Monday's (11/29/2021) Memo

On this Monday after Thanksgiving, I am pleased to announce that, for a limited time, APPLE is offering a 50% discount on all of my books that are in their on-line bookstore.

These include, WORDS IN OUR BEAK, THE APPLE BOOK VERSION VERSION... as well as BIRDTALES, and IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS.

The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be back to "normal" this year of 2021! (Tuesday's Truths WK 227)

The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be back to "normal" in this year of 2021! 

Please click here to read my article.

Throwback Thursday: Thanksgiving 2019's Circumstances Compared to Now (April 2020)

THE MACYS PARADE SINCLAIR DINOSAUR 

What a difference a day or evening makes! Just a little over six months (on the 11-27-2020 which was the Eve of Thanksgiving) ago on the UWS in NYC, a number of folks were looking out their windows to cheer and applaud the balloons being blown up for the 2020 Macys Thanksgiving  Parade (an example can be seen in the image atop this post.

Thousands of people crowded the area to get an up close view of the annual Thanksgiving Eve event. At that time the biggest concern NYC seemed to have was whether or not the balloons would be able to fly because of the prevailing high winds.

Last night many NYC residents (like myself) looked out their windows or stood on their terraces (some can be seen in the next series of pictures) to participate in the nightly #ClapBecauseWeCare tribute.

A #ClapBecauseWeCare Participant

JULIE, THE WOMAN WHO TOOK PHOTO-OP S OF MY GARDEN
SEE THEM BY CLICKING HERE AND HERE 

A #ClapBecauseWeCare Participant

A #ClapBecauseWeCare Participant

GIUSEPPE AND TERESA
(He has taken a video of a session from his window.)

In doing so our concerns were much greater than that of would or wouldn't a Macy's ballon be allowed to "fly"?

Dr. Seuss was born 116 years ago today!

Dr. Seuss was born 116 years ago on this day of March the 2nd. I have paid homage to his day of birth in prior posts here on Blogger and I've also referenced several of Seuss's quotations within a number of my blog entries, all of this can be referred to by clicking here.

In any event, on this day of Seuss's birth, I find myself thinking about his first book, which was titled, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (the book featured in the image atop this posting) and something I've addressed in prior posts here on Blogger.

According to a number of sources, including Wikipedia, "At least 20 publishers rejected the book before Geisel ran into an old college classmate, who had just become juvenile editor at Vanguard Press. Vanguard agreed to publish the book, and it met with high praise from critics upon release, though sales were not as impressive." 

My father died 24 years ago today.

Today is the 24th anniversary of my father's death.

He can be seen in this photograph a a very young boy using a frying pan as an instrument.

His brothers are accompanying him with their instruments. Perhaps those earlier musical endeavors gave my father his apparent "love" for pop music. Most people when recalling my father's antics will remember him for having his own takes on "Top-40" music hits.

Wednesday's Wisdom: To LET them fly OR To NOT let them fly? That is the question!

CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE

UWs-ers in NYC may indeed love a parade, as evidenced in one of my my recent articles published by Mike Miskin (iLovetheUpperWestside) which discusses the 2019 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, BUT, will this year's balloons be able to participate? THAT is the question! Take a look at this video!

November Twenty Second is a Solemn Day

November Twenty Second is a solemn day. Fifty six years ago today, on November 22, 1963 (which was also a Friday) President John F Kennedy was assassinated.

The Pillsbury Doughboy's Anniversary

Today is not part of my blog posting schedule for this week, but in honor of the November 7, 1965 fifty-fourth anniversary of the The Pillsbury Doughboy's first appearance.

He was created "in 1965 by Chicago’s storied Leo Burnett Advertising Agency. Rudy Perz, a Burnett copy writer who had a vision: A little dough guy popping out of a Pillsbury can. Known for his giggle, the Doughboy was first voiced in commercials by Paul Frees, also the voice of Boris Badenov, cartoon villain on the 1960s’ Rocky & Bullwinkle show."

According to wiki, "Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising mascot for the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2005 (returned in 2009 to 2011 and 2013 in a GEICO Commercial, and once again in 2017) concluded with a human finger poking the Doughboy's stomach. The Doughboy responds when his stomach is poked by giggling (Hoo-Hoo!, or earlier on, a slight giggle 'tee hee')."

