11/20/21: Roosevelt Island

Christine has reconnected with a friend from college, Joe Aboulafia, who is moving from Long Island to Roosevelt Island. Joe’s partner of 43 years died last year and Joe has been wanting to move back to the city. They had lived in and around Manhattan but had moved out to Long Island several years ago. Joe decided to rent an apartment on Roosevelt Island. We had arranged to meet Joe at his new apartment and then tour around the island. Unfortunately, Joe called early in the morning to say that he was ill and wasn’t up to meeting us. After a long phone conversation hearing about his challenges in getting furnishings to his apartment and the difficulty in going through everything in his house in preparation for the move, we decided that we would go spend the day on Roosevelt Island anyway and give Joe updates on what we were doing and seeing so he could enjoy our visit vicariously.

We had never been to Roosevelt Island but I certainly did look at the island a lot when Christine was at New York Presbyterian Hospital after her aneurysm rupture. Her room in the neuro ICU had a large picture window looking out across the East River to Roosevelt Island. So off we went for a day of adventure on Roosevelt Island.

New York Presbyterian Hospital as seen from Roosevelt Island

We walked up 2nd Ave. to the tram station at 59th St. The tram goes back and forth across the East River suspended from cables.

The tram car can hold up to 125 passengers and the 2 cars that cross back and forth make about 115 trips per day. It takes only a few minutes to make the crossing. The views are great during the crossing. In the photo below Manhattan is on the left and Roosevelt Island is on the right.

East River from the tram

Once on Roosevelt Island we took advantage of the red bus that drives around the island so we could see what there was to explore. This red bus is a free ride around the island used by residents and tourists alike. Roosevelt Island is only 2 miles long and about 800 feet wide but there is a whole lot to explore.

Here’s some information about the island taken from a National Park website. Blackwell’s Island, now known as Roosevelt Island, has a deep connection to disability and incarceration. For much of the early 1900s, New Yorkers nicknamed the island Welfare Island after the asylums, prisons, and almshouses that were built there. While most of the buildings have long since fallen into disrepair, the ruins are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The dilapidated structures are also listed as a New York City Landmark, and they are the only ruins in New York City to be a local Landmark. This unique designation points to the social and historical significance of this island. 

New York City purchased the East River island in 1828. In 1832, a penitentiary was built on the island. This physically isolated prisoners from the city and from the mainland. However, prisoners were not the only inmates on Blackwell’s Island. Nineteenth century Blackwell’s Island was also home to a complex of workhouses, a general hospital, an almshouse, a hospital for “incurables,” and —for a time— a smallpox hospital. At the time, the word “incurables” referred to people with chronic or severe conditions that were not likely to be cured. These individuals, many with mental or physical disabilities, may have had trouble caring for themselves at home. In 1839, seven years after the penitentiary opened, the New York City Lunatic Asylum, first in the city, began accepting patients at Blackwell’s Island. 

Historically, the island was used to isolate those who society did not want to see. In 1973, the island was named after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who lived with polio throughout his life. In renaming the island after President Roosevelt, New York has made strides in honoring disability history. People with disabilities have often been forced into poverty, prisons, or hospitals in our country’s history. Nonetheless, people with disabilities, like President Roosevelt have lived and worked in many places, and they have played an important role in building American history. 

The first place we visited was The Octagon, a luxury apartment complex that was built on the site of the Roosevelt Island Lunatic Asylum. The Octagon tower is an historic building built in 1841 that served as the main entrance to the hospital. The hospital was closed in 1955 and the building fell into decay. The tower, however, has been salvaged and renovated and incorporated into a very swanky luxury apartment complex.

We went into the lobby of the Octagon and found a bunch of old photos exhibited which added to our education about things on the island.

We then headed to the northern tip of the island to see the Roosevelt Island lighthouse. Joe had told us about the Girl Puzzle Monument in recognition of Nellie Bly. Bly had gone undercover as a patient in the Lunatic Asylum to learn about the terrible, snake pit conditions and poor treatment of the patients in the asylum. Nellie Bly wrote about what she experienced and saw in a book titled Ten Days in a Mad-House. Bly is an important figure in women’s rights advocacy among many other things. The Girl Puzzle name of the monument comes from an article Bly wrote bearing that title about how divorce affects women and that the divorce laws need to be reformed. Bly had landed her first job at the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper after writing a response to a column in the paper, a misogynistic piece titled What Girls are Good For (birthing babies and keeping house) appearing in the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper. The editor of the paper was impressed by the rebuttal and offered Nellie Bly, pen name of Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a job.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get very close to either the lighthouse or the Girl Puzzle monument due to construction. The lighthouse is being renovated and there were fences up all around the monument. The major pieces of the monument are five, giant seven-foot tall bronze faces representing different women, including a portrait of Nellie Bly. Each of the four other faces are rendered in partial sections to make them appear as puzzle pieces but also to show the depth of emotions of being broken and repaired. There are also 3 large stainless steel spheres within the walkway, representing different stages of Bly’s life and career. I had to take photos through the chain link fence, so the entire monument is not well represented here.

