A Brooklyn Christmas

There is no place in the world like Dyker Heights, Brooklyn to see Christmas lights. This being an old Italian neighborhood, it reflects all the wonders of Italian culture. Street after street is lined with lavish Christmas decorations. One street, 84th between 11 & 12th avenues, is by far the most amazing block of all. Cars line up for a 30 to 45 minute wait just to go to up this block. On one of my walks I ventured down this block. It was just about night with the light beginning to sparkle. One home owner who had just moved onto this block did not realize that between thanksgiving and new years his block would be a virtual parking lot. This was his first year to try and match what his neighbor had put up. He had erected a fully animated Ferris wheel in the Christmas theme with lights surrounding. This might seem like a lot, but his neighbor had erected nearly 150 lite wooden soldiers along with a driveway adorned in angels with a magnificent chair that would seat a real Santa Claus. The final home at the end of this block was adorned with a huge Santa and Wooden soldiers.

People who drive by these homes are amazed at the wonder of the lights and decorations. This has been going on since I lived in Brooklyn, for nearly 30 years. There are many stories as to how this all got started. One story, regarding the largest display centers around a child that died earlier in the year and the parents being without their child on the following Christmas took to making their amazing display. Of all the holidays that we Americans celebrate during the year, Christmas holds a lot of emotions. Like Thanksgiving, it is another family day but adds to it the dimension of gift giving. There are many categories of gift giving. We give gifts to some people because we love them, like our children and significant others. Others are on our obligation list. In some cases we have no clue what to buy a person and often get the wrong gift as is demonstrated when the person opens their present with no emotion. My friend collects gifts that she calls “forward gifts”… that will eventually be given in their original state to others.

This year two things have changed my gift giving patterns. Number one – I am broke. Number two – Corporate American has truly shown its cards with all the greed over this past year. The first reason is largely due to the second reason. This situation has given me a good excuse to review what Christmas is really all about. I have enjoyed being in Church several times a week to quietly pray for my life and those around me. I have come to appreciate what it means to “Not be of this world”. Again, American corporate businesses are trying once again to distort Christmas. Bigger and bolder sales, Non-ending emails on the latest and greatest Christmas gifts. This year, I feel like all of this promotion really smells.

If you look around my house, you will find that the longest lasting gifts are the ones people made for me. One is a simple cross my granddaughter created several years ago. One is a book with notes of encouragement from a Bible Study group I taught in the late ‘80’s. What wonderful memories they bring. The gift of Love from our hearts is worth a lot to the recipient. Hopefully in this difficult economic time we can take advantage of what has happened and grow closer to Christ.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Barre

We are a week and 2 days from Christmas. Yesterday it was 62 degrees out and today it snowed. Each day that it is reasonable nice out, meaning that it is above 20 degrees and not pouring rain, I take a walk. On one walk I go towards Coney Island. The nice part about this walk is that when you get there, you see the ocean and feel the salt air. It is very relaxing.

Unlike my walk along the Hudson river and under the Verrazano Bridge, this walk is mostly on the streets. The attached picture is at Cropsey and Neptune Avenues looking towards the parachute drop. This is a very interesting picture for many reasons. One is that it portrays the intensity of the city with all the wires and buildings and cars. There is a sort of entanglement that is felt. This corner is two blocks from the Boardwalk. Now if you look very closely there is, in the midst of this entanglement an oasis. In the very center of this picture is a Church. This church is a Roman Catholic Church. I happened to visit this church during the early summer months and was very surprised at how many people attended this church. There was a rich balance ethnically and economically. The Priest in charge is a very down to earth man who each week gives a very simple message of hope and a challenge to dedicate ones life to Christ. To my surprise this church seemed to be very evangelical. Most every hymn we sang was of protestant origin. Inside the church was a beautiful sanctuary done in with Spanish influences. There is an amazing quietness there. At that point I started popping in on Sundays before I went to work on the boardwalk. But no more than 5 or so weeks past and the Priest went on vacation and was replaced by a foreign priest from Jamaica that I could not understand. So I stopped.

Seven months past and I again began passing this church on my newly established daily walk. So one day I opened the front door (it was unlocked) and walked in to sit and be quiet. The morning communion service was just starting so I joined the 10 people and received communion. How absolutely wonderful I felt after this refreshing meal. I prayed for a while and continued to the boardwalk. The next day I was back for more.

