We bought our house in the middle of winter, but it didn't take us long to meet our next door neighbors. They are in their 80s and cute as buttons. They have lived in their house for 56 years and they know everything about the neighborhood. They have a white picket fence, so nothing goes unnoticed (on their end or ours). When Caylan was digging for the garden, our neighbors watched and gave advice (we needed a fence to keep rabbits out). They like to reminisce and tell us stories about former owners of our house. When we go out of town, I tell them, because I know they want to know. They love email!
The day we left we got this email:
While we were in New York we got another email from them. There had apparently been another rabbit sighting. Here's the email:
When we returned, our neighbor said, "you know, that rabbit didn't die of natural causes." Oh yeah? "He died of lead poisoning?" What? How do you know that? "I shot him. I didn't want to put it in writing in case it was illegal."
The day we left we got this email:
Have a nice and safe trip.
I thought Caylan should know there was a big, all black
rabbit in our back yard and yours this morning, It looked
like it tried to circle around your garden and then quickly
left. It went north across Bellview St. over by the railroad
tracks. I think it was a tame rabbit that got loose and
considers itself "wild." We seen it hanging around the
neighborhood last year. It's bigger than a regular wild one.
It's a good thing you have your fence in place for your
garden.
I happened to be in our backyard sitting at ourCaylan and I had never heard such a thing either. We were glad that our neighbor would be taking care of the dead rabbit before we got home.
picnic table about 7 PM watching birds at our
feeders. While there I noticed a real big, fat
rabbit over in your yard beyond your garden
at the southwest corner of your yard. The
rabbit began circling the garden fence until
he moved about 3/4 of the way around the
fence, apparently looking to see if there was
a way to get enter. I am sorry to say that is
where he suddenly, out of the blue, dropped
over dead. He must have been pretty sick from
something he ate or had a heart attack.
I never seen anything like it.
The funeral will be tomorrow .
Your neighbors.
When we returned, our neighbor said, "you know, that rabbit didn't die of natural causes." Oh yeah? "He died of lead poisoning?" What? How do you know that? "I shot him. I didn't want to put it in writing in case it was illegal."
With chocolate melting in our hands, we bussed it from New Paltz to NYC (an hour and a half ride). I slept the whole way and woke up just in time to arrive in Times Square at 12:30 a.m. on a Friday night. NY law requires taxis to take patrons to Brooklyn, but it was busy and no one wanted to drive far, so we got rejected by about 10 drivers before someone finally said he'd take us to Brooklyn.
Scarlett's husband, Eric, was waiting for us when we got to their apartment, which is near the Gowanus Canal. We stayed up talking until 3 a.m.
They live in a roomy, 900 square feet apartment. The building has three apartments and they are on the top floor.
Two buildings across the street from them caught on fire during Hurricane Sandy.
We explored some of Eric and Scarlett's favorite restaurants. We had the best pancakes of our lives at Cafe Luluc.
The best pizza of our life at a little hole in the wall in Bushwick called Roberta's.
Buttery chocolate croissants at Rucola.
We tried a dozen different salts (hello! bacon salt, ghost pepper salt, smoked alderwood salt, and thai ginger salt - to name a few) from the Filling Station at Chelsea Market. We also tried a few beers there, too.
Eric got a lesson on SLR cameras while Scarlett and I shopped.
Prospect Park, Brooklyn's version of Central Park, has off-leash dog hours. Zora, Jane's cousin, who happens to be a eight pound chihuahua, introduced us to all of her friends and secret hiding spots.
(Side story: Before we left for NY, I dropped Jane off at a lovely kennel. Jane, of course, has a fear of abandonment (she was abandoned by her previous owners on the streets of South Dakota) started crying/wailing and trying to jump the 8 foot fence. Because I didn't want to reward this unstable behavior, she did not get the biscuits in my pocket. With the biscuits still in tow, I spent the entire time at Prospect Park looking for the best dog to treat. In the end, Zora stole my heart and the biscuits.)