Nellie Bly Girl Puzzle monument

It was such a nice day that we decided to forego the red bus and walk. Roosevelt Island is a wonderful place. Some 14,000 plus people reside on the island in high rise buildings (mostly on the northern end and central parts of the island), but one gets a very nice neighborhood feeling. What I really liked is the number of green spaces and trees everywhere, especially beautiful sycamore trees. There are parks and playgrounds everywhere. Even though you are amidst tall buildings, it had a communal feeling that was really quite laid back – very different than across the river in midtown Manhattan. The diversity in the residential population was really great with all types of people. Main St. runs through the middle of the island and there is a commercial district, but the feeling still is of a lovely neighborhood. On the northern end of the island near Lighthouse Park is a very large rehab and nursing facility which came about by a merger of two chronic care hospitals that were located there. Although the Coler Rehab and Nursing Care Center looks a bit drab, it apparently has a great reputation and provides good care to its residents.

We spotted some sculptures in the river during our walk titled the Marriage of Money and Real Estate. It consists of three bronze sculptures: one of a coin being attacked by what seems to be an anthropomorphized moneybag coming out of the mouth of a man in a top hat, one of a house in a skirt being attacked by a lobster with a dollar sign on its face, and one of the house and coin joined in a happy marriage. It’s meant to symbolize the struggle of wealth inequality in the city.

Joe had made reservations for lunch at a place called Granny Annie’s Bar and Kitchen, and we went there for lunch. The food was very good, but we were seated in a small side room where there was a group of about 8 young women who were very loud. It was impossible for us to carry on our own conversation.

After lunch we headed south and walked through the Cornell Tech campus. What an amazing campus! All new beautiful glass buildings. It is a world-class tech destination. A brochure says this: Cornell Tech is a revolutionary model for graduate education that fuses technology with business and creative thinking. Cornell Tech brings together like-minded faculty, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and students in a catalytic environment to produce visionary ideas grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live.

After walking through the tech campus we came to the FDR Hope Memorial.

FDR Hope Memorial

Christine stopped to talk with two dance performers who were having some photography and filming done. Christine is now on the board of the American Dance Asylum, an organization that helps distribute funding for dance, so of course she wanted to get information about these performers in case there was an opportunity to assist them in acquiring funding.

Christine with dance performers

A little further south we came to the ruins of the small pox hospital. Eventually, the ruins may be renovated. The architect of the hospital was James Renwick, who was the architect for many, many famous buildings including the Smithsonian and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The smallpox hospital was opened in 1856.

At the southern tip of the island is the FDR Four Freedoms State Park. This commemorates FDR’s 1941 State of the Union address. Roosevelt announced his vision for the world, “a world attainable in our own time and generation,” and founded upon four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. I stupidly didn’t take a photo of the park, but below is one I lifted from the internet.

FDR Four Freedoms Park

I was too busy looking at the Manhattan skyline and taking photos of it so I never took pictures in the park. In the photo below I got the United Nations, the Empire State Building (needle in the background) and the Chrysler Building.

Manhattan skyline

We finished our day on Roosevelt Island sitting on a bench along the river and just taking in the scenery. We eventually walked back to the tram station and returned to midtown and our hotel. It was a great day of exploration and we both think that Joe will be happy living on Roosevelt Island and hope that he works things out to successfully move into his new apartment. Roosevelt Island is a very interesting place and just a 5-minute tram ride away from Manhattan Island. And we will look forward to visiting Joe there in the future.

And to keep Joe vicariously with us during this wonderful day, I’m posting a photo of us with Joe when we had lunch at Tavern on the Green in November of 2019. He’s actually a foot taller than in this photo where he’s hunched over with us so our heads are kind of lined up. Thanks, Joe, for a great day on Roosevelt Island!

With Joe in November, 2019

We had an uneventful drive back to Binghamton and returned home early afternoon on Sunday, Nov. 21. It’s always nice to be back home. This is likely our last adventure until next spring. We’re scheduled for a riverboat cruise from Amsterdam to Switzerland, but with the reemergence of COVID in Europe and lock downs returning in many countries, I’m a bit skeptical that we’ll actually go. This trip was canceled last April due to COVID. If we go we hope after the riverboat to do some touring in Italy and then end up in Malta. Time will tell if this will happen, but if it does, you’ll read about it here.

Have a wonderful holiday season, dear readers!

11/19/2021: Treasures

We have a lunch date today, but why waste a morning in NYC, so we headed out for a walk around the area. The hotel is just a couple of blocks from the Chrysler Building, my favorite building in the city. We walked along the street craning our necks to look at all the cool features on the outside of the building.

The Chrysler Building

Sadly, you can’t go up in the building, but it is amazing just to look at. A couple of fun facts – it remains the tallest brick building (3.8 million bricks were manually laid) with a steel structure in the world. At its completion in 1930 it was the tallest building in the world. It is a paragon of the Art Deco style and has many fantastic features. There are about 50 metal ornaments at the corners reminiscent of gargoyles, however, many of these were created to be like radiator caps or hood ornaments and so many of the ornaments are called “cargoyles,” as Walter Chrysler wanted to pay homage to the automobile. There are hubcap and fender designs in parts of the facade and the beautiful stainless steel crown at the top is shaped rather like spokes of a wheel. The whole structure is quite marvelous.

