* sightseeing sundays: governers island NYC

Looking for a green sandy respite away from the concrete jungle of NYC? Take a peek at Governors Island! There has been such a buzz about this place! It is located just off shore of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn and the bottom tip of Manhattan. Open for the season ONLY Friday 10-5, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday Holidays 10-7 through September 25, 2011. A lovely saturday afternoon I took a trip...

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* having lunch with some old friends in trinity cemetery

On such a beautiful day as today was in NYC, it was impossible not to be outside. I found a beautiful green respite just steps away from Wall Street to welcome the warm sunny weather. And these "old friends"...

aren't really friends. But they could have been! I was in Trinity Cemetery. It was the perfect place to enjoy a sunny afternoon lunch. There were benches, stone steps, tables...plenty of seating options. No one was talking loudly on their cellphones. It was so peaceful. I almost feel like I'm giving up a really big secret here...it wasn't anything like Union Square or Madison Square Park during lunchtime on a beautiful day. It makes me so proud of our city and those who work so hard to preserve these delicate memorials. You're swarmed by tourists and the Wall Street hubbub as soon as you step out of the churchyard. The obvious respect New Yorkers and tourists pay to this cemetery is evident in it's welcoming and serene condition. A popular tourist attraction STEPS from Wall Street and it continues to be an area of peace and remembrance. As I read the tombstones- the history, names, and loving memories blocked out the entire city, I could have been in the middle of nowhere.

A picture I took of the cemetery 3 days after the Dec 2010 Christmas Blizzard...looks like a completely different place!

Despite the best efforts to preserve burial grounds and tombstones, mother nature rules all. A lot of the stones are from the 1700's and the inscriptions have been completely weathered away; snow, rain, hail, and wind have taken their toll on these precious historical artifacts.

For whatever reason this tombstone really caught my attention. Just a little snapshot left to capture of this memorial.

Some inscriptions and engravings have withheld the test of time, but for many all that is left is an anonymous blank slate.

This was my first cemetery lunch, and I have to say- I enjoyed it! Do you have an ancestor buried in Trinity Cemetery? You can search through recorded Trinity Cemetery burials on findagrave.com. I'm sure your ancestors would love a lunch date!

* picturing the american civil war

In this year 2011, it is the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the American Civil War.

April 12, 1861. Fort Sumter, South Carolina. 150 years ago. It doesn't sound that long ago- but it feels so long ago. It's a time and way of life I don't think we can ever completely understand.

You know the saying, "seeing is believing"? There are so many amazing images of the civil war! If you can't  make it to a live reenactment, pictures have to be the next best thing! The development and use of photography throughout the 1840's, 50's, and 60's has left us with an array of images documenting this monumental time in American History.

check it- How Civil War Photography Changed the War

Civil War Trust- A mix of new and old pictures and illustrations. Images galleries are organized by battle location (Antietam, Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg).

PBS Civil War Images

* i'm granting 3 wishes : i'll photograph your family's NYC past...

A few weeks ago I posted some "then and now" pictures of old school brooklyn from the NYPL digital gallery with my own pictures from 2011. I had so much fun doing this! I have been able to do this type of project with some of my family pictures and it was really amazing to see the transformations. For those of you who can't visit NYC, I want to help you connect your family pictures with their modern day counterpart. But there are only 3 wishes...the first 3 people to email me one of their original* Manhattan or Brooklyn Family picture will be granted 3 free current day pictures!

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