NYC in bloom and Easter Weekend

Columbus Circle is always a favorite destination point for me.  Spring is in full bloom here now.

 

The following are pictures of the open courtyard in our apartment building. The building management does a great job of seasonal planting. 

Trees and daffodils in the front of our apartment building, the Ivy Tower, along West 43rd Street

We saw the Broadway play Good People with Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan. It was very thought provoking and the acting was uniformly well done.  There are so many levels to this play as to how to define "Good People," as each of the characters has their strengths and faults and nothing is easy in succeeding or not succeeding. We both enjoyed it very much. We've mostly seen dramatic plays of recent but will be taking my mom to see Billy Elliott next Sunday so that will definitely be a change of pace.  Bob wanted to see HIGH so I went again with him -- managed to get comp tickets again.  We both liked it quite a bit.  It's already closing after only 8 performances (and 28 preview performances). It got panned by critics. I couldn't believe what a thrashing they gave it. It seems like whoever was reviewing it could not grasp the spiritual crisis portrayed in the play. Certainly those of us in the audience who had an opportunity to see the performance thought differently.

Morgan Stanley gave their employees Friday off (Good Friday/Passover) so Bob had a three day weekend. We went to see a couple of movies this weekend, mainly because I had some discount tickets that were going to expire soon so we had to use them. We went to see Limitless with Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert DeNiro.  We liked that movie quite a bit, mostly for the concept of the NZT and how the accelerated brain power was depicted on screen. Very ingenious and creative.  We now have a good inside joke about having NZT moments. We also saw Water for Elephants. I had to get the discount tickets through Fandango so had limitations on choices for movies to see. I doubt that we would have seen it if not for the constraints. It was an okay movie, Bob liked it more than I did.  Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson have absolutely ZERO chemistry which I think takes away so much from the story.  Otherwise it was a pretty relaxed three day weekend.

We missed the Easter Parade along 5th Avenue today, hopefully we will get ourselves there next year. My mom gets here this week, hopefully it will go well........the weather is supposed to be reasonable so that will help.

New Jersey Shore and Cherry Blossoms

Just got back from a really great 3 day weekend along the Jersey Shore.  It's really ashame that term, Jersey Shore, will forever be sorely marred by the god awful behavior of the group of MTV reality show personalities. The Jersey Shore is really quite beautiful and serene in many parts and certainly a major family entertainment destination in many of the coastal cities. They have elaborate boardwalks with amusemnt parks, concessions, hotels, restaurants, souvenier shops, mini-golf, swimming pools, etc.  The other thing that is most striking about development along the shore is the HUGE houses and prolific construction of more HUGE houses along the shoreline. It's hard to believe there is any recession when you drive along the New Jersey Coast.  Houses like the ones pictured below went on for miles on the coast......this is just a tiny sample to give an idea....don't know who owns these but it's such a show of wealth in such hard times.






This was Bob's birthday celebration get away and I managed to get us a good deal for a B & B in Cape May from Groupon.  Cape May is at the southern tip of New Jersey. It's a quaint seaside, Victorian themed town with beautiful architecture,  interesting WWII landmarks, bird observatories, a number of migratory bird marshes. a lighthouse, great beaches, etc. We made a fairly direct drive there and once we were out of Northern New Jersey and the industrial scene that it is, the surroundings were much more lush with forest and marshes.  We got into Cape May around 4:30pm after a 3 plus hour drive, walked about the city, along the beach, and to neighboring communities (they are all very closely tied together), got caught in a bit of rain and a lot of wind but overall it was a great walk. Later that night we had a great dinner in our B & B while there was a terrific thunderstorm going on outside. I broke down and had a crab cake for dinner.........I love a good crab cake and this one was one of the best I've eaten. Suspending my vegetarianism is always a bit of an internal struggle before, during, and after such a meal but it was really delicious and I did enjoy it very much. For dessert we had a really fabulous warm chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream.

