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May 18, 2006
London calling
Adam and I are going to London and France! A close friend and her boyfriend will be in London from July through September and she had invited us to visit. I also have an uncle who's been living in southern France for several years but will be moving back to L.A. in early August so we thought it would be a good opportunity to go this summer. After spending two weeks screening airfare specials, I gave up trying to find one to London or Paris in July and just booked a regular flight to London and one flying out of Paris. We paid a lot more than I'd hoped for but hopefully it'll be worth it!
Posted by Jennifer at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2006
Happy Mother's Day!
I'll admit that Canada geese (yes, it's Canada, not Canadian) aren't my favorite, but when I saw this pair with their goslings, I couldn't help but be charmed. I've seen many Canada geese in my life, but I don't believe I've ever seen Canada geese goslings before. These photos were taken in Celery Farm Natural Area, by the way, (unfortunately, not quite as picturesque today as it appears in these photos), where I was supposed to go on a nature walk of a few weeks ago but, unfortunately, I didn't realize I was supposed to leave the area I had disembarked from at the Secaucus Junction station and make my way to another part of the station even though I had gone to this station once before.
Posted by Jennifer at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2006
Party and more birdwatching
As some of you may know, until very recently, Adam published a pretty popular zine which was actually preceeded by several other zines he's published since high school. This year was the tenth anniversary of when he started zining so, to celebrate, he decided to throw a party which took place last night. This was no ordinary party--the website for his zine which has several message boards has a pretty large following of people from around the country and beyond and there were a number of out-of-towners who were really looking forward to coming to NYC for the party. And Adam, of course, was very excited since this was an opportunity to throw a party for fans of his zine. He decided to have the party at the private room of one the restaurants we frequent (it was a no-brainer really, they offered the room for free for the whole night as long as a certain amount of food and drinks were ordered and the room came with a karaoke machine).
I think a good way I could describe the party was what our weddding would've been like sans the family and plus a lot more alcohol and karaoke. It was a big love-fest both for Adam and his zine and for all the posters on his message boards, many of whom were seeing each other for the first time in person. Adam did a great job with the music (although I'm probably biased ;) and karaoke was a hit. It was definitely a memorable party, probably for a lot of the people who attended.
Anyway, onto the pictures:
Justin and Mr. Monkey--together at last
Karaoke time with Adam
Rock on Justin, rock on
Cool karaoke photo
Adam, ecstatically happy (and drunk ;)
And, just for good measure, since I did manage to drag my ass out of bed at 6 am despite the party last night to go birding in Central Park this morning, a few photos of the park.
Some of the birds seen today not seen yesterday (again, my favorites are linked):
Common Yellow-Throated Warbler
Chestnut-Sided Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Northern Parula
Louisiana Waterthrush
Downy Woodpecker
Posted by Jennifer at 07:07 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2006
Birding in Forest Park
As some of you recall, Forest Park is one of my favorite parks because it's so densely wooded and now, I have one more reason to love it--the birding. I went on a birding walk of the park today and it was a great opportunity to see some of the birds that can be found within the park. After hearing about the watering hole, a popular birding spot within the park, during a recent trip, I really looked forward to seeing it. It was a lot smaller than I expected but didn't disappoint. A lot of birds can be found in and around the watering hole, drinking, foraging, and bathing. We also came across a spot where there were lots of insects which attracted a lot of yellow-rumped warblers in particular. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to bird as much of the park as I would've liked but it was still a very good birding day.
My favorite apartment complex in the whole of the city. It's got an expansive and beautiful courtyard with tons of birds.
On our way to the watering hole, we came across the brightest bird I've ever seen, a scarlet tanager. Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good shots of it but it was surprisingly close to us.
The legendary watering hole
Other birds seen (I've linked some of my favorites):
Veery Thrush
Wood Thrush
Northern Waterthrush
Swamp sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Black and White Warbler
Black Throated Green Warbler
Black Throated Blue Warbler
Eastern Kingbird
Posted by Jennifer at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)