Although there are only 10 older people during the week at this 8am service, on Sundays there are about 600 people attending.

People today are very stressed with life. The greedy American corporations and our leaders have led our country down a pretty difficult path. I don’t know about you, but the most wonderful place to be is the House of the Lord. No matter what is happening in the world outside, inside is always protected by God’s presence. There is a young mother that works at one of the businesses I program for. She makes virtually nothing and has the total responsibility of caring for her child. On Friday night after I finish my work I offer her a ride home. Last week I asked her if she was feeling stressed by all that was going on. Without hesitation she replied, “I am not of this world!”. How simple is that thought.

Halfway along my walk to Coney Island is a house that is set back from the street. There are several trees in the yard and on one tree stump is a beautiful figurine. A little Tinkerbelle as it were is laying exhausted from life’s challenges. Thank God for the Christ’s Church that offers hope in the midst of our exhaustion.

Many Blessings,
Barre.

Brooklyn Bus Driver Killed

Last Wednesday a NYC bus driver was stabbed to death while driving his bus in Brooklyn. My Godson, Eric was just about to start his route when this event happened. Eric drives in the same area of Brooklyn where this incident took place. Needless to say we were very disturbed at this event.

The buses in NYC are a major means of transportation. Taking a bus is very different than taking the Subway. Buses are much more personal than trains and people are more likely to engage in conversations with strangers on a bus than on a train. On a bus it is very easy to beat a fare. Fare beaters often enter by the back of the bus. Some fare beaters pass the driver and ask to be let on and many drivers will let that happen. Some fare beaters after they are on will ask for a transfer so as to not have to beg a second driver for a free ride. For a bus driver it is one thing to sneak on a bus without paying for a fare, but a far different thing to sneak on and then want a transfer. There are some people whose brains don’t calculate the fact that they are not entitled to a transfer.

I often ride the bus with Eric and there isn’t a run that he drives without several people who get on the bus for free. Saturday evening for example one guy got on with no less than 12 zero balance fare cards, which is another trick. Eric wanting to get going just told him to go ahead. For a while I used to categorize the fare beaters and count them so as to see what kind of patterns would develop.

On Wednesday a young man of 21 entered the bus through the back door. He went a few stops and got off through the front door. He asked the bus driver for a transfer and the driver hesitated but gave the kid the transfer. The young man punched him in the head and started to get off the bus. Then the young man turned around and stabbed the bus driver multiple times, at which point the man fled on foot and the bus driver slumped over his wheel and died there on the bus. The driver of the bus that had pulled up behind him got off her bus to see what was going on. She freaked out seeing the sight of the driver slumped over the wheel with his guts hanging out. The police arrived first and pulled the driver from the seat and took him to the hospital in their car. He was DOA.

The shock of this horrible event sent waves throughout our city. Every bus changed it Outside Title to the B46 in honor and respect of their fellow bus driver. Eric and his family were very shaken by this event. By the end of the week all were exhausted from thinking about whether there would be copy cat events. Eric was especially worried, wondering whether he would make it home from work without incident. In all of our minds was what affect it would have on his 2 year old son if he did not come home after work because of a violent event.

A day after the crime was committed the man was arrested. His drug supplier had turned him in. The man had a long history of violent crimes and was currently on probation.

New Yorkers viewed this differently than when a policeman or firefighter was killed in the line of duty. It is not the duty of a bus driver to be killed over a fare. There was a sense of enragement over this event and a deep sadness that his family would be forever affected. The funeral viewing is today. The MTA has arranged special buses to take its employees to the funeral home and again tomorrow for the actual funeral.

Not everyday is bright and sunny here in Brooklyn.


Pictures: 1. Barre on the B15 2. Eric on the B61 3. Barre And Little Eric at the beginning of the B46, the line where on which the bus driver was killed.

Much has happened since the last post on my Brooklyn Blog. Valentyn and her baby are doing very well. She has made a nest in Queens where she is living with her mom. The baby is nearly 13 weeks old and simply beautiful. Harlow tends to be a very content baby. Valentyn is a good mom working hard to give her child the love and attention he needs.

