For all of your bathroom needs … I guess.

The guy’s best line: “Look at them! They’re making a beeline for the pee line!”

That’s the first thing you see when you climb out of the subway in Manhattan. I’d say this would be a great promotional way to use empty space, but then there’s all the plumbing to consider. Apparently it was free, though. So hooray for Charmin.

My father-in-law said “I can’t believe you didn’t take a picture of that.” It just struck me as too funny, I guess.

A quick look at a few of the nice windows at Lord and Taylor in Manhattan:

Below each display was a brief story about Christmas traditions in different people’s lives. The windows depicted the scenes. Very neat idea. Lord and Taylor could do this for years and it would be a winner.

I liked the reflective glare because you can see a few faces of window watchers and the bustle going on at street level. It gives the entire setting an even more ethereal quality.

Below each display was a brief story about Christmas traditions in different people’s lives. The windows depicted the scenes. Very neat idea. Lord and Taylor could do this for years and it would be a winner. Saks did a steam punk child’s fantasy which was OK, but the Lord and Taylor series won the day. Here are a few other windows to check out.

The giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center:

The tree is illuminated by 30,000 environmentally friendly LED lights on five miles of wire, and crowned by a Swarovski crystal star.

The 12-ton, 74-foot tall Norway Spruce was donated by a New York City firefighter, and there’s an interesting tale in that link. After the holidays the tree will be recycled and three tons of mulch are donated to the Boy Scouts. Part of the trunk will go to the U.S. Equestrian team to use as an obstacle jump.

We had dinner at Ben Benson’s, a delicious Manhattan steakhouse. I snapped a few of pictures inside that will show up on the site later. Little plaques decorate the walls, apparently Al Roker and Boomer Esiason, among others, dine at that table. I was finally able to meet Jimmy, who is the afternoon manager. He’s a family friend — The Yankee used to work with his wife — and an incredibly nice man.

He introduced us to another couple who sat down right after us, also from Alabama. They’d just been married in Central Park and had taken a carriage to the restaurant. Very cute.

We took the subway back uptown for a concert, the 31st Annual Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice. Winter is a prominent saxophonist, bandleader, composer and performer of “Earth Music,” incorporating a wide range of instruments and influences to create what he calls “the greater symphony of the Earth.” So the show was a little bit different, but both full of energy and reflective. It might not be a concert for everyone, or even one that we would have picked ourselves, but it was well recommended and also well received.

St. John the Divine, where the concert is held each year, is a 19th Century cathedral and has a seven-second reverberation. Winter says it is like playing in heaven.

Near the end of the performance a giant globe was hoisted into the rafters of the old church. And he invites everyone to exclaim their “howlelujahs” for the new year.

None of the voices you hear there are mine, but that’s apparently a part of the concert tradition. People walked out into the cold night air, still howling.

This is the end of the concert.

That’s Winter playing the soprano saxophone. The supporting musicians are all virtuoso performers in their own right. The dance troupe was very talented. It’s a nice show.

The summer solstice concert takes place in the early a.m., timed so that at the dramatic moment of the concert the sunlight streams into this beautiful cathedral. They say it is worth the 4:30 start time.