at any moment…

Riverside Park, around 5:30 pm, I was working on a blog entry (see below), and then I heard the scream.

About fifty feet away, a young man lying on the ground, another young man standing over him his face contorted in agony.  A large tree branch had fallen.

 People leaped off bikes, jumped the fence, called 911 on their cells.  So much blood.  The police arrived followed by an ambulance.  Thank God he was still alive.  The tree branch that hit him was at least 15 feet long with a thick base.  He was strapped to a board, and placed into the ambulance.  His friend in a heap crying for him. 

Everyone in the crowd said the same thing in their own way – you never know.

An old saying comes to mind: Man plans and God laughs.

The Post: 

The last two days have been quiet ones for me.  I didn’t even get on the subway if you can believe it.  Didn’t even feel like taking any new pictures, I would just like to work on the ones I discovered on my photo CDs.

I’m sitting on a lovely bench I discovered in Riverside Park today.  There’s a tree right over it that provides the perfect amount of shade.  This quiet little spot even seems to have a built-in breeze all it’s own.

It’s just me, my NEO word processor and a Diet Dr. Pepper.  Bliss.

I’ve scheduled time Friday and Saturday to help a friend with a few things, but Sunday & Monday are all mine.  I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of writing here on this bench.

A trio of a sparrows just landed on the bench opposite me.  They act as if they own the park.  Hey it must be nice to fly where you want, land where you like, and poop without a thought of who’s watching you, or under you.

The kids are so cute.  A little girl of about four just strolled by with her mom.  They are headed for the sprinklers in the playground.  The little girl is wearing a pink bathing suit and little jellies to match. 

The early dog walkers are out.  The squad that comes out between 6:30 and 8 PM is huge. 

All the strollers make statements.  When I was a tot most strollers were the same.  Heavy dark things that you needed muscle to push.

I think of grandma and how impressed she was by my daughter’s Aprica stroller with it’s turbo wheels.  It took hardly any effort to push at all.  She also loved the disposable diapers, bottles and wipes that came in port-a-paks.  Grandma loved gadgets that saved work and entertained. 

“You got to stay in style Frannie,” she’d say.

When she came to America she cut off her long braid in favor of a fashionable bob.

And I am sure she lit candles in church to honor the person who invented permanant press shirts.  That was a biggie in her book.

In 1998 when I told her that I had bought a desktop computer, she said; “You can talk to people on those things.”  Someone had tipped the old girl off to IMing.

And where did she get this knowledge?  From her favorite all-time gadget – the television.

Among the family photos is a picture of the beautiful console TV set her son bought her,  after he returned from serving in the Korean War.

It was a 25 inch color set, with a fine wood cabinet and it cost 2500 dollars.  Grandma was the biggest thing on the block when the neighbors saw it being delivered, and carried up five flights of stairs.  It represented nearly a years pay to some.  The rent on her two bedroom apartment was less than 60 bucks a month at the time.

These days in New York you’d have to hire a private eye to find a TV repair shop.  They have become a disposable item.  When your set goes you just buy a new one twice as big  with more features for half the price.

We need a new VCR because hubby has a big collection of videos.  It will cost me 79 bucks to replace the one I paid nearly 400 for, and the new one will have more features.