We then went in to the Grand Central Terminal, another amazing building. What we learned is that Jackie Kennedy Onassis was instrumental in saving the terminal from demolition in the 1970s. Through her efforts a preservation group was formed and they worked tirelessly to lobby city and state politicians and to procure funding to save the building and renovate it. I’m so glad they did.

Massive windows in the terminal
Grand Central Terminal with Chrysler building

We then walked down 5th Ave. to the New York Public Library, another wonderful building.

Christine by NYPL lion named Fortitude

The two lions guarding the library do have names, Patience and Fortitude. Just behind Fortitude is the newly renovated fountain in front of the Truth sculpture.

Truth statue and fountain

The engraving above the figure says, ” But above all things Truth beareth away the victory. ” I’ll steal some words from an article I read about this quote. “It’s almost as if the library is gently reminding visitors that it’s in the truth-business and since truth is the most powerful thing in the world, if you just stop in and look around, you’re bound to come out a winner.” These words, I think, are especially meaningful during these times in the country. We need a lot more people seeking the truth.

A sign in front of the library advertised an exhibition in the library, Treasures, a great theme for today as we just visited the 2 building treasures above.

Christine by Treasures sign

The NYPL owns 56 million items and has a vast collection of treasures. For more than 125 years, the NYPL has collected, preserved, and made accessible the world’s knowledge to foster greater understanding of both the past and the present. The objects in this exhibit are treasured for their rich significance. The items tell stories of people, places, and moments spanning 4,000 years.

I was intrigued by a paper toy made in 1825. The paper was folded like an accordion and the drawings inside the folds could be viewed through cutouts in the front panel. This particular item showed images of the London underground tunnel.

For New Yorker magazine lovers, read this prospectus written by founding editor Harold Ross in 1924. A lady in Dubuque might take issue with what he said.

Founding editor prospectus from 1924

A real treasure was the actual bear and his friends owned by Christopher Robin Milne. Millions have treasured Winnie the Pooh.

Pooh and friends

I wish we had had more time to explore this exhibition, but our lunch date time was nearly upon us so we walked back to the hotel to await our pickup.

Christine’s cousin Roseanne and her husband Danny were taking us to lunch. The Malones live in Brooklyn and we have maintained a connection to them, often getting together during our annual doctor visit trips to NYC. They are great people and we so enjoy getting together with them. We went to a Greek restaurant called Kyma in the Gramercy/Flatiron district on W. 18th St. Gramercy is an area I would like to explore more; it’s really beautiful without the feel of being in Manhattan.

Lunch was great and we talked, and talked, and talked. We were at the restaurant over 3 hours, the second to last customers to leave as the staff was setting up for dinner service. Roseanne and Danny have 3 kids and now 3 grandchildren. They provide daycare for two of the grandkids and they are having a ball being grandparents. Danny retired from NYU where he did something in IT, I think. Roseanne is a retired nurse having done psychiatric nursing and then school nursing. Christine has many cousins in the NY/NY area, but Roseanne is really the only one with whom she is close. Roseanne’s mother Stella was Christine’s mother Rose’s sister. I have happily acquired Roseanne and Danny as my cousins now and I feel part of their family. They are wonderful, wonderful people and we love them a lot.

Danny and Roseanne

They returned us to our hotel, a very nice thing. Since Danny used to drive into the city everyday to work, he is a master at navigating NYC traffic. I guess you learn how to stay calm and in control over time, but it sure is scary at times with cars and trucks and buses all trying to change lanes and merge into the lane where you are. And the idiots who lay on the horn just because they aren’t moving really drive me crazy. At any rate, we got to the hotel and said our goodbyes. What a great couple they are, treasured cousins.

So treasures is a great descriptive term for the things we saw and did today.

11/18/2021: Great News, Then Immersive Art

Christine sees her doctor in New York City for an annual visit to check her aneurysms. I refer to this as Christine getting her head examined. She gets an MRA exam late morning and then sees Dr. Gobin for the results in the afternoon. Her appointment was for 11/18/21 and so we planned a couple day trip to NYC.

We left home at about 7:00 a.m. I was so surprised to have a very foggy drive nearly all the way to the city. We traveled NY Route 17 along the Delaware River. It’s not unusual to have fog along the river, but we were in pea soup even away from the river. It made for a bit of a tense drive with poor visibility. But we got to the city in plenty of time to get Christine to her MRA appointment.

While she was having her test, I went off to find a subway station to purchase MetroCards. We were going to travel by public bus later in the day and I wanted to be prepared. I had to wander around a little to find a station since the map I was using was incorrect about a station at 42nd and 2nd Ave. But I found a station a few blocks away and successfully purchased MetroCards. We haven’t always had good experiences with machines and ticketing, so I was very happy to have MetoCards in hand.

I walked back to a small outdoor seating area across the street from the MRA location and shortly Christine arrived. We bought smoothies from a food truck and sat in the sun along York Ave. having lunch and enjoying our smoothies. I love people watching and this was an excellent spot to do just that. We then strolled around a few blocks and then made our way to Dr. Gobin’s office.

Kimberly, Dr. Gobin’s nurse practitioner, met with us. Unfortunately, Dr. Gobin scrubbed in to an operation and wouldn’t be seeing us. We love Dr. Gobin and were sad to not see him, but we also love Kim and we had a wonderful chat with her. She gave us the great news that all Christine’s aneurysms are very stable; no change since last year. Her coiled aneurysm is holding up well, the larger aneurysm hasn’t grown at all, and a very tiny aneurysm is inconsequential and hasn’t changed. So we were very, very happy to receive that news. I do dread waiting for the results of the MRA and the what to do question if something has grown. But I don’t have to think about that for another year.

