July 8th---in New York City

Well July 8th has come and gone and I'm still "feeling" the effects of having a "significant Birthday" (officially OLD) away from home!! 😘 Truly did not know one could feel so much love--from so far away !! Everyone--near (our "new-found family of missionaries/friends") and far (family/friends at home and around) sent such wonderful messages of love and kindness!! I am still "basking" in it all. It was an interesting and  wonderful day. First order of business--travel "downtown" to get the REDUCED-FARE Metro card for Seniors😫!! Yay!! Cuts my fare in half!! Then we found Fraunces Tavern--oldest building in New York City! It's where the Sons of Liberty held their secret meetings during  the Revolutionary War. Here is a little information and timeline of the Tavern and it's significance to the history of the Country prior to and during the American Revolution:

54 Pearl Street Timeline (this is the address of the Tavern)

1686 The site of 54 Pearl Street was granted to Stephanus Van Cortlandt by Mayor Nicholas Bayard.

1700 The property, created from the first landfill of Manhattan, was given to van Cortlandt’s daughter Anne and son-in-law, Etienne De Lancey, as a wedding present.

1719 Etienne Delancey constructed the three-story building at 54 Pearl Street as a family residence. This building is now the main building of Fraunces Tavern Museum.

1738 Dancing teacher Henry Holt rented the building and hosted dancing assemblies.

1759 The building was occupied by Delancey, Robinson & Company, a merchant firm, which used it as office and warehousing space.

1762 The building was purchased by Samuel Fraunces and opened as the Queen’s Head Tavern (also known as the Sign of the Queen Charlotte.)

1768 The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in the Long Room. Its offices were situated there until 1770.

1774 The Sons of Liberty plotted the New York Tea Party at the Tavern.

1775 The British warship Asia bombarded the city on August 24; an 18-pound cannonball went through the roof of Fraunces Tavern.

1776 In May and June, the New York Provincial Congress met at the Tavern. After the city was occupied by the British, Fraunces fled to New Jersey, but was later captured and forced to return to New York City to cook for British generals. The Tavern was frequented by British soldiers.

1783 After the British evacuated New York on November 25, Governor George Clinton hosted a party at the Tavern in honor of the British Evacuation of New York City and George Washington. George Washington bade farewell to his officers in the Long Room on Dec. 4.

1785 Fraunces sold the building to George Powers. The Department of Foreign Affairs, under John Jay, used the building as its first headquarters until 1788.

The 2 most widely known facts about this historical place are underlined in the above info--and that's one of the reasons I wanted to have lunch there. It was very quaint and is actually owned by a man from Ireland--so he wants to employ his "Irish countrymen" there--so he brings them over from Ireland to work. The first person to greet us was from Donegal (she said "it's up in the northern part of Ireland) and her accent was charming!! (She "sealed the deal" for me as to this place for lunch!). Our waitress was also Irish and when E Mumford commented about that very thing--without even missing a beat she said "Yeh, we're takin' over the country"! It was a very enjoyable meal/ celebration for me. There is also a museum upstairs in the Tavern that is supposed to be delightful. We "saved" it for another day.

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Fraunces Tavern and the Revolutionary War

The corner where Fraunces Tavern is located

Another view of the Tavern and the museum

A sign on the sidewalk about this historical place

It was a very hot and "muggy" day in NYC--with temps in the 90's and humidity close to that 

too! As we were walking, the thought came to me, which I haven't had for a long time, about 

what my own Dad had told me about the day I was born. I was the only one in my family to be born in St. Mark's hospital in Salt Lake City, Ut--due to the "extra" precautions that were being taken due to the scary situation of severe hemorrhage after my "just older than me" brother Glen's birth on Christmas Eve 6 years earlier. So my Dad said he was "walking the hot sidewalks of Salt Lake while awaiting the time he would go back into the hospital to see if I had been born. For my Dad to even be in Salt Lake is a fete--as we hardly ever went 

past Midvale, Ut for anything. (Dad's motto "if Midvale didn't have what you needed--then you must not REALLY NEED IT!) so I'm not sure why he didn't just "stay inside" the hospital and wait--my guess is that maybe it was too hard to just "sit there" due to his and others concern about this birth. At any rate, this hot day in New York brought this "flashback" to that memory and the gratitude that there had been so much sacrifice associated with my "entry"

 into this world and my parents' love. 

The rest of my day" was filled with a stop at "Rita's" (up on about 92nd and Broadway) for a refreshing Strawberry Gelati and then going to our shift at the Temple for the rest of the day. It was a very delightful yet different birthday--but one I'll not soon forget😘❣