Blog salad and a give away

Every summer troops of young people from an evangelical church descend on our neighborhood and hand out granola bars along with a post card advertising their church.

Usually they are spread out over several streets. If one of their people sees that you took a granola bar they tend not to offer you another. Every year I debate the morality of taking the granola bars. I really detest proselytizing. It feels like an assault. In these days when people speak of micro aggression, proselytizing feels not like a micro -aggression but like a regular big sized aggression against the spiritual life of non Christians.

So every year I take those chewy granola bars and toss the post card. I am happy to waste that church's money. Some years my kids got their granola bars in their lunches for several days in a row courtesy of that church.

The other day the church folk were crowded together. Two or three were in the area outside of the 96th Street subway that my husband has brilliantly named "Spare Change Plaza". A few more stood at each corner on my way home from the subway. Each church rep gave me a granola bar which I shoved into my bag. I tossed each post card. This year i noticed that even if a church member saw me shoving a granola bar into my bag, they still gave me another.

My sons were home when I got back and several church granola bars got eaten immediately. This is what is left.

Now for the give-away. This is for people who sew. 

I am giving away a random grouping of a dozen Burda magzines. Burda is a sewing magazine published in Germany. Unlike American sewing magazines the patterns  for each garment featured in the magazine appear in an insert inside the magazine. 

I learned a whole lot of what I know about garment construction from Burda. I read the magazines thoroughly. I rarely actually take out the patterns and copy them. Translation- the magazines do not look pristine, some look kind of ratty, but the patterns have not been removed. The magazines range from as early as the late 1990's and the newest ones are from a few years ago. The magazines include, like all Burda's mosty women's clothing. Each issue also included children's clothing and some home dec. Older issues will also have some recipes.

Email me to claim your stash of magazines. But this is the deal

• you must take all the magazines in this batch
• this is for pick up only

I am also including a few photos from around the city that I hadn't figured out how to include in a blog post.

The gate to the formal garden in Central Park. I believe the gates had come from the Vanderbilt mansion. The gaTES LET YOU KNOW YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A SPECIAL SPACE.

Looking west at central park from a taxi window

the fabulous GE building

yet another look at the George Washington Bridge