Amazing Winged Wonder Spotted Near The Narrows

Amazing Winged Wonder Spotted Near The Narrows

A recent article with pics on a visiting Snowy Owl near us. They call this an irruption year as these birds are migrating more than usual; perhaps because food is scarce in the Arctic where they normally live.

Hawaii June-July 2010

Kauai and Oahu....HAWAII Trip 2011

Its so easy to be in Hawaii..the weather is 75-85 every day no matter what season...the seas are warm and full of interesting creatures. There are so many water sports to try, along with some cool culture, including the song, dance and food. Whats not to like? I would like to plan a trip for the next or the following year....any takers? Let me know! Leave my a comment following this blog entry or give me a call!

Here are some highlights from this trip...thanks for reading!

PADDLIN'
I was fortunate enough to do two cool ocean paddles and a short river paddle. The first ocean paddle was a "test run" in Kauai on Hanalei Bay. I wanted to see what it was like to be in ocean swells before a long trip down the coast we were doing later that week. The swells on that day turned out to be no problem...they peaked at 5 feet or so but the waves didn't break on the kayak- we instead, we went right over the waves; pretty cool. During the paddle something even better happened. I saw splashes about 100 yards away and started to paddle in that direction. The splashes kept coming so I kept paddling that way. Eventually it was clear what was making the splashes...spinner dolphins! We were paddling with a pod of about 10 of them...a group of 2 or so surfaced several times near the kayak. Each time they surfaced they would exhale....loud!The noise was a thrill and I do admit it made me jump a few times. That was a great experience and a first for me! They swam alot faster than we could kayak, but they continued to play and surface in our vicinity for a long time....!

The second paddle was a 18 miler down the famous "Na Pali" (translation "the cliffs") coast in Kauai. We did it with a guide and paddled with a group of 7. During the paddle we stopped for history lessons of the island (its been inhabited for thousands of years so there are lots of stories to tell). All of the paddlers would raft up with the guide, hang our legs over the side for stability and to listen to him speak. Nice...

Our guide looked so comfy on a kayak that my goal for the trip was to try to recreate his relaxed posture. Check him out below on the aft position on the tandem kayak.

There are three great thing about paddling in Hawaii; one is the intense blue color ...I am forever amazed at the hue...check out the color in this sea cave on the right we got to visit on the trip, and in the other ocean shots.

The second thing is the all the cool creatures that may appear under or around your kayak; as we were launching a green sea turtle was also launching himself into deeper water!

The third thing that makes paddling great here is the ocean and air temperature. If you get wet its no big deal cause the temps are high enough that you don't feel uncomfortable.

We ended the 18 mile kayak at at a beach called Punihole (at left) where we surfed into the beach with the help of an employee of the guide company who if your lucky, "catches" the kayak while you surf the shore break saving you from looking like complete idiot capsizing on the beach. Amazingly he caught us and saved us the embarassment earning himself a good tip! The company meet us with a van for the ride back to the shop.

THE FOOD
On the way back from the trip we stopped for snacks at this unassuming smallish sized supermarket called Ishihara's. In the back was an absolutely amazing assortment of Poke, this uniquely Hawaiian food which consists of little pieces of raw fish seasoned or not ..... Poke is not cheap...it was priced at more than $13/pound for most of it. What was more surprising at Ishihara's was how many local people were ordering huge amounts of it! SO many people turn their nose up at raw fish but not these folks...Go Hawaiians- you guys eat cool food! What I learned later is that most supermarkets and alot of menu's will carry this stuff. I ended up eating it lots of times during the trip. Its mild tasting and healthy... Since there are so many folks of Asian decent on the Islands their food is also on the menu. One great food is the Hawaiian spring rolls....a super way to eat your veges! Here's a pic of a great meal we had at the Waikiki yacht club (Chuck had a temp membership so we could visit)...that consisted of blackened ahi, spring rolls (a wonderful way to eat your veges) and soup.

ACCOMMODATION
In Oahu we stayed at the Royal Groove hotel...a funky old 6 story hotel amidst much larger real estate...you couldn't beat the location of this hotel...it is two blocks from the beach. Here's a picture of me on the lanai (Hawaiian for porch) look for the blue in the background after the white high rise - that's Waikiki beach. The hotel had boards and chairs you could just grab and borrow for the day. They also had live Hawaiian music on Monday night. All to boot the price is most surprising...$70/night for up to 3 people...all of youze who say Hawaii is expensive I'm telling you you CANNOT stay in NYC for less than double that price!

