Columbus Ohio

September 2013 - Columbus Ohio

We were in Columbus to attend the Blake Shelton concert.

We stayed in the Red Roof Inn because it was walking distance to Nationwide Arena. Location is great but the rooms are dated and worn.

On Thursday night, after a seven hour drive, we chose to eat at 89 across from the hotel.

On Friday it was hot 82 F or 28 C!! We started out late and stopped for cappuccino and pastry before we wandered. 

The Palace Theater - I did a separate post on this building.

State Capitol Building

Great old buildings are mixed in with the new.

City Hall with a huge statue of Christopher Columbus.

Around Nationwide Arena are a variety of pubs and restaurants.

View from our room at night.

Monday Mural

Church

Ruby Tuesday

                              

I'm posting at Ruby Tuesday today. 

August 2013 - Toronto On

Toronto Zoo - entrance to the panda display.

Sunday Stills Challenge: Birds

Ed's challenge this week is Birds.


September 2013 - Manhattan New York

Taken a couple of weeks ago in NYC at the most dangerous (LOL) traffic lights near Central Park.

Monday Mural

I'm linking up at Monday Mural hosted by Oakland Daily Photo.


September 2013 - Columbus Ohio

We spotted these tiny murals in a lane way as we walked down Pearl Street.

If you are visiting the downtown and happen to be strolling  about the Pearl Alley Market, take a close look at the walls of the surrounding buildings. You may spot an urban plein air painting or two. Artists from Central Ohio Plein Air have been adding their mark to Columbus’ urban core as part of Finding Time, Columbus Public Art 2012.
The murals are paintings of the buildings in the lane, I have included the "real" image.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. For this meme, bloggers post what they finished last week, what they're currently reading, and what they plan to start this week.

My comments are not meant to be recaps of the story lines as I include a link to Goodreads for their synopsis of the book. I am merely stating how I felt about the book without giving any spoilers.

My 2013 reading list can be found here.

FINISHED:

Synopsis here.

I had read this author's Sight Reading a few weeks ago and decided to try another of her books.

This started off slowly and seemed to be a typical love story with a predictable ending. but she has many twists and turns along the way. The ending comes too abruptly and you find yourself wondering if you were missing some pages.

Characters were an interesting mix of types, all unique and human. But Nina, the main character was without redemption, she is a selfish and self-centered.

I especially like the Russian history that is half the setting and I got a real sense of the lack of privacy and constant prying of Soviet eyes on its citizens in the era of the late 40's and early 50's. The references to Stalin have me interested in reading further about this part of Russian history.

It also describes in vivid detail the life of a ballerina something I do not know much about.

In 1994, Anchee Min made her literary debut with a memoir of growing up in China during the violent trauma of the Cultural Revolution. Red Azalea became an international bestseller and propelled her career as a successful, critically acclaimed author. Twenty years later, Min returns to the story of her own life to give us the next chapter, an immigrant story that takes her from the shocking deprivations of her homeland to the sudden bounty of the promised land of America, without language, money, or a clear path. 

It is a hard and lonely road. She teaches herself English by watching Sesame Street, keeps herself afloat working five jobs at once, lives in unheated rooms, suffers rape, collapses from exhaustion, marries poorly and divorces.But she also gives birth to her daughter, Lauryann, who will inspire her and finally root her in her new country. Min's eventual successes-her writing career, a daughter at Stanford, a second husband she loves-are remarkable, but it is her struggle throughout toward genuine selfhood that elevates this dramatic, classic immigrant story to something powerfully universal.

I was just plain annoyed at how stupid she could be getting conned constantly, making bad decisions.  She lied her way into the U.S. and then constantly ignored the rules as she worked several jobs. She complains about everything.
She says she never had any money at yet she would go home to china to visit most years. 
Her relationship with her daughter is disturbing. 
Her writing style is inconsistent, details missing and stories are told out of context and  order.
Having read this I will not read any of her best sellers, it is hard to believe that she actually wrote those books.

STARTED:



In Rendell's evocative portrayal of West London, the slums of Notting Hill Gate and the mews houses of Holland Park are not streets, but worlds, apart. When these two worlds collide, the repercussions are fatal.
Guy and Leonora were childhood sweethearts, and belonged to the same criminal gang. But as the wealthy Leonora grew older, they grew apart, and Guy's innocent love turned into a dangerous, psychopathic obsession.

When Leonora announces her engagement , Guy knows there must be some mistake - and he is determined to right it, at any cost. As he becomes the victim of his own murderous madness, nobody is safe.

Blue Monday

I'm linking up at Blue Monday today.

September 2013 - Thailand

My beautiful niece has just gone to Thailand for a university semester.

Monday Mellow Yellow

I'm posting at Monday Mellow Yellow today.

inSPIREd Sunday

September 2013 - Manhattan New York

Trinity Church, in lower Manhattan, is a historic, active, parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Trinity Church is near the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway.

The church was destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776, which started in the Fighting Cocks Tavern, destroying nearly 500 buildings and houses and left thousands of New Yorkers homeless. Six days later, most of the city's volunteer firemen followed General Washington north.

Construction on the second Trinity Church building began in 1788; it was consecrated in 1790. The structure was torn down after being weakened by severe snows during the winter of 1838–39.

The third and current Trinity Church was finished in 1846 and at the time of its completion its 281-foot (86 m) spire and cross was the highest point in New York until being surpassed in 1890 by the New York World Building.

During the September 11, 2001 attacks, as the 1st Tower collapsed, people took refuge from the massive debris cloud inside the church. Falling wreckage from the collapsing tower knocked over a giant sycamore tree that had stood for nearly a century in the churchyard of St. Paul's Chapel, which is part of Trinity Church's parish and is located several blocks north of Trinity Church. Sculptor Steve Tobin used its roots as the base for a bronze sculpture that stands next to the church today.

There are three burial grounds closely associated with Trinity Church. The first is Trinity Churchyard, at Wall Street and Broadway, in which Alexander Hamilton, William Bradford, Franklin Wharton, Robert Fulton, Captain James Lawrence and Albert Gallatin are buried. The second is Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum on Riverside Drive, formerly the location of John James Audubon's estate, in which are interred John James Audubon,Alfred Tennyson Dickens, John Jacob Astor, and Clement Clarke Moore. It is the only active cemetery remaining in the borough of Manhattan. The third is the Churchyard of St. Paul's Chapel, where memorials to the United Irishmen Addis Emmet and Dr. William MacNeven are located.