in transit

sorry about the lack of posts... have been working and socialising etc. walked across a wet tarmac in washington dc, couldnt hardly see out the windowbut there are leaves on the trees. after getting on the country bus by 7am this morning in a tiny canadian ski villlage, i am now in british airways lounge back in nyc... its very noice but think 3 bags of chips to try and ease nunger of not eating for nearly 24 hrs backfired when they just out the arnies...much nicer than aussie club... talk to you from next stop spain... just practicing no hablas espanol... and donde el aitobus? xx

Planting Tulips in the Snow

On Saturday Sherry and I joined Ali's girls Ella and Sacha to plant tulips in Ali's garden - this was one of her favourite flowers and she planted them in her front garden every year and Sherry wants to do this with the girls. As we headed off to buy tulip bulbs it started snowing - the most snow I have seen FALLING (sorry no pics!).

Anyhow here we are at the nursery - the girls wanted photos to show you AND theyhad THE best watering cans (anyone listening at Frith St!!)

Here is Ella with a chicken ornament (I told her I hate chickens!!)

And you can't quite see Sacha but she is holding THE watering can I want - a cute pink pig and the water comes out her nose!

George - check out the rubber ducky ones as well!

Canadian Critters

Since the best I have seen are a couple of little black squirrels (not the cute brown ones), here is the best I can do on native animals for you...
The Moose

The Bear (yum!)

The Polar Bear

A Totem Pole

And George - here is Ralph Daniel!!

Critter sighting on Maple Leaf trip

Oops - out of order here but need to get this photo up. Maple Leaf (Express) is the train up through NY state from NY to Montreal where I stayed with Ju, Aisling and Cormack (and Paul but he is a busy beaver at work)... Aisling is so totally gorgeous, chatterbox, and nail polish afficianado - Hope they get to come to Ottawa next week and we can look around. Anyhow there were numerous critter sightings on the trip which is beautiful as the train travels through the Hudson Valley and along the side of what must be part of the great lakes so it is largely views of lake with wooded hills coming down to the waters edge. Very little habitation but you stop at a little village every hour or so...
Anyhow the only critter photo I caught was of a beaver's nest (that is the brown mound in the water) in what must be shallows that last several kms before getting to the large lake expanse (think of standing at Moreton Bay and looking out to the islands is the expanse of the lake there... In Chicago it is like looking at the ocean and there is no land in sight from the shore there)... There were also deer (missed them or it was getting dark), many different water birds, eagles, and in the fields (perhaps corn - all mowed low so not sure) were turkeys just strutting around - and they are BIG, and geese - is that a gaggle of geese? Not sure... Pretty cute anyhow! Sorry for the quality of the pics - these are taken as the train was moving.

Here is a town on the way in the Hudson Valley so maybe an hour or so out of New York City - not that you could imagine the difference!

Snow on the ground

Now settled, interneted up, and being thoroughly spoilt - and have to work today to get all those grades in... There is snow on the ground outside my window...
here is the view from upstairs last night when I arrived

and  this morning from my bedroom window which looks the same direction... I think those are ski slopes in the Gatineau National Park behind... I realise this is the first visit when there are no leaves on the trees since its been cold so late in the year... the brown is earth and the millions of maple leaves - these are maple trees without the leaves. First year I came there was a woodpecker living in one at the side of the house... Sherry is not sure if the bears will be out yet..

Needless to say I am already being spoilt - Sherry made me cranberry scones hot for Brekky... loved them last trip too - the other flavour is ginger and orange... been dreaming of them these past 2 years...

snow!

there is snow on the griund around the farms i see travelling from montreal to ottawa. will report on yesterdays maple leaf train trip that ran an extra 4 hours... ugh... not sure if he boston bombing had anyhing to do with it but will report once i rebase myself.

Balthazar - going to the dogs...

