Tuesday, Day 4 - Monday night when we got off the subway in Harlem, there was a group of men standing outside the mosque across the street. Several of them were in the most beautiful full length robes. By the time I got the camera braced and ready to shoot, the men had parted ways. I was very disappointed. I had also wondered what they would think if a guy with a long telephoto took their picture surreptitiously. As we walked away I realized I would have gotten the picture and avoided any problem by walking over and asking to take their photo.

Tuesday, as we returned from the museum there were a lot of men in the robes by the mosque again. This time, I approached a group of them, wondering what kind of response I was going to get. I could imagine them exploding with rage over being the object of an ignorant tourist's curiosity. As it turns out, that's more the stuff of TV and movies. The real life guys were thrilled at the prospect of having me take their picture. They made me promise to send them a copy by email.

Supper was at a restaurant near the apartment, "Aunt Maude's Spoonbread Too." Aunt Maude's soul food didn't let us down. The meal included a half price dessert. Mona wanted peach cobbler and she wanted me to get red velvet cake so we could share both of them. I wanted the banana pudding but decided to yield to my wife in honor of our wedding anniversary celebration. The waiter/owner congratulated me for the decision, then brought out three plates. The third was some complimentary banana pudding.

When we went back by the mosque to the subway entrance, two guys in robes went down to the subway with us. On the platform, I stopped them to ask about what was going on at the mosque. They told us it was a once a month lunch that they all gather for. While we waited for the C train, the B arrived. Our guys insisted we take the B for one stop, then transfer to the A train which is an express, skipping all the other stops to Times Square. When we got to the huge downtown station, they showed us where to go and argued with each other about which was the best exit for Times Square. The taller man prevailed declaring that he is a NY cab driver and knows everything about the city. The guys are from Senegal in West Africa and were delightful. - Photo by Stan Ford

Note to my friends pictured above: You can download all the pictures I took of you by clicking here.