the best things in life are (....) ?

A free ride in the land of the free ..

One of the best attractions of NYC, there is nothing as grand as the approaching city's sky-scraper-line. Add the torquoise blue waters, the Statue of Liberty, and the Verrazano-Narrows bridge to complete a panorama that you just can't have enough of !

a painted house

The Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park is a uniqueness. It runs along the length of the Delaware-Raritan canal for all of seventy miles. Also, in the matter of less than a century it has come full circle - once the highway for heavy river-traffic, now it is the sliver of calm running between major freeways. It is now in fact an unbroken trail on which you can cycle all day and more, or stop over for canoeing or fishing.

Tough job to cycle for any length of time though, with sights like these all along the way imploring you to stop and catch your breath, which you find being taken away from you at regular intervals !

daffodils

Wordsworth was right.

I did not see an entire field of them, there was just this one plant.

But it did touch me in a way that the poet so beautifully put to words:

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee.
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company.

Company is just the little something that gives you the final push, making the difference between a day spent lolling in bed and a day out, soaking up the warm spring sun. I was lucky to get the second option !

it's in the air

Friday was the first time this year that I managed a run outside. Ages of snow and rain, and then in a matter of a week suddenly everything has switched to warm and woozy. From a weekend spent being stuck in an icy flood to a picnic on the next one, its been a long journey in a short time ! Its terribly difficult to stay awake in office though :).

The trees are still bare, but nature is trying to catch up with a vengeance. The bulbs are opening up super-fast, and its like watching things on a slo-mo camera.

who wants them anyway ?

Its strange, but orange juice in the US tastes much, much better than the medicine that they dish out in India.

There was a scene in "To Sir with Love" in which Sidney Poitier declares that he would have an orange for lunch.

An orange !? Him not exactly being a crash-dieting bimbo, the concept was really hard for me to grasp at that time..

Till I came here and was faced with the option of sirloin steak or meatloaf for lunch. Or some crazy thing they label as calzone, which is in fact the most unwholesome combination of a pocket bread, lots of sticky cheese and tomato gravy, and stuffed with fried eggplant.

There's nothing like a foren-treep to open up your mind.

NY, i ♥ u

There are situations where you fall in love at first sight...

Here's a city which I fell in love with even before I met her !

This place: Times Square, NY. Taken at a time when I had more reason than ever before to love the New York minute ..

in bullet points

. This place: Old man's cave trail, Ohio.

Most of the "treks" that I have been on around here, are more aptly, walks around the parks. Literally. Neat paths through national parks, offering picturesque views and solitude with nature; with none of the huff-puff of trekking.

Things that I found to be much better here:

> Well marked trails, with distance markers
> Dogs on leashes
> Benches, drinking water and toilets at regular intervals
> Joggers (inspirational !)
> Low humidity, mostly pleasant weather throughout the day.

Things that I miss from India:

> Neembu paani wala.