more NYC in the spring

Blooming!

trip to NJ

Had to go over to NJ on Saturday for Paul to give a talk at a palliative care conference over there. It was in Livingston NJ about 45 mins drive west of Manhattan, so in the semi-rural/outer urban commuter belt. It is near Morristown which was where Washington had his headquarters during the Revolutionary War. A nearby village is New Providence, and coincidentally this is where the movie Win Win is set, which we went to see last night; doing quite well at the box office here at present, though we thought a bit slow and predictable.We should have also played some Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen to really make it a NJ day.

The weather is slowing warming up, now 10-15C most days. All the trees, shrubs, and plants are starting to bloom and this time of year the forsythia is in abundance. this bush was in a side street of Morristown.



After a thunderstorm and nearly 60 mm rain overnight, Sunday turned out to be a lovely day. It was cool & crisp early but got up to about 17 by mid afternoon. We went over to the West side of Manhattan to walk the High Line and see how its plants are shaping up for the spring.

Life after Millerton

Now that our lease is over we will be spending more time in the city on the weekends. Even in NYC, the list of things to do is ultimately limited. Yesterday we were over on the Upper West Side doing some shopping, so we kept going another 20 blocks to the Morningside Heights neighborhood, which has a nice walk that we had done back in February 2009. Highlights include Monk's Diner from Seinfeld as well as the campus of Columbia University (originally called King's College when found by the British in the early 1700's).

"Monk's Restaurant", on W112th & Broadway

inside Monk's

imposing edifice of St John the Divine episcopalian cathedral, as grand as any Italian duomo

old library, Columbia

Columbia college kids playing frisbee, of course!