The next day we had beautiful sunny clear weather in the 60's, a bit of wind, but overall a magnificent spring day. We visited the Cape May lighthouse, climbed the 199 steps to the top and got great views of area, then took a walk along the marsh area near the beach to view egrets, swans, ducks, osprey, geese, etc.  We then took off and drove right along the beach all the way up to Atlantic City, stopping briefly here and there and taking in the scenes of beach life. It was the perfect weekend to be there because it wasn't very populated and the weather was good.  We decided to make a stop in Atlantic City since it is such a destination point for so many people.......to not go would have been like driving through Nevada and not making the short exit to check out Las Vegas. We parked at the Bally Hotel and walked through their casino to get to the boardwalk.  It's a total scene in the casino--loud, garish, blinking lights, blinging sounds, all the sights and sounds one associates with casinos.  Bob played the penny slots with one dollar and lost 92 cents after which he didn't have enough money to play any more games........because despite supposedly being penny slot machines, you have to play a minimum of 20 cents per spin. So between losing some and winning some, it came down to just the 8 cents left.

We then walked a fair distance on the boardwalk and this one is pretty cheesy.........it was like going to one of the big street fairs in mid-town Manhattan only it's near the beach.  We did indulge in french fries and a milk shake while walking around. Lots of big name hotels and casinos along the way.  The beach there is really beautiful and I would HOPE that people who go to Atlantic City actually spend some time away from the casinos to walk along the beach.  We quickly decided that while it was good that we made the one time visit just to check it out, we will likely not find ourselves ever again in Atlantic City unless very, very, very unusual circumstances present themselves for us to return.

It was getting quite late in the day by the end of our Atlantic City adventure so we then made a beeline to our B & B in Spring Lake, NJ. It's about an hour plus drive north of Atlantic City if you take the Garden State Parkway, about 2 1/2 hours north of Cape May and about 90 minutes from Manhattan.  Spring Lake is considered the European Jewel of the New Jersey Shore. It's so much calmer and less commercially developed than what you find in the South Jersey Shore.  There are a string of small towns that line the shore in this area and all of their boardwalks connect to make a contiguous boardwalk that goes on for miles and miles and miles.  We took a 5 mile walk on the boardwalk right along the ocean. It was fantastic:  the fresh air, the ocean breeze, sun, expansive views, and no crowds. We will most definitely return to the Spring Lake area, maybe even rent a condo for a week some year. It's so close to Manhattan too which makes it very accessible and doable even for a day trip. We then drove along the coast to check out Asbury Park, of the Bruce Springsteen fame.  We didn't really search much for the places he performed and frequented--we mainly just drove through it to say we were there!

Geese at Spring Lake, just a couple of blocks inland from the beach

Swans on Spring Lake

While staying at the Spring Lake Inn, I read a travel magazine about New Jersey and they mentioned the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Branch Brook Park in Newark. We were going to pass by Newark on our way home so we decided to go see the Cherry Blossoms. Bob and I always made it a point to go see the cherry blossoms in the quad at the UW campus--I loved that visit and looked forward to it each year. I was reading on Facebook how someone had plans to go see the cherry trees at the UW and it made me feel very homesick to not be able to do that. Getting to see the magnificent cherry blossoms at Branch Brook Park was so impressive, there are so many trees that go on and on and on and on. They are definitely cultivating a spectacular collection of cherry trees throughout the park. We saw lots of new ones and wonderfully old matured gnarly ones. The park is quite long and expansive and cherry trees occupy a great deal of park. Being able to walk and drive among all the trees in full bloom was such a visual feast and the wafting scent from the trees was fragrant and gentle. It certainly made up and more for missing the cherry trees at the UW. What a way to end our weekend trip. So we came away liking the New Jersey shore very, very much, at least to visit and vacation.  This is just the tiniest impression of all the cherry blossoms there.  I have other great pictures but they are just taking too long to upload, I suspect way too much detail with all the thousands of blooms on the trees. The trees covered hundreds of acres.