Many of you know that years ago, nearly 25 now, I lived in the Sunset area of Brooklyn. When I lived there it was a quiet Avenue with a white European population. Bordering to the east was a very conservative Jewish neighborhood and to the west a very Hispanic neighborhood. There was always discussion as to which neighborhood would take over and dominate our neighborhood. Eric, my godson, lives in this neighborhood today and I visit it often. Some 15 years ago the transformation began to take place. To everyone’s surprise an Asian community began to develop. Families would come with bags of money and buy up homes and business. At first it sprawled 5 blocks off the N Train line to Chinatown in Manhattan, then 10 and then 20 blocks. The transformation was amazing. Culturally everything had become “Little China”. There was really no concern to be “American” because the population was so Chinese that many of the stores did not need white American business to survive. On any given weekend there are thousands of Asian shoppers on these blocks. There are no longer any American Businesses. For many of the White American people left in this neighborhood it is almost unnerving to have to shop along 8th Avenue. Most of the food in the stores is completely unfamiliar and talking with people who are very limited in your language is extremely hard. Sometimes I go to Eric’s home to have dinner, when I go to what used to be a local A&P to buy food, I am now crawling over live frogs in huge containers and all kinds of meats I have never seen to find anything normal to eat. It can be very exhausting

Interestingly, the churches that once were American are now doubling as Chinese / American churches. The English congregations still hold the main auditorium at the 11am Sunday morning service, but the Chinese services have over populated the Americans in number. This is also hard for the American founders of these churches. They seen the world that they built diminish as a whole new Church is forming.

The American church needs to understand that Christianity is relative to worlds that we don’t understand. No longer can we approach these cultures as if we are the Father of Christianity. I think the American church has found being relevant at home and abroad very difficult. Sometimes we have sacrificed our core values to be accepted and prosperous. Today we are challenged to constantly rethink the core values of our faith and how we will relate to a world that seems so foreign to us. The diversity in most American communities really forces this issue.

It is now mid September in Brooklyn. The weather lately has begun to feel like fall. I am no longer able to go out early in the mornings with just a t-shirt. The boardwalk is preparing for a quiet winter with many of the concessions and rides no longer open during the week. When I walk around our neighborhood I am amazed at how many gardens were planted with Tomatoes and Peppers and Squash. There are many Asian people here and they love Squash plants, big giant ones. There is however an amazing garden just two blocks from my house. The gardner is a man in his 70's who relentlessly cared for his small plot of land all summer. Here he grows the ingredients he needs for his fresh tomatoe sauce. The amazing thing is how many tomatoes he was able to grow on such a small plot of land. They were so well organized and the plum tomatoes were huge. Next to the tomatoes were rows of peppers and next to that was a huge plot of basil. Each day when I walked by I wanted to steal just one tomatoe from his vines. As you can see they are very inviting.

Beyond Mr Cuzamano's garden there were other gardens as well. On older Italian had the most beautiful plum tree with an amazing amount of fruit hanging from it.

One of the greatest joys of all were the abundance of flowers, especially roses. It seems that everyones yard has some flowers. On Asian woman has the most amazing flower garden and in the middle of it are Queen Ann Roses. All this week the one bush was producing the most beautiful roses. When I pass by I always sneak a smell of the roses. For the very second my nose touches the rose I feel like I am in Heaven, but the second it leaves the rose, the smell can barely be remembered. To pass her house is always my most enjoyable moment of the day.

Recently I was riding my bicycle on the walkway next to the hudson river. I came upon a very strange sight. There was a Haitian women walking backwards with a bottle of water on her head. As you can see by the picture I am telling the truth about this one.

Some time ago there was a Russian woman on the boardwalk walking backward. And since then occasionally I see people walking backwards as they exercise. I am not sure why they do this. But it seems that on the one hand they are very involved with their past and like to focus on the past to somehow assure themselves of a future.

This woman pictured actually peaked into the future a lot just to make sure she was headed in the right direction. On the boardwalk it is easier to keep on the right direction because their are parallel boards the measure your progress by. The straight and narrow seems easier to figure when you have something or someone to guide you.

This imagery raises a lot of questions about life. How should we face life. Should we look back and count our blessings or should we look to the future and calculate all we do by what we preceive might happen in the future. Faith in Christ involves all of the above. It involves preparing for a harvest and being wise and yet trusting Christ for our daily needs. Looking back helps us remember that His promises never will fail us.

