Washington's Birthday

The Original "W"
Originally uploaded by patbonck

After stumbling upon some historic markers in my neigborhood, I learned that my neighborhood (Cobble Hill/Brooklyn Heights) was the site of one of the first major battles of the Revolutionary War, the first time Washington had marshalled an army of 20,000 men.

So I spent a portion of Washington's Birthday playing tourist and snapping this photo at Federal Hall in lower Manhattan. It was here that the original W was inaugurated as the first president of the United States (the building is not the original, it was rebuilt in 1833).

snow

snow
Originally uploaded by patbonck

Today marks my first real snow in New York (there was a dusting one morning, but it was gone in a couple of hours). There is about an inch on the ground, forecast to be gone in the morning as rain moves in...seems a lot like home!

Year of the Rat

Ugh...dragon breath.
Originally uploaded by patbonck

The Chinese (Lunar) New Years parade wound it's way along Mott Street in Chinatown yesterday. I was there to snap some photos and freeze my ass off (the day got progressively colder, and it didn't help that I stood in the same spot for close to three hours). The only godsend, and I never thought I'd find myself saying this, was the crush of people around me--our combined output of body heat kept us just warm enough to survive. Not 15 minutes after the parade, it started to snow.

Click through the photo to see the full set, including grown men in rat costumes, kung fu kids, and plenty of annoying "party poppers," spewing confetti and glittery ribbons into the air and all over the spectators.