Posts filed under Rearview Mirror

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 2

Flashback Friday

Memories

Second Quarter of 2019, and it dawned on me how different my life looks now, compared to when I still lived in Alaska. Life back then, in Alaska, was all about snow, skiing, camping, fieldwork and the deep deep boreal forest. 40 below in the wintertime, smoke from wildfires mixed with mosquitos from hell in the summertime. Quite the contrast from big city life in New York City and Manhattan. If you are interested in seeing the contrast between life in Alaska, transitioning into life in Wisconsin before continuing with the rearview mirror of 2019 you can check out these posts below!

April

April came with Cherry blossoms in Central Park, and I went down there the day before we flew to Denver, Colorado. I reflected over the fact that spring is so different in different parts of the US, April in Alaska is very different compared to Wisconsin and New York. In Denver, we saw some good friends and their kitty cat. Denver has a lot of nice graffiti almost everywhere, so I might do a separate blog post highlighting that at a later stage. We, of course, went to a few breweries, bars and managed to get a hike in before it was time to get back to NYC. In NYC I had a day or so before a friend from Stockholm arrived. We did a couple of touristy things, Chinatown, the Highline and Columbia University. At the end of April Spring was definitely full-on. I got a couple of walks in Central Park, W and I went to East Broadway mall in Chinatown again for some seafood so we could cook a nice dinner. Also, at the end of April, I finally got a job!!

May

    May in NYC definitely mean summertime. I explored the area around my new workplace, which is about 40 minutes north of the city. We went to a Yankees baseball game in the Bronx one evening, our first real baseball game together, since the last one (in Minneapolis) turned into a non-baseball baseball game. We also did a short trip up to the Catskills, and I made more no-knead bread. Basically the best and easiest bread you can make. Garvey just keeps getting larger and larger, and even now in 2020 he is still growing. I saw some wildlife in Morningside park one afternoon, a raccoon. They are usually nocturnal so don’t really know what was up with that fella. We hosted a taco evening at our apartment, a good excuse to clean the whole place! W’s brother and girlfriend came to visit us too for about a week, and we had some picnics in the park, of course, managed to squeeze in a Broadway show and some bar excursions in East village. W and I went to see the goats in Riverside park and then May turned into June.

June

   We again went down to the East Village, but this time we walked a fair bit beforehand. We followed Riverside Park and then took the train south. Another evening we bought some food at an Italian deli and went to Central Park. We also went to one of our favorite bars, Mess Hall. More explorations in the city, especially now that we got a second income. Another picnic in the park and I also went down to Battery Park for the last beer with a friend before she moved to San Fran! I spotted a deer outside the window of my lab and W and I had an after-work beer one evening.

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York and tagged rearviewmirror New York New York City Spring Summer Big City Life New York Life Catskills East Village Riverside Park Denver Colorado Hiking Columbia University High Line Central Park Gotham City rearviewmirror2019 2020 Park Life in NYC.

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 1

IMG_9632-January 18, 2019.jpg

Flashback Friday

Memories

First-quarter of 2019

    2020 and a new decade. How crazy is it that I have spent a decade in this country now? We have now lived in NYC for more than a year, which also feels crazy. But here is what happened that last year of the decade, 2019. I spent the first quarter of 2019 searching for a specific job. There are a lot of jobs in NYC, but unfortunately, I am picky. Dad was still visiting in January, he had come for Christmas 2018. In February nothing new really happened, I got some short term job opportunities that carried over into March and later April.

January

    We celebrated our first Christmas and New Year in NYC together with my dad who was visiting for almost a month. Back in the day when my brother did spend a year in the US for high school, we had all visited and also spent some time in New York, so it wasn’t my dad’s first trip here. The lack of snow was pretty obvious, and for us who used to have a lot of snow, it was pretty miserable. This was the first winter I didn’t do any cross country skiing since I moved to the US. My dad and I went to Brooklyn Bridge and walked around along the shoreline before we headed back to Manhattan. Another day the three of us went out to Cold Spring with Metro-North and walked through the old foundry. Today all that is left are the old brick houses and some leftover iron slag here and there. My dad and i also took advantage of the free admission to the 9/11 museum, which they have on Thursdays. I was actually surprised how much that visit affected me. It is definitely worth going there if you are ever in NYC. After my dad left W and I ventured out to Chinatown for an outing.

February

    We went to H-Mart, a Korean market that sells sushi-grade salmon and tuna so that we could make sushi. I went north to Van Cortland Park to meet another Swede who lives in NYC. Another day I went down towards the Battery Park to meet another Swedish friend. W and I went on many walks in Central Park, which has also become a favorite spot for us here in NYC. We got some light snow dustings, that did not last long. Another weekend we also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only spent a couple of hours, and probably only saw about 10% of the whole place. But, as NYC residents you can pay what you wish in admission, so it’s not too expensive to come back.

March

    In March I went out to Coney Island because I had an interview at the New York Aquarium. I also made another batch of my favorite no-knead bread. W and I ventured out to various neighborhoods and bars in March. By the end of March, you could definitely tell that Spring was on its way. Daffodils in Morningside Park and pretty flowers in Central Park. In March it also finally struck me that if I can make it in NYC, I can make it anywhere. March Went by so fast and before we knew it April had arrived.

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror and tagged rearviewmirror Spring rearviewmirror2019 2020 NYC Cold Spring Big City Life snow turtle flowers Central Park Dive Bars Bars Baking Life in NYC.

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 4

Flashback Friday

October

    A mild October arrived, and I used to take walks through Central Park every now and then. October is also halloween and it was so fun to see everyones halloween decorations. I was walking across Manhattan on Halloween and actually got delayed because of all the little kids doing their trick or treat. The sidewalk was packed, on both sides of the street. I have never seen anything like it, but I loved it. In October we also got a new kitty cat, Garvey, named after Marcus Garvey. He is a true East Harlem kitty, born on the streets and then eventually ended up with us. October also brought us up north for a wedding in Montreal. We are so close to Montreal and we took the car up there. On the way back we went on our first hike i New York and boy did it kick our ass. Once we got back we had more time to explore Riverside Park and other parts of the city.

November

    Temperatures were still pretty mild, but as soon as that sun dropped it turned icy cold. I still can’t understand that we actually do really live in New York City. It just sounds so bizarre and weird. When the beautiful fall colors finally arrived I went on a fall photo tour in Central Park with a friend. We had fika twice, because what Swede does not do fika? We got a light dusting of snow and the only Christmas feeling I got in November was when I volontered at the Swedish Church and their Christmas Market. I baked saffron buns and also ginger snaps from scratch with another Swedish friend I’ve met here.

December

    When you least expected it December had already arrived. I had bought a proper advent candle holder at the Swedish Church and finally celebrated all advents in proper style, with candle lit and fika. W and I went down to the most southern part of Manhattan and explored the Seaport District. We also went to Chinatown and as always when we come back from there we had an awesome dinner. Then my dad came for Christmas. We explored even more, we went to the Interpid Sea, Air and Space Museum, walked around East Harlem, upper East side and Central Park a lot. We walked around a bit in Brooklyn, Long Island City, Roosevelt Island, the Battery, Chinatown and Hells Kitchen. It’s quite amazing how large only Manhattan is. We even ventured out late at night to Times Square. This was unfortunately the very first Christmas I celebrated in the US without any snow on the ground.

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York and tagged rearviewmirror rearviewmirror2018 Central Park Interpid Museum Christmas Fall Adirondacks Montreal NYC NYC Parks Manhattan 2019 Advent Riverside Park.