Many blessings, Barre

Exercising In Brooklyn

Things at the grill house have quieted down as the summer is ending and kids are going back to school. This evening Thor Equities has given churches vouchers for free food and rides for the children of the ghetto. Now everyone at the Grill knows that Joe Sitt is trying to warm the community up to his ideas about how Coney Island should be developed. But most of the kids who get these vouchers are only interested in the free rides and food. This year was a good summer for the lingering vendors on the Coney Island boardwalk. Nearly every weekend was a good one. Tourists have also been visiting in droves and they spend lots of money. Tonight I cracked a raw clam and put some extremely hot homemade sauce on it and devoured it. My rule is only one clam a week... The Grill House does not lean towards healthy foods. All the workers generally bring their own food because of the calories in anything you might get there. However, that said, I love a good grill house hot dog. Just a little hot mustard and you have a delight. Now if I really want to die soon, there is the sausage sandwiches. The girl who makes these is my friend and she knows which sausages are least likely to kill you. I am not sure which one she gives me. (remember you can click on the pictures to make them larger)

Now that brings us to another part of Brooklyn. Exercise. Not to many people exercise. I mean not to many people exercise in open public places. They mostly go to gyms where they line up with headsets on and walk fast or do other things with machines that seem very unnatural. For all of this they pay about $70 per month. One noteworthy thing is that kids really don't exercise in Brooklyn. Ok, they have soccer and Baseball teams that meet during church on Sunday, but really, kids don't exercise in Brooklyn. I guess all of that catches up with you and by the time you are 60 you realize that exercise is a good thing. Each morning near the walkway along the narrows water front there are groups that exercise. These groups meet from 6.30am till about 7.30 every morning. There are different theories with regards to which exercise is the best to do, and this collection of exercisers tend to be very interesting. Generally the groups divide between the Russians and the Chinese. Now sometimes when I pass by them I will whistle a nice tune that corresponds with the gracefulness of the aerobic moves. Even though the melodic whistle adds a wonderful flavor to this moment, no one will even turn a head to see where this music is coming from. However the leaders who are either a Russian man in his late 60's or a Chinese man can see me and often acknowledge me with a gentle smile. At the other end of the bicycle path some 5 miles away is another site. Every morning a lady and her female trainer labor away with the task of getting this pretty lady toned up. They use the bench at the end of the path as their launching pad. The trainer is brutal and has her doing all these seriously painful tasks. I often stop to remark how nice the lady looks, hoping that her effort might not go unnoticed. For all this pain she pays her trainer $100 per hour. Now her trainer has taken a liking to me and often comments how nice I am looking after so many miles of riding. So recently I have been riding with my shirt off to show her exactly how toned my body is. She persists with her evaluations. If Brooklyn is at the center of the universe, and if people who live outside of Brooklyn have the same exercise habits as we do, then you can imagine how much trouble we are going to be in when our obese children reach adulthood.

And by the way, the price of gas suddenly dropped this summer to below $3.75 a gallon. I guess we all showed the gas companies who was boss. Everyone stayed home and they got stuck with all their expensive gas.

Well that is the news from Brooklyn, where some of the people are a bit abrasive and chunky, the beaches are wonderful and the cost of living is below average.

The weather today in Brooklyn is picture perfect. Valentyn is still holding out giving birth. She is due the end of this coming week. There is definately an excitment growing here in Brooklyn.


Little Eric continues to grow and is into everything. He is so much fun to be around. Little Eric will be going for his driving permit this week. He has shown an amazing abilitly to handle a moving car.... How blessed are our children.








Ann decided to come back to work at the grill house, which was short lived. Her first day back was very hot, she was tired and in a really bad mood. Half way through the day she through in the towel and left. Tommy who this week emerged from the bed bug crisis was seen on the boardwalk and today will take over Ann's place. Tommy is a bit more crazy than Ann. The customers like Ann because she cleans the seats as well as the tables.


Well this week on the boardwalk was a very busy week. They found the little girl who drowned last week floating on bay 5 at 4am thursday morning. A late night fisherman spotted the body. No mention of this was made in the papers and for the most part her young life has been forgotten here. Another man drowned that same day and another lady was pulled out of the water this morning. She was thankfully still alive.


This week while riding on the boardwalk I spotted a dead pigeon. The pigeon was near the Brighton area of the Boardwalk. Oddly enough it also looked like someone had run it over. People were just passing by it, not even as much as looking down to see this bird. That reminded me of the day when this lady laid flat on her back drunk on the board walk. The people there did not even blink an eye towards her. One group of adults were just playing a game of chess, another having a jolly time talking. The lady was around 70 and looked quite dead. Life just passes people by on the boardwalk.



While riding my bike this week I passed a homeless person who had placed a bird feather hat on his head. This feather hat as it were, was made from pigeon and swan feathers from prospect park. (Click on picture to enlarge it). Although he was very proud of his feather hat, he was more proud of the tiny bird that he had saved from certain death. He was feeding the bird and keeping it alive. This man had no home but made a safe home for this tiny bird. He wanted me to take a picture of the bird that he had saved.


It seems that Brooklyn is full of these contrasts, of people who care and people who are just to busy to pay attention to others around them. More than this, I am reminded of Christ's words about the care that God gives to the birds and to a much greater extent, cares for our lives. This man who cared for this bird, had a total trust that God would care for him.

What a wonderful image this is for our lives. Thats the news from Brooklyn, where the Ocean is Blue, the people Abrasive and the cost of living a bit below national average. Be Blessed, Barre.

Baby Coming Soon

This week was a wonderfuly week in Brooklyn. The weather was warm and sunny with a few showers during the week. Just what we love.


It looks like it will be a few more days until Valentyn gives birth. We are as ready as anyone could be. She has that radient pregnant look. The house is clean thanks to Tyke who cleaned hard during his stay a week ago. We got rid of a lot of junk and trimmed down the contents of the home.


For most people living in Brooklyn, we find ourselves at the center of the world. Some of the people think that the world revolves around us. Here are some of the things that happened here this week.

Milk prices rose by nearly $1 per gallon. I guess it just costs more to get all the milk to us. Needless to say there were no raises given out at work this week to compensate for this increase. Actually most of us have not gotten any raises for years and whatever raises were seen we not enough to cover cost of living increases. Oh well, we are now a lot poorer than we were 4 years ago.

If that were not enough the NYC Transit wants more money from a raise in fares. This fare increase will make history if it happens. Never have they had two fare increases so close together.


People in Brooklyn are scratching their heads, wondering how on earth some people are getting really rich and others are getting really poor. Our papers published articles about the record setting profits of oil companies this week.



Ann Silverberg, who used to be the snake lady at the Coney Island Freak Show, has been working at the Grill House on the Boardwalk. If you want to find out what is happening, the Grill House is the place to be. Well, Ann decided that she no longer wanted to work there this week. The sun was to hot and she was just plain tired. So without any warning she just did not show up. Tommy, who also worked there but had to quit because he got bed bugs and his wife got mad at him and threw him out of his house so he could not get showered for work. Well Tommy might have come back to work, but no one actually could find him. So no one was there to clean the tables which made the regular customers a bit beyond themselves.


On Sunday a 10 year old girl drowned at bay 27. This was a horrible tradegy and word spread quickly. Duke the supervisor of the beach was worried about the impact that this would have on the parks department. It is not clear how this girl drowned, and they, to date, have not recovered the body. Those two factors have kept this event very much alive. People are wondering who to blame. The parents were not watching this child, she was swimming next to barrier rocks, the area was an unprotected part of the beach and it was after lifeguard hours. However there is speculation as to all these facts, so everyone is putting forth their own list of people to blame. People from Brooklyn always need to blame somebody for things that happen, hoping this blame might fix future events, which it rarely does. This is just the way it is in a city with 4 million people.


The fire works, which happen every Friday night have been really good this year. They have come up with some new ones that have brought cheers from the crowds of people who gather. Everyone is wondering who is paying for all these events, since the future of our amusement parks is uncertain and the owners are trying to get as much profit from their businesses before everything shuts down. None the less the show goes on.


Well, that is the News from Brooklyn, Where the Beaches and Ocean are clean, the People are abrasive, and the Cost of Living is below national average.

Today started out pretty rainy. I really love the rain since it usually means a little cooler weather. Valentyn is near the time of giving birth and she is excited along with being a bit fearful of the birth process. We are cleaning the house and getting ready for the new comer to our family.

Igor, Yana's father is still in the hospital. I spoke with him last night late since we were allowed to visit the hospital in the late evening hours. I stayed with him until about 1.15 am. He looked much better today.

I will go for a bike ride later today.