After the Margaretville farmers market, Peter dropped me off at the Kingston, NY bus station and I took Greyhound to the Albany Airport where I rented a car for the week. This posting will be mostly a list of things I did for my own memory when I come back to read this. It might not be interesting to many readers but there will be little moments of wisdom along the way for those who read.
My first stop was visiting Andy V., friend from Geology. Three years ago, I came through Niskayuna (a suburb of Albany) and hung out with his three children. Only the oldest remembered me. Andy invited his friend John who I met 13 years ago in Philadelphia and his wife. We ate out of Andy's new, self-built deck and then played and wicked game of Presidents.
I then drove to Vermont to visit my former adviser (and still life-adviser) Anne S. Sadly, her husband Dave has succumbed to a brutal brain deterioration disease much like Alzheimers. However, because he suffered a mass brain trauma, much like a stroke, he has also lost some bodily control as well. In short, David doesn't engage or emote. Anne and I chatted at some length about the pain of essentially losing a spouse but still having to physically take care of him. The ONE saving grace about the entire situation is that David appears to have no idea that he is a changed person. From what I know of Alzheimers, those sufferers do have moments of lucidity and know that they are changing.
While in Vermont:
•A visit to the state capital in Montpelier
•Dinner and Ed and Curtis K's in Brookfield
•Visit to Thistle Hill Cheese
The next stop was Topsfield, MA to visit Catherine, Joe and their son Leo. Catherine and I took a jaunt to Newburyport and a nice day in Gloucester and Halibut State Park on the tip of Cape Ann. While in Gloucester, I wanted to take a tour of the Gorton's fish processing center. However, according to the headquarters, it isn't open to the public. My immediate suspicion is that the company must import it's fish from China!!
The Topsfield town flag hanging in the great hall of the Massachusetts State capital building in Boston.
After a day in Topsfield, I returned the rental car to Logan Airport and met Jeff O. at his office which is in the same building as the Federal Reserve of Boston. We had dinner at an Indian restaurant in Davis Square and then spent the evening howling at a Japanese TV show Ninja Warrior, which has contestants work their way through ever increasing obstacle courses.
The next day, I visited the JFK presidential library. I found it to be quite skimpy on the events of his tenure. It simply skipped any mention of the Bay of Pigs but glorified JFK's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The JFK Presidential Library in Boston
The 1960's Electoral College map. Fascinating how things have changed and stayed the same.
After paying $15 to the Fung Wah Bus company, affectionately known as the Chinatown Bus, I landed in NYC for a long 4 day weekend. After truly falling in love with NYC last summer, I continued my "I HEART NEW YORK" love affair.
However, I did make a trip to Philadelphia to visit a former student who has done a wonderful job of staying in touch. While in Philadelphia...
•Lunch at Delilah's in Reading Terminal Market
•Visit Peilin's office
•Bench sitting in Rittenhouse Square
The bar on the ground floor of Peilin's building on 13th Street. There is a theme here. The answer at the end of the posting.
Peilin at her friends' block party in South Philadelphia.
Bowling with Simon R. and Lindsay A. (what is it about the HRS class of 2001 and me?) at Lucky Strike Bowling. Note Simon's pre-throw pose.
My first game scoring over 100. I now know how to score in bowling, it only took 37 years.
At the end of the Philadelphia day, Jim J. picked me up and we went to the Raven in New Hope, PA to meet up with friends and I stayed the night at Lawrenceville.
Back in NYC, I met up with Ian M. and we saw the musical, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The musical was enjoyable, however, I realized that I am not as entranced by those musicals in which the songs are simply just singing the lyrics. Productions like Mamma Mia or Jersey Boys, granted the songs were written before the musicals were created, are songs. Even older musicals, such as my favorite Oklahoma have songs, not just sung dialogue.
A weekend in New York City....
•Dinner and drinks with Evan B. and his friend Jimmy
•Dinner with Sim and his girlfriend at a French restaurant on Atlantic Ave.
•Frog Exhibit at Museum of Natural History with Gayle A. and her sister
•United Nations tour with Gayle A. and her sister
•Dinner at Fred's in the Barney's store (get it?) with Jennifer C.
•A morning with the NY Times and a bagel on the Brooklyn Promenade
•Filming of a field hockey scene from episode 3 of the CW's Gossip Girls
•Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
•Shopping in Soho
•An afternoon in Washington Square Park
•Drinks with Evan B. and Emily D.
