Category: Miscellaneous

That’s KLS with her avocado breakfast sandwich and enormous latte. The ‘mug’ had no handle and was drunk like a soup. She said it was very good!

So many kumas!

Yesterday it rained in the city and we went to an attraction called Gullivers Gate which showcased insanely detailed miniature dioramas. The faq claimed the display was HO scale (~1:87) but we question that since the figures were only about 10-15 mm tall. It was a tad pricey (its NYC!) but we loved it. To give you an idea, the boat about is <10 cm in length! (And that’s not real water!)

Did I mention we shopped? We did. A lot! So much so we had to buy two large shopping bags just to get everything back home 🙂

And speaking of home – where we are now – we once again booked a cabin on the train. As usual it included a meal but to our horror the full kitchen that once served cooked steak or salmon is now replaced with boxed food similar to airplane meals!! Cost-cutting I suppose, but the cabin was still cozy and the return trip relaxing.

We’re in NYC for a brief mid-semester getaway.

It’s cool but not uncomfortably so, and we’ve been spending the time shopping and sightseeing.

I’ve been to the city many times but not this late in the year and this was the first time I’d seen the Rockefeller center ice rink!

Here’s a local, not too bothered by the tourists gawking at him:

And here’s Times Square at night in temperatures of ~5 C:

No matter the time of year, it always seems to be busy here 🙂

We’ve got a brand new wild bird shop near us and today they had some rescued birds to see. Of course we went for a peep!

That’s a bard owl, a big bird that is apparently becoming increasingly common.

That’s a common crow. He could talk! He didn’t do it on command but we clearly heard him say “Hello who’s there?” It was a little creepy to be honest.

This was the highlight for us, a big beautiful raven. We don’t see these around our place (crows though are very common) but apparently they’re common in the woods just south of here. His feathers were glossy and handsome and his beak wickedly curved. These are amongst the most intelligent of birds, and we still don’t understand how they are able to communicate sophisticated information to each other.

This is a screech owl. He was only about 15 cm talk and motionless. If it wasn’t for his blinking he could have been a statue. As you can see, he was extremely cute!

And lastly a barn owl, which are our most common owl. He was a bit alarmed and kept making a raspy warning sound.

They were all cute and the owls reminded me of the owl cafe we visited in Tokyo. Maybe I should go back there one day…