Posts filed under Life in New York

In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 1

Snowshoeing in Montana

Flashback Friday

Memories

First-quarter of 2020

    2020 turned out to be one of the best and worst years in history for us. Right before getting on the plane to go to Sweden (to celebrate my dads 70th birthday) Winslow got a phone call and a job offer. We did two trips before Covid19 took its grip of our world. Sweden, and a week or so after I came back from there we went to Colorado to meet up with a bunch of friends. By March Covid19 in NYC was a fact and we started our weekly walk to Central Park. By mid March things started to shut down and I said bye to my lab for a couple of months.

January

    We celebrated Christmas and New Years in Bozeman again. Just like many other NYE celebrations we cheered early and went to bed. The next day we got up at 6am and ventured out in the snow. W and his dad put on back-country skis and I came with them for part of it on my snow shoes. I Couldn’t have started the new year in any better way, I was in heaven. We did another outing around Bozeman before getting back to the big city. Once back in NYC we got some crazy warm weather. We took advantage of it and went to our favorite local bar for a beer. W and I and my brother and his partner surprised my dad in Sweden for his birthday. But before that we had some time to explore my old stomping grounds. We arrived at Operakällarn and boy was my dad surprised. After that followed some cold but beautiful days in Stockholm. We walked around everywhere, as we tend to do now when we visit. Winslow flew back to NYC earlier than me and I had some more time with my dad. I walked by the old fruit/candy store where we always used to go when I was in high school. And many trips to the beautiful Hedvig Eleonora church, where I got baptized, mom and dad got married, and moms funeral was held and where her memorial is. I blinked and then that trip and January was all over.

February

    Spring started to appear already early February. Maybe mother earth knew we needed something bright and light in our lives? We went up to Poughkeepsie and Millbrook to check out the area where we would move if W accepted the job offer. our first trip to Canoe Hill, and the Wassaic Art Project. We even went to the local diner in Millbrook. Back in the city we did our monthly trip to chinatown and the obligatory seafood dinner at home. We went to mermaid in for oysters, and also went to one of our favorite dive bar in the East Village, the Library. Then we flew to Denver, went to the grocery store and bought 6 dozen oysters before we drove to Estes Park where we had rented an AirBnB. We got a beautiful hike in at Rocky Mountain National Park, and before we knew it the trip and February was over.

March

    March 2020, a month that felt like a year, and therefore there are a few more photos to share. We greeted spring in Central Park, and continued to greet it the whole month during our weekly walks. If there was one thing to be excited about it was the blooming of flowers and trees. We knew things were getting bad, we heard silent rumors about a potential shutdown, and on March 16th I went to the lab to shut it down, for the foreseeable future. The rest of the city followed in the coming weeks. It was a spring that came and then got cancelled. I don’t think any of us could have imagined what the next months could possibly bring, and boy were we in for a surprise.

When we Biked to Battery Park and Across the Brooklyn Bridge - Life in NYC

June 28, 2020

You couldn’t stay indoors all the time of course, at least not now in June when the number of virus cases had dropped so much. So we went on another bike ride. This time we headed towards Battery Park and the most southern tip of Manhattan. We started off by biking across Manhattan towards Riverside Park (from the east side to the west side). There we had a breakfast bagel, from one of the famous bagel shops I don’t remember the name of before we headed south. The bagels were no sensation, but they tasted good. The whitefish topping was definitely the go to at this place, quite suprisingly since I always love the lox option. It was the end of June, and just like any other day it was hot. Very hot.

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Up north on Manhattan we didn’t really have any bike traffic, but as with everything it started to pick up as we made our way south. Or that could maybe also be explained by the fact that the bike trail narrows here and there down there.

Eventually we arrived to an empty Battery Park. It wasn’t until then we actually felt how hot it was. We both felt very exhausted and went to some of the park benches in the shadow to relax a bit. To my surprise it seemed as if the boats that take you to Ellis Island had started to take customers again.

We started to move towards the east side of the southern tip, and started the long way home.

As we approached Brooklyn Bridge I don’t know what flew into me, but I yelled to W, - Don’t you think we should bike across the Brooklyn Bridge now when there are so few people in the city? I had been so tired, and I was still pretty tired, but the thought of finally biking across the Brooklyn Bridge energized me. Of course this was also in the midst of all the protest going on, and rightfully so. The case of defunding the police is very complicated but somethings got to change, seriously. If you haven’t already check the play by play of Breanna Taylors murder. It’s actually kind of disturbing and makes me so angry, but that is a totally different story, and what is even more disturbing is that there are countless of other stories like this one.

I guess that after the trip over to Brooklyn we really started the long way home. Not only did we do Brooklyn Bridge, but we also decided to take on Williamsburg Bridge while we were at it. I know, don’t ask me what we were thinking. It was a bit complicated to follow the bike route to the famous pink Williamsburg bridge but we finally arrived and got back to Manhattan.

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At this point we were all out of water and the heat, talk about the heat. I was not in a good mood and needed some energy. Luckily we found a vending machine that carried Gatorade and the day was saved.

About 25 miles later, and several hours from the start in Riverside park we finally got to our street in East Harlem. I could hardly carry my bike up the stairs. But as I was laying on the floor in our cold apartment I silently promised myself to never ever do that again.

Where the fairies are dancing

The fairies are dancing in the field

My mom always used to say: -The fairies are dancing in the field, back then when we were driving towards the summer house and passed the fields with the large pines surrounding them. There and then we used to see them late in the evening and during those endless summer nights. Here I see them while I’m drinking a small cup of coffee in the morning. When I get to the car to drive to work I can see them across the road. On my days off I can walk over there and see them up close, and greet the morning.

Here I am able to watch as nature prepares itself for yet another day. It’s as if you have the front row seat to a show that’s just about to start. I see a deer staring at me before he runs towards the forest. Right there he stops, he hesitates and he look to the right as if he is listening. There are wild animals around here, coyotes, black bears and bobcats. I just saw some scat, from a coyote or maybe the bobcat, I am pretty sure I saw some bear scat too, fresh. Is that what the deer is hesitating about? Within a couple of seconds he is long gone into the forest and I am left alone hesitating myself. I always do that when animals seem frightened by something else, other than me.

A mama black bear has been spotted right here with two cubs, right where my favorite creek is. I still go there, and early in the morning I always think that now, right now I’m gonna run in to her. But it never happens and it probably never will. But you still walk around ready for just about everything and anything.

By the bridge I see two beavers, and so many birds, birds I don’t know the name of yet. The first time we went here we saw a great blue heron, two beavers, a muskrat, a large and probably pretty old snapping turtle, and later that week we saw a snake swimming in the creek. I have never seen a snake swim in a creek before.

It’s something magical about this spot, I don’t know exactly what makes it so special. Maybe the fact that you never know what you will see here? Either way, this is the reason we moved here. The ability to walk out the front door and into this. Into the wild, and never know what will appear around the corner.