Then off we went to check in to our hotel, the Hampton Inn Manhattan Grand Central. It’s on 43rd St. near 2nd Ave. It only took a few minutes to get our car out of parking and get to the hotel. The bad thing about a car in NYC is the parking and the huge expense for parking. Hilton had a room plus parking deal and so the parking fee was included. That meant one in and one out, so we had to rely on other forms of transportation to get us around the city.

After resting a while in the hotel room, we then headed out for our adventure to see the Immersive Van Gogh exhibition at Pier 36. Christine had said a few weeks ago that she was interested in the show so we booked tickets. After studying buses and subways, we decided that the bus would get us the closest to Pier 36, which was all the way down at the southern tip of Manhattan. We rode the M15-SBS bus down 2nd Ave. and then over to Allen St. where we got off at Hester St. We then had about a 20 minute walk from there. The walk was great because we were in a part of the city that was interesting. We passed through actual neighborhoods, some in Chinatown, some in the Lower East Side. It was a lovely stroll.

We arrived at Pier 36 where we had to show proof of vaccination, had our handbags searched, needed to show ID and had our tickets examined at least 3 times. The popularity of the show is amazing, but precautions are obviously taken to ensure the safety of everyone.

So what is the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibition? It is an awe-inspiring journey into the incomparable universe of Van Gogh, one of the greatest artistic geniuses of the 19th century. It’s a way to explore his life, his work, and his secrets as never before through cutting-edge 360 degree digital projections, a one-of-a-kind VR experience, and a uniquely atmospheric light and sound show. This exhibition completely immerses you in the works of art around you, and you feel a shift in reality as you dive deep into the world created by Van Gogh’s brush strokes.

Van Gogh portrait

Pier 36 offers 75,000 square feet of space. The art is projected on 50 ft. tall walls, and sometimes floor, and is constantly moving. There were 3 rooms showing the same projections, but each room was different because in 2 of the rooms there were clusters of mirrors, or mirrored sculptures that also reflected the projections.

We were sitting against the wall in one room and it was so cool to also see through the doorway into the largest room.

Looking into another room

Van Gogh’s works burst forth in some instances or quietly emerged in others, but the constant incredible movement of the artwork that was almost dizzying. The sound track greatly enhanced the experience and I really loved the music. Luca Longobardi composed much of the music.

This painting is one of my favorites. I think it looks a lot like a bridge in Binghamton with its series of arches.

Seine-Bridge at Asnieres

Most of the time you just couldn’t believe your eyes. The paintings were so alive with movement and you were surrounded, literally immersed into the paintings.

These two videos, which will probably take a long time to load for your viewing, show just two snippets of what the immersive experience was like. There was constant movement of the artwork, and the music really helped convey the mood of what was being projected. (I’m not sure that the videos will play for you; the size exceeds what I can upload, but I hope they will eventually show – sorry if you are not able to view.)

One of the things that Van Gogh did to keep painting into the night was to place lighted candles on his hat brim. I found this to be extraordinary.

Candles on hat brim

Vincent Van Gogh certainly was an interesting person, plagued with mental illness but incredibly productive in his short art career. In just 10 years he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterized by bold colors and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, eventually leading to his suicide at age thirty-seven. He painted 72 paintings during his final 70 days and then shot himself in the chest. The connection between madness and creativity is often a strong one, and in Van Gogh’s case, was quite intertwined. I have a greater appreciation for him, both the man and the artist.

After our wonderful experience at Immersive Van Gogh, we walked back to where I thought was a bus stop to take us back to the hotel. I was concerned that there was not a ticket machine there, not knowing that in the absence of a receipt from a ticket machine, we could just scan our MetroCards on the bus, we set off to look for another bus stop. It was a wonderful night with nearly a full moon, so the walk was actually quite nice.

Chrysler Building at night

We ended up near where we got off the bus and saw a pizza place, where we got slices to eat sitting outside the shop. We then found a bus stop with a ticket machine and we boarded the bus back to the hotel.

All in all, a really great day. I’m so happy about the MRA results and I’m happy Christine wanted to see the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. It was a terrific experience.

11/07-08/2021: Final Days with Deeny

After our wonderful Selby Garden visit on Saturday, we opted to hang out at Deeny’s on Sunday. We were enjoying not having someplace to go. Later in the afternoon Deeny’s brother and sister-in-law, George and Lorraine, stopped by. We had visited them briefly shortly after our arrival. We got to know George and Lorraine during a hospitalization that Deeny had about 8 or 9 years ago. We had planned a visit prior to an Olivia cruise we were taking. We met them at the hospital and then they picked us up and took us to see the house they were building. The Plantations is a very large development that has numerous smaller communities. Deeny lives just 5 minutes from George and Lorraine and so it works out well with them being close. It was nice to spend a bit of time with George and Lorraine.

Sunday evening we stayed in and had a smorgasbord of all the food we’ve either cooked or brought home from meals out. We certainly have not wanted for food while we’ve been here. We watched the PBS shows Call the Midwife and Grantchester and had a nice evening.