This charming character is not only on my mind because today is anniversary, he is also on my mind because as of now, he is scheduled to take place in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, which is set to take place three weeks from today!

The event is no dough off his back for he has participated in the event in bygone years  as seen in the next two photographs (which have been featured in prior entries here on Blogger).

Kermit THE Frog & An American Coot (Tuesday's Truths WK 115)

Welcome to segment 115 of my Tuesday's Truths series. The photograph atop this entry is a partial view of a Macy's Ballon (which was in one of their Thanksgiving Day Parades in bygone years) rendered in the likeness of Kermit The Frog. In this image, he is "flying" high above the treetops along CPW (Central Park West).

I thought of their ballon when I was by The Pond in Central Park yesterday.

The First Day of Christmas 2018

Upon seeing this Bill Whitehead cartoon, I thought of the Mandarin duck who has been visiting Central Park and can be seen in the next set of pictures.

SHOP FOR MY MANDARIN DUCK RELATED ITEMS ON FAA

SHOP FOR MY MANDARIN DUCK RELATED ITEMS ON FAA

SHOP FOR MY MANDARIN DUCK RELATED ITEMS ON FAA

For just like the newsmaker (Santa Claus) in Whitehead's cartoon, IF this duck thinks everything is about him, he's right.

Just a reminder, dear reader, please don't forget to get my Mandarin-themed products (via Fine Art America) for your true love during these upcoming 12 days of Christmas; the first of the twelve days is today!

I'm sure your true love will like my Mandarin items as much as — if not better than — a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five golden rings, six geese a laying, seven swans a swimming, eight maids a milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords a leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming!

As for Whitehead's holiday cartoon, here's another...

.... this one caused me to think of seeing the Jolly Green Giant in Macy's 2017 Thanksgiving Parade...

... where spectators took advantage of the medicine in laughter and shouted, "HO! HO! HO!"

It's Christmas Time in The City...

In two weeks time, it will be Christmas Eve and NYC is ready.

Here are a few examples: The Met's tree, a 20-foot-high blue spruce is hung with ornate Neapolitan angels, and the base of the tree is the setting for an elaborate Italian Nativity scene; the tree in close proximity (Dante Park) to Lincoln Center was lit on the Monday after Thanksgiving, November twenty-sixth (the same night as my presentation at NYSEC aka New York Society for Ethical Culture); and the in the evening of the Wednesday after Thanksgiving the tree at Rockefeller Center was lit (more of NYC's Christmas decor can be found on a web page for trip savvy).

Inside the AMNH (The American Museum of Natural History) a nondenominational holiday tree decorated with origami animals (800-plus folded-paper critters) is up and outside, at the building's entrance across from Central Park, is a topiary of two dinosaurs, facing each other as they hold a wreath; prompting my caption, "With this wreath, I thee wed."

Thanksgiving Day 2018 + November 22nd: JFK's Assassination + My Father's Last Words (PLUS AN UPDATE FROM FAA!)

On this Thanksgiving Day of 2018, I can hear the bands from Macy's Parade through my window, but have not gone outside to see it. The temperatures are some of the lowest on record for this day, and the wind gusts are abnormally high, which means the Macy's Balloons will be flying low to the ground, and not as easy to see, since people stand on ladders and put toddlers on their shoulders.

I'm not concerned re not seeing the balloons today, for I've seen them over the course of many years as they made their way down Central Park West ...

Thanksgiving Travel

On one of busiest travel days of the year, the day before Thanksgiving, here's some breaking news re my figurines! A pair of pilgrims save turkeys from being someone's holiday dinner by traveling atop them to a destination wedding — that is taking place in a grove of candy-corn trees!

What will your mode of transportation be re this holiday, dear reader?

Mark your calendars for the Monday after Thanksgiving; It's one week from Today!

