NYC Holiday

Is it any wonder that so many people look forward to visiting NYC

 during the holidays? 

New York loves its decorations

 -- probably because so many of us spend most of our time outside walking up and down the streets. 

So we dress up for even the most minor excuses. 

But Chanukah and Christmas are always extra special. 

Some decorations -- like the Rockefeller Christmas tree are perennials

and reappear each year.

 Others, like the store windows change yearly. 

But sometimes it's the locals that provide the biggest smiles.

Enjoy!

PJ

(c) 2013 PJ Lehrer 

A touch of spring

Even though it is officially winter today

it feels a lot like spring. 

It's 66 degrees out at the moment,

and is projected to reach 69 later today and break a record. 

While this hasn't been a particularly bad winter,

and in fact none have seemed that bad to me after the record breakers of the mid-90's, 

it's still nice to have a time out from the cold occasionally.  

And of course I celebrated by doing a bit of gardening yesterday. 

So, it seemed appropriate to post some spring photos today. 

Here are some favorites from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

Enjoy!

PJ

(c) 2013 PJ Lehrer

Canstruction

Every year in November, a few teams of artists create very elaborate sculptures

 out of tin cans

for a combination contest/food drive called Canstruction. 

The sculptures are displayed in the Winter Garden downtown, 

and people are encouraged to visit the exhibit and bring some cans of their own. 

When the display wraps up the cans are donated to City Harvest

and distributed to the needy. 

Last year the effort helped to feed 90,000 hungry New Yorkers. 

Hopefully this year, with the addition of my contributions,

we did even better.

Ciao

PJ

(c) 2013 PJ Lehrer

Cape Town

On December 5, 2013,  Nelson Mandela died.

  

He was one of my heroes. 

 In his memory I thought I’d post some photos from my trip to Cape Town. 

 They were taken in January 2000 and I was there to shoot a Sprint commercial.  

Things were kind of dicey. 

President Mandela had just stepped down to allow for democratic elections. 

There was rioting in the streets. 

And, the Hard Rock Café was bombed.  

But, democracy prevailed and he lived long enough to see the fruitful results of his efforts. 

I guess you can’t ask for much more than that.

Ciao

PJ

© 2013 PJ Lehrer

Thanksgiving Day Parade

One of the great New York City holiday traditions is the yearly Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  

While it features traditional parade elements like floats and bands,

 it’s really all about the balloons

– which I believe are unique to this particular parade. 

Unfortunately some years it’s too windy to carry them safely down the route. 

Luckily this year, all went well, although it was really cold. 

While watching from ground level is fine,

for a couple of years we had the best seats in the house

 at my aunt’s apartment in the Dakota. 

And my uncle made a pretty mean turkey too.

Enjoy!

PJ

© 2013 PJ Lehrer