BIRDS
The only native birds in Hawaii are at high elevations where the mosquitos and other creatures can't get them. So at ground level you only see these aggressive and sometime annoying "city birds" - imports from other countries who have made a home there and overpopulated (Hmm...I see this could be read with some irony for the other mammals who visit stay and populate as well!) Anyway we visited the higher elevations of Koke'e' State Park in Kauai and spent a few days here hiking and birdwatching. The fortunate thing was the campground had several of the native trees where native birds like to hang out...the O'Hia Lehua tree..(pic to right). It has red blossoms and is a favorite of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. I did get to see a few species of honeycreepers and other native birds....including their Puheo...a short eared owl that was soaring below us in Waimea Canyon (the canyon in the pic at the very beginning of this blog entry).


VIEWS
One thing that has always impressed is Hawaii's spectacular eroded cliffs and sea views....the best pic I took was Waimea canyon (at the beginning of this blog entry...) This picture was taken on a mud trail called the Pihea trail (at left..I'm on the mud "steps") looking down to the place we kayaked on the coast...You often had to walk on the edges of this one as the grade in the middle was too great. This trail was not too difficult and the views were outstanding.

Some of the hiking trails we encountered were not so nice. They were well...unpredictable- muddy and in places not well maintained. At one point, along a cliff trail, we hiked a portion of the trail that was about 6 inches across. With a backpack in tow this seemed about 6" too narrow at least. Thank God the drop was only about 25 feet but we were on top of much higher cliffs so I don't know what would happen if you fell. The trail was listed as "easy" on the trail map. I'd add "terrifying" to the description!

I'll end here with a a few more of my favorite "view" pics from the trip.....and a few other misc pics I wanted to share.

Thanks for reading and looking! Mahalo (Hawaiian for Thank You) Hope to be with you in Waikiki!

Wow so its been a year since I posted on my blog...bad Lisa..! Since then whats doing? A great trip last summer to Acadia National Park...fell in love...all the things I love to do were there...this summer I promise pics and a blog post!

Teaching school..a couple of long term positions...now back to day to day work which is ok with me...

Boat restoration is progressing....Ill write about that next....

W more interesting is a cool marsh restoration project managed by my friend Tony Luscombe across the bridge from me at Breezy Point in Queens and run by volunteers...the other day when I was there they were adding "enticing" sticks to the osprey platform (the birds preferred curved sticks believe it or not!) to entice the ospreys to nest..

http://marshmakers.blogspot.com/

In case you missed this one..here is a link to Shervin (blog creator and volunteer extraordinaire) doing some marsh cleanup! Check it out..its great...

Untitled from Irene Roxanne on Vimeo.

Sheepshead Bay Music Video

Here's a cool video about the neighborhood I live in case you are interested...set to the music from "Penny Lane."

The Money Cat

Since my cat had been AWOL for the past 6 months since staying with my neighbor who was watching her when I went away for a month a few different times, I was thinking about getting a new cat.

The marina is bordered by a parking lot where there are a least a few feral cats running around at all times. There are old standards there...mainly male cats with some kind of medical problem with their eyes or with their fur. They look pretty rough and its easy to feel sorry for them (we have a guy in the neighborhood who cooks for these cats two times a day religiously).

Anyway a few weeks back I noticed a tortoiseshell colored cat hanging out near my boat a few days in a row. The second day I saw her I opened the door, called her, and in she came. The rest as they say, is history.

Her name is CC...(cool cat) She doesn't have a mean bone in her body - I've never actually met a cat like her. She's constantly on my lap cuddling, and she generally listens to me if I sho her away because she's doing something like stepping all over my computer keyboard. She's a big change from my last cat who, if you looked at the wrong way, would try to bite you.

In addition, I hear this tortoise coloration of cat is supposed to be good luck in many cultures. In the states they are sometime called a "money cat."

Here's a pic of "CC." No I'm not trying to use her to contact Mars... she just got neutered.

Some updated, cool summer photos

Here's a few pics I wanted to post...hope you enjoy them....

This one is of me and my friend Jean on the sunfish...it was a calm day; we didn't move too fast but had alot of laughs anyway... of all of the boats this has been the most fun this summer..if you want to come sailing, you're invited!! I'm a decent skipper so I'll take good care of you!

