On the way to the ESB
We got there about 10:30
Lining up
A light that appealed to me
Either entering or in the fast-moving, ear-popping elevator
Hey, no line! Security check on floor 80 was quick, and the line for the second elevator ride (floors 80-86) only took about ten minutes. 
The lobby of the Empire State Building is beautiful and imposing. One stands and stares at the Art Deco magnificence. (Sorry, pix are blurry)
To be photographed there somehow enhances one's identity or feeling of importance. There is so little grandeur of surroundings in our daily lives.
Even the floors are beautiful.
This floor was flat of course
An elevator
A peek into one of the elevators. Look at those walls. 
Everyone was taking pictures
Costs fifty cents
Looking down makes you feel queasy even though you know you're perfectly safe behind those bars. But it's a nice queasy.
You can see all of Manhattan and across the rivers to New Jersey and Long Island.
There are visitors from around the world, and the many languages you hear spoken as you crowd together add to the interest of the experience. I took a photo for a nice French family and many others did the same for each other. The people were as interesting as the views of the city.
I took pictures on all four sides but due to the location of the light some came out better than others. That consarn Direct TV blimp circled around the whole time, like a pesky fly.
Out east on the North Shore, on Sound Avenue, well worth the 50-mile round trip
Refugees from the city often stop here on their way to the Hamptons.
The hand trembles as we approach the pie counter. I got an apple/rhubarb at half price (baked the day before).
Homemade jams and jellies.
Cookies!!
(I took this picture because the histogram was perfect. Nice Basil too.)
Wonderful colors and shapes
This is not cabbage
I sometimes think of leaving Long Island. Then I think of the loss of Briermere Farm. It gives one pause.
Cheryl's beautiful and original frame shows sensitivity, realism, humor, and a strong sense of color. (Who is that with the bear's ears?)
Don't ask me why I hoard my fortune cookies and open them all at once every 21st of August. I don't know why. Can you read some of these? Aren't they inspiring?
Skeeter bites
The blossoms last only a day
Another plant I've never grown before
Progress report: four leaves now
Most are houseplants that will come indoors 
Pink imps. Quite ordinary except that these "annuals" are 3 years old. I keep them indoors all winter and put them out in May at which time they look terrible, but they do recover and bloom.
Chocolate mint. Too strong to use in tea, but when I have to trim them back I put the trimmings in my car by the accelerator pedal and they are crushed and leave a nice scent in the car.
What's keeping me company this evening in the library. It's the last day of the summer term and there are hardly any students around. Starting tomorrow the library will be open 8-4 until Sept.
This is a cutting I made from a small angel wing begonia plant I bought 2 years ago at a yard sale. It didn't bloom last summer but is doing well in all the moisture of this summer. It likes to snuggle near the jade plant and hosta.
The parent plant in the green pot has lovely red stems and 2 blossoms as well. I was never a begonia person but maybe I'm turning into one.
Here's the luna moth you were looking for, Cheryl, right here in my windshield. A pebble strike on June 1st made a small mark and suddenly six weeks later it expanded to this. (I got a new windshield a few days ago)
