I need more than just earplugs!

About 9am today, very low flying jets rattled our windows. Poking our heads out, we saw about 6 fighter jets in formation. What's going on? Turns out that these are part of "Fleet Week", which I understand to be some festival of sailors, so obviously an air show is needed!

Anyway, it's been very loud. Luckily it only happens once an hour or so - some very low flying aircraft go by above the Hudson River. Usually I love being so close to the river, but today, I'm not so sure! There seems to be a regular, commercial plane, and several rather tiny military aircraft. And they're flying very close together! Eep!

On the topic of loudness which rattles our windows, every few days helicopters come by and it's impossibly loud! We thought the ONE police helicopter in Edmonton was annoying! It seems that everyone here has a helicopter. A few days ago, there was a collision on the Henry Hudson Highway, which is between us and the river. A helicopter spent about an hour hovering in the trees.

Although these flying things are annoyingly loud, they won't push me over the edge. What will, however, push me to irrational violence is that bloody ice cream truck that parks at least once a day by the playground outside our window and BLASTS AN OBNOXIOUS TINNY MELODY AD NAUSEUM! GAAAH!

Someone, please help me!

Untouched Wilderness

This past Sunday, we find a short break in the rain we've been having, and went for a walk in Riverside Park. Funny to see a group of bird watchers about 100m from tennis courts, set-up with lawn chairs and binoculors on a paved path, trying to catch sight of a rare avian species while cyclists and dog walkers zip past! We did stop to see if we could see anything interesting. There was an obvious wild turkey in the foreground - the creature that nearly become the American national bird. What a strange bird that turkey is - a large plump body with a rather long thin neck and tiny head. It spent most of the time we watched it just pecking at the ground, occasionally ruffling its feathers.

There was a bit of excitement amongst birders when a red-bellied woodpecker flew by and started pecking on nearby trees. It was followed either by a downy woodpecker or perhaps it was a mother-young pair. (We have a small pamphlet of NY birds to help us identifiy some of the creatures we may see in these parts.)

More walking about the park revealed many young squirrels tentatively climbing the rock wall or a tree. They were adorable in their clumsiness!

All this wildlife reminded me of a story we heard from Toby's cousin NIck and his partner Jen. They were in town in the fall, and we'd spent a fun afternoon just chatting over coffee and snacks. They recalled a recent hockey game, at which they were seated next to a New Yorker. As is usual at these events, they got chatting. The NYer was going on about how wonderful Stanley Park was, this respite in the middle of such an urban place! "It's like our Central Park," the NYer said, "untouched wilderness in the middle of the city!"

Here's a photo we took of this "untouched wilderness" one sunny Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago:


Central Park was actually designed by architechts in the 1800's, with parts resembling 'wilderness' and others a with more refined air. Many of the giant rocks were actually moved into place. All the ponds are artificial, and much of the flora was brought in from elsewhere. (Though it should be said that the plants in the park are native to the area, just not in such close proximity.)

That all being said, this was the first time I'd seen a wild turkey!

More Art

While walking down to see the performance art mentioned in the last post, we came across "Studio in the Park" - artwork done and/or displayed in Riverside Park. There were giant masks (10 ft diameter?) up along a chain-link fence, a painting of a possible mammoth-time scene along the Hudson River, a bridge underpass covered in aluminum foil, and pink wires filed like astroturf decoratively placed along train exhaust grates (Amtrak runs underneath Riverside Park). My favourite piece, however, was this network of crocheted climbing rope draped over existing rocks! So much fun!

Performance Artist / Great Idiot ?

When will we ever live so close to a media circus performance art event? So, we figured we'd better head down to Lincoln Center to witness the spectacle taking place this past week. Yes, David Blaine is performing his latest stunt just 3 miles south of us. You may remember his last art piece: suspending himself over London inside a plexiglass cube. This time around, he has put himself underwater within a plexiglass sphere. He's also done a 62-hour inside-an-ice-cube stunt. (Is the theme water or plexiglass? I can't tell.) Anyway, we trouped down to 66th Street Saturday to see this event. Incidentally, the Lincoln Center is a conglomerate of buildings which house such artistic endeavours as the NYC Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, Julliard School, and the NY LIbrary for the Performing Arts. Not exactly a low-brow venue! Not that I'm implying that being kept underwater for 7 days straight in a spherical aquarium is low-brow, of course!

So here's a photo of the media craze:


And if you're willing to line up for who-knows-how-long, you can even get right up to the side of the spherical tank and wave and have your picture taken with the world-famous artist himself!



It makes me wonder if I should start doing "performance art"? How about "Lost Canadian in the Big Apple"? Nah, so boring-sounding! Really, though, our lives these last 8 months seem like a perferct reality show. (Except we aren't model gorgeous.) Except that a reality TV show here would have to involve me walking around in ridiculously high designer high heels, white carrying a purse the size of a suitcase, lugging around 7 shopping bags from Bloomingdale's, talking on my cell phone, walking a well-clothed dog, and hailing a yellow cab so that I can be first to be seen at the David Blaine Drowned Alive Exhibit!

Van Cortlandt Park

Last month, we took the 1 train to its northern end, at the northwest corner of the Bronx, and spent the day in Van Cortlandt Park. It's a fairly large urban park. Parts of it are playing fields (as are in many parks in NYC) - I'm always amazed at how densely situated people can tolerate when playing sports here! Soccer and baseball side-by-side, in a field half the size you'd see in Edmonton.

Further along the park, however, there are woodsy trails! They were sparsely populated, and quiet! What a treat to walk several miles amidst newly budding trees, listening to chirping sparrows and robins, and not hearing people! The trail we were on was marked with these adorable hare-and-tortoise signs:

Prayers Needed

On my birthday, Toby took the day off and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and hung out in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). DUMBO is an up-and-coming ritzy neighbourhood, with restaurants and boutiques and tonnes of small art galleries. I think the old warehouses will be redeveloped over the next few years into condos.

We spent the afternoon hanging out on the East River. There is a nifty park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, filled with people throwing stones into the water (why is that such a universal?), people picnicking, and many dogs enjoying the warm, sunny day. Ahhh....

Can't just sit and soak up the sunshine, however, so we walked around a few blocks. Came across a Buddhist temple (monastery?) with gorgeous yellow-painted cement walls. Above the walls we saw a jarring sight: Tibetan prayer flags strung along the razor wire barriers.

New Car?

This is the vehicle Toby would like to have! It was parked near our place a few weeks ago.

Easter Bunny?

Bear says, "Look what the Easter Bunny brought me!"