Absolutely everybody I have met has said " You MUST go to Balthazar". Today is my last day in NY and I am foot weary and Balthazar is just opposite the subway on the line from my place so off I headed. Yep another hour and a half wait to get a table but as a 'single' I was able to get a place at the bar (literally) in about 15. The best of a poor menu that was highly concentrated on oeufs (eggs) and mushrooms, I settled for a coffee and the french toast and bacon. So two slices of bread (ok it was that sweet brioche stuff) with icing sugar and two of the scabbiest bits of bacon tails cooked to a crisp, with the cup of coffee, tax and tip set me back  $30... OK it might be listed in Lonely Planet, be on the movie Hitch, etc etc but it wasn't my cup of tea...

So the subway is out one direction near my place so I hopped off at Union Square and had to make up for lost budget by grabbing a salad for dinner at Whole Foods. Union Square was rocking  -so many people, bands, kids, dogs in the glorious sunshine! I finally spotted a pet mega store PetCo and thought I would pop in should there be something fantastic for new puppy... Right we are talking about the extent of a Coles store just for pets...

I held back buying him SHOES - little pink jellies (upper left corner), black fur edged ugg boots (top right) or converse sneakers just like George's! And the little rubber 'salt on snow' paw protectors/polished wooden floor protector balloon things...

Then there were the team jerseys

And cold weather head gear

AND my store - Jennifers!

All in all a delightful day in the sun on my last day in NYC!

Cruising Central Park

Destination today was MAD - Museum of Art and Design. http://www.madmuseum.org/. Small, very post modern lovely stuff - one floor wood, one glass, one jewellery. It is on Columbus Circle on the SW edge of Central Park. I did find the piece I want for my house. Each panel is made up of multiple layers of glass each with a different pattern on it so each panel's final image is made up of all the layered images

Here are some shots as I walked from the subway at the SE edge of the Park...
Bru and George - here is the Apple Store - way cool or what! You go down the glass elevator to the store underground

The PLAZA hotel of movie etc fame is across the road... I refused to glorify it further and the rolls/porsches etc parked outside.

Here are the horses lined up waiting to take tourists on rides - you can see how stark the trees are

There is more green further along the park as I walked west

I then whipped home to collect my laundry - I could get used to this cooking AND washing being done by others for a small fee - yep small things amuse SMALL minds but gosh I have spent a lot of my life in front of a washing machine...

And finally, headed to Eataly third night in a row. Weekend in NY are a different matter - hour and a half wait for a table... Finally squeezed in but I saw these little cheeses at the cheese bar - yes in the shape of little PIGGIES... way cute!

Wet, cold Friday

Ok catching up on some entries. Friday looked a little overcast and damp from the 10D Gramercy loft but I headed off for food and to the Jewish Museum. As they are all tall buildings there are no awnings so I was drenched before I hit the corner... Anyhow with brolly in tow I dashed between subways, streets, and spent the day indoors. First stop was the Jewish Museum on the upper east side (which was the location for exploring today). It had a wonderful history of Judaism with artefacts back to about 2000BC. Overall very modern and informative displays throughout - really fresh and not at all dull and dry. The Barbara Bloom exhibition was great use of the wonderful rooms of this splendid old home http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/barbara-bloom - the rooms were decorated with displays in the shapes of furniture for the room and some of the museum's thousands of pieces were inside these displays making beautiful shapes and colours for example dozens of the same religious artefact etc. The film displays also were very modern and exciting. I guess their principle is that lots of people are 'jews' but they still contribute to the arts in many ways - Gershwin, Barbara Streisand, of course the list goes on and on and on!

I walked past the Guggenheim to get there - just the most amazing building and didnt go in as I had been there before. The Cooper Hewitt which really is my favourite museum is still under renovation until 2014. These are all opposite the park - the stark leafless trees were a beautiful background to a soft dreary day so beautiful in their own right. Afternoon spent in the warmth and dry of Bloomingdales and home on the subway...

NY Fashion report

While I started my blog thinking I would feature what I wear on tour, I have not talked about clothes or fashion once... I better give a quick overview. Except for the two days of 25 degree weather it has been around 10 degrees each day so people are still lightly rugged up. There is not a great deal of variation in the general outfitting - slimmish pants/jeans, a few slouchies; jacket, scarf. So nothing too exciting to report. However the TOTE BAG is everywhere from the corporate execs last week to the girls on the street... see this Sam Edelman number for example of the vibe of the styling

The other thing is that girls on the streets here wear a lot of heavy-ish boots - ankle to knee. All the lovely young things wear a variation of this - maybe its cos of the cold, tramping streets etc, and it was still snowing here about 2 weeks ago. I have to say there were possibly versions of this in Copenhagen as well - maybe a little lighter in styling but...

