Snowy night mosey & an aimless post.

Oh, this is about when I start thinking about recipes for Groundhog Pot Pie - yet another snowstorm. Oh well, it's still winter. Boy, when I think about how much my sister and I whined, as kids growing up in Hawaii, about how neat snow at Christmas would be, I just have to laugh. Serves me right that I landed in New York. Our mom, having grown up in New Jersey & seen enough snow to last a lifetime (except for occasional ski trips with Dad, but that's different) used to always tell us that it really isn't all that neat - pretty at the start, but then the snowplows come & push it around & people walk on it & it gets all dirty and slushy and gray.

My sister and I never bought it - but now after 12 years in New York, every now & then I'll find myself admitting that maybe Mom had a point. Not that I'd ever admit that to her or anything. The novelty - when we moved back to the mainland in my junior year in high school, I could hypnotize myself watching the snow - has finally kind of worn off.

I do still find a good snowstorm fun. We're having one tonight - it's dumping a lot of snow, but it's not too too cold. I worked kind of late, and decided to do one of my post-stuck-at-the-desk-all-day meanders through Chinatown. Very different than the last one I wrote about - that time, it was the start of Lunar New Year, and warm, exciting, and festive. This time, there were only a few people out, and the snow had sort of hushed the noise of the city (except for the snowplows clanking past), and I drifted down nearly empty sidewalks to the Grand Street subway station, enjoying the snow falling around the lights, stopping to get some chicken at one of the shops with the roast meats in the window (wanted to stretch some leftovers which are simmering away making the whole apartment smell like coconut milk right now, mmm)(I didn't throw in the chicken foot that was included though - I'm adventurous but there are limits). It was nice unwind at the end of a busy day & a weekend that definitely had it's downs (ups too, I'm just still a little closer to the downs right now - maybe by tomorrow perspective will be settling back in).

Must've been relaxing, 'cause when I got to the Grand Street station to find the B train shut down from the snow, I wasn't even phased, just went back upstairs & quite cheerfully continued my mosey, ending at the Q train at Canal Street. I think part of why I was able to accept with such odd equanimity was because the conductor on the D was extremely clear in her announcement. Sometimes when the subway address system starts up, you know there's a message you probably need to hear, but it makes as much sense as the grown-ups voices in Peanuts TV specials - mwah mwah mwaaah, mwaah mwah mwaaaah mwah. That's annoying. No, this lady was clear as can be - "Hello, hello, hello! Hello, People! There Is No B Train Service! For Service To..." and that was as much as she needed to tell me because I'd already been thinking as I went down the stairs that I almost wouldn't mind a little more meandering & that maybe I'd get off a stop early in my neighborhood (which is full of Victorian houses and big trees and absolutely beautiful to walk through in the snow). Transit problems are so much less annoying when they actually tell you about 'em instead of letting people stand there on the platform for 40 minutes before the word finally filters through the crowd that that train just isn't coming. This time, no waiting, instant clarification, and an immediate decision to go ahead & extend my post-work walk.

Nice thing about being out a snowstorm in New York, especially after rush hour, is that it's actually acceptible to walk from Point A to Point B in a leisurely fashion. How many chances do New Yorkers get to actually say "I moseyed"? And here I've repeated it until it's probably verging on annoying! This is not a mosey-conducive town, ya know? To mosey in New York City without getting in anybody's way is something of a luxury.

I was relieved, though, when the Q train came squealing around the curve into the Canal Street station. Soho to the far side of Prospect Park in a snowstorm is a lot of moseying even for the most enthusiastic moseyer. And I found myself breaking into a trot on the last block before my place - just like a horse heading for the barn at the end of a ride.

Huh. I was going to write up the paddle some friends & I took on Saturday, but after all that moseying I seem to be sort of aimless tonight. So I think I'll just go make some hot cocoa and curl up with a book (much more snowstorm-appropriate than curling up with a blog) - or just watch the snow collect in the branches of the trees outside my window for a little while. Enjoy it while it's pretty, y'know?

(note to sparkytown if reading - there, did I rub that in enough? heh heh heh...)
(note to Am, if reading: yes! you read it right, I bought Chinese Chickens!)
(note #2 to Am: snort!)