Friday I had three apartments to inspect in Brooklyn so we set off at 9:00 in the morning. When we arrived at the first apartment, the housing coordinators had just inspected it. I called them and they had also inspected the second apartment we had scheduled. Some mix up/duplication of assignment when the mission zones were changed a couple of weeks ago. Long story short, we inspected the last apartment and were finished much earlier than we had expected and since we were about 10 minutes from Coney Island, we decided to do a little sightseeing. Neither of us had been there so it was a new, windy and chilly experience.
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| The entrance to Coney Island Park. |
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| Looking through the closed front gates of Coney Island Amusement Park. |
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| Always on mind! |
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| Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and
bears the name of co-founder Nathan Handwerker (June 14, 1892 – March 24, 1974), who started the business with his wife, Ida Handwerker, née Ida Greenwald. Ida created the hot dog recipe they used, and Ida's grandmother created the secret spice recipe. Nathan's is celebrating its 100 year anniversary July 4th this year. |
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| Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest has been held at the original location
on Coney Island since the early 1970s. Contestants try to consume as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. The numbers on the building are counting down the time to the July 4th contest. |
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| So much sweet stuff it is difficult to choose!! |
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| The board walk. |
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| Coney Island Pier |
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| Panorama from the end of the pier. |
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| Peggy |
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| Brooklyn Bridge on the way back to Rego Park. |
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| Manhattan |
Peggy left for home at 1:30 Saturday. I had to send her in a cab because my duties called. I am not as young as I used to be! When I was a kid and even when I wasn't a kid, I could pull "all-nighters" studying for a test or bottling tomatoes or taking care of sick children or reading. Gone are those days. I was with a missionary in the ER from Saturday early afternoon until 5:30 Sunday morning. I slept for a couple of hours and then got my Sabbath day started at 8:15.
I played catch-up all day Monday with reports and frequent calls. I was getting calls still at 10:30PM. Up early Tuesday to walk with my new walking partner, Sister Williams from the Seattle area.
Tuesday day late morning, I took a missionary to Staten Island for a CT scan. That was fun even though it took most of the day. I went to Flushing to pick up the two and then an hour and ten minute drive to the Island. Waited for the scan to be done and then the drive home. I enjoyed the scenery.
It is Wednesday and I feel like I am catching up on the lost sleep but I haven't bounced back as easily as when I was 20 years old. I'm not complaining in the least. I love what I am doing but just presenting the facts.
I crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge for the first time yesterday but couldn't take pictures because the traffic was moving along too fast. On the way over we took the lower level (no trucks allowed) and coming home we took the more scenic upper level. Had to Google:
"The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (sometimes called simply the Verrazano Bridge) is a double-decked suspension bridge in the U.S. state of New York that connects the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water connecting the relatively protected upper bay with the larger, wide open lower bay.
The bridge is named for the Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, whose name is misspelled on the bridge, as well as for the Narrows. In 1524, while in the service of Francis I of France, Verrazzano became the first European to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River. It has a central span of 4,260 feet and was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, surpassing the Golden Gate Bridge by 60 feet, until it was in turn surpassed by 366 feet by the Humber Bridge in the United Kingdom in 1981. It has the eleventh longest main span in the world, while retaining its place as the longest bridge span in the Americas. Its massive towers can be seen throughout a good part of the New York metropolitan area, including from spots in all five boroughs of New York City and in New Jersey."
I had district meeting this morning and some sisters stopped to use my facilities as they were on their way to Manhattan for a doctor's appointment for one of them. I love it when the missionaries stop by and make themselves at home. They are great people.
I had to Google Staten Island so I could learn more about it. Sorry. It is rather long but you can skip this part if you want:
Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City. In the southwest of the city, Staten Island is the southernmost part of both the city and state of New York. The borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a 2014 Census-estimated population of 473,279, Staten Island is the least populated of the boroughs but is the third-largest in area at 58 sq miles. The borough is coextensive with Richmond County, and until 1975 was officially the Borough of Richmond. Its flag was later changed to reflect this, though the official seal remains unchanged. Staten Island has been sometimes called "the forgotten borough" by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government.
Motor traffic can reach the borough from Brooklyn via the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and from New Jersey via the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge, and Bayonne Bridge. Staten Island has Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus lines and a MTA rapid transit line, the Staten Island Railway, which runs from the ferry terminal at St. George to Tottenville. Staten Island is the only borough that is not connected to the New York City Subway system. The free Staten Island Ferry connects the borough to Manhattan and is a popular tourist attraction, providing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Lower Manhattan.
As in much of North America, human habitation appeared in the island fairly rapidly after the retreat of the ice sheet. Archaeologists have recovered tool evidence of Clovis culture activity dating from about 14,000 years ago. The island was probably abandoned later, possibly because of the extirpation of large mammals on the island. Evidence of the first permanent American Indian settlements and agriculture are thought to date from about 5,000 years ago.
At the time of European contact, the island was inhabited by the Raritan band of the Unami division of the Lenape. The Lenape, who spoke Lenape one of the Algonquian languages, called Staten Island Aquehonga Manacknong, meaning "as far as the place of the bad woods", or Eghquhous, meaning "the bad woods". The area was part of the Lenape homeland known as Lenapehoking. The Lenape were later called the "Delaware" by the English colonists because they inhabited both shores of what the English named the Delaware River.
The first recorded European contact with the island was in 1520 by Italian explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano, who in the employ of the French crown, sailed through The Narrows on the French ship La Dauphine and anchored for one night.