Sandals for coming summer here still feature the t-bars but the ones that that really stand out and are in every range as well as in higher heels/with ankle straps, but these flats are everywhere - note the bar across the front of the foot and the ankle buckle - this is THE shoe of the season

As for hair, people seem to have the natural-ish longish hair - not overly straightened and you don't see all that stripey foils etc here either. What I have seen in mags, on tv, and a little on the streets is the fringe teased a little and pinned back off the face with bobby pins. So no fringe on face AT ALL, the deliberate pinning up off the face (Ali I think we copied something like this when we were 6 so a real 60s 70s vibe) and a bit of teasing. Apparently Up dos are the thing.

I suspect nails are getting longer and varnished but that is just my take from the movies... Nothing overly different is jumping at me off the streets for clothes for summer coming up - still the bright colours, b and w, a bit more oversized, etc... Our clothes are not so different overall I would think...

Sunglasses - Aviators... ON the street stalls and some of the trendier optometrists are going toward a really big oversized round frame with extreme side bars - so think Jackie O glasses from the 60s but really ROUND (not Harry Potter small). THose narrow rectangle glasses are gone here... not one to be seen. Geek Chic big plastic frames/Raybans are normal in the ads but its the aviators which are on the faces on the street.

The other thing is that people are absolutely tiny here. I thought this size 2 and 4 thing was about being really skinny but its just that people are REALLLLLLY tiny and thin with it. Put it this way, the Asian people look BIG. The mexicans (I presume they are mexicans) are heavier built but very short so maybe not even up to my shoulder. I very very rarely see tall people, maybe occassionally an afro-american girl who is tall and sometimes heavier as well. Someone did suggest the goldfish principle that because people live in apartments they don't get so big - who knows, Just tiny tiny tiny people.

Eataly

I possumed across Madison Square Park for dinner to what I thought was a little cafe called Eataly. The little sign had 3 pastas and 3 pizzas and wine listed... I had wanted to go in anyhow so I opened the door... OMG - Ok think at least the size of Myer store that is ALL Italian food... There are counters with the fresh stuff - one for oil, one for fish, one for cheese (gelato, coffee, bread the list goes on!) AND counters where they can cook up those things... So I was perched on this wonderful marble counter in front of the guys making the pasta (right next to the pizza making and the wood fired ovens)... Had handmade gnocchi with lamb shank ragu sauce and this lovely bitterish organic cola... Got chatting to the girl next to me who was an Aussie and got a stack more wonderful places to go. Then I headed to the Gelato bar for lovely fresh lemon and vanilla gelato... Had a chat about clothes with this lovely stylish lady there - people are so friendly. SO a lovely walk home through the park past the puppy playground, the kiddy playground, fountains and loads more squirrels... AAAHHHH! This is one place I most definitely want to hang with each of you at!. Here is a little picture of a food bar...

Exploring the 'hood

Had a nice walk around my new neighbourhood this morning. I see the Chrylser building uptown from where I am... 

Two beautiful parks in close walking distance - Madison Square and Union Square.
The Flatiron building is by Madison Square

 Anyhow here is some of the local flora and fauna I caught on camera - are these magnolias? And a cute little squirrel having his brekky on a rock near the daffodils.

Protecting our young

I know I am in NY princess heaven at the loft with little white flowers starting to bloom on the trees out front, but across the road is what I seem to think is the 65th division armoury... Yep the streets are lined with army trucks... grabbed this 'cute' shot this morning...

Yep, you are seeing right - the school bus pulls up next to the war van...

