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After our Monday evening dinner on Seventh Avenue, Mike and I walked the block to Broadway to see the Ed Sullivan Theater where CBS's David Letterman originates, then back to Fifth Avenue past St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was not open at that hour for visitors, and on to Rockefeller Center including the best-known American movie theater, Radio City Musical Hall. Outside "30 Rock," Rockefeller Center's centerpiece building and the headquarters of General Electric and its broadcasting behemoth subsidiary, NBC, GE was showing off its stake in the nation's aircraft by having an open-air free display of planes, gliders, and rockets that use GE systems. We walked past the signature "icon" of Rockefeller Center, the Prometheus statue suspended over what is best known as the Center's skating rink but in the summer provides alfresco dining.

We parked our rented Mustang in the Hertz parking garage near Grand Central Station the next morning and found a Starbuck's where I wanted to try to send an email to Kevin in San Jose, asking him to meet us at the airport on our arrival back there shortly after 10 p.m. Pacific Time. Though I was pleased when booting up my laptop to find that I could immediately open the Nanty Glo Home Page without even setting up an account or changing the one I'd set up at Starbucks in California, in a few minutes it stopped working and when I sent the email to Kevin it seemed stuck in the outbox.

We then walked back to the Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street location of our previous night's dinner, where Mike got photos of the outdoor dining area, and the nearby Applejack Diner where he and his girlfriend had eaten in their visit to the city earlier in the summer and we had breakfast. Our plane was not departing for San Jose from JFK Airport until after 7 p.m., so we had most of Tuesday to continue taking in New York sights and sites. Our main objective was the Empire State Building.

On one of our many driving trips across the continent when the three children and I were visiting their grandparents, we were disappointed to find my brother Bob and his late wife, Lois, not home when we arrived in Indiana. So to ameliorate our disappointment when we got up in our motel an hour's drive from Chicago, I suggested we go to the Sears Tower. Even at the time, we knew we were lucky. We found a parking meter a block from the nation's tallest skyscraper, walked to it and made our way to the top, took our video footage, and were back on the road to points west within two hours. This Tuesday we hoped for such luck as we entered the Empire State Building, but the line ahead of us was snaking all the way around the basement floor and we were told it would be two hours before we could hope to get to the top. There was an alternative: for $20 people standing in line could opt to take in a short movie of New York as seen from the air, and then after leaving the theater we could get to the top in an additional hour. We decided to forego the trip to the top and instead caught a subway downtown to the financial district.

This was the first time I'd ever been in this part of Manhattan, which is considerably farther "downtown" than Greenwich Village and the East Village, where we'd stayed the week before. From the subway we walked over to the East River where Mike got photos of the Brooklyn Bridge to the north and the Statue of Liberty and some huge sailing vessels to the south of the pier we walked out on. From there it was a short walk via the entrance to Wall Street, with its much-photographed statue of a bronze bull, onto the southern tip of Manhattan, Battery Park. From that point the views of the Statue of Liberty and its island were even more appealing, and the park was a mellow respite in a hot gritty day. By then, it was time to catch a northbound train back to our car. Without having too much rushing, we made it to the Hertz office at JFK and on to our airport section in good time for the return flight.

The most pleasant surprise of the day was that when we arrived at the San Jose airport and I found an outlet to plug in my dead cellphone to call Kevin, his fiance told me he was already on his way. He had received the email that I thought had been left stuck in my outbox. And when we walked outside the luggage pickup area, he was pulling to the curb.

Webmaster Jon Kennedy

Kids think the strangest things (last of series)

When my twin daughters were young, I taught them to say the Lord's Prayer before going to bed. As I listened outside their door, I could hear them say, "Give us this steak and daily bread, and forgive us our mattresses."

— Sent by Sallie Covolo

Thought for today

God's Wings, an article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, but the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge" (Psalm 91:4). Being loved this much should make a difference in your life. Remember the one who loves you, and then be different because of it. .

— Sent by Bill Dalrymple

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