Saturday report

We woke up late, had a late breakfast, got in the car and drove.
We stayed on back roads and saw the Pennsylvania countryside. We went over very steep mountain passes, saw some beautiful farms. I bought some strawberries from an Amish lady on the side of the road. Wonderful ripe non-hybrid strawberries. Yum.

When the signs say "falling rock" around here they mean it. Through the mountains the side of the pavement is littered with rocks the size of oranges to watermelon size. If I was going to hitchhike I would want to be wearing a hard hat. 2150 feet elevation at the high point. The sign said that it was the highest point east of the Mississippi, but I thought I read the same claim on a road north of Asheville. It gushed rain. We found a hotel that had just been hit by lightning. We ate dinner and are settling in for the night.

Taking the back roads

We just seem to be drawn to some roads
06/02/2007 4:20p

Pennsylvania Tollbooths.

Pennsylvania REALLY likes tollbooths. If you want to drive to the corner store, you have to pay a toll. I didn't understand why the GPS (mapping) system in the Odyssey has a "minimize toll roads" option, but around here it seems to be very important. It is a little odd that the turnpikes here have the highest prices and the worst pavement with uneven, lumpy concrete that is banked backwards toward the outside of corners. I'm surprised that the two or three residents of PA that don't work for the highway department haven't written a letter to complain yet.

New Rule: NO driving on Friday afternoons.

We went into the tunnel to leave Manhattan at noon. We zipped through New Jersey 1-2-3.
We hit Pennsylvania and we hit a time warp. We were scheduled to meet George and Connie in Carlisle at 4:30. Plenty of time to go to our hotel, clean up, buy some flowers, and arrive at 4:32. We hit LOTS of traffic. There were traffic jams at every construction site even though NONE of the construction sites had ANY workers there. They started the weekend early, but I supposed that the locals are so used to stopping at these sites they would slowdown so they could catch up on their phonecalls or paperwork or something.
We would call George occassionally to tell him where we were, but he would reply with a tone that said he had been through it all before.

We had been hoping to spend some time at the Miniature museum at Roadside America (because Griff said that we HAD to), but we ran into a few delays and missed meetings with folks in Brooklyn and got a late start, but not that late.

We sat at toll plazas for 20 minutes at a time even when we were in the EZ-Pass lane.

We finally got to George and Connie's at 6:30 or so. We met their son Ed, and of course Bruce the dog. We had some stiff drinks, and great conversation. George grilled us an EXCELLENT meal which we thoroughly enjoyed. George and Connie do a lot of work with local kids from troubled homes that need some help and love. They put in a lot of effort but the results seem to be impressive. They are saving lives.

We all went out for a ride around town in George's 1966 Oldsmobile 442 convertible.
It was great. We saw a lot of historical places including the Army War College which is what rew George to the area in the first place. The college has a huge library of war documentation which George uses to write books about the civil war.

They won't be able to make it to the Muster this year, but we are going to visit them this winter in Miami, and we will be staying in Carlisle for the big car show in the fall.

We said our goodbyes and thanks and went to the hotel (the traffic was gone, whew!).
A very good evening.

Coney Island

We went to Coney Island for the LAST time. It was also our first time.

2007-05-31 Coney Island

A comment from Jenny

Jenny said...
This afternoon, I called (Momma) Mia to catch up on her Thursday afternoon off. She had an important story to share with Beth and Warren.

Yesterday at 3 pm, on the 30th, while Mia was at work, a dragonfly, a big blue one, about the size of her palm, flew into the Clinic, down the hallway and fluttered about the nurse's station. Mia held a paper bag open for the dragonfly, and he crawled in. She carried the bag out the door, and he flew away. A patient in the waiting room commented - Why, that nice nurse saved that dragonfly! - not quite understanding what had just happened. Mia was greatly moved by this experience, and was thankful that there were witnesses so she knew she wasn't hallucinating.

From MovieScreeningAndWalkToFerry...

I hung up with Mia around 3 pm and a call came in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some leaves clinging to the brick outside the window. Since I am twenty-six floors up, I leaned forward for a closer look. I asked the client if I could call him back. I fumbled with my new camera phone, without any luck. Outside my window, hanging on to the brick of the building exterior, was a giant green dragonfly. He was so big, I thought his wings were plant leaves. The green of his body seemed to be tinged with yellow, and the wings, with blue. I stopped fumbling with the silly camera phone, so I could just be there, while he was there. I took about five deep breaths. He let go and rose up, out of view. Looking at my hand now, I'm sure he was the length of my entire hand. No tall tales here, but no witnesses either.