Motown on Broadway

Just home from seeing Motown... The story of Gordy Berry who started Motown label so full of wonderful songs from the 4 Tops through Donna Ross and The Supremes and the Beginning of the Jackson 5 and into the 80s and Stevie Wonder and the likes... The first half was ok - maybe the sound was a bit muffled but the second half was a knock out... A 10 year old kid playing a young Michael Jackson was magical on stage and the later Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross songs were brilliant... I had hoped to have a greater buzz from the Marvin Gayes but... Anyhow matinee in the early days of a show on Broadway was an eye opener in its own right - I was about the youngest in the audience we had to line up down 46th street to get in, a few people were having trouble getting to their seats. But man the audience ROCKED IT (and man could they move at interval to get to the loo in the midst of a 3 hour show!)... Great afternoon!
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/motown-musical-cast-preview-ready-dancing-streets-performance-18879821

I'm in girl heaven

OMG I arrived at the new place... while the other was pretty good the hood is the back of Madison Square Garden (wrestling is the big thing there now) and Penn Station (coming in from New Jersey and boroughs) and it was not a place I liked hanging around of an evening even though everyone in the building etc were really nice. I walked straight out the door and a cab came and we wove done 26th st, past Madison Square and Flatiron (really nice which I have visited once and really liked), there are trees on the streets etc. My street is not glorious even though it is Lexington Ave, but as I walked in the marbled foyer to the doorman and the building is lovely on the outside (NOT Seinfeild style)... The corridors etc are being done up and there is plaster etc round and new silver doors on each of the quite a few apartments. I opened my door to another 10D and just GASPED... It is one big beautiful high ceilinged room with those enormous windows you can see in the photos... The kitchen is as you walk in and quite big. The bed is hidden in the nook behind the kitchen and is fine as there is a big pillar in there... The furniture is beautiful - gorgeous antique dressers, white cow hide rug, glass tables and stuffed sofas... Its like a New York Princess palace - this is what a new york loft for a girl should be like!!! AND there is hard internet not wifi so I can keep in touch. I really feel like I could LIVE here rather than having to go to the library etc... Oh what a find!!!! PS the bathroom even has those lovely turkish tiles I love as 'coasters' for the exotic hand soaps etc etc... swooning swooning... so will be in touch and show you on skype tomorrow!! xoxox Now off to explore the hood and find the subway etc.

Moving apartment today

I am moving to 88 Lexington Ave today... Here are the new digs. Better go pack!

Hey Cavs - I met ELMO!!

I got off the subway at Times Square to cut across to the Public Library to work today... and there was ELMO! Here he is Cavs!

He was very cute and friendly!

Later in the day I decided to  check out Grand Central Terminal and had an early dinner there at the Oyster Bar - New England Clam Chowder. Anyhow a nice end to a 20degree day of sunshine. Last week it was about 0-5 and the week before it was snowing... go figure!
http://www.oysterbarny.com/

Sunday in Soho

Aaaaahhhh the lovely feel and sound of Soho, the Village etc...one of my favourite parts of the world!

I started the morning by getting onto the Highline which starts in W30th where I am staying...
http://www.thehighline.org/ Its some old freight tracks running about 3 stories up from the street which was in threat of being demolished. It has been refurbed into a garden, gallery and walking track that runs for about 1.5 miles between West 30th down to the Village area. Its like art in motion, you look along at the sides of buildings and also down the streets. Some building walls have been made into outdoor art displays. There are some coffee vans and chairs along the way too. Its only as wide as a street but pretty cool.

I then tracked across to Greenwich Village and my old haunt from last trip and headed toward Soho. For those of you who have suffered the years of replays of Nina Simone "Live from the Village Gate" here is the place that has replaced this venue on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson Sts would you believe

Anyhow Soho is officially being named in my books as the world's best shopping spot. Highest end like Missoni, Louis etc, through to old Navy (I am in love $29 jeans etc) with street stalls out front... Its just got a lovely vibe with music, coolest restaurants etc... sigh sigh sigh...

Hamptons - what $59mill gets you

Sorry about the backlog of posts - this is Saturday!

With Revenge the tv series running through my mind (yeah Mards and Harriet!), Saturday I hopped on the train to the Hamptons. I got off at East Hampton where the tv show is set (but not made apparently). This is the vacation/beach home site for Hollywood types - SJP has 5 places here, Brooke Shields just bought a new place etc etc... Anyhow my insights are:
Looking in Real estate window this little number hit me at a cool $59mill... (which I then noticed is someone's southerly beach shack) I met some cute poms at the station coming back and they said the highest listing in town at the moment is $110mill.

