Just back from New York, my Emerald City, the land of crisis and mystery. A birthday trip, two days in New York. Visits to the carriage drivers and the carriage horses. In between, Maria and I rode the horses in the Central Park carousel and communed with the gargoyles there, walked many miles through the park, saw “Guardians Of The Galaxy” in a new IMAX theater with bone-rattling sound (I loved the movie), visited the Museum Of Modern Art, had some wonderful Chinese food, I took a couple of hundred photos and have lots of things to write about.

Yesterday I walked more than 10 miles through the wonderful park, was hailed by a bunch of carriage horse drivers, took a carriage ride and then today, walked some more. We walked through Times Square before dawn, traded hugs with Mello the hotel doorman (he reads the blog and read about the heart surgery and greeted me with an enormous and loving bear hug. Thanks Mello.) Nice to be there, nice to be home. Photos to come, news of the horses as well. Lots happening, and soon.