Musings

We really liked the urban stuff.

It’s also true that we were happy to leave it behind. Especially the Staten Island part. We didn’t tour Staten Island (the third borough of our NYC visit, and the one that seems to me the most different from the rest), just drove along a main road (not Interstate). From what I saw, I thought I would find it stultifying to live there. I didn’t see any neighborhoods that looked quite like the one we saw that Melanie Griffith’s character Tess McGill in Working Girl (1988) was from; I saw mostly duplexes and ranch style homes that all looked post-WWII through the 60s.

Cleverly, we scheduled our Sunday morning so that we could “do” the Skyline Drive, all 105 miles, from north to south.

The weather was perfect, the traffic light, and our trip gorgeous. We saw one large Wild Thing, although s/he was pretty skinny. And eating most of the time we watched her/him.

Note: with our entry covered by it, we have made our $80 Annual Pass (purchased last October at Pipestone) a deal!

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

Backstory: The Guru met a nice guy online. They had overlapping interests in the history of broadcasting in our fine country. They had been in the same places at different times, even. Like, the guy went to elementary school in our neighborhood! Anyway, This Fine Fellow now works for NBC, the network, at its home in NYC.

So, This Fine Fellow kindly treated us to a private tour of several floors of 30 Rock!

I walked the stages of SNL. I walked around Brian Williams’ desk. I saw the room where Lester does the weekend news. (Surprise: they’re different!) I saw the studio where Letterman and then Conan entertained us, gave us The Best. I saw the Muppet Closet.

Next to the elevators, on one floor, I found this Hirschfeld portrait of Conan.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

Today’s main event: American Museum of Natural History.

The entry hall is named after Teddy Rooooosevelt, and is dominated by a dinosaur skeleton and the sound emanating from the congregating hoardes—ooh, let me rest my feet—yesterday in the park about did me in!

I had two sections I wanted to hit. My mistake was checking anything out along the way.

I had heard the revised human origins hall was very well done. My takeaway: excellent.

The posted hominid “family tree” even includes two species of Ardipithecus!

And I was eyeball to eye socket with a Neanderthal skeleton (or replica thereof) for a while. Thinking. Contemplating humanity, I suppose.

This diorama, however, is of Eurasian Ice Age Homo sapiens, those folks of the Far North who used mammoth bones as building material.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Hunky Homo specimen

Daylight through a gun port, high in the wall of a fortification in the northern part of Central Park, NYC.

Wouldn’t you know that if I spent the day wandering in Central Park, I would find a ruin? Well, it’s not a crumbly ruin, but, still, it’s an abandoned building. Locked away and secured. And so: essentially a ruin.

Of what?—you ask (if I’m lucky)….

A fort once stood in what is now the park. I had no idea.

This ruin dates to the War of 1812, and was remodeled later.

Extra credit: what were the “sides” in the War of 1812? What was the dispute?

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

Picture this: you’re driving through this town, and you know from the map that ahead of you is the confluence of locally major rivers. In your mind’s eye, when you crest the ridge, you will see a Y of rivers, the two coming in and the one flowing out. Maybe there’ll be some parkland right along the edges, even. And maybe there’ll be a fisherperson or two casting into the water.

Pah. No. This is the US of A’s northeast. Rivers were highways, and instead of being rimmed with recreation areas, in cities they were Important to the City’s Business. You’d think.

We whizzed along, no time to stop, but this confluence, from my view eastbound in Easton, then a right at the bus, got me confused. Far right is the railroad bridge. Then the Mickeys, and then, to the left, business as usual. Where is confluence-centric construction and space? Maybe hidden behind those trees?

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Once upon a time, two Atlantans set off northbound. They crossed rivers and drove through road cuts that exposed bedrock to the sun. And their view.

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We’re about at the end of the gardenia season, but here’s a fine specimen!

The vermin have found the tomatoes. Mornings we find the partly-eaten evidence of their raids. Very sad.

Posted at 7:53 PM | Comments Off on Gardenia glow

Okay! Independence Day! Yippeee!

(Forgot to get sparklers, again….)

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Even though we saw fireworks tonight, it’s the wrong day, so I’ll save a night-light photo for tomorrow. Well, except for this lily. This is a third-of-July photo!

Posted at 11:03 PM | Comments Off on Lily night

Credit this image to my spouse. What a lovely arrangement of our tomato-bounty!

The green tomato is one a squirrel—perhaps this one—ahem, pruned, and my science experiment is to see if it will ripen at all.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »