the bird

I realize that I have hardly written about my recent trip to Jamaica, so I decided to do a post about it and went to my pictures for inspiration. Unfortunately, I was completely overwhelmed when I looked at all the pictures that I took and have no idea where to start or how to organize them into a nice blog post. I've been sick this week and in no mental state to think too hard, so let's start somewhere easy. The bird.

No big deal or story, it's just this bird that was always in the tree outside where we would eat dinner and some of our breakfasts. I really liked this bird. It was like a hummingbird with a really long tail. Apparently he is really fast too. The world's current fastest runner is from Jamaica, so I guess that's appropriate. I liked this bird and his long tail and I think he kind of liked me. At least he didn't mind having his picture taken. Maybe he wants to be famous. He thought he would get his big American break on my blog.

My new toy!

I have been craving a bicycle for some time now. I've had bike envy when I see an attractive bike parked or cruise down the street where I walk. I wanted a bike for several different reasons. Mostly, I think it will be a nice thing for a weekend afternoon to cruise around on for fun. There are some really nice paths going up and down the sides of Manhattan. There is also a really nice area to ride around Battery Park, closer to the tip of the island. It's a very pretty walk, but a whole different experience on a bike. If I really get into riding it could be a nice way to avoid giving so much money to the Subway. Well - recently I bit the bullet, swiped some plastic and got myself a bike! Here she is:


My first new bike! I have ridden for most of my life, but I always had a used bike. I had a couple of pink bikes as a kid since I was a girly girl and loved my pink. I didn't ride much during high school, but picked it up again in college as a quicker way to get to class. So here I am with another pink bike!
I went for a couple of rides in the city last week to break her in. I loved it! Today I went for a spin around the park by my apartment. It was a nice ride with a fairly decent hill in the middle; raising my heart rate a bit. Coming from West Virginia, I am quite judgmental of 'hills'. If there's anything I know, it's how to ride on hills. These city folks may beat me on a track or flat surface, but I'll blow their doors off on a hill! Back in the day I lost my training wheels on the hills- and I'm talking uphill... both ways.

We're back!!!

Saturday morning we packed our bags with dirty clothes and souvenirs and boarded a plane taking us back to the US. I had a lovely view of Montego Bay and the Caribbean Sea as we flew out of the airport. We traveled all day before safely arriving home around midnight. Exhaustion quickly set in from the previous week of work and little rest. It was a wonderful week and an experience to be remembered.

To Jamaica...

...or not!
This morning we were on our way to Jamaica. We leave the house at a dark and foggy 3AM. We drive to the church and meet up with our group. We gather together and load our bags into vans that take us to the Charleston airport. Once we arrive at the airport, where we intend to catch our flight to Atlanta, we notice a little problem:


No go. Both flights that our group was on were canceled due to fog in Atlanta. After sitting around at the airport figuring out what was going on and what we were going to do, we were told to go home and we will do the same thing tomorrow morning!!! I've never experienced a flight that is completely canceled. I've had a lot of delays and sitting around waiting for the flight to be rescheduled, but being told to go home and come back the next day is a new thing for me! I do have to say I would rather have it happen this way where I can go back to the house, sleep and enjoy the day than be stuck in a random airport or in a random hotel in a random city.
I guess I'll be up at 3:00 tomorrow morning to try this trip again! Hope it works a little better than this time!

hitting the road...or the sky

I'm getting out of New York for a bit. Time to go to hotter places. I never do the right thing when it comes to seasons and staying in nice weather. I tend to go north for the winter and south for the summer. How does that happen? Well, this time I am heading to Jamaica! Going with the family and a group from church. I will be down there for a week and then plan to spend a few days in WV before coming back to the city. I look forward to a nice time. I don't think I will have internet access, so there will be no blog until I get back, but I'm sure to have beautiful pictures and stories to tell. Bon voyage!

drenched demitasse

I got caught out in the rain yesterday. It had been a beautiful day and I was not expecting anything else. I was trying to get home by walking to the subway station when the thunder crashed and the rain started pouring down. As luck would have it, I was passing by one of my favorite little restaurants when it hit. I took this as a sign that it wasn't quite time for me to go home and be productive, so I ducked into the restaurant to wait out the storm. They had the front wall of doors opened up so I could sit just inside -protected from the water as I watched it come down. The storm hit so suddenly that a couple of the outside tables didn't have a chance to get cleared off as their patrons ran for drier lands. The poor little coffee cup sat filling with rain water until the storm settled down and I could continue on my way.

Oh no!

Say it ain't so...

Freshly ground coffee... spread across the floor... a tear in my eye...

New York apartments just aren't big enough to do everything I need to do. Sadly as I was unplugging the grinder and plugging in the coffee maker, a little bump caused a chain reaction with the toaster oven and the dish resting on top of it, which slide onto the counter, sending the coffee to the floor. What a sad moment. With the help of a friend on the phone I did not scrape the coffee off the top of the pile and use it anyway. I mustered up all my will power and mixed it up on the floor before I was too tempted. Thank goodness I had all ready taken out what I needed for my one cup. And thank goodness I had only ground enough beans for 4 cups instead of 18.

Wedding Bells

The past few months have been very exciting for my family. Not two weeks ago, we welcomed baby Joel into the world. He is the first of the grandchildren for my parents, so we are all very excited. But before that, at the end of May, we had a wedding in the family. Jared and Alma Lee tied the knot in a beautiful southern ceremony down in Tennessee. The entire family was there - it was so nice to see everyone and all be together for a short time. Unfortunately we were so busy that we didn't get to socialize with each other the way we would have liked to, but that's the way those kind of things are. Rushing around doing our nails, having lunch, rehearse for this, pick up that... time flies and before you know it - time to go home! I guess big events usually are like that. Months and months of planning - days of stress - then 'boom' and it's over. No matter how stressed we get - it all works out in the end, right?

As I said before - the wedding was really beautiful. Both Stacy and I got to be bridesmaids where we bonded while planning our future weddings (no time soon - be reminded of our continuing man crisis) and Ben was the Best Man. I also got to play a little clarinet at the opening (for the parents to come down the aisle). The ceremony was followed by many many pictures and a quaint reception before the couple raced out of the hall, unwrapped the car, and escaped to their Parisian honeymoon.

a walk across

Brooklyn Bridge, New York

Flower Power

I've had a lot of fun with my nice camera that I got last year. I still don't feel like I know how to use it to its fullest (or even its half-fullest), but it is fun to play with and I am learning as I go. I am lucky that I have an uncle who is also in to photography and has been able to guide me along and help me out with equipment. I learned quickly that the photo world is all about more and more and better equipment. It is never-ending. All of my money could easily be spent on cameras, lenses, stands, cases, etc.

A while back, I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I went last year and had to go again to try to catch the cherry blossoms. We were able to see some and they were so beautiful. It's hard to catch them at just the right time, but we came close. They have many different variety there, so I think there is always something blooming and something not blooming. I got a lot of great pictures while I was there, but oddly enough, my favorites were not of the cherry blossoms, but of other flowers! Oh well...maybe I'm just not in a 'pink' mood.
I have been playing around with taking close-up pictures. I have a few filters to put on my lens that really lets me get in there. Here are a couple of flower shots I took that day with the filters.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD!

Late Saturday night (actually it was Sunday morning in my time zone) I became an aunt for the first time! Ben and Jen had their baby, Joel Stephen. He arrived a few weeks early and we are all so excited that he is here, healthy and ready to take on the world. My little nephew is out in Montana with his happy parents - I can't wait to see him in person. To learn more about him click here.