I called Beth. A big hello, she said. Hello, Derek. Hello.

May 31, 2007 4:59 PM

The Transoms of Red Hook

Here is a site that has a picture of Jenny's door and in general has MUCH better pictures than the ones that I have been taking.

The Transoms of Red Hook (©2004-7 Midnight Fish)

Also there is an article about the Sugar Refinery that Jenny would like to keep everybody away from so that she can think about the way it was.

Mia's Dragonfly

Jenny said...
This afternoon, I called (Momma) Mia to catch up on her Thursday afternoon off. She had an important story to share with Beth and Warren. Yesterday at 3 pm, on the 30th, while Mia was at work, a dragonfly, a big blue one, about the size of her palm, flew into the Clinic, down the hallway and fluttered about the nurse's station. Mia held a paper bag open for the dragonfly, and he crawled in. She carried the bag out the door, and he flew away. A patient in the waiting room commented - Why, that nice nurse saved that dragonfly! - not quite understanding what had just happened. Mia was greatly moved by this experience, and was thankful that there were witnesses so she knew she wasn't hallucinating.I hung up with Mia around 3 pm and a call came in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some leaves clinging to the brick outside the window. Since I am twenty-six floors up, I leaned forward for a closer look. I asked the client if I could call him back. I fumbled with my new camera phone, without any luck. Outside my window, hanging on to the brick of the building exterior, was a giant green dragonfly. He was so big, I thought his wings were plant leaves. The green of his body seemed to be tinged with yellow, and the wings, with blue. I stopped fumbling with the silly camera phone, so I could just be there, while he was there. I took about five deep breaths. He let go and rose up, out of view. Looking at my hand now, I'm sure he was the length of my entire hand. No tall tales here, but no witnesses either.
I called Beth.
A big hello, she said.
Hello, Derek. Hello.

Jenny

Everett's Apartment

And then we went to Everett's impossibly small apartment with the VIEW!

Staten Island Ferry

We then went for a trip on the Staten Island Ferry. IT'S FREE NOW!
Went over. Ate lunch. Came back. Worth every penny.

New rule: try clicking on the TITLE link above (the one that says "Staten Island Ferry" to go the entire album of photos. This way I won't clog you up with photos that you don't need to see.

A Dragonfly hello

When we went to the locksmith shop so Griff could make a copy of a key for Jenny, beth and i noticed the sign across the street. It was about an hour before the three year anniversary.

Brazen Hymns

We started Wednesday (the 30th) with a private screening of one of Griff's movies: "Brazen Hymns"

User note: if this block is blank try pressing the REFRESH button on your browser once or twice (Dad, that is the icon with the little GREEN arrows next to the RED "X", no the OTHER red "X", the Red "X" on the white background, that's the one, that's called the REFRESH button. It reloads the page you are looking at with any new information that may be available.)

Back to the movie...
We liked it a lot. (I might review it later)
and then we walked to the ferry.

Derek's Spot

Three years ago...

It was exactly three years ago from now that our life imploded. i won't dwell on it, I just wanted to note it. Derek, I love you and miss you.
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Sherm said...
Yeah it has changed the way I look at this part of the year. It used to be a transition into summer fun and now it's an introspective time thinking about our kids here and gone.
That's the sad part.
The good part is that we're still faced with a new day, every day, and peeks and glimmers of hope, love, and some interesting people, too, will make it worth getting out of bed.
We’ve paid the damn dues; we might as well keep showing up, eh?
It’ll ease up; your grand adventure will certainly help.
If it doesn’t, you’ve got an interesting collection of folks to call.
June 1, 2007 6:16 AM

A little backfilling of the holes in past days...

Since I hadn't written anything for a few days I asked Beth to type in the notes that she has kept so that nobody that feels left out.
So even though they were entered after the fact, they will show up in the correct order. As I typed the previous line I realized that all documentation of what we have done during any given day would actually be entered "after the fact". hmmm. (warren)

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Sherm said...
Oh and thanks for the birthday call. I got it around 5 amm after a bleary night. Didn't do much, had a beer with breakfast and hit the skids.The little Cub is getting some attention. 90W, hydraulic oil, grease and a liberal coating of LPS-3 on anything rusty which is everything. Next I'll drill out the, AHEM!, two broken lug bolts and hang the blade underneath for some possible driveway grading. We'll see how it warms up to life on the Hill first.
June 1, 2007 6:51 AM

Greetings from Redhook!