Monday Christine and I went for a walk around the community across the road from Deeny’s. We love looking at all the vegetation and trees and seeing how folks decorate their houses. I put my LeafSnap app to work to identify a couple of plants.

There are so many varieties of palms in Florida. These are a row of beautiful trees in the median along the street behind Deeny’s house.

Palms near Deeny’s

After our walk Deeny got out the Scrabble game. As I said, it was Scrabble that brought Deeny and Christine together and was the beginning of a 63-year friendship. One can feel truly blessed to have such a long-term friendship.

Monday afternoon we again went to the beach. It was a beautiful day and a pleasure to be at the beach. The temperature was mid-70s with a light breeze. There was a bit more surf today, but there were warnings of strong rip tides so we didn’t go too far from shore when Christine and I swam, but at least we did get in to the Gulf. It was heavenly.

Another great afternoon at the beach

To celebrate the end of our visit, we went to Sharky’s for dinner. It’s just at the end of the pier so we didn’t have to go far from our spot on the beach. It’s a great place to kick back and enjoy the sunset and have a great dinner. And it is a tradition to eat there with Deeny.

Deeny at Sharky’s

And we enjoyed a wonderful sunset. Although there were no clouds to give the sunset more color, nonetheless, it was a beautiful sunset.

Sunset
Venus near waxing moon

And so, our time with Deeny was coming to an end. We had a great visit and enjoyed being together. Tuesday morning we will go to Sarasota airport for our flight to Detroit via Atlanta. We will spend the night in Detroit Tuesday and then fly home to Binghamton on Wednesday.

We took one last photo prior to our departure from Deeny’s.

Three good friends!

Thank you, Deeny, for a wonderful visit. We hope to see you again soon.

11/06/2021: Marie Selby Botanical Garden

Friday, 11/05/21, was a chilly, dreary, rainy day and so we mostly stayed in. Deeny had a lab test in the morning and went off to that, but returned shortly. After that, we talked and talked and shared information and things with each other. In mid-afternoon Christine took Deeny clothes shopping. They returned before dinner with a couple of new tops and a pair of pants for Deeny and fixings for a baked shrimp dish that I was making for dinner. After dinner we watched an episode of Vera. I helped Deeny get Acorn TV installed on her TV and we’re practicing accessing the shows on Acorn and then getting back to regular TV.

Saturday started out kind of gloomy, but did turn into a lovely day, albeit very breezy and somewhat chilly. But it was a great day for a trip to Marie Selby Botanical Garden. We’ve been several times, both with my father and Shirley, and with Deeny. It is a favorite activity and no matter how many times we go, there are many, many wonderful things to see. And readers of this blog know how much Christine and I love gardens. So get prepared for way too many photos.

There was an orchid show going on in the conservatory; however, I didn’t think there were as many showy orchids as in past visits. Deeny thought that possibly the show was showcasing more exotic, little known orchids, and there were certainly orchids I have never seen before. But who doesn’t like orchids, no matter the variety. I’m going to try my hand with orchids. Our friends gave us some orchids for our anniversary last February, and after enjoying the beautiful blooms, I apparently killed the plants. Deeny has been sharing her knowledge of orchid care with me, including giving me a book, so our visit to Selby has stirred an increased interest in orchids.

The lady slipper orchids are especially interesting and beautiful.

Here are a couple of photos of the weirdest orchids we saw.

There was also quite a collection of carnivorous plants, those that eat insects and even, surprisingly, mice. One reason for the largest pitcher plants to eat mice and other small rodents, we learned, is because they need the minerals coming from the bones.

In addition to beautiful orchids, there are vast numbers of bromeliads, and ferns, and palms. Everywhere one looks throughout the 15-acre garden is something beautiful and/or interesting.

I am a touchy visitor to gardens. I like to touch plants, leaves, bark, etc. I am fascinated by patterns and textures, so I don’t need to always be wowed by flowers. I can enjoy all parts of a plant and want to know more about how a plant “works.” I somehow became aware of an app that I downloaded called LeafSnap. Now you’ll notice that most of these photos contain both genus and/or common names because I upload a photo of a plant (leaf, flower, fruit or bark) and the app will identify the plant for me and provide a nice description of the plant and send me to other sources of information.

Here are some texture and pattern photos.

There’s a wonderful koi pond. These koi are huge! But it is a very peaceful place to sit, listen to the waterfall, and enjoy the surroundings.

Koi pond
Egret reflections

We had a nice lunch in the cafe at the garden and then Christine bought Deeny an orchid on the way out through the garden shop. I saw the orchid below and wished I could have purchased it and taken it home. I really found it to be a delicate, exquisite orchid.

An exquisite Dendrobium

It was a great visit to Selby Garden!

We then went into Venice to wander around the very large art show going on down the main thoroughfare of Venice. There were so many booths set up displaying everything from paintings to pottery to jewelry to crafts to wood carvings. I’m glad the weather turned fine for the art show. There were lots and lots of people attending this outdoor event.

We rested back home for a bit and then went back into Venice for dinner at the Thai Bistro. We had a great dinner. Back home we watched a few episodes of Doc Martin on Acorn TV. We all enjoy Doc Martin. Deeny popped us popcorn, so it was like we were at the movies.

