John Kropewnicki

Christmas Terrors

Posted on December 22, 2007 by John Kropewnicki

In honor of Christmas I would like to share some things that always scared the Bejesus out of me. Specifically my father’s terrifying Christmas ornaments.

The Christmas Golem

This is made of dough and has dead spooky eyes. As a child I thought of this one as the pasty ruler of the dark plastic tree.

I am not sure what is wrong with me and why I find these next four ornaments so scary. Maybe it is their weird eyelashes or their really dirty pajamas.

Scary Baby #1
The least scary baby.

Scary Baby #2

This one looks like it has a bloody tongue. Don’t eat me scary baby!

Soul Sucking Baby

It looks like it is trying to devour me.

Evil Baby

What is this demon up to? It can’t be good. Christmas is in danger.

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Mulligan’s First Snow

Posted on December 16, 2007 by John Kropewnicki

YAMP.

We took mulligan to the Sheepfold this weekend.

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Statue of Liberty

Posted on December 9, 2007 by John Kropewnicki

One of my goals for this trip was to get some good pictures of the statue of liberty. It was cold on Saturday and it takes a LONG time to get to liberty island. First you wait in a line to buy a ticket, then you wait in a line to board a ferry. With the wind whipping over the water at our exposed flank we were freezing before we got onto the ferry. I know it is cliched, but I kind of like to suffer when I go to things like this. It puts me more of the frame of mind of the “huddling masses yearning to breath free.” We walked around the island and then went to Ellis Island. I know of three great grandparents who went through the island. The building itself is unremarkable government construction. The story belongs to the immigrants who arrived. There was a collection of “lost-luggage” and anecdotes about what people chose to bring. One family brought an empty suitcase so that nobody would know how truly destitute they were. To leave the island you needed $25 and a ticket to your final destination.
Statue of Liberty and NYC skyline

Giant collage of 4 pictures taken from the Ferry
Taken from Liberty Island
Crop of the Above Image on just the face

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First Snow of New York

Posted on December 7, 2007 by John Kropewnicki

I spent last weekend in Manhattan. On sunday we had the first snow of the year. Rachel and I walked to Madison Park. You can see the Empire State Building and the New York Life building. I also caught this delightful older couple walking down the path.

This was also the first off leash dog park I saw. I also saw someone getting hassled by the parks police because he was letting his Husky run around a bigger part of the park.
Two questions came immediately to mind.
Who owns a husky in NYC?
Why not just use the normal off leash park 100 feet away?

The Husky’s owner told the park police lady that it was “his dog’s birthday, and I was letting him run around as a present.” I will have to remember that one.

Empire State Building:

I caught the snow falling:

It was cold so we went to a nice cafe. It was tiny and packed with old looking trunks and cases. Rachel and I had a wonderful Cappuccino. There were two Nigerian men running the cafe. One man was mopping and brushing the snow away from the front porch. Rachel noticed that his fly was open. He kept walking up and down the store and I kept hoping that he would pull his fly up. Finally I remember that most people would rather find out things like this, so i tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “Sir, your fly is open.” He replys back in a giant Nigerian accent. “Sorry, sir could you repeat that?” I am REALLY embarrassed at this point. I can feel my face going flush. I tell him again, and he laughs and laughs with a hearty deep laugh.