Tuesday

Early rise. Jenny made coffee, Thanks Jenny. Warren plowing thru paper, and sorting. Break for lunch. Down to park, PBJ sandwich and a quart of milk, ahhh the good life.
A short walk and back to the apartment to work, Tent up, Tent down, it's a go.
Lots of thinking about Derek....................
Tonight plan on dinner out at local place, then off to Manhattan to see Everett's incredibly insane view from the roof........................................
can't wait..............................
beth

Beth is ready to move on,

Quote of the ...

Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off.
Build your wings on the way down.
Ray Bradbury

The sunset 10 minutes ago

The Staten Island Ferry at sunset.

Wandering with Warren column for June issue

Hello,

I am writing this while lying on the grass in a park in Brooklyn NY. There is nothing between the statue of liberty and us except water. We are on our first stop of our all-expense-paid adventure.

The streets around here are very similar to the way they were in 1915 when my Marmon was purchased by my grandfather Percy.

Many of the streets in this area are still cobblestone. Some of the intersections have had potholes develop over time. When a cobblestone street gets a pothole it is not because of ice or frost-heaves but because the bottom has dropped out beneath it. People will drop rocks, lumber and anything else into the hole to try to fill it up but it is still a significant two foot wide hole that can do major damage to 16-inch wheels. We saw one hole last night that had a traffic cone in it and the point was about level with the sidewalk. If it was raining at night the hole would be rather difficult to see.

My Marmon has powerful springs and kind of adjustable shock absorbers and VERY cushy seats. The 36-inch wheels (with 48-inch O.D. tires) can traverse a 24-inch pothole at high speed without damaging the car although a passenger might be launched. My Marmon has no windshield wipers as a safety feature to discourage rainy night driving.

This traffic moves fast! My Marmon can accelerate to seventy MPH very quickly and the large rear brakes will stop you quickly enough that it is not a very long trot back to see what you have just run over.

Blocking an intersection and then honking at everybody else seems to be a popular sport around here.

My driver's seat is the same height as a Peterbilt. I have a rugged looking spring steel bumper and I have a 12V Klaxon horn that is so loud that it can burn the paint off any car that dares to stop in front of me.

Yep, my Marmon is an ideal city car which explains why my Grandfather drove it daily to downtown Boston for many years.

Alas, for our adventure we are traveling in a mini-van that has a radio, tinted glass, and [probably] a wimpy horn.

I am invisible now. When driving the Marmon I am never invisible (except of course to the people pulling out of side streets in front of me).

I am really going to miss not driving my old jalopy this summer, so think of poor Beth and Warren driving around the countryside in a boring modern vehicle.

Fire up your old car (of any type or age) and cruise around. Be sure to wave.

Warren

bethandwarren.com

Grilling on Roller Skates

Monday, Memorial Day

Jenny proposed a picnic, Cookout at prospect park, one thing, late again, boy are we getting the hang of not starting our day in a rush, Not a grill to be had, so off we headed to Jenny's local park with a pier and everything. This park does not allow grilling so we made due and tailgated near the sidewalk. Chicken, Hot dogs, Burgers an all the fixings, Of course you need people at a cookout, so Everett, Ingrid and Steve joined us.
The weather was perfect, and it was great being with the kids, sorry about that, but you are our kids. beth

Sunday

Ooops woke up late, ignoring 2 alarms set, oh well. Lazed around till late in the day, went to Ingrid and Steve's apartment in Williamsburg, I think. Ingrid prepared us a spaghetti dinner in her teeny, tiny kitchen. Delicious, nice evening to bad Steve couldn't make it. Headed back to Red Hook, Ahhh, nice day.
beth

ok, some pictures from this evening

We hooked up with Iggy.
We went to a screening of G.R. iffith's short film.
Then we went to have a snack at G.R. iffith's apartment. (Griff and Sterling)




I will write in the am.

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piglet n pooh said...
way cool you party animals!
Pat n Barb
May 27, 2007 9:58 AM