In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch, sailed into Upper New York Bay on his ship the Half Moon. The Dutch named this as Staaten Eylandt (literally "States Island"), in honor of the Dutch parliament known as the Staten-Generaal. The first permanent Dutch settlement of the New Netherland colony was made on Governor's Island in 1624, which they had used as a trading camp for more than a decade before. In 1626 the colony transferred to the island of Manhattan, which was newly designated as the capital of New Netherland.
The Dutch did not establish a permanent settlement on Staaten Eylandt for many decades.
The island played a significant role in the American Revolutionary War. On March 17, 1776, the British forces under Lord Howe evacuated Boston and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. From Halifax, Howe prepared to attack New York City, which then consisted entirely of the southern end of Manhattan Island. General George Washington led the entire Continental Army to New York City in anticipation of the British attack. Howe used the strategic location of Staten Island as a staging ground for the invasion.
Over 140 British ships arrived over the summer of 1776 and anchored off the shores of Staten Island at the entrance to New York Harbor. This was the largest armada to set sail until World War II. The British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries numbered about 30,000. Howe established his headquarters in New Dorp at the Rose and Crown Tavern, near the junction of present New Dorp Lane and Amboy Road. There the representatives of the British government reportedly received their first notification of the Declaration of Independence.
In August 1776, the British forces crossed the Narrows to Brooklyn and outflanked the American forces at the Battle of Long Island, resulting in the British control of the harbor and the capture of New York City shortly afterwards. Three weeks later, on September 11, 1776, Lord Howe received a delegation of Americans consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams at the Conference House on the southwestern tip of the island (known today as Tottenville) on the former estate of Christopher Billop. However, the Americans refused a peace offer from Howe in exchange for withdrawing the Declaration of Independence, and the conference ended without an agreement.
On August 22, 1777, the Battle of Staten Island occurred here between the British forces and several companies of the 2nd Canadian Regiment fighting alongside other American companies. The battle was inconclusive, though both sides surrendered over a hundred troops as prisoners. The Americans finally withdrew.
In early 1780, while the Kill Van Kull was frozen solid due to a brutal winter, Lord Stirling led an unsuccessful Patriot raid from New Jersey on the western shore of Staten Island. It was repulsed in part by troops led by British Commander Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings.
British forces remained on Staten Island for the remainder of the war. Most Patriots fled after the British occupation, and the sentiment of those who remained was predominantly Loyalist. Even so, the islanders found the demands of supporting the troops to be heavy. The British army kept headquarters in neighborhoods such as Bulls Head. Many buildings and churches were destroyed for their materials, and the military's demand for resources resulted in an extensive deforestation by the end of the war. The British army again used the island as a staging ground for its final evacuation of New York City on December 5, 1783. After their departure, the largest Loyalist landowners fled to Canada and their estates were subdivided and sold.
The towns of Staten Island were dissolved in 1898 with the consolidation of the City of Greater New York, as Richmond County became one of the five boroughs of the expanded city.
The construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, along with the other three major Staten Island bridges, created a new way for commuters and tourists to travel from New Jersey to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and areas farther east on Long Island. The network of highways running between the bridges has effectively carved up many of Staten Island's old neighborhoods.
The bridge opened many areas of the borough to residential and commercial development, especially in the central and southern parts of the borough, which had previously been largely undeveloped. Staten Island's population doubled from about 221,000 in 1960 to about 443,000 in 2000.
Throughout the 1980s, a movement to secede from the city steadily grew in popularity, reaching its peak during the mayoral term of David Dinkins. In a 1993 referendum, 65% voted to secede, but implementation was blocked in the State Assembly.
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| A flock of wild turkeys has descended on Staten Island, and they are creating quite a stir, stopping traffic, attracting curious onlookers, and making tempers flare. Residents are frustrated by the gobblers’ invasion—the birds are fouling their yards and waking them with loud pre-dawn mating cries. The interlopers are also aggressive, they complain, and are difficult to shoo away. During the last decade a particularly large urban turkey population has settled near the psychiatric hospital, leading to controversy about how to deal with the unwanted visitors. |
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| Tensions have been particularly high since August, when approximately 80 wild turkeys, congregating near the hospital, were rounded up by the US Department of Agriculture and killed. An animal shelter in the Catskills took in 28 birds (all they had room for). Last month a second group of birds was killed. State officials and some residents have defended the roundups as being necessary for the protection of patients and for sanitary reasons, but the killings have sparked outrage. Protests have been organized and thousands have signed online petitions to stop the slaughters. |
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| Wild turkey populations have rebounded since the 1950s and the birds, normally forest-dwellers, have quickly adapted to urban environments. A turkey nicknamed Zelda currently lives in lower Manhattan, but was not available for comment. |
I love you my family and friends.
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| Bed bugs are a problem we have to deal with. Thank goodness I don't have them!! |
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| I'm all set for St Patrick's Day. |
Thank you for sharing another week with us. I am glad your sister was able to be your temporary companion. What do you do for a missionary's apartment if bedbugs are found?
ReplyDeleteAnother great blog. I loved being part of it this week. I had a wonderful time. I enjoyed learning the history of Staten Island. You can keep the turkeys and bed bugs, no thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just want to comment on the picture of me in the candy store... I had my sunglasses on inside so I could read the price of the candy, they are prescription, but I look like a blind person. All I needed was a white Cain! LOL
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