We found a high hill overlooking the Susquehanna River. The far bridge is the interstate, but we took the old road, the one showing only two partial spans just a bit closer.
On the hill, we also found the Mason-Dixon trail, and walked it for a few feet.
Back on the road, after a short time, our eventual destination popped up on the navigation app.
From our New Jersey hotel parking lot, we can see across the Hudson and into (Upper) Manhattan. We’re staying here because it’s easier to deal with the car (free parking), yet still access the city.
We took a bus across to Port Authority, and walked out of the terminal and, tadah, lookee there! Also, our noses were assailed by a strong whiff of weed-smoke, which turned out to be the common street-perfume of today’s Manhattan.
We walked down to see the Flatiron Building, and discovered it is covered in a layer of scaffolding, and looks bulky and strange.
We also passed by two sides of the Empire State Building. The upper floors look less scruffy than the basal floors.
For a change of pace, here’s a statue of Minerva and two bell-ringers. A Smithsonian webpage says:
A granite niche flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature and attic with clock faces on the north and south sides. Standing in the niche is a figure of Minerva bearing a spear and shield. She has serpents entwined around her arms and breastplate, and she holds her proper right arm out. An owl, whose green eyes used to blink, is perched on top of a bell in front of her. Two bellringing blacksmiths, known as Stuff and Gruff, rotate at the waist and appear to hit the bell with their heavy hammers. Their hammers stop three inches from the bell while a mallet hidden inside a box behind the bell actually strikes the hour.
I thought the owl’s eyes looked odd; now I know why. I’m now slightly sad we didn’t hear the bell toll, but that’s what can happen when you do your research after the fact.
Ah, that’s enough high-points from a brief exploration of Midtown Manhattan….
Posted at 9:49 PM |
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We ventured north today, crossed the state line, and kept going. We navigated mountains, had clouds dampen us, and kept going.
With the change in latitude, we traveled back in spring. Always love dogwoods…
And this rhodo sure surprised me. However, it was in a very protected spot semi surronded by reflective walls, so I figure that’s what (it seems to me) accelerated its blooming.
Posted at 9:32 PM |
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These shadows from the street light are proof that the leaves are well-out…but not all-out.
Posted at 9:01 PM |
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Watch out, new leaf! Your neighbors show how the elements can tear into you!
Posted at 8:41 PM |
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So, I was in a mood, and the tomato seemed to need a moment in center stage.
Posted at 11:07 PM |
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I wanted colorful.
Posted at 10:09 PM |
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I’m calling this moment a slight lull in the flush of spring. The redbuds have bloomed, yet somehow have not dropped last year’s seed pods. Now, the leaves are more than half-grown, so that the visual effect is of a mix of brown-beige verticals and green-green rounded shapes.
Posted at 10:28 PM |
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It’s all about the droplets.
Posted at 9:25 PM |
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Today, we toured the Etowah mounds, all six of them. That’s the largest and second largest in the distance.
Archaeology is ever-so-cool (duh)…I also enjoyed the vetch among the planted meadow flora. Bitter vetch is one of the earliest domesticated plants in the Levant. This, however, is probably common vetch…one of my favorites for the color and the delicate foliage with probing and twining tendrils.
The sacred zone aorund the mounds buts up against the Etowah River. That riffle on this side of the river is half of a weir that certainly has been built and modified in historical times, but may date back into prehistory and the era of the mounds.
Posted at 10:43 PM |
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The image on the right gives you some idea of the cosmos as understood by the peoples living in this part of the continent when the Spanish arrived, and for many generations before. The yellow-green grassy layer with the central pine is the level people live on, with a dome above and water below, and distinctive edge-cliffs. Spirits are above and below and with the people. Note that the three red circle figures are slightly different for the people world and the realms above and below.
The image on the left is of a large shell with a supernatural creature carved on it that looks like a segmented snake. Snakes are more associated with the water world below. Archaeologists call them gorgets; the dictionary definition of that is a throat cover—armor or clothing—but I suspect these were worn or placed a bit lower, although this part of the past isn’t my specialty.
That’s all the context I will give you now, other than that my friend Adam used this artwork in his interesting and informative presentation this evening. I’m still processing it, and that’s a good thing.
Posted at 9:46 PM |
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