A quiet night, a stack of books, a tuna melt on rye

Guess who sent a support ticket in?

So our trip to NYC this weekend was quite a few things happening, enough for me to want to write this instead of put this aside somewhere a week or two later.

We took an IKEA ferry from Port Imperial where I swear a lady was splashing me with this lavender coconut thing. I have spray stains on my pants thanks to that.

From IKEA, we decided to walk up Red Hook into DUMBO and then walk from DUMBO to Chinatown for some dimsum and a walk home. A respectable walk.

Along the walk we saw a pair of geese and three gosling cross over to go to the shore.

The rocks they were going down were a bit awkward even for the parents, so the gosling were struggling climbing slippery rocks. Only one came at first (ironically the last one to come over) then after awhile one of the parents came out of the water and called for them. Eventually the second one made it. After awhile, they started to leave. I could hear the third one still chirping back idly as they went several yards away.

We were watching them through all this and when they moved away we were worried something bad happened to the third one, so I crossed the barrier and stepped onto the rocks to see what happened. The third one was thankfully safe, just trying (and failing) to climb a slippery rock.

So I kept telling myself the scent thing about touching birds wasn't all true and I grabbed the gosling. It made a fuss and cried as I tried to be gentle and dropped it off on an easier part of the slope so it could run to the water and continue its panicked screams.

In one of the most "parents to the rescue" kind of thing I've seen in awhile, it didn't take long before I watched two Canadian geese fly over in a rush to look over their lost child. Did I do a good thing? I hope so.

Michelle was unable to take photos at the time though so this is the most I can do. If I get avian flu or salmonella poisoning in a few days though then consider that proof of my good deed!

If you're unfamiliar with the day too, we saw a plane flying over the Hudson with a sign that read "FREE HEALTHCARE FREE LUIGI"

The only reason I mention that is because along Red Hook a reporter asked us randomly if we might have caught that image and Michelle sent her a copy of that photo. So yeah, Michelle gets one of her photos used for a local news site.

We headed along the Manhattan Bridge, whose entrance was similar to the Williamsberg's but not at all like the Brooklyn's--please stop being confusing with these entrances! We walked thirsting and at one point a small child smiling freely ran up and hugged Michelle's leg and no one seemed to notice. She started to look around and get someone's attention but eventually she ran off and the person far behind turned out to be their mother who apologized about this. We were just glad the kid wasn't left behind! I joked with her that I was the one that held a child and she had one hold her.

Off to Chinatown for a bubble tea. Then a dim sum parlor where I swear we were given really lower treatment compared to everyone else. I dunno, maybe we didn't give off a wealthy clientele vibe. Whatever, one long subway trip back and here I am to tell the tale.

I usually take pride in my Diogenes-esque lifestyle but at the same time I think it makes people leery of me. All the same, the more I walk through NYC the more I remind myself I could probably use some better self care in general anyway. At least I know these trips tend to put me in a calorie deficit.

Oh, and a random stray cat was passing by our garage right as we were getting home. When the garage door went the cat was going ballistic trying to figure out what it did wrong. Again, one hell of a weird day.

Sandy Hook tomorrow to see/photograph horseshoe crabs and Mothers Day stuff. Till next time.