Bloom Where You’re Planted.com

Some years ago , my girls and I traveled to New York City to see the Macey’s Day Thanksgiving Parade. What a pleasure it was to see all of the HUGE balloons and crowds of people.

Four things I really remember about the trip:

The Gator Bowl ( Jacksonville Municipal Stadium) was packed today with Georgia and Florida fans. It’s in my own city and makes me proud that there was such a big day in downtown Jax! Jacksonville is a beautiful city… It has the great and fine St. Johns River and we’re often called “The River City”. I love Jacksonville.

There is really not much here to do in terms of places to visit. The closest thing to really visit and do anything would be the Oldest City- St. Augustine or maybe the beaches. Otherwise, there is no Six Flags or Disney or other big event in which to spend time.

Jacksonville though is a nice mid-size city. It’s clean and for the most part full of “folk”… nice people.

“Go Noles!”….(ha… ha…)

Early in this week, the body of Somer was put to rest. It was a sad day for her family and yes, for all of us. The little 7 year old had run off from her siblings and friends on Monday in Orange Park, Florida, and never seen again until her body was found in a Georgia dump. It was, of course sad for her family who will never again see her on this earth but it was sad for all of us that we live in a world that there is a monster out there who would… and even could do such a thing. Only God can really bring justice but we all want Him to provide justice on this earth as man seeks to find some kind of closure. Pray people…. Pray…

Please pray for Somer’s family. And, pray that the killer who did this awful thing will be caught and brought to justice.

I went to one of her nightly vigils. It was so very sad.

Many of you have wondered what happened to me but I have been slammed and honestly, unable to blog…  Over the coming weeks I’ll share some of my experiences.  I hope all of you are great….I’ve missed sharing with you.

The Jacksonville Landing was absolutely full when Sarah Palin came to speak. Along with her group was reporter Greta Van Sustrine. I would say Greta’s a Palin fan.

Sarah Palin visited Jacksonville, Florida on one of her stops. The organizers planned for a couple of hundred and thousands showed. There was no room to hold them all and hundreds, maybe thousands were turned away.

According to reports, Bernie Madoff, the investment Ponzi poster boy used the 17th floor of the Lipstick building for his elaborate plan to bilk billions from unsuspecting investors. Of course, we all know he went to prison for 150 years.

While in New York City, we went by the Lipstick building. It looked to me that the lights were out on the 17th floor.

I feel sorry for the Madoffs. I feel really sorry for the investors. And, the owner of the Lipstick building can’t be happy either. He lost a seemingly lucrative tenant.

According to “Fact Monster” the Statue of Liberty has an inscription on the tablet which reads:

July IV, MDCCLXXVI

This is the date the Declaration of Independence was signed, expressed in roman numerals.
And then, we all know the famous Emma Lazarus poem about welcoming immigrants, which begins “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” . It is inscribed on a bronze tablet that hangs inside the statue’s pedestal.

It was great seeing that and certainly made me proud.

This past week, my sister, neice and I took a trip to New York City. It was the typical “tourist” trip with the ride over to Ellis Island, a photo under the Statue of Liberty and rolls on the two tier busses.

Before leaving home, I looked up Bernie Madoff’s address because I wanted to see what an $8 million apartment looked like.

After a few rides on the bus, we got off near Lexington Avenue and strolled along until we found Bernie and Ruth’s place. It was a typical New York apartment I thought and I found the doorman extremely nice. He didn’t talk with us but he did not say anything when we peeked inside to take a few pics.

According to reports, the day after we left the 64th Street Apartment, Bernie Madoff was sent from New York City to the North Carolina prison to serve his 150 years for bilking millions out of people’s life’s investments.

We did not see Ruth while we were there. The apartment building near Park Avenue belongs to her.

The Madoff’s sure have a nice doorman.

Even though United States currency is strong and durable, it does wear out with constant handling.

All currency in circulation is routinely deposited to Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks. Worn notes are systematically destroyed by Federal Reserve Banks during ordinary currency processing. The destroyed notes are replaced by new currency provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The note most frequently replaced is the $1 denomination. There are over four billion $1 bills in circulation, and the life expectancy of each is approximately 18 months. Since larger denominations are handled less, they last longer.

When a note is partially destroyed, the Treasury Department will replace it if clearly more than half of the original remains. Fragments of mutilated currency which are not clearly more than one half of the original whole note may be exchanged only if the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is satisfied by the evidence presented that the missing portions have been totally destroyed.(from the secret service site).