Brooklyn Boids, I Mean Birds

Although I actually have even more pics from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens I thought I would show you some pictures of some birds I captured in Brooklyn. Now when you think of Brooklyn birds you're probably thinking, "dirty stinking boids" like the rats with wings, pigeons. At our Brooklyn house we have a huge pine tree in the back yard that the neighbors have been bugging me to cut down since my father died. I refuse to cut that one and the other pine that I have in the front of the house. Both trees house some songbirds including one that wakes me every morning singing, "Sweet Marie, Sweet Marie." I imagine that's my dad saying good morning to his granddaughter.

For the most part the birds are the usual ones that you would see here in Roanoke -- cardinals, bluejays, bluebirds, sparrows, wrens, pigeons along with many seagulls. This trip I saw two more types of birds I had never seen before in Brooklyn.

On our way back from the Botanic Gardens we stopped at Greenwood Cemetery to see my folks...



The place is huge and even though they issue maps it's easy to get lost. We know we finally found the gravesite when we stumble upon this gargoyle-filled monument.



My parents are located near one of the two huge ponds. We usually get lost trying to leave as well even though we follow the pond. This time we saw a beautiful bird that we've never seen there before.







Later on I took my daughter to Shore Parkway to go shopping. As usual we walked to the shore to take pictures of my favorite bridge, the Verrazano...



I had to look twice after taking the picture because I thought I saw some birds in the ocean which were too large to be ducks or geese...



We walked closer to the shore and saw that there were two swans diving for fish in the ocean...







My daughter said she didn't know swans swam in the ocean. Neither did I! You never know what you're going to find in Brooklyn.



Wouldn't this shot make a nice postcard? "Greetings from Brooklyn!"

My New York "Must Do's"

I love New York, but by the time I get back home I always feel like I need a vacation. There's never enough time to do all the fun things I have scheduled, nor see all the people I want to. Being a responsible homeowner who lives 500 miles away and partnered with an irresponsible homeowner who lives in the house with his Godawful cats, steals too much of my limited hours.



Rather than visiting Manhattan, this time we spent all our time in Brooklyn. Unfortunately a lot of that time was also spent holding gardening shears, twine, razors, sandpaper, paint brushes, shellac, wrenches, broken tiles, dirt, a machete, blah blah blah...you get the drift. I long for the time when I can say our vacation in New York really was one. Until that miraculous event happens, I am resigned to fitting as many of the "must do's" as I can in until I, or more likely my husband, reaches the breaking point of "I gotta get the hell outta here, now!" and we escape from the city immediately. I've learned to make sure to not put off something I really want to do until "tomorrow" because that day may never come.

This time I knew I needed to get my hair fixed after the recent antique store/barbershop debacle, as well as get my eyebrows waxed after the threading in the mall debacle. I love being able to walk right down the block. I love being taken immediately with no appointment. I love that my eyebrow techie is a Chinese man who knows what looks best, gets right to it, and causes no pain. I love that he then massages my head as he washes it, although by the third go-around I was starting to get a little dizzy. I love that the Chinese hairdresser needs just one or two words to understand what cut I want. The style is another matter. I love that she only small talks in her native language to the stylist next to her and doesn't bother me with useless chitchat. I am amazed how she can blow dry my hair with two hairdryers in one hand and a curling brush in the other and make it look so silky and smooth without any product whatsoever.



Yes, I do have other shirts, and no, I will never get my hair to look like that again. I love that the waxing, wash, cut, and style costs $18.00. I crossed the first "must do" off the list.

My other "must do's" involve the usual...food, friends, family and cemetery, not necessarily in that order. This trip I also wanted to include the Brooklyn Museum and Botanical Garden on my list. Did anyone say pictures??? Besides the usual mandatory shopping spree, my daughter wanted to include going to the East Village on hers. We got to do most of mine, but not all of the girl's...just not enough time. She still enjoyed herself though.



After all, there's plenty of shopping to do in Brooklyn, but she'll definitely be skipping this store...