Central Park

Of course, no trip to New York feels right until you've gone uptown to the Park.

I still feel terrible about the carriage horses there. While I understand that horses need to earn their keep, having them haul around tourist in all sorts of weather in one of the most trafficked places on earth is not safe or by any means humane. In my time in NYC, I've seen a few slip-and-falls on wet pavement, rescued a dehydrated Belgian draft horse on 5th ave with help from an Andy Warhol film star (talk about a weird day...) and I've heard of a few too many tragedies involving cars and spooked horses.

It's sad to see horses out there in various states of unsoundness with ill-fitting harnesses as well.

Anyway...the Park.

Even on a slightly gray day, it's a beautiful place to walk.

I was incredibly fortunate that my first job when I moved to New York was teaching horseback riding lessons in the park. The stable no longer exists, but I feel like I got a unique start to my life here.

While the perimeter of the park keeps getting taller, it's still amazing how quiet it is on a weekday morning. A few tourist, but mostly runners and dog walkers. On the weekends it's a mob scene- especially the southern corners.

It's a great place to see birds other than pigeons as well. There are a few spots that are fenced off and left to go wild with brush, and you will see clusters of birders hanging out nearby.

I understand now why there's always groups of Europeans cooing over squirrels. They just don't have them hanging around their cities like you do in the US. I kind of missed them. Kind of.

"Taking pictures with your Ipad is the new Fanny Pack."

This security guard asked if I wanted to take his picture. Of course I did.

There are just. So. Many. Pigeons. Ugh. It squidges me out when they swarm like this. I always feel ultra special if I don't get shit on while walking by the Plaza.

Union Square

Walking around Union Square.

It seems like most of my life in New York was centered around this area. Traditionally, this is where downtown ends and uptown begins. I almost always lived below Union Square, but worked above it, and it seemed to be the hub of my social life for a good long time. As soon as I walked into the Greenmarket and saw all the thoughtful, brooding artesian pickle makers and the snarky rooftop honey producers, I felt like I was back with my people.

Winesaps!

We get so many varieties of apples in France, and winesaps are not one of them as far as I can tell. I happily munched my way through a whole bag of them while I was stateside.

Every November, a holiday vendor village gets set up in the square where the skateboarders usually are showing their boxers shorts to the world.

I sniffed out some good food pretty quickly. I seem to have a knack for that.

The waffels at Waffles and Dingles put anything I've ever had in Belgium to shame.

And....

Pork buns! In Paris, they call them "brioche" and I haven't had one that didn't taste like porky hockey pucks yet. Here, even at a street vendor, they are pillowy and soft, with sweet BBQ pork oozing warm in the center. It's enough to make me cry.

As soon as the sun starts to set (which is thankfully not too much of wait in winter) I headed over to my favorite local place, Old Town Bar.

They make a generous cocktail, and they make the gimlets with gin, as they should be.

As good excuse as any to meet up with the multi-talented Silent James.

MORE Sheep and Wool...and Frisbee Dogs, too

My favorite part about Rhinebeck is wandering around and checking out the sheep and goats and then eating said sheep and goats. Kidding! They do serve plenty of good lamb dishes though. They put some distance between the sheep being petted and the sheep being eaten...the places serving lamb are far away from the sheep barns. It does seem kind of cannibalistic. Apple cider donuts and kettle corn for me then.

This Cheviot was a bit too pretty to eat anyway.













One of the highlights of the day for many are the frisbee catching canines. They used to have sheep dog trials, but I'm not sure what happened...now they just have sheep dog frisbee. They are fascinating to watch.



The dogs are just filled with vibrant energy and concentration.



















So about the shopping...people spend oodles of money here every year. I've spent a kagillion bucks here in previous years. It's great to support the industry and small farmers and indie businesses. However, I was just uninspired to shop and found myself in much more of a contemplative mood. I think I've been doing this festival for so long now that I've already bought everything that I feel the need to buy. Weird, right? Also, it's been much more of a social event for me...getting out of the city and hanging out with good people I don't see often enough becomes a priority. Plus, I have a few big trips coming up and that money that wasn't spent on fiber will soon used to buy the perfect croissant.

As I was walking to the car park at the end of the day, I swung by the Foxhill Farm booth and bought a bag of Cormo roving. I couldn't buy absolutely nothing. It just felt all sorts of wrong. Alice Field breeds and raises the loveliest sheep- she keeps them blanketed, so they are nice and clean. You can just tell when you are spinning it that the sheep it came from was loved and well cared for. The roving isn't over-proceeded at all and I had so much fun spinning what I bought from her last year.



Totally worthwhile purchase. It will keep me busy for countless hours, along with the rather huge stash of fleece from previous Rhinebecks that are still patiently stored in bags under my bed.