Getting back to Manhattan was a bit shocking to our systems having been out in so much nature for the last three days. especially having so much vastness of the ocean in view constantly, to all of a sudden have our view completely confined and blocked by buildings and people and cars and advertisements..............

At least walking along our street on 43rd, there are trees blossoming and daffodils are in full bloom around the tree trunks.  Bryant park, which we drove past on our way to our parking garage, is awash in tulips and daffodils. I will most decidely take a walk there tomorrow.

Broadway bargains

Had a great day on Broadway Wednesday, complimentary tickets for two plays in one day!  I love being a member of the Gold Club with Theatermania. It's so worth the initial membership fee. I've easily saved hundreds of dollars on discounts for play tickets and been able to attend several plays for just $4.50 that covers the processing fee for the comp ticket.  I was able to see the new Kathleen Turner play HIGH for the Wednesday matinee performance. The play is still in previews with opening night being the 19th.  There are only 3 characters in this play and KT is in every scene. She is really an amazing actress.  I think it helped me appreciate the play more for having had a Catholic upbringing. It is about a nun who is a counselor in a Catholic drug rehab residential program.  Lots of references to Catholicism.  The young actor who plays the addict is also an amazing actor. There is great chemistry between the two on stage.  It was very cool to be out in line with hundreds of other play goers all waiting for the doors to open for the 2pm matinee performances.  There were lines everywhere for blocks and blocks and blocks.  Such a unique experience this whole Broadway scene. Later that night, Bob and I went to RAIN, A Tribute to the Beatles, also on complimentary tickets to celebrate his birthday.  He's been wanting to see it since he passes by it to and from work every day and has been impressed with the sound track they play outside the theatre.  The four musicians who play the Beatles are highly talented in their own right and have been doing this show for decades. Their performance of the songs are pretty convincing and certainly encourage a lot of nostalgia.  There are videos and backdrop screens showing vintage video and advertisements during the time the Beatles were popular. They encourage a lot of audience participation and people are into it. They get a good turnout for their performances.  It was fun, more so than I thought it would be. It certainly got me going enough to come home and down load the Red and Blue Beatles albums off of ITunes. I definitely like their later music. The Beatles really were genius musicians and song writers.  Rain performed 30 songs and it seems like their set was just the tip of the iceberg for all the well known Beatles songs. 

Looking forward to our upcoming weekend away to Cape May, NJ and Spring Lake, NJ. We will be staying in B & Bs near the shore at both places.  The weather is predicted to be decent so we should be able to do some exploring of the area.  We've had two absolutely beautiful weather days this week. So tempting to start thinking that Spring is really here. There are about 20 plum trees along 47th and 49th that are in full bloom and other trees are budding, and daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom. I've always loved Spring as a season and NYC is really beautiful when it gets into the full swing of spring.

Still can't quite believe my incredible good fortune to live the life I am living now. I am trying to take as good advantage of all the opportunity that I can, because not to, would be a huge waste and plain stupid. Just gotta come to terms with all my Catholic guilt, it goes deep that's for sure. It's a constant internal dialogue of "why me?" I wonder if people who win the lottery have similar feelings/

Hipness to spare

Soho is just too hip...had a fun little sojourn into Soho on Friday to meet Megan and Lena for a cup of tea at the new Harney and Sons tea shop.

 I went early to walk about the neighborhood a bit--I've not spent much time there yet. There is a Housing Work Thrift Store I wanted to check out. I've been to most of them now in Manhattan. The bookstore and cafe is a clearly a well used and loved as a central community meeting place and venue.  The thrift store itself was not much to get excited about.  Best ones in my opinion remain the Upper West side, Gramercy, and Hell's Kitchen. Still need to check the one out in Tribeca.   Just walking around the neighborhood was a trip in hip. It's hard to explain, it's all visual, dress, product, graphic and attitude. When the weather gets better I'm headed for Soho for a good long walk. Soho is completely surrounded by other quintessential NYC neighborhoods, it'll be a new dimension for me.

