Univ Medical Center) on the Waterfront Lawn of Pier A in Hoboken. Starts at 9 AM on Saturday, October 11. Anyone want to do it? We can register here.

Free Ice Cream

Who doesn't love free ice cream? Tonight from 5-8 PM you can get free ice cream at ColdStone Creamery. They're accepting donations for the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Read For The Record

Do you remember reading this charming story of little Corduroy bear? I love it and so does my daughter. Well, now you can share the excitement and joy of reading with children who haven't discovered it. Jumpstart's Read for the Record is a campaign designed to bring attention to the importance of early education. By encouraging hundreds of thousands of children and adults to read the same book on the same day, Jumpstart aims to break a world record and to make early education a national priority.

Children and adults will read together at events nationwide on October 2, in schools, libraries, stores, hotels, playgrounds, offices, and homes.

If you go to their site, you can purchase books that will be donated to kids in need. You can create a book drive. You can also build your own reading event, or participate in one that is happening near you. You can also just register to Read that day with your own children. Join in!

I'm going to talk to Lexi's teacher about it today and hopefully will be able to spend some time in her classroom on October 2 sharing the joy of reading.

Death Cab For Cutie

October 6th at Radio City Music Hall.... and we'll be there!

Chili Cook-Off

Last night we had a ward Chili Cook-off. Last time I entered this contest, I got second place with a vegetarian chili that we like around our house. This time, I tried a meat recipe and was pleased with the results (and thanks to Megan for reminding me to season with salt...Oops!) I was really hoping for first place and that $50 gift certificate to Dinosaur BBQ, but I had to settle for third and a package of yellow cornmeal. Apparently I lost points because one of the judges thought it was too thick (but he's from the Domincan Republic, so I wasn't really offended by that- any Texan would agree that it was the perfect consistency for chili). I also lost a few points for flavor- and I would have to agree with that. I wish there had been a bit more tomato-ey flavor in there. The beef & beans and spices were represented well, though, I think. I did get the most points for appearance at least. Better luck next year.

The Judges: The guy in the middle is a professional chef... talk about tough judging!

Ella spent a large portion of time sitting and walking on these bales of hay. She helped make a huge mess by pulling apart the bales, too. Apologies to the clean-up crew.

The cook-off was followed by a rousing evening of square-dancing. Nothing quite like a hoe-down in the city! Here's little Ella trying to dance along (warning: it's a bit shaky):

My Heart Will Go On....

Last week, my mother was approached by a co-worker of hers offering her two tickets to the Celine Dion concert in NYC at Madison Square Garden (her first time in NYC in 10 years!) Mom called me and asked if I wanted to go, and although I'm not a die-hard Celine fan, but I know and love many of her songs and heard she puts on a great show. So I was excited about the chance to see her. My mother forwarded me the email with the tickets and we looked up the venue map to locate our seats and were ecstatic when we realized we were on the floor. In the fourth row. It was awesome. I have never been that close at any concert I have ever been to (and the number of concerts I've been to can be numbered on 2 hands).


At one point in the middle of Because You Loved Me, Ms. Dion stopped and told us a story about a girl Charice that she had met through Oprah a few weeks before. Here's the story. Then, Ms. Dion told us Charice was there and invited her up on stage. Celine gave her some advice to get over the nerves ("Just pretend all these people are your family and that you are singing in your living room") to which the whole arena cheered. Then they dedicated the song to Charice's mother. Celine sang one line and then Charice took over and "blew the roof off of Madison Square Garden" (Celine's words). I took some video footage, but during most of the song they had their backs to us, so you can see better footage of the song here. Charice's voice is absolutely incredible. And it's even better in person.

Of course, what's a Celine Dion concert without that song from Titanic, My Heart Will Go On? She sang that has her final encore of the evening. Here's some footage of that, if you're interested.


Montel Williams was less than 20 feet from us. (That's his wife's head just above the "76" and he's on her right side).
And we saw her husband/manager as we were leaving the arena:

Thanks to the lady from Pepsi who gifted us the tickets! It was fabulous.