Helping a friend find a home.

Another rain storm leaves another frightened caterpillar stranded in the sidewalk.

Two good Samaritans walk by.

Come to my hand, little fellow.

I'll take you too the tree.

And shelter with leaves.

It's as easy as 1-2-3!

My crown is called . . .

Drink in 

Our

Refreshing

Invitation from

Nature, 

Ahhh.

Life

Issues us

Zeal.

Keenly

Examine it,

Value it, 

Invest in it and

Nourish it.

Nature
Insures that we
Claim
Our
Love for
Each other!

Dorina, Liz, Kevin, Nicole

My crown is called content--a crown that seldom kings enjoy.

Typical Banter

"What do you think of this picture?"

"It's bee-utiful!"

Really, Kevin? Bad puns from my English Major husband--now that really stings!

Mister Lizard writes a poem!

Can you see me?

I've been here since 65 million B.C.

Check out the stripes on my back:

They keep me safe from attack.

Bronx Bears are no more

Wolves and bobcats, too.

You'll never get rid of me!

If I see you coming,

I won't flail my tail

or bite with might.

Here's a secret from the lizard vault:

I'll just make like Usain--and Bolt!

Peace From the Tourists?

With tourist season winding down, certain parts of the city are much less congested. That's good, especially when I visit the Botanical Gardens I can get peace and tranquility in a city of over eight million.

Now if I only I could figure out what to do with my husband . . .

Kevin wonders if  "Elephant Ears" are in improvement over his current visage.

Wild Deer in New York City!!

For real. No joke. Here's the story:

Nicole and I both recently finished reading The Last Algonquin, a true story about an American Indian named Joe Two Trees. Joe lived most of his life on Hunter's Island, which is now part of Pelham Bay Park. His story, recounted by Theodore Kazimiroff, is simply amazing. We decided to take a bike trip from our apartment and search the island, hoping to find some kind of inspiration. Aside from the book, we didn't know much more about the island. It was with this very open-ended mindset that Nicole and I decided to conduct our own field expedition.

Just another day in the largest city in North America . . .

After a quick swim to cool off after the ride, we set out across the field that connects Hunter's Island to the Bronx and commenced our search. As you can see in the video, it's not hard to tell man's artificial land ends and where New York's nature begins.

We enjoyed walking around the "island" (it is 3/4ths surrounded by water), but except for an interesting insect, we didn't see much in the way of wild nature. Granted, the tall trees were quite majestic, and the island's natural, rocky shores were more reminiscent of the rural Maine coastline than that of New York City, but we didn't see anything that was startling and unbelievable. After about half an hour of walking, the dirt path turned to pavement. Our search was almost over.

As we were walking back towards the beach, however, I spotted a friend who was looking at me. He had several other friends. Four of them to be precise. They each walked on four legs and had beautiful antlers atop their heads. My jaw dropped. Nicole and I couldn't believe it: Wild Deer in New York City of all places!!

Does the spirit of Two Trees live on? After this day, we were convinced. It had to have been a sign. Your thoughts? Watch the videos and judge for yourself.

How to Beat the Heat in NYC

This summer was a hot one, no doubt. So hot, that Nicole and I fell a little behind the times. This is an episode of an earlier weekend when we sought refuge from the oppressive city summer heat.

This summer was the sort of hot where you walk outside and can't tell if you're sweating, or if the humidity in the air is just bonding to you. Blech! Who needs that?

Kevin's bike casts a lovely shadow in the setting summer sun.

Nicole and I thought we could seek refuge from the summer sun with a trip to one of New York City's world-renowned swimming pools. From what we are told, these are some of the best public pools in the nation, virtually all of which were massive public works projects during the Great Depression, and kept in pristine condition for the general public, free of charge.

It was with these expectations that we got on our bikes and headed to Van Cortlandt Park Pool on a sultry Sunday afternoon.  During the summer season, New York City closes its pools daily from 3 pm to 4 pm for a mid-day cleaning.


At about 3:30, Nicole and I got to the back of the line. We waited patiently for 4 o'clock to come. It came. The line moved slowly at first, for about fifteen minutes. After this quarter of an hour had passed, the line stopped entirely. Van Cortlandt Park Pool was filled to capacity.

Nicole rides along the old Putnam Rail-Trail.

Not entirely pleased that we hadn't received any sort of warning from the parks department that something like this might happen, and not really looking forward to standing around in the mid-day heat, we decided to ditch the pool plan.

We got on our bikes feeling resigned until  we stumbled upon a dirt path. Nicole suggested we turn left, towards the unknown, rather than simply head home. On the path, we found that the the trees around us offered protection from the summer sun's oppressive heat. Even though the hot and humid air was static, simply riding the bikes gave us a cool breeze that we so sorely needed.

We rode a few miles before the dirt trail turned to asphalt. The terrain had changed, and so had the imaginary borders that define cities and towns. We were in Yonkers.

We kept riding north, because, well, why not? The trail was there, and we had fun riding underneath several underpasses on this new found bike trail. We passed a golf course, a large public park, and rode through residential neighborhoods that were reminiscent of our rides along the Farmington Canal Trail in Connecticut.

Did we have a destination? Not really. We rode for about an hour this way before we decided to turn a back. We had seen something of a water park just east of the bike path and figured, why not? We did intend to go swimming today and we were riding with our gear, bathing attire and towels included. There was a convenient spur from the bike path to the park entrance, and we simply coasted towards Tibbetts Brook Park.

North of the Border! Of New York City, that is.

Once we arrived at the main entrance, we saw that there were two problems: one, the pool was closing soon, and two, it didn't matter what time the pool closed, because this park is only open to residents of Westchester Country. Ouch.

The detour wasn't a total loss. Nicole spotted an ice cream stand and we were in business. We enjoyed some ice cream sandwiches. I stood in the shade. Nicole smiled and laughed at me.

"You're so silly!" She said.

"Hey, it's almost a hundred degrees out here."

Almost. Perhaps I didn't need to be so dramatic. We finished our sweetened cold-cream confectionery sandwiches and headed back home. It wouldn't have been nice to have pool splash around in at some point during our little adventure, but that was not to be. Alas, maybe next time.

And if next time the trip to the city pool is bonkers, I guess we're heading back to Yonkers!

The familiar face of the 4 train greets us back home!