I will say that when we went for a walk at a tiny little children's park near Mulberry Street it was rather dismaying and somewhat disturbing to see and smell an old man completely blotted who had peed all over himself and absolutely reeked. He was passed out on one of the benches.  Luckily he wasn't so close to the actual play structures and basketball court.  It's hard enough for parents with kids to find safe play space in the city without it being so compromised by such a troubled person. I found it sad all the way around though the kids seems pretty inured to the whole scene.

Knowing that my mom is coming to town for a week's visit, I now have started to see the city as I think she might see it. Yikes!!! The warmer weather is bringing out the homeless more and I've noticed more inebriated and down and out people. The streets are increasingly more crowded out and about in the city and the street fairs are starting up again...........classic NYC scene. We walked through our first one of the season on Saturday. We will be wheeling my mom around in a wheelchair during her visit .... it's hard for me to imagine how it's all going to go. We'll just need to give ourselves plenty of time to get wherever we are going.

Friday night we went to see the new movie, HANNA, very suspenseful, psychological, and alternately funny and touching with great story twists. The young actress put in an oscar worthy performance. Definitely worth seeing. It was Bob's pick and I was initially skeptical (these types of movies are not normally my thing) but quickly won over just a few minutes into the film.

On Saturday, we went to the Macy's indoor flower show and it was pretty spectacular.  So much effort to pull off such a feat. 

We headed over to our favorite Indian grocery store after shopping at Macy's to pick up a few things and to try out a restaurant in that neighborhood, Saravanaas, that specializes in south Indian cooking. It was very authentic and many Indians were getting their fill of poori, dosa, coconut chutneys, sambar, and Madraas coffee. 

We spent Sunday watching four Elizabeth Taylor movies (Raintree Country, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, BUtterfield 8, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf). She was really an amazing actress in high drama movies.

We have tickets for a Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees game in July that will finally get us to a game at Yankee Stadium we've been wanting to do for years......albeit it will now be in their new stadium not the old classic one.

Just when I came closer to my own acceptance and psychological resolution that I am not going to pursue securing my professional psychologist license here in NY state, I finally get the documentation from Washington state to submit to the licensing board here to move my licensing process along...........I've been waiting for it for 6 months now. Strange timing.  It may be a sign but it still doesn't take care of the five graduate level courses the NY state board is asking me to complete prior to licensure.  After much discussion, Bob and I agreed that it was time for me to allow myself the flexibility to travel and enjoy visiting friends and family in ways I didn't allow myself before because work always came first.  We are making our plans for spending five weeks in India, August 5th to September 10, as Bob will be teaching at Amma's university again.  MS really wants to keep Bob happy and they are granting his request to telecommute from India so he teach there again and still work on projects for MS. He's done this a number of times before and I was never able to go with him, now I can and it's important I do.  I am so much more available emotionally and psychologically for Bob day in and day out.  My emotional and psychological availability to Bob was so compromised when I was working such long hours.  All I wanted to do was shut down and bury myself in the newspaper when I got home from a long day at work or just cruise TV channels--not even watch an actual program just cruise. I found it hypnotic and relaxing.  Now we have so much more quality time together that neither of us want us to go back to my being over involved in a work life.  It's so easy for me to do once I get started.  I know if I was seeing clients, I just wouldn't be able to say no and would get myself completely tied up with work again and there would go the quality of life we've finally achieved here.  So at least for now, we are going to stay the status quo of our new life.  We will see if that is enough for me over the long haul.  It is certainly plenty now.

Now where was I ?????...............

