Dam fine day

So. Yesterday we went to explore the Lisha Kill Preserve, about 40 minutes from home. We drove in convoy with the Boy's buddy's family. At first we overshot the Preserve (it has a tiny, subtle sign marking the entrance - not for nothing have I heard it described as "Niskayuna's best kept secret") and we ended up on a rather bleak mudflat beside the Mohawk River instead. The kids all loved this and got stuck into building dams in a little stream.

When we did eventually persuade them to come in search of our target destination it was already nearing dusk. Still, it was well worth seeking out the Preserve, which boasts ancient woodlands and a beautiful gorge. The trails offered a few challenges, with some steep parts and a lot of rootiness underfoot. Though the children began to get tired towards the end of the two-mile hike it was definitely a great outing.

City Break

The Girl and I got back from the City after midnight. We'd had a good trip - some retail therapy (for the Girl and her friend) tempered by some culture (museums) and a bit of hoofing it through the amazing Manahattan canyons.

Yesterday evening my friend J and I left our daughters in the borrowed apartment playing wih their new American Doll accessories while we crossed Central Park to visit the Guggenheim. It was my first visit - awesome place! The main exhibition was a Kandinsky retrospective, and the chronological progression of the paintings really lent itself to the spiral gallery. Though the artwork was interesting, to be honest I was much more impressed by the building itself. It's a truly amazing space. My efforts to capture it on camera failed dismally, alas.

Back in the Capital District, after a lazy morning we headed out to a new destination in the afternoon - but more of that tomorrow, I think.

Getting on the treadmill

The Man writes...currently we are borrowing a library DVD called "The Family Man", about a single man who wakes up one day to find himself in an alternative life with a wife and two kids. With Albaniana and the Girl in New York, and the Boy at his best buddy's house all afternoon, my experience today was roughly the opposite.

I took the opportunity to catch up with a couple of temporary exhibitions at the New York State Museum - one on "Photographs of the Great Depression" and one entitled "1609" about the Dutch who first sailed up the Hudson to this part of the world, and the Native Americans whom they met here. Both exhibitions were small but carefully put together.

After wandering around the bleak, lonely and windswept Empire State Plaza, I then made my way to the YMCA where for the first time I checked out the extremely well appointed fitness room. It's so long since I've been on a running machine, I hadn't seen one before boasting a TV with 77 channels. Despite all that entertainment, it was still one of the longest fifteen minutes of my life. And of course I had only burnt off the calorie equivalent of about 1oz of chocolate.

Albaniana AWOL

The Man writes...currently Albaniana and the Girl are out of town - or rather "On The Town", enjoying 24 hours leave in New York city.

None of us had the energy for the Black Friday sales, which were apparently predicted to draw 134 million people this year, many of them queueing from very early morning - in fact we all went ice skating instead.

Turkey trot

We've mostly been at home for our third Thanksgiving here, spending time together and separately as the mood has taken us. We've diverted ourselves variously with card games, computer, jigsaws, books and snoozing.

In the afternoon, with the weather better than forecast, we headed out to Five Rivers for a bit of a hike. As we drove along I remarked on the general lack of Thanksgiving lawn ornaments - normally such an integral part of a US celebration, at the very least I expected to see an inflatable turkey. But no, nothing...

...unless you count this - and yes, it is, it is! An inflatable Pilgrim turkey!

Once at Five Rivers we met the same real live wild turkey I'd seen last time I was there, smugly stalking around the parking lot making known that it had survived the day. We saw several deer too, and a whole family of Exiles.

I served up dinner this evening. It wasn't anything particularly special - the kids still won't eat anything but their usual fare, and I managed to char a piece of salmon almost beyond edibility. And yet it was one of the jolliest meals we've had together in a while - raucously sociable. It was easy to feel thankful for being a family.

Space missions

The kids are on their Thanksgiving break already, and since the Man had the car today I got to enjoy their company at home all day lo-o-o-ong.

No, it was pretty good in fact. The Girl is on a mission to make her bedroom into a cool and trendy hangout, so we spent quite a bit of time in there rearranging things to make exciting spaces.

The Boy, meanwhile, mainly busied himself with some Space-related projects of his own.

Many American friends have asked me over the last few days if our family will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Clearly it doesn't have the same resonances for us as it does for those brought up with the tradition, but even so it's a holiday I'm happy to embrace. I have a thousand and one reasons to be thankful, and time spent reflecting on that fact is time well spent indeed.

Strictly Come Line Dancing

It was Special Friends' Day at school today. Our neighbour from across the street came as our guest and demonstrated just how special she is by nobly sitting through a whole programme of songs with barely comprehensible lyrics being sung by kids she doesn't know. But I suspect even she was impressed by the Girl's class performing the Cotton Eye Joe dance routine.

And I was pretty astonished to watch my daughter enthusiastically leaping about on stage, hair flying and grinning from ear to ear. Was this really the same Girl who on previous occasions has had to be practically dragged on stage?

For your delectation and delight, here's a very brief reprise (in our sitting room) of that show-stopping performance: