Things to do in Ithaca, NY
Three years ago when I moved here, practically everyone I met volunteered things to do in Ithaca, so as not to be bored. They felt it vitally important to share with every newbie—and potential former Ithaca resident. I kept hearing the exact same three things from the different people who live here. Someone would say “ohh if you like Mexican food, we've got the best Mexican downtown it's called Viva …Gimme Coffee has the best coffee…of course you’ve got to go to the famous Ithaca farmers market .” These things always came up as a tri…
5 Days in LA: Day 1
Oh holy night! 5 or so day in Los Angeles, and I'm on the final day. Earlier today I saw the 'Hollywood' sign from the Observatory at the top of Griffith park--a sight I didn't realize I wanted to see, until I did. Pretty darn cool. To be fair we didn't see much more than varying views of downtown LA for most of this trip, as me and my colleague are in town solely for the purpose of presenting at the annual conference of our professional association. Our topic was selected from over 4000 submissions. Last autu…
Coyotes in New York
Every autumn, without fail, as the semester begins, the health and safety office where I work, starts getting emergency calls and messages. The students are back, and... ...the coyotes are hungry. I shouldn’t joke, as being confronted by a wild dog can be quite scary. Anyway, I arrived to work on the second day of the semester to an email box filled with messages. One of which was that a coyote (a wild dog, kin to the wolf) was in Cascadilla Gorge biting people. Turns out that it was not rabid, just perturbed. The Casca…
Art-a-Day While in the UK ('25 '26)
This winter I booked us a 4 week visit to England, to tour London, North Yorkshire, Norwich, and back to London--before returning to the frost-bitten North Atlantic US coast. For my artworks, I worked on a few pieces over multiple days, or took photographs, or constructed a piece of *jewelry. Here's a bit of it. Line art tribute to David Bowie and Jilly Cliff: Amy Winehouse, coloured pencil: pen and ink scribble, stylized elephant: copy of south Asian sculpture (from postcard): The jewelry …
England at New Year
Starting about 2 years ago, I learned to make proper Yorkshire puddings. As a result hubby got treated to a few proper Sunday roast dinners, and I to a few more. Above is my roast (rotisserie chicken, sprouts, roast garlic, sautéed mushrooms, herbed potatoes, Yorkshire puds, and gravy). However, hubby has not had one here in England. So today, after we attended the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London, we popped into a Green King pub (two brothers) and got a proper pub tea. I got the half chicken and he got the sirloin st…
England at Christmas: Norwich Castle Museum
During this Christmas Break, I was determined to visit the taxidermy room ("Natural History") at the museums of Norwich Castle. BUT this piece caught my eye, and was practically the last thing we saw in the museum. This is brilliant. The Paston Treasure, by an unknown Flemmish or Dutch painter. This is a unique work portraying a small portion of the family's riches, the Pastons of Oxnead Hall. This style of showing off the family wealth is called Vanitas. Most Vanitas paintings include 1 or 2 g…
England at Christmas (4)
After Christmas, we legged it to Norwich, Norfolk, to spend New Years week with a friend I met in my online gardening group. Last January when I returned to the states from my annual England visit, Lindsay offered to host me during my next visit. Back in September I asked if she was sure and planned a stay in her home, with hubby during this trip. Not only does this woman have green fingers, she also has a way around the kitchen. Each day in our week-long stay, she made a fine cuppa, a breakfast treat...and then a stunning dinner m…
England at Christmas (3)
Merry Christmas 🎄 from Whitby!! 2 weeks in Whitby, from December 15 to the 27! I first visited Whitby last January and fell in love with wintertime there. It was mild and temperate (mind you, I have not been stuck in town when the area is cut off during a snow emergency). Whitby got substattial snow the week after I left. Anyway, I met a few lovely retired lads who made me feel completely at home (Digger, Dave, and Ed) so back to town I headed for Christmas. Hubby and I shared a karaoke Christmas eve with them at the W…
England at.Christmas: Norwich Cathedral
After touring the galleries at Norwich Castle, we hooked it over to Norwich Cathedral. A hobby of mine is investigating medieval graffiti. Those monks of old always wanted to leave their mark. After touring the cloister, Labyrinth, and main hall, I finally found some (but it was too dark to make much out)...I could see carvings in the stone from the 15 and 1600s, and even earlier. Rather than keep hubby longer than he had the patience for, I elected to cut the investigation short. We later learne…
England at Christmas (2)
The plan for this year was to visit London, Whitby, Norwich, and back to London in these 4 weeks. Leaving New York in -9°C temperatures and snow to find 4° to 11°C in the first week was magical. However, the high winds on the North Sea meant it was still rather chilly. After Christmas, and the Boxing Day Dip in Whitby, I found a sheepskin coat at a local charity chop and made the £40 purchase...that's around $57 for this gorgeousness:
England at Christmas (1)
We opted to take 4 weeks of winter break and visit my favorite places in England--London and north Yorkshire-with a weeks stop over in Norwich (Norfolk), to see a friend I have only ever met online. When we arrived in week 3 to the Golden triangle area of Norfolk, near the city center, we abruptly got lost and ducked into a tiny eatery along the cobbled walk. This place is Shako Mako (an Iraqi restaurant, pronounced sheku meku) serves traditional foods, housemade breads, middle eastern sweets, and beautiful British cakes. …
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