Day 19.263: Exile near New York

My layover on the way back from Toronto today was in Newark Airport which, despite being in New Jersey is the airport with the best views of New York City. 

Manhattan skyline as we came into land 

House sparrows in the terminal

Upper Manhattan as we left

The Hudson was visible until just south of Albany when a combination of clouds and distance hid it from view

This is the Green Mountains of Vermont breaking through the clouds as we passed over the state line leaving New York behind

Day 19.262: Oh, Canada…

I forgot to mention that after the late night concert fun on Sunday night, I started Monday very early to fly to Toronto for another short work trip. 

I’m a bit out of practice at international travel apart from visiting the UK. Funny to think that almost all work trips were international travel before the Exile. Anyway, I made it and then waited at international arrivals for my colleagues,

…before driving a little way out of the city to the location of our meeting. The area is full of strip malls, but I managed to find a pocket of nature to walk to with my camera:

The walk took me past this house-sized house advert.

A closer look revealed it was hiding a - perhaps less attractive looking - house:

…and then we found a little town center with a little more character for dinner:

Today was meetings all day and tomorrow I get another early start to head home.  

Day 19.261: Saturday sightings

A few sightings from our pre-storm walk at Biddeford Pool on Saturday.

Downy woodpecker

American herring gull

Chick? Not sure on the species 😂

Common eider

Mallards

Canada geese

Black-crowned night heron

American oystercatchers - first sighting in Maine for 2026

Quite a few on the rocks here

Day 19.260: The end of the tour

Tonight, Exile #2 and I went to see Madison Cunnningham’s Ace Tour for the second time and Exile #3 and E5N1 joined us at Live at Madrid’s - a new venue in Portland.

In prime position

The venue filled up a lot after this was taken!

This was the last date on this surprise second leg of the tour - a tour de force put together by these two amazing musicians - Madison herself and Jesse Chandler along with their sound engineer. It was a sublime evening and Portland did them proud despite it being a very rainy night. 

Day 19.259: Nor'easter

There has been much talk about the storm coming in today. Most of it has been to our south, but - as we discovered at Biddeford Pool this afternoon, it is getting the ocean a little riled-up.

Day 19.258: Silicon Valley

One last (I think) photo from my California adventure - the street outside my hotel room with tram and the PayPal HQ. A reminder that although I spent most of my time out in the Monterey Bay countryside, my base was in Silicon Valley. 

Day 19.257: Things with wings

Have you ever seen a dragon fly?

What about a dragonfly?

These are from our Saturday afternoon nature walk:

Black-tipped farmer

Meadowhawk (possibly autumn meadowhawk)