As a proud American citizen I fully realize that the freedoms I enjoy every single day did not come easily, but instead came upon the bloody battlefields of numerous wars held around the world and often at the loss of our own armed forces. While life in the USA is not always the most steady of things thanks to the roller coaster economy and unemployment numbers, you have to agree that it is far better than living under the regime of some psychotic dictator. I think everyone that I know has had a relative that has served in the armed forces of some kind in my circle of friends and my own family has had Marine and Army Vets. Should any of these connections in your life still be with us, it might be a nice idea to spend a little time with them and hear some stories if they are willing to share any.
Veteran’s Day is a good day to show just how much you appreciate their sacrifice even if you don’t always agree with the politics that came along with those in combat. For them its a matter of duty, honor and country. I snapped these couple of images over the summer while spending the weekend with friends upstate and its of the Orange County Veteran’s Memorial. It’s located in Newburgh, NY and I really loved the powerful nature of the statue. There were two flags high above on poles but I was not able to get a proper long distance shot for you to enjoy. You will simply have to trust me on that. The next image is just a closer look at the reflecting solider in this monument.
I wanted to showcase a few more photos of this kind as a part of Veteran’s Day posting, but the available hunting time for other statues and monuments was just not with me. Next year I will do my damnedest to offer you a little more in the way of visuals even if I have to adventure around the city and surrounding area a little more. Until then, be mindful of those who serve to protect you and your beliefs in our fine nation. The active servicemen and women often do this duty away from their own loved ones so they deserve your thanks.
I was at rehearsal studio this evening and while some of the guys were blasting out a cover of the classic Ramones song “Rockaway Beach”, me and one of the other guys noticed how a beer can was enjoying himself as well and dancing away to the best of his ability. It was too cool not to share with the readers of the PiercingKen Blog, so please enjoy the smooth style of the Punk Rock Beer Can.
I realize this is very silly, but we do that over here from time to time. No beer cans or floor toms were harmed during the capture of this little video.
When I posted my lengthy photo presentation about the Highline Elevated Park, I neglected to mention that this was not the only adventure that I undertook that day with Skeleton Pete. You see, it was a superb day and while it was Fall, it had more of a late Spring feel to it so we wandered down to see a mutual friend Shukmei and grab some late lunch. We settled on Karavas which is a Greek Restaurant. Shukmei is an independent publicist who runs her We Roqq company while Skeleton Pete has a blog that bears that same name. I don’t think I have to tell you about PiercingMetal at this point right? So once we settled into some food and got to brainstorming about our respective enterprises a few beers were ordered and the shot below is the perfect representation of our gathering.
I couldn’t find my own shot of this, so I used Shukmei’s. She knows I would never fail to mention it her visual. So the beverages of choice in yon pictured pints glasses were a Bud Lite, a Bass and a Guinness. Can you guess who had what? No? Okay, well, Shuky had the Bud, I had the Bass and Pete the Guinness. The food was pretty good in terms of what we had. Pete and I had some kind of Souvlaki plate while Shuky had the hamburger. I recommend trying Karavas if you’re down near West Sixth street off Sixth Avenue. Alright, its now time to get back to the normal tasks at hand.
The High Line elevated park in NYC has been open for several months now and its been something that I wanted to wander since I had first learned about it. It is pretty cool to realize that as opposed to tearing down this former elevated train railway that they chose to re-purpose it and then open it to the public as something free to enjoy. Today I would finally visit the park with my good buddy and fellow blogger Skeleton Pete Parrella and together we would each be presenting a visual journey across the span of the Highline. I didn’t add many captions but perhaps over time I shall for good measure. For now just please put on some comfortable shoes and grab a bottle of water as we adventure a couple of floors above the city streets and prepare to walk the entire Highline.
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, sing it with me Fiends…..oh wait, that’s the Christmas song but I have to say that I truly enjoy Halloween and consider it one of my very favorite holidays and times of the year. I’ve long felt that it was a day that people should be allowed to miss work for and I usually tell my employers that is one day that they can always mark me absent for. When I launched the PiercingKen Blog last year I presented some spooky sights from around the city for your viewing pleasure and while I didn’t see quite as many as I would have liked this time around, I have still repeated the process. Please hold on tightly to the hand of your significant other, ahead be monsters……
