In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 1

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.

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In the rearview mirror 2019:

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 4

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 3

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 2

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 1

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York and tagged rearviewmirror Spring NYC Big City Life snow turtle flowers Central Park Dive Bars Bars Baking Life in NYC rearviewmirror2020 2021 Colorado Sweden travels When the Pandemic Came Pandemic Covid19.

An Adventure along Harlem Valley Rail Trail and the Culture hub Wassaic

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Wassaic

A couple of months ago we loaded the bikes onto our car and drove to Wassaic. Just like many other small villages and hamlets around Dutchess County, Wassaic has roots from the 1700’s. You can get to Wassaic by taking Metro North and Harlem line from 125th street in East Harlem. We’ve been here before, but that time we ventured into the old mill, Wassaic Project, and discovered cool art. Wassaic is not only known for Wassaic Project, but this is also the start of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail that can take you to Millerton, and soon even farther. It is almost 20 miles in total (to Millerton and then back to Wassaic again), so it is still below the 25 miles or so we did in the city that nearly killed me. And now, when I finally press publish we’ve returned to Wassaic many more times, and even done the bike ride yet a second time. The second time was right after it had finally been official that Biden had won the election. There were celebrations in Millerton with a small parade, and at Wassaic Lantern Inn they served Victory Milk Punch. Maybe it’s not that hard to figure out what political view many of the cool places around here have. There are plenty of supporters of the other party here too, so don’t be fooled.

You could think that Wassaic is yet another little small and boring village, or hamlet, but I think Wassaic is up and coming, slow and steady. Maybe we should even buy a house here, if we had the money. Not yet, but maybe a project for the future.

Harlem Valley Rail Trail

We were pretty stoked even before we started to pedal along the rail trail. Everything felt so great, the move, the countryside, the nature, the cool places we’ve found. We biked past horses and cows, that is the most common animals to see around here, because we live in the countryside now. Harlem Valley Rail Trail follows the old railroad and also all the old villages and hamlets.

We arrived to Millerton surprisingly fast, and what a cute place. Millerton is a lot bigger than Wassaic, which mean more people. We walked along Main Street and found out that there are more than one antique store here. That seem to be the rule, at least two antique stores and one diner.

After some ice-coffe and a small lunch we got back up on the bikes and started the ride back to Wassaic. It felt a lot faster to get back, and I think it is slightly uphill to get to Millerton, which gives you some good speed coming back to Wassaic.

Culture

I mentioned earlier that Wassaic feels like a small culture hub out here in the countryside. And besides Wassaic Project this little hamlet has Wassaic Commons, which probably reminds you of a small farmers market but you can also rent a bike here, or fix your own bike if it needs some light tuning. During the summer and late fall Wassaic also have a small pop up stand where they have sold everything from bread to LP records. Wassaic Lantern Inn is an old hotel and speakeasy bar that just turned 130 years. Wassaic Lantern Inn was actually bought by the owners of Wassaic Project and they are old real estate developers from the big city. It is worth mentioning that the chef at the lantern inn has worked at a Michelin star restaurant in the big city, and the food is really really good. Recently we discovered that there used to be a brewery here too. Unfortunately they got so popular that they outgrew the space in Wassaic and moved to Brooklyn. It would have been the last deciding reason to move to Wassaic otherwise, hehe. Apparently it also used to be a dream for the owners of Lantern Inn and Wassaic Project to establish a brewery in town, not sure why they never went for it. We have been to Wassaic Lantern Inn many times now and it is one of the only places we have been to that serve food and drinks since the pandemic started in March. They only serve food and drinks outside and face masks while you order and walk in and out of the beer garden is a must. Last weekend was the final days for outside dining though so if anyone wants to enjoy their food they have to order take out from now on. I hope we will be able to enjoy their food outside in their beer garden in the spring, as long as this pandemic is under control.

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Life in New York

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Countrylife, Life in New York

In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 4

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Countrylife, Life in New York

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York, Countrylife

In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 3

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York, Countrylife

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York

In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 2

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York

In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 1

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York

Life in New York

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

Life in New York

Countrylife, Life in New York, The great wide open

Where the fairies are dancing

Countrylife, Life in New York, The great wide open

Life in New York, Countrylife, Nature

Life in NYC during the Pandemic and a New Chapter

Life in New York, Countrylife, Nature

Science, Life in New York

Out of the Ashes and into the Fire and the aftermath of the White Lion

Science, Life in New York

Life in New York, Nature

We Took The Bike North - a New York City Bike Excursion

Life in New York, Nature

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 4

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Countrylife and tagged 2020 Wassaic Wassaic Lantern Inn New York Life New York State Biking Rail Trail Harlem Valley Rail Trail Life in USA Dutchess County Country Life biking Hamlet Culture.

