The colors of autumn had completely transformed the whole town. Along the small roads of the suburbs, phenominal bright and powerful colors were all over. Bright red, orange, yellow and brown.. and they weren't just the boring pale colors you see lying on the ground after a wash of rain.
The rain hadn't come yet - so the few days that the leaves were going to be on the trees - in this form - were precious, we knew.
Once the rain comes it washes most of the leaves off the trees, and they'll be lying there, slowly loosing their color, and eventually freezing in the winter.
.. Which is why I chose to take a trip to Central Park as fast as I could, in the week to come. Tuesday, the only day of the week I was off school earlier than dinner time.
I brought my camera with me and got lots of amazing colors captured on my memory card. The sun was about to set, so I didn't have much use of the light, but walking around in the park was still so beautiful - and I want to say 'breathing' too.
I found a great relief in being able to relax and recharge in the middle of the week - something I've only slightly done a few hours of my weekends, ever since school started.
Just look at the beauty -
Starting with pictures from my weekend on Long Island:
The prettiest suburban house in this country
Outside the house. My sprinting lane!
Buckingham rd. - the perfect suburban road.
Nation-oriented neighbors.
- Or just American style.
- Or just American style.
Halloween houses are crazy in the suburbs, because it's where all the families are. Some houses were covered in spider webs, front gardens had bodies sticking out of the ground, skeletons hung from the roof, or if neither of those.. there was most likely a Frankenstein hanging on the front door. Some were well creepy!
It must be scary to walk alone at night.. but then again, you don't really do that in the suburbs, Susan told me.
So.. the reality is kind of like the drama in 'Desperate Housewives'!
I heard a story in the family about one time when Susan was driving home from work, and only a few streets away from the house, she saw a dead body lying on the ground - beat up/shot.. I don't know - but the person was dead and there was blood all over.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a Halloween!
Anyways! (creepy story).... I was walking around the streets by their house, and seeing all the Halloween ideas was such a sight - some people had really made a big deal about it this holiday!
A spider web garden!
The new neighbors; they have a very Halloween colored front garden.
Graves in the front garden
Pumpkins!
And then I was fascinated by the colors around me.
I cannot tell you how peaceful it was to walk in the suburbs among these colors.. :
It is still my wish to take a trip to Harlem for a couple of hours one weekend. I can't wait to hear 'real' gospel streaming from the churches.
So as I have made well aware before (from my spontaneous trip to Long Island by foot), New York is all about the walking! - even though you sometimes think you'll take the subway to a certain place, and just walk a bit around in that area, you end up walking a LOT.. the distance from one thing to another is always longer than you think (or at least what I think).
Anyways, I was quite proud of myself, when I realized I'd walked 40 blocks in total - along the park down to Columbus circle on 59th street, as well as some blocks to reach the park. - that being 40 blocks with a heavy school bag after 7 hours of school, - half of them dancing and doing extreme strength training.
In Central Park, I walked in silence and embraced the nature and the evening sun that gleamed just below the tree tops. I passed lots of little playgrounds, where parents had taken their children to play after a day of school. I passed old ladies walking their dogs, while gossiping loudly to their friends. I passed young people stretching after a run around the lake. I passed babies in prams/trolleys waving to every stranger they passed.
Best of all was experiencing the change in colors, as I made my way further into the park. The last rays of the sun from that day streamed gently through the trees, shining on the grass like a magic coat. Squirrels carefully drifted from corner to corner to fetch the nuts that had fallen from the trees.
The air was fresh, but not too cold. There was such a peace and feeling of ease.
Here are some of the wonderful pictures from that day:
Notice the colors of the tree in the back
- like a rainbow!
The bottom starts with yellow,
and by the middle it changes to orange/red!
A squirrel!
My favorite autumn corner of the park
I suddenly saw this bright blue colored bird. It must be rare!
Pumpkin-festival!
"..And then I'll go back to the tree on the top of the hill"
*
As you know I have school on Saturday. Even though it's only a 30 minute private lesson, I still have to get up early to stretch, warm up and go through the songs I'll be working with in class.Sunday I always go to the worship meeting at 11 am in The Salvation Army, - which isn't too early, but I always need to do 1 hour stretch, vocal exercises, balance exercises, massage and warm up face, go through American vowel sounds... eeerh and I bet there's more, but I lost track of it!
So anyways, all the preparation just to stay fit and warm takes up several hours a day. Rehearsing is another thing - which takes up hours too.. so the weekend is literally the only time I feel like I can put my full attention on rehearsing properly (in addition to giving in to my rest, when I am done with the day and it's past 10 pm!)..
- Except on days like Tuesday this week, after the park, when I danced and sang from 9-12 pm. 15 hours of non stop activity in one day. I didn't sleep enough, and my body is really sore - but progressing my pirouettes and ligid songs is a satisfying feeling I still carry with me today.
Tonight, I'm going to see a West End show - what, how ?!!... ;) A West End (London) production of 'Merrily we roll along' is being shown in Manhattan's movie theaters tonight.
I can't wait to see it, because it was one of the productions I tried really hard to get tickets for, when I was auditioning in London earlier this year. This very production is known to be one of the best revivals of the musical ever made, and when it opened, the press gave huge credits to the brilliant cast.
Look there's my view! ;)
There is especially one song, I am looking forward to hear (here's the link) 'Our time' - Merrily we roll along. I sang this in my showcase at GSA (Guildford school of Acting), when I had my summer course there in England, last year. A total number of about 50 young dreamers finished the show onstage by holding each others hands, looking far into the future, singing:
Something it stirring
shifting ground
It's just begun
Edges are blurring
all around
and yesterday is done
Feel the flow
hear what's happening
we're what's happening
Don't you know?
We're the movers and we're the makers
We're the name sin tomorrow's papers
Up to us now to show'em!
It's our time
breathe it in
worlds to change and worlds to win,
Our time
coming through,
- me and you pal me and you.
For us, the song was about our big dream of pursuing singing and acting in our lives. The fact that this showcase was our first step towards that. This performance was our point of no return.
Everyone cried. Of happiness.
I'll never in my life forget what that song meant to me, in that moment.
I didn't know the show 'Merrily we roll along', before I was introduced to this song, so this memory is a great starting brick for my first impression of the full musical!
The show will be 3 hours long, and I have to run from school, which finishes at 6:30. I'll miss dinner at the residence, so I hope to find something cheap on the way - but anyhow it'll be worth it.
In fact, it'll be my first trip to a cinema in the States - after my One direction experience with Emma!!
Soon I will write about how this week went (I know it's funny I'm going back in time now!) - I have a long draft, that I just haven't been able to finish.. but it's one that I have worked on over the past 2 weeks... anyhow, I couldn't wait to share these pictures, to let you see the colors of the autumn here, as I know they are changing now where you are too.
Don't make the change in the season invisible! It's usually fabulous!(Fabelagtig - as my mormor, Grandma Lydholm likes to say so often!)
All the best,
Jasmin X
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