So, another wonderful day with Deeny doing the things that we love to do with Deeny.

11/03-04/2021: A Beach Day and a Great Visit

Wednesday was a great weather day for a trip to the beach. Before our arrival, the Venice weather had been unbearably hot, like it was during our Tulum week. But since we’ve been here, the temperatures have dropped a little to the mid-to-upper-70s so it is much more comfortable. Every trip to visit Deeny we’ve had a beach day near the Venice Pier, and this visit was no different.

Lovely day at the beach

It was lovely, and sunny, and a little breezy. We set up close to the water and really enjoyed ourselves. The gulf was very calm.

I took a long walk on the beach, always enjoyable. We have bowlfuls of shells at home collected over the years, but who can resist picking up a few more to take home. When I got back to our spot Christine was in the water and so I joined her. It was lovely, but I wished there were some waves. I really enjoy jumping waves. But nevertheless, swimming in the Gulf was great. Christine stayed in the water for quite a while and was chatting with someone. Christine always strikes up a conversation with someone wherever she is. Another pleasure at the beach is watching children play in the sand and along the shoreline. We watched some very active children and could feel ourselves smiling and enjoying their play.

At the land end of the pier is the famous Sharky’s Restaurant. Although we didn’t have a meal there today, we will before we leave next week, always a favorite place.

Sharky’s on the Pier

For Thursday Christine arranged a visit with a friend, Meryl Blackman, who lives about 90 minutes north of Venice in St. Pete’s Beach. We drove up late Thursday morning, going across the beautiful Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

We stopped and picked up fabulous deli sandwiches from La Casa de Pane, a real Italian bakery and deli. We arrived at Meryl’s and had a wonderful visit and lunch with her and her mother Sally. Christine and Meryl’s connection is via the American Dance Asylum and they have known each other since the mid-1970s. They were involved with the ADA with Bill T. Jones, Arnie Zane and Lois Welk. It was funny to hear from Meryl that just coincidentally she got a phone call from Lois this morning. Must be the dancer’s ESP that told Lois that two other dancer friends were getting together today. Christine and Meryl reconnected a few years ago when the ADA had a reunion in Binghamton.

Meryl moved to the same condominium development as her parents a few years ago. She was in the neighboring building. Her father died in 2019, I think, and so she has been helping her mother. Sally had a health event that caused her to need additional care so Meryl asked her to move in with her, so they sold Sally’s apartment. They are both happy with the arrangement. Meryl also has a very cute dog, a Havanese, Maya.

Meryl has a beautiful apartment with a wonderful view. Deeny said she’d never get anything done if she lived there; all she would do would be look out at the view. I’d be the same. Meryl said they often see dolphins playing out across the bay.

It was really great spending some time with Meryl and Sally. Meryl is such an interesting woman. She’s been an activist and community organizer for many issues and is incredibly smart and knowledgeable about so many things. Deeny enjoyed meeting Meryl and we hope that they will stay in touch.

After our drive home, I was ready for a little walk so Christine and I walked around Deeny’s community. I had heard some birds cackling and, thinking that they might be sand hill cranes, we set off in search of these birds. All of a sudden we saw this huge bird fly close by and it had a fish hanging down from its talons. I was shocked to see that the bird was a bald eagle. I never in a million years would have thought I’d see a bald eagle in Florida, but there it was. Unfortunately, cellphone zoom photos aren’t very clear, but here’s a couple of photos.

We watched the eagle for a while as it had its snack. Eventually, I think it was bothered by me being close to the tree, it moved off to another area. It was quite an incredible sight. Later, Deeny said that she one saw an eagle in her yard while she was sitting in the house which shocked her.

We did see a group of 4 sand hill cranes fly but I didn’t get a photo. We saw a heron sitting on a neighbors roof.

Heron on neighboring house

We also noted a type of palm tree that fascinated me. Upon returning home I did a little research and learned that it was a Christmas palm. What makes it so striking is the huge bunches of fruit that it grows. This fruit turns bright red in the winter, looking like a cluster of red bulbs. And Deeny showed me that she has a Christmas palm near her front door. In the past Deeny has lopped off the bunches of fruit while they were green because the fallen fruit causes a mess. Now that she knows that the fruit will turn red, she’s going to leave the fruit clusters on the palm this year and hope for a nice Christmas decoration.

Deeny’s house

It’s been a lovely 2 days. Friday’s forecast is for rain, so I think we may be having a lull day and not plan any activities.

11/02/2021: Pottery, Garden and Music

Today we engaged in two fantastic activities and had a wonderful time during each.

The first was a visit to a friend of Deeny’s. Deeny is a potter who has a wonderful collection of work created over the years as well as pieces collected from other potters. Christine said she loves looking in Deeny’s cupboard because there are so many wonderful plates, cups, bowls and other things to choose from. In her teaching and involvement in the pottery world Deeny has established a great friendship with Slavka Pacherova, another potter. We visited Slavka at her studio which is housed in part of a garage on the property where she and her partner Todd live. Todd is a landscape architect and over the years has created an incredible oasis on their property. So in addition to visiting the studio to see Slavka’s incredible work we got a tour of the garden.

Slavka in her studio

Slavka does beautiful work, so creative and intricate.

