“I will give you a small glass of water because that is all you need. Only take what you need. A small glass, not a big glass because then you will waste and throw it out. All you need is a small glass.” — Shifu Yan Fan (Shaolin Temple, Los Angeles)
On our most recent trip to New York, my husband, children and I went, to the Holiday Train Lights at the New York Botanic Gardens. As I do before every single excursion, I mentally calculated all the walking I would have to do- from the parking lot,

On a cold winter morning in January 2023 while visiting my family on the Upper East in New York City, I was the first to wake up, crept quietly into the guest room bathroom and locked eyes with a tiny owl perched outside the window on the old fashioned air conditioner. We startled each other and we both froze. An owl in New York City. Just the two of us. Then suddenly the owl flew away carrying a very small dead bird and leaving behind a bloody beak and claw, body parts that would stay there for