Brrrr...

The Florida blood has left us now. We are ready for coldness. Well sort of. There is this problem in NY, in that it is really cold outside, the wind is piercing and you spend a lot of time outside. But then when you go into a building, a subway station, anything--and it is so hot that you can't rip off the layers fast enough. I don't understand how the real New Yorkers, the ones who seem to belong here, don't look either like they are sweating indoors or dying of frostbite outdoors. I have to carry an extra bag around for all the hats, gloves and piles of down that my family sheds at some point along the journey. Perhaps it is that those of us who grew up close to a family of REIs take our gear too seriously? We don't do winter "parkas", we do goosedown, gortex and windproof fleece. Maybe it is that when your are outfitted to head to a fourteener the brief walk down the street just pushes you over the edge? It is something to ponder. Maybe what we are really lacking in order to fit in well here is fine Italian leather boots and a substantial collection of scarves. Forget the outdoor gear.
In other news, Thanksgiving was nice. We spent it with another family with two kids that are like peas in pods with ours. The mom is from Switzerland and the dad is from the midwest. They live in Brooklyn. The food was great and so was the turkey soup we have been eating the past 2 days.
We opted not to see the parade, but we did go out the night before to see all the balloons as they were being blown up. That was fun for the first half, then by the 2nd half when we were wedged in the crowded sidewalks like sardines, with the kids not able to see anything it was, well, pretty much torturous. Mostly because of the 5 and unders in our crowd who were instantly struck with severe grouchiness, restlessness and outspoken complaining. Made all the more problematic by the fact that there was no way out until you completed the circuit. Still, it was fun to be with our neighbor Jean, who used to be a pattern designer for the balloons, and knew all sorts of things about the whole process that I never would have discovered on my own.
New York is fun and festive this time of year. We haven't gone ice skating yet, but that is on the agenda. We did have two sets of visitors from Portland last week--that was fun to spend time with the Shepards at the AMNH and with the Heads at our place for breakfast and playtime. The kids have been finishing up the last of the fall classes--Maya performed a song about dolphins she wrote in her singer/songwriter class that was very sweet, and they have their Chorus show in a week or two. We also have Brett's holiday party and a bunch of symphony/theater performances to look forward to, so it feels like a busy month. How is it that Christmas is only a month away?