The Naked Cowboy

Okay. Settle down everybody. This happens to be one of NYC's most famous icons in Times Square and we just happened to see him twice--once while walking and once while on top of a double-decker tour bus.

His name is Robert John Burck, born December 23, 1970, in Cincinnati, Ohio. On a good summer day he can make $1000. On a winter day he can earn $50 in 25 minutes. He ain't dumb.

And he actually sings. His debut album will supposedly be released in 2007.
Half the fun is watching (almost) everyone else watching him!

His boots say TIPS on the side, in case you wonder where to put them.
Now look at the sequence of the next 3 pics with G'ma and G'pa!

Moral of the Story: You're never too old to have fun!

Or too young??

So here's looking at YOU. Are you game??

No. I didn't get any closer to him than what you see here but I sure felt lucky to see and "capture" him. If we can't take a joke, right?! :)

NYC's Street Vendors

As you'd imagine, I've been going non-stop at sorting and processing my NYC pics! Donica left for Amsterdam yesterday while I stay on the home front, keeping watch over our house getting a new paint job (exterior). She'll return the Mother's Day weekend, after which we'll both return to A'dam.

As I sort through the pics, different themes come to mind that I can group together for you here on In Soul (for my photoblog, it's only one pic/day!). This is an easy one so I'll do this one next: NYC's street vendors.

In no particular order, these stands can be found just about anywhere...

Newspapers and magazines

I guess they go together: hot dogs/sausage and pretzels!

A guy on my photoblog made me promise I'd eat a hotdog from off the street. Well, I ate a sausage instead that actually looked and tasted more like a hotdog, so I think it counts. One of our tour guides said she eats one once a year and then just plans to be in the bathroom the rest of the day. Donica and I had not a whit of trouble. :)

See why they're called "street" vendors?!

I think after 9/11 everyone DOES *heart* NY.

One of our nights we 4 girls (Ruth, Lesley, Donica and I) ate in Little Itlay where I saw this creative vendor. In between customers, it's a nice social hour for the vendors.

Yup, they even come with scales to weigh whatever, in this case fruit. And yes, that's Donica, always having to wait for me (but we were waiting for a green light anyway!).

Especially in Central Park there are art vendors but this was somewhere else, caught at a stoplight while on one of our double-decker tours.

I've saved my best for the last. Can you tell why it's my favorite? HA! Yes, that's my school. Gotta love anyone wearing a MICHIGAN shirt in NYC. So of course I had to do my selective coloring: maze and blue.

Later I'll show some of the other landmarks you'd expect, but these street vendors are NYC landmarks in their own right. Don't you agree?!

[The NYC pics I'm showing now on my photoblog, starting today, are in a larger format and different from these, if you're interested.]