Trudging through the snow. Sun 31st to Thur 4th

Last Sunday, 31st, was my elder daughters 40th birthday. It was a good celebratory day. Wendy and I went to the nearest Anglican church for a 9 am service. It was quite different to the packed Christmas service we went to the previous week at Trinity church. There were about 20 other people in the congregation,  antiquated liturgy - thees and thous, but a friendly conversation afterwards with a few parishioners. It was a huge church and very warm.  Must be money somewhere.

Carol and Lach had organised the kids in our absence and everyone had made a card for Wendy. We then went to a,performance of the Radio City Rockettes.  I had never heard of them but apparently they have been putting on a lavish performance  of dancing and singing  since 1930 something.  I enjoyed being with the kids and the professionalism of the dancers was obvious.

After lunch we caught the subway to Brooklyn and all went for a ride on Jane's Carousel in DUMBO ( Down Under Brooklyn Manhatten Overpass). It is a lovely restored old carousel on the waterfront just near the Brooklyn Bridge. It was about 5pm but dark and there were lots of sparkly lights everywhere. I had been for a ride 4 1/2 years ago and wanted to take my family. There was a wedding party there, so obviously a local celebratory thing to do.

We had a delicious dinner at a nice restaurant that Wendy had booked  . Lach had arranged a special treat for Wendy. A good day. I cannot remember,  but I think it was that day that Stelli fell asleep on  the subway on the way home.

The following day we went to the High Line, a disused elevated freight rail line that has been converted to an urban park.  I have been several times and thought everyone would enjoy it but the weather was impossible for the small people and the bigger people were not enjoying it , so we gave up. I donot know what the temperature was, but am sure it was colder than the coldest day in Quebec that I experienced that I know was  -18 but -26 considering the wind chill. We walked through Chelsea Markets but many other people were also escaping the biting winds there. Lach and Carol took the kids home  while Wendy and I went to the library bar in the Nomad hotel.  It was lovely. Books, timber, chairs and tables not too close to each other. We had a couple of drinks, some nibbles and chatted like adults with no kids around.

On Tuesday Wendy, Lach and the 4 girls left to drive to their home in Missouri.  Carol, Katie and I came here to the UWS where I have stayed before.  We left our bags and went on the Staten Isand ferry  for Carol and Katie to see the Statue of Liberty. On the way back we were escorted by a small coast guard boat. I wonder if this always happens.  Both this time and Christmas day there was a lot of security at both ends of the ferry ride- heavily armed soldiers and at least 2 bomb detecting dogs.  Carol discovered the nearby NY institution Zabars for dinner.

On Wednesday Carol and I and Katie went to the NY City Fire Museum. Quite interesting old machines.  There are several new coffee shops in this area. New = since I was last here in April 2013. Obviously it is my duty to check them all out.
So I started yesterday. On Wednesday afternoon Carol discovered her flight on Friday to St Louis  was cancelled.

On Wednesday afternoon there were lots of warnings about a large snow storm overnight and into Thursday. Everyone was encouraged to stay home if possible, schools were closed etc. I woke to find about 20 m of snow over everything  and the snow was heavy through the morning into early afternoon. We walked , or rather trudged, to the nearby Children's Museum, where we were warm and Katie was interested for 2 hours.  It was quite eerie walking around. Only taxis,  a very few cars and some delivery vehicles on the road, all going very slowly, very poor visibility.  Another coffee shop in the afternoon. The snow eased off enough for us to take Katie to central park,  1 1/2 blocks away, to play in the snow. All the way back she insisted  on trudging through the snow drifts on the edges of the footpaths, not walking on the sort of track in the middle. Each step was into snow above her knees. No wonder she slept well.