This turtle run was inspired by my girlfriends Elizabeth Weintraub, (NY Times, About.com) a Sacramento Real Estate Broker for Lyon Real Estate and Poppy Dinsey of Zoomf, London, UK. It is dedicated to a very talented gentleman, Gary Woltal, a Dallas Ft. Worth Realtor at Keller Williams Realty and my dear friend Melody Botting of Melody Botting RE/MAX Empire Realty. Mel gives us a taste of her vacation in the U.K. with her blog entitled, "Subaru Family Bragging Rights."
In "It All Counts," Gary presents some excellent talking points about how we influence people with our words. My favorite thought includes this partial quote from Leo Buscaglia: "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. It's overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt." He does an excellent job of this, and so do my friends and I love their blogs.
Kudos and congrats to Elizabeth, who will be featured on HGTV's House Hunters! If you haven't read her blog, you need to make it your business to take a peek. She provides some wonderful eye candy regarding the behind the scenes day to day renovation of a marvelous rehab job of her kitchen. Her commentary had me tickled pink. Too bad you aren't privy to her phone calls... you'd be smiling for days.
Poppy D takes us on a new tour of the United Kingdom and provides some very delicious eye candy of historic buildings and landmarks with her latest blog entitled "A Walk About Chester, England." BTW, did you know that "according to new figures from the Bank of England, in some parts of the UK as many as four in ten home-buyers pull out before they complete?" Check out her 40% of British Buyers blog here. If you haven't checked out her company, you should. Zoomf is a genuine vertical search engine. Agents can list their properties for free (and seriously increase their Google juice). If you do list there, she also gives great advice with her blog entitled, "The Importance of Listing Photographs." I've been playing with its features and I have to say it has been a lot of fun peeking at available properties in the United Kingdom. If I had to choose three words to describe it, I would say "complete, unbiased and swanky." It's a shame they don't cover the United States, but maybe we can work on that together. It would certainly influence Craiglist to up its game and would probably make Trulia scramble to compete for content. Oops, sorry, Active Rain has already managed to do that... but I digress.
This turtle run is all about historical buildings. After checking out Chester, England, and Tower Bridge, how could I not? Today's eye candy features City Hall, which is located in the borough of Manhattan situated at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. According to the official website of the City of New York (NYC.gov NYCTV-OP page), "New York City's City Hall is the oldest city hall in the nation still used today as a center for city government. For 200 years this building has been at the center of politics, protests and civic celebrations."
Did you know that there are reportedly more than 100 paintings by some of the leading late-18th to mid-19th century American artists housed inside? The published list includes such notables as Samuel F. B. Morse, Rembrandt Peale and John Trumbull. According to Wikipedia, Samuel Finley Breese Morse not only painted portraits and historic scenes like the ones on display in City Hall, he also "created" the single wire telegraph system and was the "co-inventor, with Alfred Vail, of the Morse Code."
Stay tuned for Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza. Here is some eye candy from my turtle run. Enjoy!
Oh my, C Tann-Starr, you have a magical way about you. Heaven is waiting and watching for your lead. You are amazing. Thank you.
Later in the rain~Deb
OMG, I would run with you. Deb
Hey Deb, thank you for your kind words, they are very much appreciated. I hope to shoot the inside if I can get an hour scheduled. I put a written request in and will keep you guys posted when they respond. I am praying for authorization... :-)
Wow, I wouldn't have expected the paintings that you listed to be in a city hall. C', your pictures are great. Compared to the normal media shots that we see of New York, these pictures make New York appear so appear so beautfiful and almost peaceful. I was thinking your turtle runs, must be turtle runs when you are stopping to take pictures to share with us. I also appreciate all of the links of other people that you believe are worthy to visit. I'm looking forward to this weekend to catch up on following them.
You set an example for us all in all that you do.
ps. I hope you can get the authorization.
Hey Sondra, thank you for the compliments. Your kind words are very much apprecaited. I'm am hoping they do grant my request. It would be an awesome opportunity if they do. I'm glad you enjoyed the photographs. I did a nice run in Jamaica Estates this afternoon between the multiple rain storms and have some really nice pictures to sort through. :-)
Carolyn, thanks for the mention of me and It All Counts, and you have done another excellent research job and turtle run tour for all of us. It's incredible by American standards how old this place is. Lots of historic buildings in the New York City area. You got some great shots. My Ham radio buddy would love that you knew that Samuel Morse was not the ONLY one involved in the creation of Morse code. Great detail work, even on the Zoomf research. You are a sharp cookie!! : ) Elizabeth I agree is going wild with her house in Sacramento. She's tripping me out with HER photos.
Really? They will let you photograph the inside...okay, unsolicited advice...publish them all. Whether they are up to your standards or not please publish them! These are all sites I and many others may never get to see otherwise! You go girl!
Later in the rain~Deb
Hey Gary, I'm glad you enjoyed the presentation!
Deb, we shall see what we can do...
I love all the history in NYC. You are so blessed to have that all so near.
Thank you, Pam. It's a lot of fun to play tourist in your own backyard!
You do a great job showing us your home turf C I hope to visit you one day soon
Paddy, I plan on taking lots of pictures when I start hanging out in your neck of the woods. I will be visiting very shortly. :-)
C,
Has anybody told you that you take wonderful photos of your neighborhood? If not can I be the first?
Don R.
Don, you are so sweet, thank you for the compliment. :-)
Lots of great pics and information here! You are making me want to pack a bag. Thanks for the mention. There are so many awesome bloggers here on AR it is hard to keep up with them all. The ones you listed are some of my favs.
Hey Mel, glad you like the presentation. I love sharing my favs and absolutely adore you! :-)
Love all your pictures! They go well with my coffee today. I truly enjoy downtown buildings. I snapped plenty last night in downtown Richmond. I was so worn out yesterday I barely made a post last night then crashed. Thanks for all the comments you always have time to leave for me. Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
Hey Lizette, you are very welcome and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of eye candy you plan to post with your new collection of shots! Enjoy your day. Love, C.
These are friggin' fabulous, C! What a treat. I love the water fountain, but I don't think I saw it when I was there. How could I have missed it? Oh, I know, too busy taking photos of that apple, LOL.
BTW, I also like the way you insert your name on the photos, but putting it on that green sign in the first photo makes it look like your name is actually ON that sign. That's pretty darn clever.
Hey Elizabeth -- Thank you kindly! BTW, I am on the hunt for that Apple of yours... :-)