We did a few touristy things in NYC. We rode tandem bikes in Central Park. Navigating traffic to get there was f.u.n.
We explored the Guggenheim.
We perused the NYC Public Library. Original Pooh Bear on display!
Somewhere in there Caylan hurt his foot and had to borrow a scooter from the 8 year old that Scarlett used to nanny for. I am told it is an adult scooter. Nonetheless, we were then running to keep up with him.
Eric is a graphic artist for films. It is movie production season and we got a sneak peak at what he was working on - a Michael Keaton film. He was designing and displaying fake billboards and movie window boxes in Time Square for the movie. (pictures forbidden) Walking the streets of NY is fun with Eric because he is always snapping pictures of various flyers and warning signs and Chinese eateries - because one day, a movie director is going to need one for a scene and he's going to have to design it.
While Eric was working, we shopped at Century21, and on 5th Ave in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and sipped on single roast espresso from Turkey at Blue Bottle Coffee in Rockefeller Plaza.
Scarlett taught us how to use her weaving loom. It is easy until you forget what you last did. Then it gets really frustrating.
It was a tough goodbye. Let's just say, we are looking for weaving jobs and graphic artists jobs in Winona.
I took my first vacation from work last week. We flew into the Hudson Valley of New York and met friends from ND (Betsy and Dexter) to climb at a place called the Gunks. Our friends are in their 60s and have been climbing at this place since they were 18 years old. Caylan has a fear of heights. He is fine climbing in the gym, but outside is an entirely different game. Caylan had climbed here with Dexter and Betsy before, and swore he'd never return. Enter me! I get scared, but climbed outside a lot in college around Austin and don't get too afraid of heights. Before our trip Caylan tried to watch a youtube video that someone had posted of climbing in the Gunks. Caylan's palms were sweating before we boarded the plane :) Fortunately, he didn't let his fear slow him down once we got to the rock.
The climbing at the Gunks is traditional climbing, meaning - the leader has to place his or her own protection in the cracks.
Most of the climbing is also multi-pitch, so it takes more than one length of rope to make it to the top.
Here is a video of me climbing.
On our second day of climbing, Caylan's sister, Scarlett, came up from Brooklyn to climb with us. She is a novice climber and had taken a course at a local climbing gym. She did great. Here she is hanging on for dear life at the top of her first climb.
Caylan lead that route, taking his favorite people's lives in his hand. He took his job seriously.
The climbing at the Gunks is traditional climbing, meaning - the leader has to place his or her own protection in the cracks.
Most of the climbing is also multi-pitch, so it takes more than one length of rope to make it to the top.
On our second day of climbing, Caylan's sister, Scarlett, came up from Brooklyn to climb with us. She is a novice climber and had taken a course at a local climbing gym. She did great. Here she is hanging on for dear life at the top of her first climb.
Caylan lead that route, taking his favorite people's lives in his hand. He took his job seriously.
I climbed a difficult route with our friends, while Caylan and Scarlett enjoyed ground level. The name of the route is Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope ("CCK"). There are no pictures because there is no way I was going to pull out a camera. Here is a picture that I found online of the scariest part.
After CCK, we did all climbed a classic route called Horseman. It is the only route that everyone climbed successfully. Here is a video of Scarlett making it to the top.
After two days of climbing, we said goodbye to our friends and took a 1.5 hour midnight bus with Scarlett from New Paltz to Port Authority in NYC.
Earlier this week Caylan dug our garden bed. He used a method called double-digging instead of a tiller. It took him six hours of hard labor. I am told it is a rite of passage. Learn about it here.
Beginning
Still going. (Too bad Jane isn't a digger. She is also lousy at looking at the camera.)
Ta-da!
We are waiting for the soil to warm up before we transplant. It snowed five inches on Friday. It is fun to watch the birds dig for worms in the dirt.
Beginning
Still going. (Too bad Jane isn't a digger. She is also lousy at looking at the camera.)
Ta-da!