In addition to beautiful artistic pots she makes pots for plant hangers. These are really cute because they often have clay frogs hanging from the side of the pots. She had a bunch of the plant pots drying on a table.

These pots become plant hangers.

Slavka also creates great garden totems.

Slavka had some pieces sitting in her kiln ready for firing.

We so enjoyed seeing Slavka’s studio and some of her beautiful work. She then toured us around her garden which was a paradise. In a relatively small space there were many areas, kind of like different rooms for sitting and enjoying the abundance of nature around.

What a joy it was for us to have Slavka share both her work and her fantastic garden. I’m so glad that Deeny has Slavka as friend and sister potter. It is very clear that they have a very special relationship.

On the way home we stopped at the famous Amish market, Detwiler’s Farm Market. We love coming to this market because the produce is always incredible. It is also a classic Amish deli and bakery. I noticed that many of the cheeses were from Pearl Valley Cheese which is a cheese factory very near Newcomerstown, Ohio where my father was born. I have made many visits to Pearl Valley to watch cheese being made and to buy great baby Swiss cheese, so I was thrilled to buy some Pearl Valley cheese.

The second fantastic activity today was dinner and a show. Deeny told us about a jazz club that she wanted to take us to. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we had a fabulous evening. We arrived at the Allegro Bistro, an Italian restaurant and quasi-nightclub. It was really quite a place with all kinds of ornamental lighting, a long bar on one side, dining tables on another side with a small stage in the corner. The place was beautiful in a rather glitzy fashion.

The bistro was founded by an Italian woman, famous in the area for her bakery and cookie-making, who wanted a venue for live music. The food was fantastic. Christine said the chicken marsala was the best she ever had.

The group performing was the Kitt Moran Quartet. Kitt Moran is quite a famous cabaret singer, being nominated for both an Emmy and a Tony. She was a lovely singer and does the classical American songbook. Her husband, Mike Moran, the keyboardists in the quartet, is a famous piano player and has had a long career in his own right.

One of the things that happens during the show is that Kitt invites other musicians to come up and perform. There was a great saxophone player, a singer, and a clarinetist who each did a couple of songs. But the most incredible performer to come up on stage was Dick Hyman, introduced as jazz royalty. Even I know the name Dick Hyman. He is a jazz virtuoso on piano. At 94, he sat right down at the keyboard and played an entire set. I was astounded to have been privileged to see and hear Dick Hyman.

Dick Hyman on keyboard

At the end of the evening’s set, the bistro’s owner, Nella Valenti, comes up on stage and belts out a couple of songs. She ends with Volare, in which we all participate. Volare was one of Christine’s mother’s favorites so Christine was touched by it.

What we didn’t know is that Deeny is acquainted with Kitt Moran through Kitt’s potter daughter Georgia. Kitt came by our table to greet Deeny and later came by again to chat. Kitt is a lovely, dynamic woman, who in addition to music, is quite an artist who paints, portraits primarily. There’s one of Kit’s paintings on the wall behind her above.

Kitt Moran with Christine and Deeny

We all loved spending the evening listening to great music and eating great food. What an incredible treat!

10/31 – 11/01/2021: Settling in at Deeny’s

After a week in Mexico we arrived at Deeny’s with a suitcase full of dirty clothes, so Sunday was spent doing laundry and taking stock of our stuff. We also spent most of the day chatting with Deeny and catching up on all the news. Deeny and I went to Publix, the big supermarket chain here in Florida, but that was probably the most productive thing that we did.

Christine met Deeny in Malta when she was 10 and they have been friends since then – 63 years. Christine’s father was a ham radio buff and Deeny was in Malta with her husband who was stationed in Malta with the U.S. Navy. Deeny was pregnant and Christine’s father would radio Deeny’s family back in upstate New York to keep them posted on Deeny’s condition and whether she had given birth. Christine was very shy and Deeny took notice of Christine’s interest in reading. She brought a Scrabble game over to the house and brought Christine out of her shell in playing Scrabble. From then on they’ve had a very special relationship. I’ve been fortunate to now be included in the friendship.

Other than hanging out and doing laundry, we went out to dinner at Captain Eddie’s, a very good seafood restaurant. We had a wonderful dinner. Our server was a very nice woman who knew Deeny from the Venice Arts Center. Her name was Giselle, and of course Christine got very interested in her as Christine’s daughter Eve’s middle name is Giselle, so Christine wanted to learn more about Giselle, our server.

Deeny and Christine

After dinner we returned home and watched all the Sunday evening PBS shows.

Monday we hung out some more. What’s really great is all the laughing we’re doing. I told Deeny I thought she was a hoot. She’s very witty and funny and we all get downright silly, but we’re having so much fun.

I am still trying to get over a bad cold and so Deeny and I went to CVS to get me cold remedy supplies. I sat up for a couple of hours during last night because I couldn’t stop coughing. I’m now armed with cough syrup, throat lozenges, and Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus. That should help.

The big activity today was visiting the Venice Area Audubon Rookery. We do this every visit and I’ll never get tired of watching all the birds swoop in to the little island in the middle of this very small lake. The area is right near a main highway behind the Venice municipal offices, not an area typically thought to be a great location for a rookery. But it is really wonderful.