•Meet the farmer dinner (Holley and Richard of Lucky Dog) at Applewood
So I promised a pearl of insight and wisdom at the beginning of this post. Right now in my life, I feel like there is something missing that I can't put my finger on. In my conversation with Sim, I realized that what I miss is my "clan". The easiest analogy would be the characters on the show Friends. With your clan, it's never having to schedule something to do, that's unspoken. The issue is always what your group is going to do. With so many of my friends married, with kids or simply coupled off, it's always dueling calenders to even see them, let alone do something more than get together for dinner.
I'm sad about this situation, but it's the reality and perhaps it's my job to try and recreate this in some altered fashion in my SF life at this time. But the one heartening thing was that I realize that I at one point did have this in my life. Back in my "miserable" grad school years in Baltimore (93-95), the miserable part was school, but in reality I did have a "clan". The guys, Peter, Sim, Doug, Tom and co., on Wisconsin Avenue in DC, were my clan. Every weekend, I would be down there and we would be going off on some trip or having a BBQ. In retrospect, it was a truly wonderful and great time. We had no responsibilities other than work or school and it was an young adult extension of college. I miss that, but am glad that I actually did have it at one point in my life. The having had it is actually peace of mind for me.
Some final notes and pictures of non-farm fun I/Peter had while up on the pig farm. We spent the day at the Saratoga Race Track where I was amazed at the ease at which betting happened. I put $40 on a betting card and just by sticking into an ATM-like machine could bet on races throughout NY State and some in New Jersey as well. Since Peter and I both used the same card, our winnings got all jumbled together but in the end (with the two horses I bet on in the last race finishing 1-2) we left with $36.90. Not bad for a day at the races.
A horse being walked to its race.
The obelisk built to memorialize the Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War.
Peter and I also attended the Washington County, NY fair. It was everything you imagined a county fair to be. Animal showings, rides and of course the food. However, the highlight for us was the DEMOLITION DERBY. It's exactly what you picture it to be. Drivers enter their cars and the last one moving is the winner. The best smash-up we saw was the competition between Minivans. There were only 4 entered, so the Minivans could actually gather up some speed and get some huge crunches in. This particular round lasted over 15 minutes with the winning van rolling around on it's front rims and smoking from the engine. But it was still moving!
Answer: The name of the bar is called Dirty Frank's. You will notice that each picture has the name Frank associated with it. There was even a second wall with more Frank pictures that I didn't include.
My first stop was visiting Andy V., friend from Geology. Three years ago, I came through Niskayuna (a suburb of Albany) and hung out with his three children. Only the oldest remembered me. Andy invited his friend John who I met 13 years ago in Philadelphia and his wife. We ate out of Andy's new, self-built deck and then played and wicked game of Presidents.
I then drove to Vermont to visit my former adviser (and still life-adviser) Anne S. Sadly, her husband Dave has succumbed to a brutal brain deterioration disease much like Alzheimers. However, because he suffered a mass brain trauma, much like a stroke, he has also lost some bodily control as well. In short, David doesn't engage or emote. Anne and I chatted at some length about the pain of essentially losing a spouse but still having to physically take care of him. The ONE saving grace about the entire situation is that David appears to have no idea that he is a changed person. From what I know of Alzheimers, those sufferers do have moments of lucidity and know that they are changing.
While in Vermont:
•A visit to the state capital in Montpelier
•Dinner and Ed and Curtis K's in Brookfield
•Visit to Thistle Hill Cheese
The next stop was Topsfield, MA to visit Catherine, Joe and their son Leo. Catherine and I took a jaunt to Newburyport and a nice day in Gloucester and Halibut State Park on the tip of Cape Ann. While in Gloucester, I wanted to take a tour of the Gorton's fish processing center. However, according to the headquarters, it isn't open to the public. My immediate suspicion is that the company must import it's fish from China!!
After a day in Topsfield, I returned the rental car to Logan Airport and met Jeff O. at his office which is in the same building as the Federal Reserve of Boston. We had dinner at an Indian restaurant in Davis Square and then spent the evening howling at a Japanese TV show Ninja Warrior, which has contestants work their way through ever increasing obstacle courses.