Needless to say the shops at East Hampton village (we are talking about 2 half blocks of low set stores and cafes, really a beach town) included Tiffanys and tshirt shops where the tshirts start at $500n- now I get how they all have that beachside cas look! I popped into the chemist for some bandaids... we only need to know that Mecca or DJs cosmetic section looks like the poor side of town so I no longer believe any of them just pop on a bit of Maybelline $7.95 mascara. However there is a massive and prominent section of take home enemas... My mind is not even going there! Needless to say bandaids and a tube of nivea handcream were not available... So there you go! And sorry no snaps... I was nearly barfing really at the level of overindulgence...

World Trade Centre

As promised, headed to check out the site. Walked from my venue through the World Finance Centres 1 and 2 with side windows that look out onto the twin towers site... As I mentioned they have built most of one building. Anyhow going to the site - it is like an enormous (!!!) construction site with workers/trucks etc etc everywhere with about a squillion tourists milling all around so you can barely move... Walking past the hole I did tear up but was finally able to get away from the crowds through the scaffolding /piles of stuff etc everywhere and get on the subway station  finaly just reopened... not much more I can say this describes it all...

Liberty...

Headed to the financial district for work yesterday past all the nannies taking the babies for a stroll etc... Across from the hotel from the meeting is lady Liberty... bad shot I know but best the samsung phone can do...

Anyhow as I turn a 180 from this view, I see the '9/11 memorial this way' sign. I chatted to one of the (numerous) security guards about how to get there etc. Well right in front of me visually but a few streets back is the new tower roaring up above the other skyscrapers. I also asked him about the overwhelming noise of helicopters but looking at the tower I see military helicopters escorting planes across the skyline (we all know that plane-US skyscraper image too well!). At ground level police are on every corner etc and there are these guys with those under car bomb detectors you see in the IRA movies checking all the vans etc coming into the area. He tells me this is a quiet time of day and every morning the streets are scoured by swat teams...
I am not sure what to make of the fact that in front of all these swanky buildings including the NY Mercantile Exchange etc etc are food vans like you see on building sites... Maybe they don't allow general food places down there. Just as well the authentic Colombian food people had painted their white van with parrot pictures... all very crazy!

New standards set Bru and George!

Ok my lego-afficianados... the New York Public Libraries have an enormous pair of marble or whatever lions at their entrance guarding the building and its books. When you walk inside someone has built a matching pair in LEGO... I snuck a picture for you...

You really would have thought Lego would have made the right colour bricks for them to use! but I guess looking at these photos its not tooooo far off.
Here is one of the original lions...

For Mads

Hi Madi, I am staying not far from your famous namesake so took this shot for you!

Oh Pooh...

Ali, I was especially thinking of you when I took this photo of the actual Christopher Robin's actual toys upon which the Winnie the Pooh series were based... Here is Pooh, Eyeore, Tigger, Kanga, and Piglet who is so tiny...

Does anyone know who the furry chick with the pearls is in the back left hand corner... Maybe Cavi and Lauchie are up on which character this one is. It has sooo obviously not been played with as much as the others... These are in the children's library in the New York Public Library...

On a total egotistical note, if you are a published author, you can have a room in the library and minions bring you the interesting, rare etc books, photos, etc you require for your research. You need to take the room for about a week... I am starting to think next week's plans are shaping up - when would you EVER get a chance like this again! As a taster, here is a picture of the main reading room which you can use anyhow... But the wheels are in motion as I have ordered my own library card in order to apply for the personal study room.

Living it up in the lounge!

Great luck that as I was in the check in line I spotted my friend Gayle from work who was on her way to Alburqueque... Anyhow ended up with a travelling companion to LA... Here we are living it up on toast and vegemite followed by take away licorice allsorts in Qantas club as we were about to board the plane...

Alas my plan for handluggage backfired as my carry on bag was 12.9kgs - yikes - and had to go under carriage... Anyhow as soon as I got off the subway at Penn Station and had to climb the stairs after 20 plus hours travelling I was still happy to have the small bag!