St. John the Divine Cathedral

One day, we had most of the day to ourselves to use as we pleased. Our appointment with the newlyweds were for dinner that night. And dinner was around 9 pm. We had plenty of time to sightsee. So we took the subway bound for Manhattan. We always wanted to see St. Paul church. With very little planning and because we didn't think we had time to go anywhere, we were reduced to following the map and took a subway stop that was indicated on the map for us to reach our destination. We walked a little bit and couldn't find a church. Finally we asked somebody to point us towards the direction of the church.
From afar, we could see the gothic church. So walked some more until we reached it. On that particular April day, the sun was in full blast. The temp was in the 90s, so it was not a leisurely walk as the pavement gets really hot too. When we reached the church, we found out that this was not St. Paul's Cathedral (a Catholic church), but St. John the Diving Cathedral (the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the seat of its bishop.
Details on the arch on the doorway. I am not going to show you the inside of the church although I took some photos. I didn't think the images were good enough for show *wink*. But here's some information on the church from wikipedia:

~ the cathedral is claimed to be the largest Anglican cathedral and fourth largest Christian Church. the inside covers more than half a city block with 121,000 sf.

Look at the size of this cathedral! The address of this cathedral is 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, NY. I hope next time I go there, I would be well equipped (top notch camera and those expensive lenses too *wink*).

My New York Minutes 10

My New York Minutes 9

IMG_0205, originally uploaded by M'roy.

A little church I saw and passed by on the way to St. John the Divine Cathedral. Somewhere in Manhattan.

On a different note, Congratulations are in order for the wonderful and unexpected second place finish of the American soccer (football) team at the recently concluded FIFA Confederation Cup. It was an exciting game. But Brazil is Brazil. That was a good showing for the Americans. I may just consider Donovan a good contender for a name when I get a dog.

Also my apologies for not visiting your blogs as often as before. I am extremely busy and the fact that I am not at work during this week (away from computer screen all day) means I have no time to surf and bloghop.

Photo Hunt #44: Flags

After two weeks of being away from Photo Hunt, I am back with my find for the theme FLAGS.

A series of images I took of flags and other sights at the UN headquarters in NYC. On the first image, the building was too big, my point and shoot couldn't handle the size. I shot the first image while standing on the steps here on the second image.

I was leaning against the banister when I took the shot of the building seen on the first image. Then I realized that the iron work was so pretty with the pink blossoms in the background and that the shadow it cast was just as beautiful. You can see some flags in the background.

American Flags. We came from up there after walking a few blocks from Grand Central Station to reach UN headquarters. As you can see, it was all blue skies.

Photo Hunt is hosted by TNCHICK.

(My New York Minutes 8)

Sky Watch #49

IMG_0876, originally uploaded by M'roy.

It was blue skies all throughout our brief stay in New York. Blue skies, hot temps, and a little humidity.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is this is the city hall. Still running NY series.

(My New York Minutes 7)

Skywatch is a weekly gathering of sky watchers and sky lovers. Come and join us.

Belvedere Views (My New York Minutes 6)

Lovely views of the Great Lawn.
Twilight casts a beautiful glow to Turtle Pond.

Belvedere Castle (My New York Minutes 5)

If there was one place I wanted to see in Central Park, it was the Belvedere Castle. It was as you know a place where Julia Robert's character in Stepmom did a photo shoot while baby sitting both her stepchildren.
Belvedere Castle sits atop Vista Rock (the second highest natural elevation in the park, don't ask what's the first coz I don't know :). It was smaller than I expected. It was close when we got there. It was designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould in 1865 to provide as an overlook to the beautiful sights around it.

The castle serves as a weather station. Whenever you see a local news broadcast of temperatures of Central Park, the readings are taken at Belvedere Castle.

My New York Minutes were taken from April 25 to 28, 2009.

Happy Father's Day

Two photos snapped by husband during our recent camping trip of a tender moment between father and daughter.

A Father's Day Prayer

Our Father in heaven
We thank you for the fathers
You give us here on earth
And we ask your blessing on them
And on all fathers and men everywhere.
Guide them to model their parenting
On your embracing love
Give them patience and wisdom
As they care for their children
And help them teach their children
To follow and love our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

My New York Minutes (4)

IMG_0052, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Doesn't this image remind you of a typical Philippine city? Taken in Queens, NY.

