The Floor Fan Still Works!

You plug it in and hold your breath.  You hope and pray it will still move on.  It did.  My great-grandmother Ivy Nowling’s old house on Bridge Street in Brownston, Indiana may be a memory.  The floor fan that sat in the living room is alive and well and on our back porch.

Geneva-on- the Lake, Ohio.

If you think everything in this country has taken off and moved too fast for your liking, go visit the slow pace of Geneva-on-the Lake, Ohio.  Don’t expect fancy.  Fancy does not live there.  Air-conditioning does not live in most places there.  The breeze off Lake Erie and the short summer will do that to a place.  East of Cleveland and before Erie, Penn, this place is a calming respite to what is zooming a few miles in the other three directions from it.

I won the third annual Geneva Putt Putt Golf Championship; it was close.  My dear wife, Carrie, is a formidable opponent!

And she is not a sore loser either!

Ashtabula has a cool bridge.

The hometown of football coach Urban Meyer, so sayeth the sign into town, Ashtabula, Ohio has a neat draw bridge we got to see in action.

 

You don’t see this everyday, unless you live in Ashtabula I suppose.

The Oswego 500 time trails.

Bridge Street, Oswego, New York.  Keep thy head on a swivel!  Indianapolis Motor Speedway knows no more daring drivers than this stretch of road..  I am sure there was a future NASCAR or INDY champion in the fray.  They all drove fast!

Sackett’s Harbor, New York.  Bring your long-johns in June.

It was June 14th.  The temperature was 47 degrees and the wind was steady at 25 mph and gusting to 40 mph.  With Lake Ontario at our backs, I have never never never never been so cold in June.  Didn’t know I could be.

Learned about this place in US History class.

Our spot for lunch was much warmer.

They Still Have My Paper Order in The Berkshires.

Hancock, Mass.  At the bottom of the hill from the place we stay there, you will find a country store.

I walk in a little after 7 AM and am greeted. “Hey, Dan!”  I then grab my paper order, New York Times, Boston Hearald, Boston Globe, New York Daily News, and the local Berkshire Eagle from  Pittsfield.  I love newspapers.  On the counter this is individually wrapped homemade goodies.  I’ll grab a crumb-cake or a couple cookies and tell them I will see them the next day.  It’s pretty cool.  They are real folks.

My last pick-up says it all.

The Train to NYC Grand Central Station is a great ride.

We drive down to Poughkeepsie to pick up the Metro North Train to Grand Central.  Off-peak it is a train ride that costs 17.50.  You can’t park a car for 10 minutes in NYC for that.  The ride is a little over an hour and a half.

The rail is to town is next to the Hudson River and there are many great sights.

Had the girls on The Facts of Life ever really taken the train to NYC, this is where they would have boarded to get to here:

 

One Day at The Met is wonderful and sad…you can’t see all you want to.

Your general admission 25 dollar ticket to enter The Metropolitan Museum along 5th avenue and Central Park is good for three days.  I wish would have had three days to look.  With all the permanent exhibits and galleries with their storied glory, this old rock and roller was looking forward to seeing a temporary exhibit featuring historical rock and roll instruments. A few of the pieces on view:

Buddy Holly was an incredible influence on The Moody Blues.  Justin Hayward speaks freely of his affinity for Buddy and what he means to him.   John Lodge talks of seeing Buddy Holly from the first row of the balcony of a theatre in Birmingham, England when he was teenage and was so moved.  The Moody Blues did those things for me.  Funny, though.  The Moodies sound nothing like Holly and I will never sound like Hayward or Lodge.  The common denominator is that we found a voice that spoke to our voices.

Was never the biggest Bruce Springsteen fan on the block.  Still, I knew this guitar from across the crowded room!

Of course.

One guy I would have wanted to have had a musical conversation with was Ray Manzarek.  He played keyboard for The Doors and I could have listened to him read the phone book and make it interesting.

Keith Emerson’s Moog Synthesizer.  Of Emerson Lake and Palmer fame, I have seen video of Emerson playing this thing.  Strangest musical circumstance I have ever seen.

Enough said.

Keith Moon’s drum kit.  No one before or since has created more thunder and finesse on a stool with sticks in hand.

Thought this great to see.

I was delighted to see two young men watching the historical instrument video so intently.

Good old FLW.

Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at The Met.  Having admired and seen his studio in Oak Park and another home on the South Side of Chicago, it was good to see this old friend.

Speaking of old friends…

My hang it on the wall artistic hero, Edward Hopper, had these two paintings on view.  I looked for them as soon as we left the rock instruments.

Times Square is still an anthill.

The humanity.  Wow.  Sights.  Sounds.  Lights.  Horns. Am I ever glad I watch the ball drop from the couch in the living room after I nudge a sleepy Carrie and tell her its almost time.

Our walk from The Met through Central Park to Times Square was a raining adventure.  We had ponchos on and the old feet were wet on the train back some 27,000 steps later.

Carl likes The Berkshires.

Carl was glad to get some time to himself, I think, as we went into the city for the day.

But he was glad when I prepped some lobster roll.

I got this down to an art.  Fresh lobster helps.

We left The Berkshires and drove over to Walden Pond. 

Crossed most of Massachusetts on two lane roads and it was a grand drive.

Carrie and I walked around the pond.  What a gift for a Transcendentalist period fan of literature.  Thank you, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

From Walden we went to visit Bob and Michelle and their young’uns.  I don’t have a picture of New Hampshire to share.  That speaks to fact that when we are there we feel at home.  And I thank them for that.

And the Picture of The Post Award is:

A look toward Canada.

A look toward America.

Niagara Falls is a humbling sight.  And so many people and languages and perspectives providing refreshment during a time of such uncertainty, unrest, and unbelievable circumstances in this country.

The Strip in Pittsburgh was a pleasant surprise.

Our first trip to Pittsburgh, on the way home, led us to the most iconic road in town The Strip.  Filled with shops and eateries and I don’t know what all.  Easily one of the most diverse stretches of road I have ever seen.  Nothing fancy.  Real.

 

For a guy who was a staunch Bengals fan in the 1970s thanks to Ken Anderson, I was not a fan of the Steelers.  I did appreciate what they did.  4 Super Bowls in 6 years without deflating footballs is not too shabby.

Great times.

One last thing…

After traveling a few miles I found some of the things I find in my own back yard.  Most people are genuinely friendly.  Some folks out there would complain about the rope at their own hanging.  In some cases truly disadvantaged folks are working their asses off to make this a better place.  In some cases you will find very capable people choosing to be needy for their own purpose.  In all cases we can all do better.  Let’s keep doing that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson