Snow City, Brooklyn

I spent my whole snow day indoors, but in the evening I went for a walk. It was still snowing. The monuments in Grand Army Plaza were lit up, as usual, but were extra impressive with the snow swirling around them:


I couldn't quite capture the lavender floodlights on the columns, but snowflakes caught in the flashbulb look like glowing balls (along with a few streetlight globes in the lower half of the frame):

It was really striking how differently the trees were decked out with snow - it depends, I suppose, on the configuration of the branches, how much wind and from what angle, etc. Though it's hard to see in the photo, this tree had long stripes of snow on its trunk:

This one gave more of a magical wonderland feeling, as if each branch had been dipped in frosting:

Many folks were walking or playing with their dogs, some were carrying sleds (oddly, I didn't see anyone actually sledding).

But toward the southwest corner of Prospect Park, I came across a series of eerie snow figures. For some reason, they made me think of a greening ceremony or maybe a neo-pagan ritual. This figure had a carefully crafted face and was standing with open pine-branch arms directly before a park lantern (streetlight):


Stepping back a bit for the full effect in black-and-white:

Two other figures were beneath a tree on the other side of the path from the first one:

(I liked that the little one was standing on a big ol' log - it made me think of a surfboard.)

In black and white you can see the surfer-dude's mohawk a bit better:

This picture gives more of a sense of the three figures' spatial relationship - although there were other figures nearby that I could not include in the photo:

A little further down, at the southwest entrance, I found almost a dozen people building a snow city. They'd started a huge igloo (seriously thick walls, but no roof yet), city gates (a bit rough, but very fortress-gatelike), and a bar (very smooth and lovingly defined, with cupholders next to all the built-in benches)! The bar was already in service; folks were sitting on the benches and enjoying their beer. They invited me to join them, and even offered to sell me a beer for $4. I told them I'd forgotten my wallet, and offered to pay them in snow. They said they'd have been more tempted by that offer yesterday. Alas, timing is everything in this world.

There were also 3 folks rolling a snowball just about as big as they were over to the snow city ... but I think it was supposed to be a friendly amendment rather than Armageddon.

Progress

I set some priorities last weekend, and have mostly made progress in reading / watching / listening in French every day. Moderate progress in staying on top of chores and QT. (Though I'm 1 week behind in TBLTY reading.) Went to yoga this morning, which felt really great. Other items... not so much.

New word of the week (since I heard it in class AND in a Buffy episode): le boulot

New expression of the week: Métro, boulot, dodo. (Basically: work, work, work - but literally subway, work, sleepy-time.)

It's nice to see architectural details of the brownstones all highlighted with snow, though I'm sorry there's not enough accumulation for snowshoeing.

It was also great to have a small, select mahjong game last Sunday. Hadn't realized it was so long since G-san and U-chan were at my apartment. They hadn't seen my bookcase, and that's well over a year old. Then again, I didn't host many shindigs at my place last year (and the few I did host, they weren't able to attend). It's strange how much Z has influenced my views of things. Under his influence, I became perhaps less social and had more a sense of rattling around chez moi. These and some other attitudes, not entirely helpful, have lingered. Not entirely clear on the next step. I can see: staying put (yay, inertia!), moving into the city, or moving away entirely (Boston the most tempting, but Chicago and San Diego each have their draw). I'm not sure moving into Manhattan would do what I'd like it to do for me. I'm just not a New Yorker, when it comes down to it. Right now I feel like California could do me some good (note to self: NOT Sunnydale). Or then again, why not go where the hiking is? Sigh - inertia will definitely have its way in the short term, at least, but I'll keep the eyes of my heart open.

U-chan made some delicious Earl Grey cookies, and G-san gave me a lovely chocolate mouse:

Ski Videos

Move aside, Warren Miller!! (OK, just kidding.) These are from last weekend.

Out of the chute:




S-Curves:

Masstransiscope!

I finally found out the story behind the zoetrope-like subway mural seen from the Manhattan-bound Q or B trains, between De Kalb Avenue and the Manhattan Bridge.

According to the Masstransiscope blog, the animated mural was created by Bill Brand around 1980 and installed in the former Myrtle Avenue subway station. Apparently the mural in the abandoned station was also essentially abandoned at some point, but it was restored in 2008.

I took a video clip of the animation in December and caught most of it, I think. I'm RE-POSTING it here for convenience:



My first post on this was in October 2008, featuring a different clip. Masstransiscope remains by far my favorite work of subway art.

Ski Weekend

This was my first ski weekend of the season, and it was relaxing and fun.

