The Epic Goose Battle

I am incredibly blessed to live in Brooklyn, not too far away from Prospect Park, which is the best park in the universe.  Okay, I'm sure that there are better parks out there somewhere, but Prospect Park is really, utterly fantastic.  Also, it's almost never crowded.  Central Park can be a total wash on beautiful days due to the sheer number of people, but even on the most gorgeous summer day, you can find seclusion in Prospect Park. The city is almost always somewhere in view in Central Park, but from within Prospect Park, you can barely ever see skyline.  When you can, it's only a few buildings.

Prospect Park also seems to have more wildlife- I see more geese, squirrels, swans and herons in Prospect than Central.  It also used to have the ghost dog, but he was captured about a week ago.  He is this dog who lived in Prospect Park for four years, and no one could seem to catch him!  There were so many sightings of him running around in the forest that he became known as a ghost.  People weren't certain if he was real or a shadow.  Turns out, he is real.

These geese are real too.  And, Ginny and Danny were really ready to battle with them.  Sadly, the crisis was averted, and I say sadly because it would have been freaking hilarious.  But, here are some photographs from our post-brunch adventure through Prospect Park two weeks ago!

Let there be adventures!  Onward!

Note: I tried out some new editing software on these, and I'm not too pleased with the results... not with the software, but with my own choices... but ah, well.  The originals looked cool, but I thought I'd share these to test it out.  Lesson learned...

Thanks for reading!!

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Subway Moments

A symphony in honor of my commute, starring Danny.

I get the priveledge of seeing this view every morning- it's my subway stop!  The subway in New York has some issues it is true, but the subway is also gorgeous, especially the place we get to board in the morning.  There are so many trees in our neighborhood that the whole place has a feeling of forest to it.  That probably sounds ridiculous, given that we live in New York City, but Flatbush feels far more suburban.  Green.  It just feels green.

It makes waking up in the morning an adventure, instead of a trial.

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Where Is the Wonder? Where's the Awe?

Where is the wonder? Where's the awe?
Where are the sleepless nights I used to live for?
Before the years take me
I wish to see the lost in me.

Some lyrics from my favourite band Nightwish's song, "I Want My Tears Back".

In case you didn't know, yes, I listen to metal, and yes, metal bands have the most incredibly wonderful names. Seriously.  Night.  Wish.  One of my coworkers was having a delightful time poking fun at the name the other day and, well, he was absolutely correct.  It's a hilarious, yet totally awesome name.  I wish for night.  It makes so much sense when you listen to their music.

Welp, there it is.

Anyway, I've been contemplating these lyrics... "I wish to see the lost in me".  Woah.  The first bunch of times I heard the song, I was pretty certain that the lyric was "lust," not "lost," because it's an angry breakup song and that, gramatically makes more sense.  But, they are Finnish, and have thick accents, so "lost" sounded like "lust," and what I thought was a lyric about hoping to have more sex is actually quite a bit deeper.

The more you think about it, honestly, the deeper it gets.  The lost in me.  What's lost in me?  Who am I in there that I don't know?  What is inside me that's lost?  What have I lost?  Is something lost?
WHAT IS HAPPENING.  WHO AM I.

"It's like I feel these chains, like, holding me down, you know?  It's like all emotional and hard and stuff.  So, like, totally not cool, ya know?  It's all like eating me up inside and stuff.  I feel like a My Chemical Romance album.  Dude. Like seriously.  I might even actually cry like right now.  Woah.  I feel no wonder, man.  I'm all, like, lost inside and stuff.  Like, I'm not awed.  And I'm getting, like, old."~ some emo guy

Why did I lose my wonder?  Why can I not feel awe?  What happened to me that I don't stay up all night pursing activities I love any more?  What are these activities?  Am I getting old?

It's  a metal lyric.  It's a lyric in a metal song.  And look at what it's done.  Look how deep it is.  It's such poetry. Woah, I'm such a goth kid.  Really, though, guys, think about it.  What is lost in you?  What did you used to have that you now don't?  What did you used to be that you now aren't?  That's some heavy soul searching right there.

My new life goal- try not to lose anything.
Don't lose anything.
  Don't lose the wonder.
Don't lose the awe.

 Be fascinated and impressed.  Thrive on excitement, and new experiences.  Find something original and beautiful in each rising day.  Stay up when I'm motivated, and get done what I want to.  Discover time to engage in what makes me feel most alive.  Lose nothing.

Because, the years will take me.  They take us all.

 

However, it's our fault if we lose anything along the way.  Not anyone else's fault- just ours.  No one can take away from you what you don't let them.

Namaste kiddos.

Love,
Emily

He Is Happiest Who Hath Power to Gather Wisdom From a Flower

I'm in a fantastic mood today.  I subbed a class I don't usually teach this morning, and it went well.  Coffee is delicious.  Flowers are blooming all over the place because it's spring, and the weather is reflecting this seasonal joy.  I'm wearing my favourite black military jacket and my favourite dress,  the one with the kissing birds on it today.  

 

The first Game of Thrones book?  Finished.  I'll be on to book two tonight if I finish my yoga homework, because I'm holding myself accountable to complete that before I do any "pleasure reading".  That was in quotes because the yoga books are extremely pleasurable as well, but they are required, whereas Clash of Kings will be read simply because I feel like it, and dragons.  

 

Also, back to the first point here. I love my job.  I love my job.  I just love it.  I have the best job.  It's so great.  I'm so blessed.  Like, wow.  Every day I'm tired, but I never don't want to go to work and teach Voice and Speech.  Ever.  It's exhilarating, and honestly, that might be an understatement.  I'm doing exactly what I feel like I was meant to do, and what makes me full of purpose and happiness, so that's pretty neat. 

Back to flowers, for a moment, though.  Two weekends ago, my parents came to visit!  We had a great time hanging out around Brooklyn, taking walks, going out for nice meals, and just spending time together.  I even went running through Prospect Park with my dad!  It was a rare occurrence, and loads of fun.  Bizarrely, it was such a great experience that I'm considering repeating it.  I hadn't run on something that wasn't  a treadmill in years, but I liked it.  Mostly, because the park is so fabulously gorgeous and serene, especially at 7am on a Saturday.  Everyone was pleasant.  Something is very strange about where my life is going, folks.  I'm becoming someone who enjoys running.  Woah.

But, um, actually, back to flowers. While my parents where here, we took a trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and it was stunning.  I've talked on this blog many a time about how much I adore flowers, so it shouldn't come as a shock that botanical gardens fill my heart with glee and turn its stone cold facade to shimmery rainbows.  I took a lot of nice photographs, some of my first in a long time, and I want to share some of them with you!  I've been a-slacking on the photography thing for the past few monthes, mostly because I've been pursuing my other hobbies, especially the ones that pay me, like that job I love.  But, I'm attempting to do more photography work in the coming weeks.

Here are some of  the results of that day's work!

"He Is Happiest Who Hath Power to Gather Wisdom From a Flower"

I LOVE that.

This world is awesome.  Yes.  Yes, yes, yes.

Thanks for all ya do, readers!

~Emily