This is one of the few blogs I'll post in real time. It's my New York weather report.
The reason we selected Sept 1st - Jan 9th to move to New York was to avoid the Hot, the Humid, and the Humanity of summer. We also wanted to experience the holidays with the kids in NYC: Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, Christmas on 5th Ave, Ice Skating at Rockefeller Plaza, and New Year's Celebration in Times Square; while avoiding the freezing cold and snow of the rest of January and February. We thought our time frame would give us a taste of three seasons without suffering months of the extremes.
The first weeks of September couldn't have been better for our objective. The weather was 90 - 95 degrees, clear blue skies, with just a touch of humidity. It was the tail end of a NY summer, and felt like a continuation of this year's mid-summer in Seattle. We walked about the city in sandals, shorts and sunglasses. Except for a couple 70 degree days with showers later in the month it was mostly hot and clear. Then in early October the temperature gently slid into the 70s and 60s. The first week of October we did "leaf peeping" in Vermont with Teigan, a classic New England fall experience to be detailed later.
I thought about growing up in the midwest (Chicago for those that don't know) and how quickly the weather can change. You can smell a thunderstorm from the west coming - the ozone caused by lighting smells different. And when a cold front sweeps down from the north the temperature can drop 20 - 30 degrees in less than an hour. Since NY gets most of its weather from the west and north (unless a Nor'easter is blowing) the dramatic changes should be similar.
This weekend before Robin left for business in Nashville she complained of a gas smell in the loft. We have a gas stove that was recently replaced, and a funky gas oven, so the suggestion was not out of the question. While not overly concerned, but needing to be sure, for about a half an hour after 11:00 pm I turned the stove and oven on and off, I sniffed the connections, and finally rationalized our safety because we were too tired.
Monday, the morning after she left, the temperature was 31 degrees. After my morning workout at the New York Sports Club I stopped for coffee. I photographed this Polish girl because I loved her gloves representing the change of seasons, and the phone her teen age years.
After I returned and typed the previous blog I heard a hissing and realized: "we got, clink clink, sssteam heat, we got, clink clink sssteam heat". Until this past week our loft had been on AC. No heat was even available. Then this weekend after the temperature dropped, they fired up the boilers. The smell we smelled was the old air in the radiators escaping from the pressure release valve.
For those that don't remember, or never knew, here's a top ten song from the 50s by Patti Page relating the heating technology of the day to desire. Music always seems to be able to relate current events to everlasting human behavior - sex. Check it out. It is very relevant to me because, as a janitor's son, I spent my high school winter weekends shoveling coal into the hopper and hauling garbage to the furnace that fed the boiler for their 6-flat apartment building in Chicago. And our home always had "clink clink - sssteam heat". Love it.
The reason we selected Sept 1st - Jan 9th to move to New York was to avoid the Hot, the Humid, and the Humanity of summer. We also wanted to experience the holidays with the kids in NYC: Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, Christmas on 5th Ave, Ice Skating at Rockefeller Plaza, and New Year's Celebration in Times Square; while avoiding the freezing cold and snow of the rest of January and February. We thought our time frame would give us a taste of three seasons without suffering months of the extremes.
The first weeks of September couldn't have been better for our objective. The weather was 90 - 95 degrees, clear blue skies, with just a touch of humidity. It was the tail end of a NY summer, and felt like a continuation of this year's mid-summer in Seattle. We walked about the city in sandals, shorts and sunglasses. Except for a couple 70 degree days with showers later in the month it was mostly hot and clear. Then in early October the temperature gently slid into the 70s and 60s. The first week of October we did "leaf peeping" in Vermont with Teigan, a classic New England fall experience to be detailed later.
I thought about growing up in the midwest (Chicago for those that don't know) and how quickly the weather can change. You can smell a thunderstorm from the west coming - the ozone caused by lighting smells different. And when a cold front sweeps down from the north the temperature can drop 20 - 30 degrees in less than an hour. Since NY gets most of its weather from the west and north (unless a Nor'easter is blowing) the dramatic changes should be similar.
This weekend before Robin left for business in Nashville she complained of a gas smell in the loft. We have a gas stove that was recently replaced, and a funky gas oven, so the suggestion was not out of the question. While not overly concerned, but needing to be sure, for about a half an hour after 11:00 pm I turned the stove and oven on and off, I sniffed the connections, and finally rationalized our safety because we were too tired.
Monday, the morning after she left, the temperature was 31 degrees. After my morning workout at the New York Sports Club I stopped for coffee. I photographed this Polish girl because I loved her gloves representing the change of seasons, and the phone her teen age years.
Texting at Starbuck
Street scene out our loft window
Radiator in Loft. Ssssteam release valve at upper left.
For those that don't remember, or never knew, here's a top ten song from the 50s by Patti Page relating the heating technology of the day to desire. Music always seems to be able to relate current events to everlasting human behavior - sex. Check it out. It is very relevant to me because, as a janitor's son, I spent my high school winter weekends shoveling coal into the hopper and hauling garbage to the furnace that fed the boiler for their 6-flat apartment building in Chicago. And our home always had "clink clink - sssteam heat". Love it.
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