Hazy Shade of Winter

I'm thinking the Bodyjar cover, but that's just personal taste. It's an apt song given the weather at the moment. Yesterday was unseasonally warm in New York, but grey and raining all day. Today is cold, grey and raining. I'm not complaining, just pointing out the relevance of the title track. So I've had some good news and some bad news since the last post. Or perhaps good/bad experiences. The good was getting out and doing some shopping around Manhattan yesterday. I picked up a North American bird book, and went to photography heaven on earth, also known as B&H Photo. I picked up some new memory cards, a spare battery, and a lens filter (since the hood that came with the lens is now resting at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean somewhere off QLD). All things I should have bought months ago, but I'm glad I waited because the prices here are somewhat better, even with the exchange rate. I could have spent hours in that store. We also went early to pick up our tickets to the Lion King (booked online), because you don't want to have to wait in line once the show is starting.

After our bout of shopping we headed back and this is where the bad news came in. I've come down with a nasty cold. Probably not unexpected given the lack of sleep and extreme change in temperature/weather I've put myself through in the last few days, however still a miserable thing to happen on a holiday. I medicated myself to get through the Lion King in the afternoon. Had I been well I think it would have been a highlight of the trip. As it is I really enjoyed it, but its hard to get into something when your head is packed full of cotton wool and splitting open. I will say this - the show is very well crafted. The music is a combination of the familiar songs from the movie and original compositions adding to the score. There are some minor alterations to the plot - some blatant, others subtle, but the story remains faithful overall. The costumes and dancing are amazing. All in all it's a great musical and I'm very glad I went. As I said though, I would have enjoyed it more had circumstances allowed.

I'd say chances are there won't be much to report for the next couple of days. I'll be laying low trying to give myself a chance to recover as much as possible. I have some great plans later in the week, including ice skating in Central Park, seeing an off-Broadway play, and birdwatching in the Westchester area with one of the local Audubon groups and a friend I met in Broome.

One last thing. A friend pointed out I'd very cleverly blocked commenting on my blog. That's been remedied, so please leave a comment when you read this, I'd love to hear from you.