WOW, cannot believe it's been over two weeks since I've entered a new posting. Life has been busy both here and away. Since Janet Jackson, I had the very good fortune to be able to spend an afternoon in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn with the artist, Doug Sefranek.  He's an old friend of an old friend of mine. He actually has made a successful living as a painter since arriving in NYC about 30 years ago. His work is very detailed using a very precise technique of painting with egg tempera and it often takes him well over a year to finish one painting. One of his paintings is hanging in the Metropolitan Museum. He was so generous with his time in showing me his studio and walking me around the neighborhood. He was telling me he has seen so much change over the 30 years he's lived there. The neighborhood has gone from a major danger zone of rampant drug selling and use and major racial tensions to an up and coming hipster haven. Buildings were selling for $10K to $20K back in the day and now are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  You just had to being willing to take a chance back then, live in a dumpy and dangerous neighborhood, and wait.  It was the artists that brought about the change in Williamsburg with their efforts to find cheaper studio work space and now the rents are going up and pushing them out, same as what happened to them in the East Village. Hanging out with Doug made for a very informative afternoon.

On Friday the 25th, I got complimentary tickets to see the Julienne Moore inspired play, Freckle Face Strawberry.  I took my friend, Margaret, thinking this production would be as good or better than what Seattle Children's Theatre puts on..........what a disappointment. It was really terrible, way over acted, no real story, the singing and dancing was on the amateur side (Sanjaya from American Idol was in this production and he was a weak link in the company). It was rather painful to think about families spending considerable amounts of money to take their kids to this production.  Margaret was a good sport for sitting thru the whole thing with me.  That's the thing about the complimentary tickets, you are obligated to stay for the entire production. We then checked out the spring offerings at the Housing Works thrift store we like to frequent. I found a great print silk skirt for when the weather finally gets warm. We are all so wishing for Spring to really get here. The teasing weather is just torture when the snow returns after a warm day.

Saturday the 26th was a really fantastic day. We celebrated along with the rest of New York state, Maple Syrup weekend.  We drove up the Hudson River Valley about 50 miles or so and visited the Niese Maple Syrup Farm. http://www.niesesmaplefarm.com/ .  It was an absolutely beautiful sunny crisp day. We had a great breakfast (I had french toast and farm made sausage and Bob had the pancakes, both with lots of maple syrup from the farm), learned a lot about the production of maple syrup on this farm and in New York state, visited the goats and chickens, and walked amongst the trees themselves to see them being tapped. We were able to taste maple sap straight from the tree which is essentially water with a very faint maple taste. They burn off 90 percent of the moisture to make it into syrup, even more to make it into sugar. We saw a demonstration of how the Native Americans did it over 300 years ago and how they do it now. It was a really fun outing.  The owner of Niese Farm is 7th generation maple syrup farmer and some of the trees have been tapped for over 300 years.  He talked about the current dangers to maple trees because of pests and pollution and how they are trying to overcome those problems with natural methods.  We learned that only 1% of all maple trees are tapped for syrup in NY state yet they are the #1 maple syrup producing state and are only second to Canada for maple syrup production. He commented that Vermont just really knows how to market themselves for their maple syrup. There was another maple syrup farmer there and both of these farmers commented that no one in their right mind would be a maple syrup farmer as it is so labor intensive and if it wasn't for family ties, they doubt they would be doing it now.  Of course after this short intro to the business, Bob thinks he knows everything there is to know about producing maple syrup and thinks we should buy a grove of maple trees and make our own syrup. 

Chickens at the Niese's farm

Different types for maple tree taps

The modern process of creating syrup from sap

Modern vacuum suction for drawing out the maple sap

centuries long method of burning off the sap water to make the syrup

Centuries old method of collecting sap

Niese's farm friendly goats

We then headed to the other side of the Hudson River to check out the Storm King sculpture garden.  I love the Seattle Olympic Sculpture Garden and Storm King is exponentially bigger with over 100 monumental sculptures spread over 500 acres. http://www.stormking.org/thecollection.html . We were so bummed out when we realized that the Center doesn't open til the following weekend.  We were only able to get a glimpse from the road as to what the Center holds. What we saw was definitely enough to make us want to go back and wander the grounds.  The entrance guard was really nice to us and if our timing had been different we might have been able to be let in on the sly. Hopefully we will get back there in April or May.





