Changing of the Leaves in New York (and tuning up the house in New City)

Demerest Kill County Park

View from Ft. Washington Park in Washington Heights,
near New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center
where our daughter Dr. Gina works.

According to Miki, our guide in Jerusalem, the largest Jewish city in the world is New York City.

I think he may have been mistaken, because a quick internet search indicates the crown goes to Tel Aviv, which we did not visit.  95% of its 3.5 million residents are Jewish. but New York is at least number 2, with three times as many Jews as Jerusalem.

Another view across the Hudson River from Upper
Manhattan's Ft. Washington Park

Yes, many Knickerbockers are not Jews, but then again, that can be said to a somewhat lesser extent about Jerusalem's residents.

62% of Jerusalem's 800,000 residents are Jewish.  In fact, Old Jerusalem is divided into four quarters: Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian.

Manhattan Skyline from Dobbs Ferry, about 25 miles away

The population for all of Israel is a shade over 8 million, of which about 75%, or 6 million, are Jewish, whereas New York City alone has a population of about 8 1/2 million of which about 25%, or 2 million, are Jewish.

In our oldest daughter Gina's former Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City, many Orthodox and even Ultra-Orthodox Jews can be seen walking the streets in traditional apparel.

And, of course, we all are familiar with the entire Seinfeld Zeitgeist, which took the baton from Woody Allen's movie postcards that seem to claim the City and its Chinese take-out as its own.

Nature's Stunning Beauty of the Season.

In any case, it gives me an imperfect segue to include some nice photos of our stay in New City, New York, recently on our way back from the Holy Lands, both because I could use a break from religious contemplation and also because New York is considerably more naturally beautiful in autumn than Jerusalem.

In addition, I spent almost three weeks in New City versus three days in Israel, so I have quite a bit to contemplate there, too. 

Not the wilderness but rather a New City neighborhood

Every day I would walk to the grocery store about 1.4 miles away to get a few items, like chicken dinosaurs, fish sticks and burpless cucumbers for Emma, who like most toddlers can be somewhat finicky.

On my way, I'd look up nearby the hillsides and see these remarkable trees, so one day I headed up to check them out.

After School Walk

I didn't find a park entrance as expected, and instead found myself wandering deeper and deeper into a residential tract surrounded by these incredible trees of red, gold, orange, yellow and green.  About three hours later, I realized I was totally turned around, and fortunately I was able to use my Windows phone map to find my way back out.

Another day I tried again, and this time I found a remarkably beautiful park, Demerest Kill County Park.  I was the only one there wandering its paths, taking in these majestic views, which made its location right next to the sheriff's station and county courthouse seem even more improbable for what seemed like a deserted enchanted forest from Lord of the Rings.

Backyard of Gina, Laszlo and Emma

And, I should also say that Gina's own
back yard and neighborhood were also beautiful, filled with lovely changing leaves.  By the way, I do not keep writing "Gina" to ignore Laszlo and Emma, but it is easier than writing all names repeatedly to refer to their home.

With Halloween being right around the bend, their neighborhood had quite a few houses elaborately decorated with giant pumpkins, witches and skulls.

Emma displayed many Halloween looks

I took a walk one night just to see the decorations illuminated, and I'd say the neighborhood is only a dozen participants shy of being "Halloween Lane" attracting families from far and wide as a fun evening drive.

I was in New City primarily to fill in for our granddaughter Emma's nanny (and paternal grandmother), who was visiting her own mother in Hungary.  With both Gina and her husband Laszlo working demanding jobs, someone needs to take care of Emma...and them...and it was pleasantly nostalgic returning to caring for my kids.

I particularly enjoyed the primary tasks that made my presence necessary: taking Emma to the school bus stop across the street and picking her up at the same spot after school.

She has the greatest bus driver.  He honks the horn and flashes his lights when he's about halfway down her street.  

Off to Work and School

When we could finally see him through the windshield, he would be waving right hand vigorously, his round, chocolate face beaming with a bright smile of gleaming teeth and warm eyes.

He would always greet Emma by name, make sure she made it up the steps and to her seat, and then wave vigorously as he closed the doors and drove away.

In the afternoon, it was more of the same smiles and waves.  What a wonderful example of the way to live our realities.  He makes Emma's school bus experience for her kindergarten year like something out of an idealized children's book.

Following her after school snack, Emma would do her homework thoroughly, even coloring pictures that really weren't part of the assignment, finishing her full week's homework on Monday, the day it had been assigned.  On other days, she would seek out workbooks of 3rd grade level problems, earning little Shopkins characters for completing certain pages.

Great Toy: Snap Circuits, Jr.

What most impressed me, however, was her ability to follow printed directions.  For her fifth birthday, we had given her toys probably more associated with boys, because she has no deficiency in the whole Disney Princess/Hello Kitty/My Little Pony arena.  One was a favorite toy of my childhood toys, Lincoln Logs, which I remember using to build all kinds of forts, barns and houses of my own design.  Emma, at 5 years old mind you, takes out the instructions and proceeds to build exact replicas from the instruction booklet.  As Gina said, My Little Ponies Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack never had such fine accommodations.