Things I have heard on the news Lately pt. 2

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The one I never Published

News Hours and Science related Articles

After the first “Things I have hear on the news Lately” I was very excited to get another one out. I just needed to get more news. Well, and here we are more than a year later or so. I finally decided that I should publish this, even though it’s not something I have heard on the news lately, but rather a follow up from the previous one.

April 2019

After several weeks, including landing a job in this big city, it’s time to do another round of what I have heard, read or seen these past months. If you want to read the previous post you can click here. Again, many of these news will probably either be about NYC or science, but of course something else might sneak into the mix as well. As a follow up from last time I did a “what I heard on the news lately” you can listen to this short segment, about how the measles outbreak started. We are getting extremely close to forcing people to get vaccinated, which also is probably not the best way to combat this, but the problem is how can we re-teach people about vaccination? This all ties back to what I wrote about earlier too, that the human psychology is extremely cool and fascinating but also very narrow minded (“Illusion of explanatory depth” - Why Facts Don’t Change our Minds). Once you started to believe in one thing, it is extremely difficult to switch those beliefs to something else. Another article that talks about somewhat the same idea is the recent one from New York Times “Why fiction trumps truth”.

NYCHA and other landlords. New York housing authority seem to be under fire most of the time. Since we moved here to NYC and Manhattan I don’t think I have heard anything positive about NYCHA. It is unclear who to blame for the situation they are in now, but they are backlogged financially, about 32 billion dollars. Some NYCHA residents in Manhattan recently got their playground upgraded, an upgrade that cost about 770,000$. This is great you might say, and yes it is, the playground is scheduled to reopen this summer. However the problem is that NYCHA wants to replace it with a new residential tower. I understand that we are also in need of more housing, especially for low income people, but what is the point to spend so much money on a playground if it’s going to be taken away anyway? You can also hear or read horror stories about tenants living in awful conditions; mold, leaks and broken locks. This is not exclusive to NYCHA of course, other landlords are equally bad, for instance residents bathroom ceilings falling in, pet parrots eaten by rats and the list goes on. One hot topic is lead paint, like the story I heard on the radio the other week about a mother with her four kids who now is suffering from lead poisoning. The mother found out that the her kids had started to eat lead paint from the walls and window sills, after they discovered that the paint taste very sweet. After a routine control at the doctors, they found out that the kids led level was dangerously high, and so they found out that they did indeed have led painted walls. Just like so many other current residents in NYC. This mom and her four kids are of course not the only people affected by lead, and lead poisoning, and there are probably other landlords who also couldn’t care less about that, just like I sometimes feel as if NYCHA doesn’t either. This is not any recent news, this has been going on for decades, but the question is whose fault is it. It’s a messed up system that completely uses low income people, people who have no other choice than to stay in awful conditions. And while some property managers and landlords get sued for not improving the living standards for the tenants, they most often are only fined a tiny little sum, making it easy for them to continue to break the law over and over again.
Ticks and allergy to red meat, aka “alpha gal syndrome”. Did you know that there is a new disease spreading extremely fast that is spreading via ticks. It was believed that this new disease came exclusively from the lone star tick, a tiny little creature that you can find here in the US. However, this tick does not exist in Europe, which has also seen the exact same diseases, and the diseases can also be found in Australia. Ticks do not only carry this pathogen for red meat allergy, but of course, also Lyme disease, carried by the black legged tick. These are two very good reasons to always check your body for ticks, to make sure you do not get any of these diseases. The problem is though, that some ticks, like the black legged one are so tiny it’s almost impossible to spot it. I remember when we went camping in Chequamagon National Forest for memorial day weekend a couple of years ago and we picked ticks of our body and car for days during that trip. If you are interested in knowing what pathogens ticks are currently carrying in your area, or where the hot spots of ticks are, you should download this app called The Tick App. It’s a type of citizen science app and is incorporated in a larger study by researchers from Columbia University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. The app gives you updates about current hot spots of ticks and their pathogens, and you can also report your own.