An event that I've been writing about here on Blogger and in other cyber venues is one week from today, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving. This is just a reminder during this time of hustle and bustle, to please mark your calendars and share the info with those near and dear to you: 

I will be the guest speaker at NYSEC's (New York's Society for Ethical Culture) Speaking of Science series on Monday, 11-26-2018. The details on the "photocopy" of the flyer posted directly above may be a bit hard to read, so I'm taking the liberty of copying and pasting the content below:

Studying the wild birds in NYC and surrounding areas has important implications for understanding the similarities of human behavior and the behaviors of members within the avian community. The topics I will cover in my presentation include how birds teach us about the human race in such matters (to name a few) as finding our voice, ways in which we compensate our behaviors to meet our needs, accepting our physical appearances, and how bullying impacts our lives.

Patricia Youngquist is the author of the three volume “Words In Our Beak” book series, published by Ingram Spark, in which stories are told from the bird’s-eye perspective of Cam, a female cardinal that regularly visited her rooftop garden located near NYSEC and is illustrated with her own photographs. Prior to publishing this series, Youngquist published an article on Google Mapping for Contribute Magazine as well as over a thousand posts on her blog (thelastleafgardener.com). It has been listed (by feed_spot) in the top one hundred urban blogs. Her earlier impressionist and kaleidoscopic photography has been exhibited in NYC which led to radio interviews with John Montone’s New York for 1010 WINS and The AL Lewis Show with Karen Lewis for WBAI. All of her work, including these radio interviews, can be found on her website, patriciayoungquist.com

Date: Monday, November 26, 2018 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Location: Adler Study, Room 514

Admission: Members $5, Guests $10

Also please note, copies of all the books in my Words In Our Beak series will be available for purchase after the event ...

THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

... and if you'd like I can autograph any copy.

Happy 90th Birthday, Mickey Mouse!

It is Mickey Mouse's 90th birthday today (having been born on 11-18-1928). And in 1934, when he was only six years old he appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, "making him the third pop-culture character to have a licensed balloon in the parade. This balloon was 40 feet high, 26 feet wide, and required 25 handlers...

... A second balloon, which was slightly more colorful, was created and test flighted in 1971 and was originally supposed to debut that year to celebrate the opening of the Walt Disney World resort in Florida, but due to the weather all balloons had to be grounded, and so it debuted in 1972, appearing alongside his pal Donald Duck. 1935 and 1972 are the only years in the parades history where Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse both appeared in the parade together as balloons. The balloon continued to be used until after the 1983 parade...

... After 17 years of absence, Mickey returned in 2000 with a "Bandleader" balloon, which led that year's balloon lineup. This balloon did not return after that year...

...Several years later, a fourth balloon of Mickey was made, depicting him as a sailor; it debuted in 2009 to celebrate the announcement of the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy cruise ships. This new Mickey was retired in 2012, as both ships had set sail by that time." 

(More info @ http://bit.ly/2qPUDaw)

For  your information, dear reader, the image you see atop this blog posting is of Mickey rendered as a balloon was taken just before he retired in 2012. As you can see, he peers into windows!

Friday Follow-Up (to last week's post)

Last Friday, here on Blogger, I announced that I would be making a presentation re birds in NYC at The International Academy of New York on this day. And now I've done it!

This Wednesday's Wisdom is from the birds! (Some Facts Re Mallard Ducklings ETC)

I have something in common with the Mallard ducklings seen in the pictures atop this entry (where they are swimming in the Hudson River with their mother), I'm one of three...

My NYSEC Booking: Tuesday's Truths WK 94

As of this posting, I am scheduled to give a talk/presentation at a prominent institution on NYC's UWS, known as NYSEC (New York Society for Ethical Culture) that is related to issues raised in my Words In Our Beak book series (hence the image atop this ninety-fourth entry of my Tuesday's Truths series).

In Honor of Hippo Day 2018

Today marks a holiday known as Hippo Day! One way that I am celebrating it by paying homage to Happy Hippo, whose likeness has been rendered into a ballon that has participated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as seen in the pictures directly above this entry.

Tuesday's Truths WK 68: More Tree-Lined Streets in the UWS of NYC

Welcome to week sixty-fifth of my Tuesday's Truths series, dear reader! I wanted to let you know that this past Thursday, The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade had barely finished before NYC began to see more tree-lined streets, as evidenced in the images atop this blog post.

With the exception of the first image, the pictures feature Christmas trees that are brought down from by French-Canadians who dominate New York's Christmas tree market.