Once back in the city, we got ready to go see That Championship Season.  I was excited to see this play as I like all the actors performing in it and the play garnered much recognition when first staged. Perhaps my expectations were too high because Bob and I were both underwhelmed by the play. There wasn't much chemistry among the actors, it was hard to know if the play was a drama or comedy. Their seemed to be scenes that should have been drama yet came off (perhaps unintentionally) as comedy. The material was hard to have much sympathy for or feel engaged. I thought Jason Patric had the best performance, then Keifer Sutherland, then Jim Gaffigan.  I thought both Brian Cox and Chris Noth were a big disappointment. Looking back at reviews, I guess others didn't think much of it either. 

On Sunday we went to Queens for our second Satsang there. It was very nice and we are increasingly feeling more comfortable attending.

I had a chnce to get together with my co-workers in the research study I'm involved with. It's always interesting to see where and how others live in NYC.  Rachel lives in the upper westside, a much more quiet and considerably cleaner neighborhood than Hell's Kitchen/West Midtown where we live. Regardless, I still really like where we live. We ate dinner at the Peace Cafe which reminded me alot of a favorite restaurant of mine in Seattle called Thrive. It was nice to have more relaxed interactions with these two women.

I then took off for a week in CA to visit my family for a couple of days then join up with Bob to visit his family and celebrate his mom's 90th birthday. We spent several days in Santa Barbara where Kelly joined us from Seattle. It was so heavenly to be in warm sunny weather. It snowed in NYC while we were there. Spending time with family went well.  My mom is coming out at the end of the month to visit for a week so we are making grand plans for a great visit with her.  We will be pushing her in a wheel chair around NYC and as I walk about the city, I'm trying to imagine how successful that will be. All I know is that we will need to give ourselves plenty of time to get anywhere. I got us tickets to see Billy Elliott, I think she will like that musical. We will be taking a 5 hour bus tour of NYC and a 1 1/2 boat tour of the Manhattan skyline among other things.

Since being back, there was just a lot of details to attend to in getting settled after the trip. It's kind of crazy how busy I am day to day with our lives here and keeping it all on track. I did get my first paycheck from my job.......I joked with Bob that it's good he is the breadwinner because all I am bringing in are the crumbs left after the birds and mice have had their fill. After mapping out all the time I will be either traveling with
upcoming trips (practically one a month and then a 5 week trip to India with Bob in August/September--the first time I can finally accompanying him) and entertaining visitors (at least 4 and possibly 6 by end of the year) over the next several months, it is becoming clearer to me that I could not possibly take on clients or a more involved work position. I can't believe that 7 months has gone by and that Bob is coming up to his first anniversary of employment with Morgan Stanley. The time is just zooming by.

I've been working on managing a portion of the proceeds from our house sale. Bob and I had lunch with Paul Herman who manages an investment firm HIP (Human Impact + Profit) that works with S & P 100 companies to improve their social consciousness.  I recently invested some of the house proceeds through HIP and have also been dabbling in purchasing stock.  Whole Foods has proven to be a good choice and it is looking that way for Costco as well. Tryng to focus my independent stock choices with socially conscious companies.

Tomorrow, I am meeting up with a friend in Soho for the afternoon (an area I've been wanting to explore and experience more) and in the morning buying tickets for the Russian ballet at the Lincoln Center for a couple of performances in July. This is an ongoing passion for Bob who has been doing a lot of reading about Russian ballerinas.

Saturday we will go see the Macy's flower show which is supposed to be pretty spectacular but otherwise the weekend will be pretty low key. We are going to the Jersey Shore (though not THAT Jersey Shore) for a long weekend next weekend. Lots of plans coming up for the next several months so we will be really busy. It's all good. Overall, our lives here continue to be full and satsifying on many levels.