Sky Watch #48

IMG_0038, originally uploaded by M'roy.

(My New York Minutes 3)

If there was one thing that I was consciously aiming for this NY trip was snapping as much skywatch entries as possible. I honestly did not think we would have time to go to Manhattan due to our tight schedule and short stay, so the minute the taxi when into motion, so did my shutter. Here's one of those drive by shots where I watched the blue skies through the still bare limbs. I saw the birds after I uploaded the images on my PC.

SKYWATCH is a weekly gathering of skylovers and skywatchers. Join us.

My New York Minutes (2)

IMG_0025, originally uploaded by M'roy.

What is this you'd ask and why I took a photo of it? I don't exactly know what this is, but this is one of the first sights I've seen as the taxi drove out of JFK. I thought the sky was particularly lovely that day. As the taxi weaves out of JFK and towards our destination, I rolled down the window and enjoyed the sights. Sights that reminded me of my hometown, the Philippines. The weather was the same, warm and humid. The air smelled the same, I couldn't explain it. I did remark upon stepping out of the taxi that I feel so at home. Who knew?

Any New Yorker care to tell me what this structure is?

Bleeding Heart (My New York Minutes)

IMG_0570, originally uploaded by M'roy.

I received sad news via email today from a high school friend. She said our friend has a bleeding heart because of his mother's recent passing. I was really saddened by the news.

I will start posting New York photos starting with this post. I may post NY and Yosemite alternately to break the monotony.

Also I hope to be able to bloghop regularly. I just got back from a camping trip to Lake Shasta.

Sky Watch #47

From last week's skywatch entry (misty Alcatraz and boat) I told you I had my back on the SF waterfront. Now I show you what was the view on the opposite side. Here's the beautiful waterfront view. Coit Tower is partly hidden, Transamerica Pyramid stands tall and proud, and Ghirardelli Square takes its sweet position on the right side of this image, while the nary a cloud in the blue sky. Although you can probably see a hint of the fog that was going to blanket all this beauty in a short hour or so. Shot on Memorial Day 2009 between 4 to 5 pm, I think :)

I'm testing if a larger image is better suited to my taste for this blog. What do you think?

SKYWATCH is a weekly gathering of skylovers and skywatchers. Visit the site and see for yourself all the wonderful images players share.

Red Pops Everytime

Babes on fence, originally uploaded by M'roy.

My head is spinning after hours of looking at color samples. I don't think I can see another color, but of course you can never subdue red. It always wants to come out.

The Call of the Road

IMG_0472, originally uploaded by M'roy.

My feet are itchy. I want another road trip. But not right now, not the right time. Plate is full with things to do that doesn't include a road trip. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop me from dreaming of another road trip. What are you dreaming of right now?

Photo Hunt #43: Advertisement

IMG_0086, originally uploaded by M'roy.

The souvenirs we take home from our travels are a wonderful way of advertisement for the place we just visited.

TNCHICK hosts photo hunt every week.

Sky Watch #46

IMG_0296, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Fog has rolled in over Alcatraz as people in sailboats continue to enjoy the water on this beautiful Memorial Day 2009 afternoon.

I was standing on the pier by Fort Mason with my back towards the beautiful San Francisco waterfront when I snapped this shot.

Skywatch time again. Visit the site for more sky/cloud photos from all over the globe.

Spring Shot Before Summer Gets Here

IMG_0060, originally uploaded by M'roy.

It's June and we have a gloomy, grey, foggy (deep marine layer), cool weather. The local news commented last night that the weather around these parts feel like November not June. Exactly what I told my husband the weather felt like to me.

I'm digging really deep into my archives (ones that are already on Flickr) as my schedule is pretty tight. I'm exhausting all avenues in order to avoid a blog break, which could also mean that my visits to your sites may not be as regular as before.

Springtime in Stanley Park, Vancouver, 2007.

Begin the Week With Beautiful Thoughts

Love is in the air, originally uploaded by M'roy.

of love and friendship.

Is this photo familiar to you? Nope? Okay go to the Photo Hunt two posts down and you will notice black silhouette on the grass infront of the building. I got curious so I went closer and well what do you know, the couple found a scenic spot to talk and be together.

And someone called me a snoop! I was just doing it for art's sake.

Happy Monday everyone. Hope it's a great week. Happy June too.