Photo Friday: Portrait

Shadow

Fireworks

This is a little late for the 4th of July, but here are some of the fireworks that were part of the display on the holiday.

We found Nemo!

Nemo lives at Mote Marine in Sarasota if you are still looking for him. Is that Dorrie too?

Raincloud

We have been having afternoon thunderstorms every day. Here is a cool picture taken of a rain cloud and you can see the rain coming down in the distance.

The whole country has been experiencing a heat wave of temperatures up to 100 degrees. Here on the coast of Florida it rarely gets higher than about 93 degrees because of the ocean breeze. I thought it was funny that in cities up north they were saying that it was going to be hot for 3 more days. Here in Florida we will have hot 90+ weather until the middle of October!

Good Night New York

Time to say "Good night" to New York and Philadelphia and head back to Florida where all the gators and manatees are waiting. I hope you enjoyed our little trip to the big cities. I think we would all enjoy going back again some day.

By the way, these knights were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Poison Dart Frogs

Here are some cute little colorful frogs at the Central Park Zoo.

Be sure to come back on Monday when I will resume showing you beautiful pictures of sunny Florida. Hurricane season has been quiet so far, but the major storms usually come in August and September. I really hope I won't have hurricane pictures to put on my blog this year, but we are all preparing for it anyway.

Photo Friday: Common

Here is a cute little bird that is commonly found in many places. This little guy just happened to be sitting on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I guess that means he is a common sparrow with culture. He liked tasting the hot dog bun from my lunch sitting on the steps.

Toucan

Here is a cute toucan from the Central Park zoo. They had a great aviary where you walk inside with the birds.

Gus

This is Gus the polar bear who lives in Central Park zoo. He was enjoying his time cooling off in the large pool.

Central Park Zoo

This really still is my "I Love Florida" blog. I have shared a lot of pictures of New York and Philadelphia, but before I get back to my Florida pictures I want to share a few more pictures from the Central Park Zoo. We love animals and had a great time seeing all the animals at the zoo. Here is a cute Golden-headed Tamarin.


nyzoosandaquarium.com/czanimals/centralpark_gallery?o=7

Betsy Ross House

Here is the home of Betsy Ross. It is an odd shape because it was once part of a long row of homes like in other parts of Philadelphia. We learned a lot of interesting things about Betsy Ross. She was a business woman, an upholsterer, for 50 years. When she was asked to make a flag for the new country it was her first flag. George Washington wanted to have 6 pointed stars on the flag, but she showed him that she could make 5 pointed stars faster and easier with one cut of the cloth saving time and money in making flags. Read the website below for more info on Betsy Ross.
www.betsyrosshouse.org/

Photo Friday: Remarkable

I am still taking a break from pictures of Florida to post pictures of New York and Philadelphia. This was a remarkable group of break dancers right doing a performance right on the sidewalk in New York. They were amazing. A large crowd gathered to watch the show. On our short visit to New York we enjoyed seeing other performances on the sidewalk and down in the subway. They were all remarkable!

Wall in Philadelphia

This is a crazy wall we saw in Philadelphia. All the little rectangles in the wall are mirrors. The plates and bottles are cemented in place. We saw a house that was decorated in the same way. I can't imagine what my neighbors in Florida would say if we ever decided to decorate like this! I thought it was a cool wall.

T Rex

This was a life size T Rex at the Toys R Us in Times Square. Every few minutes he growls real loud and moves around scaring the little kids. We thought he was cool.

5th Avenue

This is an exclusive neighborhood on 5th Avenue. One the left side is Central Park. On the right side are the expensive apartments and condos. We enjoyed visiting Central Park and the Zoo near hear. Many famous people have apartments in this area.

Empire State Building again

Here is another picture of the Empire State Building. We found this one in the Toys R Us store in Times Square. This one is made entirely of Legos including King Kong on top. It was huge.

Empire State Building top

This is a view of the Empire State Building from the observation deck on the 86th floor. It has an odd looking top, but we were told that originally the designers thought they would be able to tie up dirigibles (blimps) to the top of the building. It never worked because of the high winds at the top of the 102 story building. We learned a lot of interesting things about the building. It was built in only 14 months and gave people a job during the depression. When it was finished it was sometimes called the Empty State Building because many of the floors were unoccupied during the Depression. Workers were hired to go to each floor and turn the lights on at night to make it look less empty. For more interesting info look at the following website:

ms.essortment.com/historyempires_rymo.htm

Bull Market?

This is a huge bronze bull located near Wall St. in New York City. He is quite a tourist attraction. I had to wait a few minutes to get a picture of him without someone sitting on him. The tour guide told us that he appeared one New Year's Day and the city didn't know who put it up. What would any normal city do about a mystery sculpture? They impounded him and took him away. He is HUGE! Today he is back for all to see.

Here is more info I found about him online:

Stock Market Bull Statue: Sometimes called “Charging Bull” or “Wall Street Bull,” this 7,000 pound bronze statue was made by New York City artist Arturo Di Modica in 1989 and illegally placed in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Di Modica decided to create the bull after Black Monday, October 19, 1987, the day of the largest 24-hour decline in recorded stock market history (the Dow Jones went down 22.6%). The police were called in to haul the bull away but public outcry was such that the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation made room for it in nearby Bowling Green Park, where it remains today. Broadway at Bowling Green

Photo Friday: Summer

Our trip to New York and Penn. wasn't all city stuff. We took a short trip to a beautiful state park that had pink and white Mountain Laurel all around. It was so pretty. Since we don't have mountain laurel in Florida I always enjoy seeing it. I think it mainly blooms in summer.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Everyone watches fireworks, eats too many hot dogs, and goes to a picnic on this day. What are we really celebrating? If you have never read it or haven't read it for a long time here is what all the parties and parades are about. Don't forget about all the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom.


The Declaration of Independence


IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Inside Independence Hall

Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall was built between 1732 and 1756 as the State House or capitol. At this building, colonial leaders met to plan the future of the new nation.

Many of the most important documents in U.S. history were written at Independence Hall. The Declaration of Independence was adopted here on July 4, 1776 (Independence Day). The Articles of Confederation were ratified here in 1781. The Constitution was written here and signed on September 17, 1787.

Independence Hall was also the home of the Liberty Bell for over 200 years.

For more info check out this website.


http://bensguide.gpo.gov/index.html

Independence Hall

Tomorrow is the 4th of July in the USA. Since we were in Philadelphia last week where the Declaration of Independence was written and first read to the people I thought I would share these pictures with you. It was very inspiring to see the buildings that I have seen many times in history books.

New York City at night

Here is another picture from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. The city lights were really a pretty site. Click on the picture to enlarge the picture to see a better view of the lights.

View from Empire State Building

This is a picture from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. We got up there just before sunset so we saw a picture of the city during the daylight and after dark. The lit up building is the Chrysler building. The darker it got the brighter its lights shone. We thought it was cool.

Times Square

I usually try to avoid large crowds, but the crowds in New York were fun. There were so many people of all kinds. They were all going somewhere. Many were working and many were tourists. It was an interesting mix. I enjoyed walking around Times Square. During rush hour in New York there are as many people trying to walk down the side walk as cars trying to get down the crowded streets. At each block you cross the street with at least 30 to 50 people at each crosswalk. Our hotel was about 10 blocks from Times Square so we walked through this area a few times. We noticed that the people in New York walk so much that there were a lot less overweight people than at home in Florida. I guess you get in shape walking around the city.