Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Occupy Sandy



I worked for three days last weekend on hurricane relief, on Friday in Red Hook, Brooklyn serving food, on Saturday in Far Rockaway unloading trucks that were arriving with supplies and helping sort them, and on Saturday in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn first canvasing the neighborhood for extra hurricane supplies people no longer needed, then sorting supplies that were coming in and putting together "blackout kits" with flashlights, batteries, candles and matches.

I am going to try to go back today to 520 Clinton Ave where I was working on Sunday. There is a distribution hub there for supplies going out to all affected areas. There is another storm coming in today which is scary for the many areas of the city that still do not have power!

Read More...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween Sandy

I am here! Brooklyn seems relatively unaffected by the hurricane so far! I spent the last two days in Clinton Hill weathering out the storm. We went for a walk around 8PM last night and it wasn't too crazy out, though in other parts of the city it seems like it was. This morning we walked over to DUMBO and saw few downed trees and about 5 foot high flood waters on the buildings at the waterfront.

The subways, however, seem to be a completely different story! Nobody will ever go back to work I think. I would be surprised to see even limited subway service resume before next Monday but it could be longer. They started running buses today and full service is supposed to resume tomorrow. Both the bookstore and the MOUSE office still have no power, not sure when anything will happen in Lower Manhattan again.

For more detailed info check out our informative NEWS REPORT:

Read More...

Monday, October 29, 2012

SANDY!!

We are riding out hurricane Sandy here in Fort Greene. We are preparing a video report to document our experience. We just took a walk down Myrtle Ave and saw a few downed tree branches but nothing too crazy. The hurricane just came ashore near Atlantic City so it should be getting windy soon.

Read More...

Friday, October 26, 2012

October Trips

The last three weekends I have been able to leave the city which is something that almost never happens so I was very excited about it! The first weekend I went up to my friend Anna's Family's house on Grindstone Island, one of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River. There is no bridge to the island and no roads on the island so the only way to get around is by boat! On Sunday we took a boat ride in a crazy old wooden power boat and we scooted around some of the Canadian islands, going into Canada for an hour or so.

Here is the crazy house we stayed in, it had at least 5 bedrooms and a giant room upstairs with 8 beds in it!


Here we are on the Sunday boat ride and then the view of one of the side houses down the island:


The following weekend I went up to Rhode Island with my friends Eric, Anastasia and Rachel to Eric's uncle's house to do a big apple cider pressing. We went up a day early to explore Rhode Island a little and to explore some thrift stores:


Then last weekend I drove up to my friend Naomi's grandma's house near Ellenville, NY for her birthday. We spent a long time walking around in the woods looking for a swimming spot but never found it! I forgot to take any pictures except for this one of her in the house on the phone:

Read More...

Thursday, September 27, 2012

September Jam

There is tons of summer fruit in the store so I have been spending a lot of time making jam, hopefully I can make enough to last all year! So far I have made two kinds of plum jam (pluot and golden plum), nectarine jam and most recently tomato-pineapple jam! After work in Queens on Saturday I'm gonna ride by all the fruit stands I used to go to in Rego Park to see if I can pick up some cheap berries or peaches!

On the left, pluot jam being made, on the right nectarine, golden plum and plut jam:

Read More...

Saturday, September 22, 2012

West Coast Pictures

Finally got my pictures from WA/CA last week but I haven't had time to put them up yet. Feels weird that some of these were less than a month ago because it seems like I've already been in New York for months.

Near Seattle at the top of Rattlesnake ledge with Erik, Rosie, Zelda, Sam, Rebecca and Random Guy and on the boat with Zelda, Lyra and Orion:


In Petaluma on the farm with Becca, Darcy and Alex:


More pictures on Flickr.

Read More...

Monday, September 17, 2012

All Day All Week

Read More...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Back In New York

I'm back in New York for the school year, haven't posted in a while because I'd been waitin to develop my pictures from Seattle. I finally dropped those off today so I'll put em up as soon as I scan them.

Read More...

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Goat Rocks and more!

I'm gettin ready to leave Seattle on Tuesday, feels like I just got here though. Last week Seattle Eric and our friend Rebecca from Utah went to Goat Rocks wilderness to do some walkin around. It was a three day trip and even with a couple wrong turns we only hiked about 15 miles. That left a lot of time for sittin on our stone furniture at the campsite and throwin snowballs. I took a real great picture of the valley we were hikin around but then I dropped my camera in the river and it went off a waterfall, whoops!