We played Zingo (bingo with zing) and Yahtzee in the off hours (it seems that Yahtzee has supplanted Mille Bournes as Lee's favorite game, for the nonce).

We took my nieces skiing for about an hour each day, to give them a taste of it and let them build up some skills and confidence. It took a while to get them ready....

We're off, with an occasional "WOO-HOO!"

Occasional setbacks on the slope called for a bit of hands-on reassurance such as a "daddy ride":

But the girls were both so brave! And they both made it on to chairs far too tall for them, with a little help from their grownups:

Clara wasn't quite ready for solo skiing (she can't do the snow plow yet), but tandem skiing suited her just fine:

Although we all hovered protectively, there were still some thrilling moments when Lee was skiing in and among other skiers and riders (she successfully avoided them, including those who had fallen and were stuck in her path):

Lee showed excellent control of speed and direction, and good instincts to skirt the trouble spots.

We had spectacular weather and great conditions. A peak's view of peaks:

Kings

Since I have the day off, I agreed to wait for the furnace repairmen - who were supposed to come before noon. So my day was shot until 3:30 pm. However, I did get to watch Kings for the first time (thanks, hulu!). Got all the way through episode 4. It makes me think of I, Claudius. (Mostly Queen Rose, I suppose, like Livia in her machinations.) The parallels with the biblical story are interesting, but almost a little distracting because there are so many details (characters, subplots, etc.) that don't map to the original. It's interesting in its own right, though. The first episode was a little too much of a war movie for me, but it gets better quickly....

Unscripted Conversations

This week promises to be a big one for facing my fears. Tomorrow I start my first-ever French conversation class. Chatting with strangers in French? Yup, only one element missing to make it a perfect storm.

Elsewhere, I know what I need to do - it's just the doing that seems so incredibly hard. There's no way to break deeply ingrained habits except by forming new ones. Supposedly six weeks are needed for new habits to set.

Tim Keller talks about the heart as an idol-manufacturing factory. If you tear down one idol, another will quickly take its place. He argues that only God - the gospel - can displace our idols. This seems at first to play right into the hands of those who argue that God is a social construct; what is the content of this "God" that we are supposed to enthrone in our hearts? But the gospel (in Keller's telling) is a specific way of understanding God that maybe (just maybe) gets away from the content dilemma: it's an understanding that we are far more hopelessly lost than we ever imagined, and more generously loved - at far greater cost - than we could ever dare hope. With respect to the dethroning of idols, however, there is no six-week victory; Keller says he believes the process "will take our entire lives."

Our Just Desserts

This morning I saw an advertisement that began with the words: "Get the body you deserve".

But isn't that exactly the problem? The prospective purchasers of the product already have the body they deserve based on their long-term eating and exercise habits. What they are being sold (should they choose to figure out exactly what the product is and then purchase it) is the opportunity to get a body they don't deserve and haven't in any way earned.

That's not to say that everyone on earth has the body he/she deserves. There are those who have been unfairly ravaged by accident, illness or stroke, leaving them paralyzed, limbs amputated, and the like. But this product is not really being marketed to them, is it?

Lincoln Center & Sesame Street

The first night of the new year at Lincoln Center:

Brooklyn Public Library's first day open in the new year:

Welcome 2010!

For New Year's Eve, I dined out in K-town with my Redeemer home fellowship group plus some additional folks I'd not met before (mostly friends of Jean Soo or Ryan) who were quite nice. I ordered a dumpling soup, which was delicious.

Afterward, I welcomed in the new year with a 2-hour yoga party. It was so good! We started by saying farewell to things or people we wanted to let go of. You take a small piece of flash paper, write a word or name on it, hold it briefly to the flame of a candle, and throw it up into the air. All I can say is: Wow! A very powerful experience. (Though I might repeat this in a few months as the things I am letting go of were stubbornly rooted.) Then we went in to a seemingly regular vinyasa yoga class, but with some great music - even some dance tunes at just the right time - and with the teacher slowly lowering a paper ball at the front of the room over the course of the evening. Toward the end, we all took some regular (non-flash) paper and wrote things we'd like to have more of in 2010 as we let go of the things we don't want. Finally, as we entered corpse pose, we were lightly sprinkled with confetti! People enjoyed cake and champagne afterward. I felt so serene on the subway ride home.

Today, the annual dim sum expedition followed by mahjong. Hooray! Patricia won 4 times, I won twice, then Paul won once. In that order. We didn't quite finish the East Wind round, unfortunately, because we ran out of time. Next time, we'll play a more serious game!

A great start to the new year with friends all around.