World-famous Rookery
Venice Rookery

Starting about a half-hour before sunset, birds start flying in to roost for the night. During nesting season, pairs build their nests all over the vegetation on the little island in the middle of this tiny lake. Nesting won’t start until next month, but nevertheless, as birds drop down onto the vegetation there are fights for placement. The biggest birds are the Great Egrets, and they certainly go at it when someone lands on another’s turf.

Landing in another’s territory
Great egrets

When we first arrived there were only a few birds roosting, but as sunset neared more and more birds arrived.

A few egrets and a blue heron are visible

Christine and Deeny sat on a bench while I walked around the lake.

Watching the birds come to roost

Within about 30 minutes, the little island became covered in birds, mostly egrets and ibis. I really love the ibis coming in showing their black wingtips. For some reason I think of Ichabod Crane when I see an ibis in flight, all kind of gangly with their curved beaks. Some of the birds swoop around and around the island, I expect looking for the best spot. Others just plop down after making a beeline for a spot. And the sound! All grunts and growls, chirps and chatter. A real cacophony of sounds.

The photos only show one side of the island, so you can image just how many birds there are roosting when you consider the other side. It’s amazing to watch the birds coming in both as single birds or in small and large flocks.

Sunset at the rookery

The other very cool thing at the rookery is the bat houses. Several houses were installed near the lake.

Bat houses

Deeny said that the bats start leaving their houses 15 minutes after sunset. With the sun down, we were waiting for the exodus of bats. It was getting chilly and Christine had forgotten her jacket so she shared Deeny’s jacket each with an arm in a sleeve.

Sharing a jacket to keep warm

And Deeny was right. Exactly 15 minutes after the official time of sunset, the bats started dropping out of their houses and flying off to feed. One or two dropped out and flew off. It was a slow start, but eventually clusters of bats come out in a line and fly off. There are likely hundreds of bats in these house. We watched for a while and then headed back to the car for the ride home. Below is a short video of some of the bat action. It may take some time to load but it captures a little bit of the action.

Bats leaving the bat houses

A visit to the rookery is a tradition for us and each visit is a joy. It’s really a marvel that in the midst of a busy commercial area one can sit and watch a wonderful show of nature.

Dusk

10/30/2021: Off to Florida

Our departure from Dreams Tulum was relatively uneventful, except our luggage was supposed to be picked up at 5:30 a.m. Our shuttle to the airport was departing at 7:00 and we needed to be in the lobby at 6:40. At 6:15 I called the bell captain and was assured they were on the way. At 6:35, we decided to leave our room and head to the lobby with bags in tow. Fortunately, once out of the elevator from our room, we met the guy with a luggage cart heading to our room. So that worked out okay.

Our bus ride to the airport was good, faster than our trip from the airport to the resort. We arrived in plenty of time to get checked in, bags dropped, and through security. Just before security, thought, there was a pileup of people because some form about COVID exposure was required to be filled out before security. One could scan a QR code and fill out the form on line, but you had to join something to get to the form and I didn’t want to do that. Fortunately, we found 2 paper copies of the form on a table, but he printing was so tiny we had trouble reading what information was required. I guess we answered the questions because we got through the checkpoint okay.

We were keeping an eye out for my brother Grant and his partner Bob. We were looking out the window and noticed a JetBlue plane arriving at just a couple of minutes before 10:15 and we’re pretty sure that was there plane. It would have been so nice to actually see them, but at least we know they arrived safely.

Our flight from Cancun to Atlanta was fine. The Atlanta airport, on the other hand, was not fine! What a crazy messed up place. We first went through immigration, which was okay. Then we had to retrieve our luggage in order to go through customs. From there it was anyone’s guess what the next step was. Some border agent was standing in the middle of the hallway yelling instructions that were totally unclear. But we figured out that our bags had to go through a screening checkpoint and so they were dumped onto a conveyor belt. Then the guy screamed that we needed to turn around and go back the way we came, but go up the escalator. From there it was on to security. We were given TSA precheck cards, but I messed up and had my cellphone in my pocket and tripped the alarm. I had to go back through, but since I had already handed in my TSA precheck card, I was treated to the customary screening. Christine also encountered the same problem and got rather flustered since she kept saying she was TSA precheck and didn’t understand why she had to go through the regular security. It was a mess. Then we had to find the train to Terminal B. There was no signage anywhere and we wandered around until we found the train. Once in Terminal B, we started looking for a place to have a meal and after a long wander around the vendors, we settled on a panini and salad place. After eating, things seemed better, thank goodness. It was a good thing we had a 4-hour layover in Atlanta because it took us nearly 3 hours to get through everything.

Our flight to Sarasota was fine except we were in the last row of the plane which made our disembarking a very long wait. Flying along the Florida coast was pretty at night, though.

Coming into to Sarasota

We landed pretty much on time. Our friend Deeny had arranged for a driver for us and we rendezvoused with her without trouble. It was about a 45-minute drive from the Sarasota airport to Deeny’s house in Venice, Florida. The driver, Joyce, was very talkative and we talked the entire drive about travel as Joyce is a travel agent but has been driving to earn money during the pandemic. We arrived at Deeny’s place at about 10:00 p.m. after a long day of traveling.

We were very happy to see Deeny and to be “home” at her place where we’ll stay until our departure on November 9.