Not far from the houseboat is Marine Park..a nice birding and butterfly spot. They have the largest butterfly bushes I have ever seen...at least 12 feet high...and a great place to look for butterflies. Here is a monarch on a white blossom.

Thought there are too many building to successfully view the sunset in the evening, our morning sunrises are very nice. Here was the sunrise this morning.

Here's me in a hat from my favorite university...the school of hard knocks!

Remember to leave me a note after you visit this blog!

Thanks for visiting and keep in touch!!

Bloggin Butterflies

The coolest thing happened today....well if you like butterflies and gardening and irony that is.

I had two parsley plants and several basil growing in pots outside for the last few weeks.

The basil was growing wonderfully, as you can see - I had already made a couple of batches of pesto out of it, but something was wrong with the parsley; it was yellow and dying. Since I don't have a green thumb and know I can get parsley for next to nothing at the store I wasn't too concerned.

A few days later my neighbor Joe, who pays much more attention to the plants then I do (he thinks next to nothing is not cheap enough to buy more parsley) told me there was a caterpillar on the parsley plant. When I looked there was a striped caterpillar and was left of the second parsley plant...absolutely nothing (you can see from the picture above) but the last piece of stem he was crunching on !

For someone that travels far and wide to look at butterflies hoping to catch a glimpse of them or their caterpillars, this was great news! The caterpillars were of the black swallowtail butterfly....one of our most beautiful butterflies. The caterpillars are striped and I discovered that when you touch them these little red velvet-like antennae emerge as if to say..."hey keep your hands off..we just met." What was best about this whole thing was that I didn't have to travel anywhere to see them but right outside my door and so far it only cost me 2 parsley plants!

Off to the store I went to buy some more parsley for them to feed on (purchased for next to nothing at the store). When I came back one was crawling on the boat hull and the other had fallen into the water (I guess they were searching for someone else's garden to feed on). I rescued them, put them in a container with some more parsley and some sticks on which I hope they spin their Chrysalises. I'll keep you appraised of their progress!










Update: One chrysallis spun while I was making pesto out of what was left of the garden...! In 2-3 weeks we should have a swallowtail!

Bloggable Chicken Parm

My friend Danny had me over for dinner this evening. Danny who is of Indian and Jewish decent excels at cooking Italian food.

Tonight he made Chicken Parmesan "Why its called Chicken Parmesan," he said, "I can't figure out since its usually served with mozzarella." Maybe his clear thinking on subjects like these is what helps create the great results he achieves with his Italian cooking.

Seeing and tasting this food sure was a nice experience, and created an interesting reaction from me, one I though was worthy of this blog.

The way the food looked was the first thing I noticed. Since he doesn't add cloves of garlic, but bulbs of it (is this the word?,....you know the entire bunch of cloves!) you can see the pieces, cut nicely small. when you eat it. The sauce cooks for more than an hour and since he uses crushed tomatoes, it has a nice thick consistency.

Under the sauce (which doesn't fall off the chicken but sits on top), the chicken is nicely browned and asymmetrical. It looks like a piece of chicken should look. Nice presentation.

More secret ingredients? Well I won't publish them here. But if you want them, ask me and I think he'll let me give them to you.

Here comes the part about the thoughts that went through my mind when eating it.....

First I started consuming it like I hadn't eaten for years. I felt like a dog with a bone. Anyone that came within a few feet of me was in danger of losing their life.

After consuming about 1/4 of it I realized I better slow down or else it would be gone before I had a real chance to enjoy it. I started eating more slowly, savoring each biteful.

When reaching the end I felt disappointed and when completely finished, I made sobbing noises because I was genuinely sorry it was gone.

No one likes to see a girl cry and happily he sent me home with two extra pieces.

I hope they make it through the night!

Houseboat Living Revised

Thanks for your interest in the houseboat! Here's some details that may help answer any questions you have! If not please ask!

Living: Life on the houseboat is easy. The boat doesn't require any special maintenance or skill. It is fully heated with A/C in the summertime so it is comfortable all year round.

This space is 300 square feet inside and 250 sq feet outside (deckspace). The best spot in good weather is up on the top deck. The view is very nice from there.