The next day, I visited the JFK presidential library. I found it to be quite skimpy on the events of his tenure. It simply skipped any mention of the Bay of Pigs but glorified JFK's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After paying $15 to the Fung Wah Bus company, affectionately known as the Chinatown Bus, I landed in NYC for a long 4 day weekend. After truly falling in love with NYC last summer, I continued my "I HEART NEW YORK" love affair.
However, I did make a trip to Philadelphia to visit a former student who has done a wonderful job of staying in touch. While in Philadelphia...
•Lunch at Delilah's in Reading Terminal Market
•Visit Peilin's office
•Bench sitting in Rittenhouse Square
At the end of the Philadelphia day, Jim J. picked me up and we went to the Raven in New Hope, PA to meet up with friends and I stayed the night at Lawrenceville.
Back in NYC, I met up with Ian M. and we saw the musical, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The musical was enjoyable, however, I realized that I am not as entranced by those musicals in which the songs are simply just singing the lyrics. Productions like Mamma Mia or Jersey Boys, granted the songs were written before the musicals were created, are songs. Even older musicals, such as my favorite Oklahoma have songs, not just sung dialogue.
A weekend in New York City....
•Dinner and drinks with Evan B. and his friend Jimmy
•Dinner with Sim and his girlfriend at a French restaurant on Atlantic Ave.
•Frog Exhibit at Museum of Natural History with Gayle A. and her sister
•United Nations tour with Gayle A. and her sister
•Dinner at Fred's in the Barney's store (get it?) with Jennifer C.
•A morning with the NY Times and a bagel on the Brooklyn Promenade
•Filming of a field hockey scene from episode 3 of the CW's Gossip Girls
•Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
•Shopping in Soho
•An afternoon in Washington Square Park
•Drinks with Evan B. and Emily D.
•Meet the farmer dinner (Holley and Richard of Lucky Dog) at Applewood
So I promised a pearl of insight and wisdom at the beginning of this post. Right now in my life, I feel like there is something missing that I can't put my finger on. In my conversation with Sim, I realized that what I miss is my "clan". The easiest analogy would be the characters on the show Friends. With your clan, it's never having to schedule something to do, that's unspoken. The issue is always what your group is going to do. With so many of my friends married, with kids or simply coupled off, it's always dueling calenders to even see them, let alone do something more than get together for dinner.
I'm sad about this situation, but it's the reality and perhaps it's my job to try and recreate this in some altered fashion in my SF life at this time. But the one heartening thing was that I realize that I at one point did have this in my life. Back in my "miserable" grad school years in Baltimore (93-95), the miserable part was school, but in reality I did have a "clan". The guys, Peter, Sim, Doug, Tom and co., on Wisconsin Avenue in DC, were my clan. Every weekend, I would be down there and we would be going off on some trip or having a BBQ. In retrospect, it was a truly wonderful and great time. We had no responsibilities other than work or school and it was an young adult extension of college. I miss that, but am glad that I actually did have it at one point in my life. The having had it is actually peace of mind for me.
Some final notes and pictures of non-farm fun I/Peter had while up on the pig farm. We spent the day at the Saratoga Race Track where I was amazed at the ease at which betting happened. I put $40 on a betting card and just by sticking into an ATM-like machine could bet on races throughout NY State and some in New Jersey as well. Since Peter and I both used the same card, our winnings got all jumbled together but in the end (with the two horses I bet on in the last race finishing 1-2) we left with $36.90. Not bad for a day at the races.
Peter and I also attended the Washington County, NY fair. It was everything you imagined a county fair to be. Animal showings, rides and of course the food. However, the highlight for us was the DEMOLITION DERBY. It's exactly what you picture it to be. Drivers enter their cars and the last one moving is the winner. The best smash-up we saw was the competition between Minivans. There were only 4 entered, so the Minivans could actually gather up some speed and get some huge crunches in. This particular round lasted over 15 minutes with the winning van rolling around on it's front rims and smoking from the engine. But it was still moving!
Answer: The name of the bar is called Dirty Frank's. You will notice that each picture has the name Frank associated with it. There was even a second wall with more Frank pictures that I didn't include.
1 comment:
Yup,it's true. When we think back on the misery that was J's residency, what we think of now are all the friends we had around us. In any case, we should try to appreciate the NOW. One day I'm sure we'll look back and think of how good it was.
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