We also gave her an electronics set "for ages 8 to 108."  She had done a few with her parents previously, but while we were there, she would put together these puzzles of resistors and circuits with very little supervision.  I worked more on the first few, but soon I would simply help her snap stubborn pieces in place or point out some small detail she missed, and the flying saucer would be airborne or the "door bell" would chirp out the "Happy Birthday" song.

Prima Ballerina

The funniest thing was at first she was afraid when it came time to throw the switch on the projects powered by two AA batteries.  She would go across the room and hide behind her blanket until she was sure I wasn't going to light up like Professor Brown connecting the cord in the thunderstorm for Marty McFly.

On Saturdays, Emma has a gymnastic class in late morning and ballet in the afternoon, so that's another full day of watching her.  They're obviously geared more to getting the kids to exercise a little and learn to love movement, with little to no correction by the teachers for the five year-old students.

As far as my day-to-day work, I enjoyed fixing meals (which is good, because Emma likes to eat about six mini-meals between the time her school bus drops her off and her night-night routine).

Lovely Day in the Neighborhood

Putting dishes in a dishwasher and taking them back out, doing the laundry, plus the occasional light housework (no vacuuming, because Roomba takes care of that) took only a few more hours out of the day, freeing me to watch an old Moonlighting episode most days in addition to taking hikes during the day.

Gina and Laszlo both put in long work days while I was there.  Gina had banquets, conferences and other work events that kept her at Columbia until late in the evening several days a week in addition to the standard long commute to the City by carpool or, when her wonderful co-workers aren't driving in or she's behind schedule, very long bus ride.  Laszlo currently holds a full time day job with a computer firm on the other side of the Hudson River and then teaches SAT prep courses until after 10 PM on Monday through Wednesday.  If that's not enough, he also does tutoring on the side, so he is frequently not home.  When they do make it through the door, however, they lavish attention on Emma until her bed time.

Demerest Kill County Park

We took on a few home repair projects which have been worrying Gina since they closed escrow over a year ago. As first time homeowners, they aren't sure how to approach unfinished items from their original home inspection report.  I showed them how to be their own handyman by trial and error.  I showed how youtube, in this new information age where so much knowledge is available on the internet, frequently has answers to puzzles in short, easy-to-follow videos.

Demerest Kill County Park in Different Light

For example, we watched a video that showed us how to caulk the backsplash in their kitchen, and with a nice team effort of me laying down a bead and Gina artfully smoothing it with her fingers, we made easy work of it.

With extra caulk left, we went to the bathroom and filled a few seams there, too.  

They had a problem of doors sticking as they opened and closed, something I think a lot of people face.

Demerest Kill Park Trail

On youtube, I found a way to allow doors to open and close more freely by putting toothpicks into worn screw holes to attach hinges more firmly and thereby un-stick doors, which surprisingly worked quite well.  We went through one by one, with even daughter Amy getting into the act when she came to visit on the first Sunday, saying she wanted to try doing it herself so she could do the same in her Harlem apartment which also has squeaking doors.

We still had some caulk left over, so Gina and I used it to embed metal plates we found around the garage into a gap in the garage base in order to keep the weather and bugs out of the garage.

Gina was also concerned about a hole in the ground by the garage door, which we filled with rocks and covered with other metal plates, which should keep all but the most calculating of squirrels out.

What do you see there?

Emma and I did some work while her parents were at their jobs, hammering assorted nails around the base of the siding on the garage to secure the skirting.  We also made a rough seal using caulk plus recyclable plastic in order to keep out woodland creatures that had actually chewed a big ragged chunk out of a corner of the vinyl siding.

It made me think about my dad, who used to do similar repairs with what he had on hand, saying that when he was a boy, there wasn't a Home Depot nearby to buy what he needed, if he had enough money to pay for it, so he made do with whatever was at hand.

However, we used the right parts when we could.  We purchased some door sweeps to use along the bottom of the master bedroom doors to fill gaps that appeared when they previously removed old carpets.

I had delayed starting that project awaiting a drill, but finally fearing I was going to run out of time, I completed that task rapidly using an awl and hammer to start screw holes.

Snow White and Tinker Bell

I must confess I've procrastinated completing a similar task in our condo in Redondo which Julie requested months ago.  Sometimes, you just have to get started.

We also laid the groundwork for other repairs, and now they know the problem-solving procedure.

I know it will make my friend Mike Rood laugh to think of me being the handyman expert, when his carpentry and other home improvement work is so craftsman-like that building inspectors probably ask him for advice, leading him to generally pass on my offers to assist him.

While repairs are not directly related to travel, maybe it will help you take on tasks at home you'd otherwise pay someone to do, saving you enough money to take a cruise.

Mainly, I took a lot of nice photos of the leaves changing in New City, plus some nice ones of my family, and my blog is an easily accessible place to save them.

Excuse this foray into my family life and home repair as opposed to my usual travel blogs, but I hope you'll enjoy the photos.

Emma the Pirate

Emma re-gluing her pre-school
workbook, which she treated
like a long-lost treasure from
her childhood, even though it
came from earlier this year.

At some point, my phone was sideways and I realized that this
reflective lake photo looked a lot like a parrot or possibly
multi-colored llama when pivoted 90 degrees.