Based on the fact that the title of my blog is the Weatherly Report I thought I should update you on the weather once in awhile. The joke in our family is that when we are with the Crocker side we talk about food and when we are with the Weatherly side we talk about weather! So in all fairness I will have to make sure a do an entry about food too! But for now on with the weather….
For anyone not following the weather…New York has been going through a pretty intense heat wave. In the 90's most days and breaking into the 100s occasionally with high humidity. The subway has a unique way of making the above ground humidity not seem so bad because it is VERY thick underground …until of course you get onto one of the subways which are all air conditioned. Even when walking about above ground you can always cool off by stepping indoors as most places are thankfully air-conditioned. Ironically this means it is a good idea to bring a light sweater with you most times.
I must say that I have never sweat as much …except perhaps if I go as far back as my basketball days! But I am certainly not exerting the same kind of energy either despite the miles of walking and endless subway stairs.
Vancouver always gets a bad rap for rain but we have NEVER been drenched by flash rain/thunderstorms in Vancouver like we have here. I guess the heat together with the high humidity rallies up thunder clouds that loom and let loose every once in awhile. Being with Katy has truly made this experience a joy as she just says, "Oh Mama, it's just rain, isn't it fun - let's just run!" And off we run hand in hand through the puddles, getting soaked to the skin while others are huddled underneath the awnings to wait it out. The first time it happened she even added a song from one of our favourite Broadway musicals "Singing in the Rain"! Got love that girl :)
As I type this I watch my clock as I need to go pick her up soon hoping the worst of this latest thunder storm will end soon because while she loves the rain she could do without the thunder and lightening that comes with it! And wow what a show this storm has put on - hail included!
So I head out - this time armed with rain jacket, umbrellas and water sandals!
Well all I can say is who needs to go to Bikram Yoga when you can go into the intense humidity of an underground subway in a thunderstorm !!! Crazy puddles of water, dripping ceilings and crowds of people backing up the exits to keep out of the rain. Crazy!
By the time I get Katy the worst is over and we decide to walk in the rain to avoid one subway station as we are on a mission to get home as soon as possible to get ready for the weather on the streets of London on Broadway!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
I Wonder?
I wake up wondering…..wondering what awaits us on the streets of NYC this morning?
What type of music will be echoing in the hollow corridors of the tile-lined subway tunnels?
Will it be the smooth melodic voice of the rhythmic guitar player, the high pitched but practiced symphonic sound of the opera singer or will it be the well trained classical pieces of the young duo on cello and violin or the black dread-locked rhythm genius who can make over-turned empty white buckets come to life.
We have met them all within the endless maze of tunnels. What we didn't expect was how there is an uncanny politeness in their peddling and are amazed at how many NYorkers pull out their bills to show their appreciation…a thank you we suppose for how their music breaks the otherwise mundane sounds of the subway.
What kind of artists will be demonstrating their practiced craft before the crowd in hopes of selling another treasured piece?
We somehow aren't quite as impressed with the artists. Some are trying …perhaps it is better than they could sing…or play an instrument… There are some good ones…like the man in Battery Park how sprays sillouhettes of the New York city skyline with cans of spray paint, or the numerous well practiced caracture artists in Central Park, or the sand mural artist in Union Station..so wished we would have gone back later that evening to see his final creation.
Which of the homeless will be out with their "Please help me" signs characteristically printed in black felt on cardboard?
There are the older men in wheelchairs often with one leg or those with crutches shaking their cups for change….there are the mysterious young girls always sitting in the same spots in the subway with sleeping toddlers in their arms with their cardboard signs written in English but who claim to know none and the middle aged men in the downtown streets with stories of lost jobs, no home and no money but $4.00 Starbucks drinks sitting beside their tattered collection cups.
I fall asleep wondering …which one of these adults was once a kid...
Who was always tapping their desks or humming - driving everyone else crazy?
or
Who filled the sides of their pages with doodles when they were supposed to be doing their school work?
or
Who were the risk takers who needed someone to come alongside them to see them through to the end?
Instead , might we have been guilty of trying to make them into someone they weren't?
I wonder?
What type of music will be echoing in the hollow corridors of the tile-lined subway tunnels?
Will it be the smooth melodic voice of the rhythmic guitar player, the high pitched but practiced symphonic sound of the opera singer or will it be the well trained classical pieces of the young duo on cello and violin or the black dread-locked rhythm genius who can make over-turned empty white buckets come to life.
We have met them all within the endless maze of tunnels. What we didn't expect was how there is an uncanny politeness in their peddling and are amazed at how many NYorkers pull out their bills to show their appreciation…a thank you we suppose for how their music breaks the otherwise mundane sounds of the subway.
What kind of artists will be demonstrating their practiced craft before the crowd in hopes of selling another treasured piece?
We somehow aren't quite as impressed with the artists. Some are trying …perhaps it is better than they could sing…or play an instrument… There are some good ones…like the man in Battery Park how sprays sillouhettes of the New York city skyline with cans of spray paint, or the numerous well practiced caracture artists in Central Park, or the sand mural artist in Union Station..so wished we would have gone back later that evening to see his final creation.
Which of the homeless will be out with their "Please help me" signs characteristically printed in black felt on cardboard?
There are the older men in wheelchairs often with one leg or those with crutches shaking their cups for change….there are the mysterious young girls always sitting in the same spots in the subway with sleeping toddlers in their arms with their cardboard signs written in English but who claim to know none and the middle aged men in the downtown streets with stories of lost jobs, no home and no money but $4.00 Starbucks drinks sitting beside their tattered collection cups.
I fall asleep wondering …which one of these adults was once a kid...
Who was always tapping their desks or humming - driving everyone else crazy?
or
Who filled the sides of their pages with doodles when they were supposed to be doing their school work?
or
Who were the risk takers who needed someone to come alongside them to see them through to the end?
Instead , might we have been guilty of trying to make them into someone they weren't?
I wonder?
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