ATTN: "Imperfect Strangers" is in Progress! (Friday's Follow Up)

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A few months ago (February) in an entry here on Blogger and a posting on Facebook, I mentioned an unkind (understatement) experience I had regarding my having Neurofibromatosis (NF).

In that entry, I also mentioned that I might return to a book project that addresses issues related to the condition. Now that we are nearly through with this month of May for 2019, which happens to be Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month, I have done something about it; and I have just posted an announcement on my You Tube Channel with a very short video that you can view by clicking the link underneath my screen shot that's atop this entry.

This past Wednesday Andre, Matthieu and Joshua came to my rooftop garden to celebrate my endeavor and we can be seen (below) in a photo Andre took with his phone.

Andre (second from the right) is my optician and I initially met him in June of 2016 after I had an accident where one of the consequences was breaking my glasses. I met Matthieu (seated in front of Andre in this picture) soon after. Wednesday evening was the first time I met Joshua (who is standing next to  me).

I am honored to say that this past summer Andre purchased volume one and volume two of my book series (volume three had not been released at the time), Words In Our Beak for Anne et Valentin.

The evening was fun which was something I have not had in a long time for a variety of reasons, but it was bittersweet because Matthieu is moving back to France in June; which is another reason all of us got together. He said he'll return to NYC on occasion to visit; so hopefully this past Wednesday was only a goodbye for now.

Hey! Hey! Hey! It's #WorldTurtleDay!

Today's post is dedicated to World Turtle Day, which is a holiday that has been celebrated on the twenty-third day of May since 2000. According to Wiki it is sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue and this event "is celebrated around the globe in a variety of ways, from dressing up as turtles or wearing green summer dresses, to saving turtles caught on highways, to research activities. Turtle Day lesson plans and craft projects encourage teaching about turtles in classrooms."

I've written about World Turtle Day in prior entries here on Blogger, including posts you may reference by clicking here. This year I am honoring the day with the photographs atop this entry featuring turtles who appears to be drumming their nails on a sidewalk in Central Park.

Their nails seemed unusually long to me, but I have learned that turtles (unlike humans) do not need to have regular man/pedis —  at least the ones in CP.

Pet turtles will require having their nails trimmed but in the wild, turtles and tortoises walk or exercise enough that their nails will naturally wear themselves down to a manageable length.

Seeing what looked like drumming, prompted me to research the activity of drumming one's nails and the web has a lot to say about this including a page called Changing Minds, where the following is proclaimed.

My First Pine Cone!

The photograph atop this entry as well as the ones directly below were taken by JV (Juan V) after he spotted a pinecone on the  Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi) which is located in the northeast corner of my rooftop garden.

I've never seen a pine cone when it was in the early stages of life and was so fascinated by Juan's discovery that I did a bit of research to learn more about them, which is my wisdom for Wednesday.

According to an article by Natalie Andrews, "Pine trees, also known as “conifers,” have cones instead of flowers. These cones serve as a pine tree’s source of seed. Conifers also produce separate male and female cones for seed development. In general, the development of a pine cone takes around two years and fertilization happens in the spring. Both male and female cones start like tiny pink-lilac bristles.They turn green as they develop, but their scales stay tucked together until maturity. When fully mature, female cones look like typical pine cones, with hard brown woody scales spread apart. They form at the foot of new shoots below the terminal bud and take about two years to mature and produce seeds. Each female pine cone has about 200 seeds, depending on the pine's species... " (You can read the rest of Andrews article by clicking here).

As for my Japanese Larch, I got it in 2005 or 2006 or was it 2004? Not so sure when I first planted that tree in a container that she eventually outgrew!

#turtletuesday is STILL trending on social media! (Tuesday's Truths WK 127)

Last Tuesday, here on Blogger, I announced (in my Tuesday's Truths segment) that  #turtletuesday was trending on social media. Now, a week later, turtles are still the topic of many tweets and they are still the subject of many photos that have been posted on Instagram.

I can certainly see why these creatures continue to fascinate so many people. As I’ve mentioned before, the shells of turtles in Central Park have always intrigued me and I'm thankful that the one seen here (in the photos atop this entry) allowed me to take a picture of the inside of his/her shell.

NYC will have a beach in the coming years. (MONDAY'S MEMO)

During one of the cold snaps that we had in NYC this past winter, I saw some news re a new beach coming to NYC (please refer to the screenshot of the tweet which can be seen in the image atop this entry). As you can see the tweeter is hopeful that when and if this happens, Manhattan will be blessed with visits from American Oystercatchers.