There is a fully working bathroom with shower, a galley or kitchen with 2 burners and a microwave oven. If you prefer not to cook there is tons of good food in the neighborhood especially with the opening of several Russian markets of late. There is also a 24 hour deli with a large selection of prepared foods on the corner. There is a double bed with accommodation for one more person on the sleeping couch.

On the right you'll find a few more pics of the interior of the boat:
THE "HOOD"The boat is in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn.
It is accessible by the B or Q trains. The local B4 bus stops right across the street and will get you to the train station in about 10 minutes. Midtown is about a 45 min train ride. You can also access the 2 and 5 trains via the B44 bus that stops across the street.

Here is a link to a silly new video about Sheepsheads Bay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSxu6A7Y8bs

Here is some more information from curbedny.com.
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/categories/sheepshead_bay.php

Adjoining neighborhoods are Gerrtisen Beach, Manhattan and Brighton Beaches. To the south we have Rockaway Beach, Fort Tilden and Riis park.

What's to do? I have a kayak and a bike you can use if you'd like. There are many beaches nearby; Rockaway Beach, Fort Tilden and Riis park are accessible via a bike path across from the dock or a short 15 minute car ride away.

We have a little Russia, Chinatown, etc close by. The food is always good! Here's some desserts from a local Turkish cafe down the street. Its a great thing to do if you have some free time and a sweet tooth.

These noodles are from the local china town on Avenue U. Delectable!

This chicken souvlaki plate is from El Greco dinner at Emmons and Sheepshead Bay Rd...a tremendous amount of food for about ten bucks!

Ammenities: Currently we have dish tv and a high speed wireless internet connection. You will be very comfortable here.

There is ample off street parking and a 8 foot security fence which requires a key to get in.

This is a quiet area with considerate neighbors. Some are year round residents but some are only here in the summertime.

Local wildlife: see pics.....with lots more around!

Questions? If your thinking about renting and have any questions you haven't found here, email me at lisadusa@yahoo.com or call 917 559 4623.

Rocks Pebbles and Sand

Almost over a cold I caught after teaching for the last week. Who says work isn't bad for your health? Anyway, you think these tiny little buggers (the cold germs not the kids) are content with their new warm home that they paid nothing for, then they need more room and migrate from you head to your throat. They then proceed to have a party complete with lots of dancing on the room you call your tonsils. I have to break up their party with cold spray every so often to remind them of who is paying the bills!

Anyway as I struggle to find time to do everything I want to do I still get frustrated with people who I know also have the same struggle who I don't hear from or see enough. I want to say I acknowledge your struggle.
I've found this fable you may have not heard before that may help us all to find a way to fit it all in.

For this fable you need to imagine rocks, pebbles, and sand, and how they might all fit into a jar.

Associate the most important things in your life, your partner, your family, your health, your children, things you cannot very well do without, to rocks....(not rock heads - just rocks)

Then imagine putting these rocks into a jar.

Now think of pebbles. These represent your car, your job, your house, etc....Fit these into the jar...imagine how well they fit around those big rocks.

Everything else...the errands you need to run, the argument you need to have with your partner or your child, these things are sand....these are the small things. Pour these over the rocks and the pebbles...everything fits quite well right?

Now it you added these things in an order opposite to the one above,,,with the sand first, then the pebbles, then the rocks, into the jar,,,the rocks just wouldn't fit.

So remember to put the rocks, the most important things in first, and everything else will fit nicely.

OK enough teaching...don't worry I won't also turn you into my students...I put this story here mainly to remind myself of it, and so I can get it off my fridge!!

My next entry will be my Hawaii trip with some awesome pictures.

TRAVELS IN SOUTH FLORIDA

My arrival was t- 1.5 hours ago and I'm envious of my cat who is curled up in a ball at the end of the bed...do I need to do the same! Driving back wore us both out! I recently listened to my friend Mike talk about a trip where he drove 4000 miles throughout Mexico and I thought "how nuts!" Well never say never cause that's just about the distance we clocked on this trip as well!

Anyway all that aside it was great to explore that part of the country. My first half hour in our campground in the Keys I saw two life birds...and cool ones at that...there were a pair of soaring magnificent frigate birds at the edge of the water and white ibis poking around the campground for food.

Staying at our campground were alot of farmers from the Midwest and Canada...its nice to see they get to take a break when they can, and are serious about fishing... the campground had a marina and they all seemed to have boats. We brought one too...(one without an engine so to those guys it really didn't qualify) and it was fun to paddle along the mangroves.