I got some last film pictures from Alaska developed the other day and here are some good ones. I guess I'll have film pictures of Seattle sometime soon but not yet.

Our friends Joe and Elieen in Denali with Erik/Me and Erik at the bus in Denali:


200 feet above a river on the way to McCarthy/The copper mill building in Kennecott:


Sam on the Kennicott Glacier/Rainbow near the glacier:

Read More...

Friday, August 3, 2012

Denali and Seattle

I have been in Seattle since the 29th, it sure gets dark here! Erik just got on a plane to LA because he moves to Budapest in a week. I'll be here until the 14th, then SF until the 28th. So much to do!

We spent our last 10 days in Alaska in Denali and Wrangell St. Elias National Parks. They were great, we saw tons of animals in Denali and some crazy old towns in Wrangell. In Denali we rode the bus all over and camped in three different backcountry spots, then Sam and Salgu picked us up and we drove the Denali Highway to get down south to Wrangell.

Here's a picture of Denali one day when it almost came out, it rained a lot when we were there but we got a lot of sun in Wrangell to make up for it. I'm gettin some film developed now so I'll post more pictures soon.

Read More...

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Mt. Prindle Via Faith Creek

Over the weekend we drove up the Steese Highway to try to hike into Mt. Prindle. The mountain is a rock climbing hot spot but is also supposed to be a good hike and Sam wanted to scope out the climbing. The first night we left at around midnight during "civil twilight" and drove for a couple hours to Cripple Creek Campground at mile 60. The next morning we drove a few miles further, forded some creeks in Bowie, Sam's truck and started down the trail. We realized after about 2 miles that we hadn't driven to the spot we were supposed to park at and that we could have saved an hour of hiking on either end.

Our campsite the first night and fording one of the early creeks:


After that we followed Zephyr creek up the mountain crossing it about 10 times along the way. When we reached the top of the ridge the forest we had been following the creek through turned into tundra and the trail seemed to disappear. Instead of following what we thought was a trail that led to a different climbing spot we decided to bushwhack through the tundra which was very slow going. In the tundra natural lines turn into trail mirages all the time in the distance so after following a few trail visions and coming up empty we decided to go straight up to the top of the ridge where we found the rock cairns marking the trail we were supposed to be on.

Sam consulting the map and a picture from the top of the ridge:


Once we reached the ridge line it was a relatively easy walk down to a great campsite. Just down the creek from our tents was a large block of ice along the river where we discovered an ice cave! The next day we tried to take a day hike to try to reach the main climbing wall at Mt. Prindle but we only made it over and down the next ridge before the thick tundra turned us back. We declared victory, hiked back up the steep ridge and on the way back down discovered the remnants of a trail we hadn't seen hiking up.

Sam and Erik on the day hike/on the ice:


Salgu in front of the ice cave:


On Monday we hiked back to the car, making sure to stay along ridgelines instead of going down into the thick tundra in the valleys. It was a rainy day but that helped keep the mosquitoes away. We made it back to the car and didn't have to worry at the river crossings because we were already wet! Sam, Salgu and Meg on the ridge/At the campsite:

Read More...

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Granite Tors

Erik and I went to Granite Tors for 3 days. The hike is a 15 mile loop and at the top along the ridge are large rock outcroppings called 'tors'. We hitched a few rides down Cheena Hot Springs road and got there Tuesday afternoon. It started raining right when we started the hike and didn't stop but fortunately we were able to camp at the trail shelter which had a woodstove in it. The next day we day hiked around the tors climbed on them a bit. The trail through the tundra was pretty overgrown and tough to walk through. The next day we hiked down and apparently just missed a close call with a bear?

Hitchin down the road/it was rainy the first day:

Our Cabin/stove:

At the tors!

Read More...

Friday, July 13, 2012

Pictures from Tangle Lakes/Delta River

Here are the pictures from last week's trip down Tangle Lakes and the Delta River. We just got back from Granite Tors so there will be pictures from there soon too. We're headed down the Steese Highway tonight to either Pinnell Mountain or Mount Prindle, not sure which yet!

Driving down:

At the pipeline:

At the lakes:

At the first campsite:

We portaged around this waterfall:

Fishin:

Down the river:

Read More...