Those of you who have been lucky enough to drive along the Tamiani trail (route 41) across Florida know the place is full of wildlife in a gully just to the right of the road created by removing the fill to make the road. Its now filled with water and cypress trees. Alligators abound,,,along with awesome wading birds for miles and miles. The road has no shoulder so the most dangerous thing was trying to avoid the tourists who pull over to view the animals along this road.

All of these gawkers should have really gone inside the park where the viewing is safer and you can park your car and walk. The ranger at the north entrance of the everglades told us that there is danger here created by tourists as well and that his biggest problem is protecting the gators from people who get too close. The gators don't move too much unless they really have to...and I guess this makes them seems safe to some. One young guy we walked by had his kids close to one mama who was lying across the road, separated from her 15 or so small babies...to me it seemed like he must have had too many of his own children and was trying to rid himself of one of them. Anyway they are the coolest but scary looking creatures ever....kayaking in ponds where they lie on the banks of the river makes one not relax too much and spend too much time getting to the other side.

Other most memorable birding highlights ( for those of you who are not birding enthusiasts you may want to stop reading here!) were gathering flocks of my favorite bird, the black skimmer (who i anxiously await each year at home around June when the arrive for a few months), at the south end of the park...there were thousands and they flew in waves back and forth over the mudflats. It was magical. We traveled about half a day to get to see a reddish egret at Sanibel island up the coast a bit. We got a great chance to see one of these egrets submerged in the water up to its head just slowly wading around....kind of what we as humans might do if we weren't swimming. It had to have been the strangest bird bath I ever witnessed. He had head feathers he was fluffing that looked more like a mane and was in this pose for about 15 minutes or so. At that point I knew this bird was special. He went on to entertain. I'm used to seeing egrets that hunt slowly and methodically, moving no faster than a slow motion speed. This bird instead runs and chases its prey through the water flapping its wings to scare them up as it moves along. A great show ....and a real comedian...an unforgettable bird! Copy and paste this address into your browser window to view video of a reddish egret if you want to see this great bird in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTSvvEk4_H4

Other life birds for me were the wood stork...saw the first one behind our hotel in Virginia in a small man made pond. His head is bald so i knew immediately what he was. We saw the endangered snail kite. This bird only eats a particular fresh water snail which is also endangered so its fate is unknown. Roseate spoonbills were cool and the fresh water Anhinga...similar to a cormorant but much more spectacular...both the storks and the Anhinga were nesting in the Everglades.

Got to snorkel in the Dry Tortugas...we had been staying in the Keys for a few days and the weather was cool and windy.....was up nights worrying our tent would blow away. To escape the wind and cold booked this all day trip on a fast catamaran out to these islands on which is located an old military fort. The weather was great and we got to spend some time in the water and some time snorkeling. I met a great naturalist who educated me on the nesting of frigates and sooty terns in the next island. We were lucky enough to see their mating behavior and some nests through a scope she provided. The terns love to fly. They mate in the air and sleep on the wing. Amazing! Here is the website of the company that took us out there. I left my camera at home and there photos are much better than any I would take! I was too busy snorkeling anyway! http://www.yankeefreedom.com/national-park-photos.htm

Its good to be home. Camping was cool but upon arrival at home and finding a fork by simply opening my utensil drawer was a new pleasure .... We tried to be organized but without bringing a kitchen and bathroom and drawers in a moving truck, stuff tended to be a bit disorganized. Some of the sites had no hot water but cold water showers outside. Soaping up and having a polite conversation with someone new was good for the camaraderie in the campground but I'd rather have a conversation over a beer instead!

Hope to talk to you all soon. Love Lisa

Been doing lots of work on the houseboat...floors, cabinets, shelves....(can you hear me crying "uncle?") When things get complicated one does not always think of all the possible scenerios that might arise from that situation. Here's what happened when I put up some shelves in the boat.

Staten Island Greenbelt

The Staten Island Greenbelt is an incredible peice of ground ...almost 3000 acres within New York City....through much of the greenbelt you see and here nothing but nature. Driving my car over from brooklyn is a 1/2 hour adventure of dodging cars and their crazy drivers helt bent on running me over. Once I reach the perimeter of the woods I feel calm. Once I enter I feel even better. Join me on a walk one day and you too will see why this is one of my all-time favorite places in the City.