Memos, Mail, Me: Weekend Road Trip
Waving to Sian and other Monday Memo Makers! Today’s post is another long and photo heavy one as we spent the holiday weekend on the road to visit my brother in the Hudson Valley. He recently moved from the east side of the Hudson to the west side. He purchased a condo in Highland, NY and it’s a great location, just five minutes from the Mid-Hudson Bridge, and only 10-15 minutes to the golf course where he plays several times a week.
Just a short walk through the condo development brings you to the Hudson Valley Rail Trail which now runs from Highland to Hopewell Junction. We walked to the Hudson Valley Walkway on Friday afternoon, about four miles round trip. On Sunday we walked in the other direction for about 1.5 miles and then into the village to purchased some homemade sausages from a local butcher.
Sunday afternoon we spent several lovely hours with family. We got a chance to meet Rowan, only five days old, and get acquainted with Finn, a happy and very active two year old.
My niece, Stephanie with Rowan
My niece, Julie, with Finn
When I was a sophomore in high school, my family moved from rural Ohio to a small college town in New York. Both Dane and I graduated from New Paltz High School.
It had been quite a few years since I’d been back to visit. Since this was Memorial Day weekend, we started at the cemetery where both my parents are buried. My mom died in 1969 and my dad in 1998. It’s hard to comprehend how long they’ve been gone.
Then we did a little tour of the town—past the two houses we lived in, and the church where Tracy and I were married—44 years ago this July.
We were only the second couple to be married in the newly reconstructed church. As you can see, it’s very small so there is no organ. Instead my father arranged for a harpsichord and recorded. My only regrets about the wedding are that we didn’t record it, and we didn’t have a professional photographer.
On Saturday, Tracy and I took Metro North to New York City. The railroad runs right along the Hudson River almost all the way from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Station. This is a photo of West Point across the river as we sped along.
Our first stop was the Guggenheim Museum to see the current exhibit, “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim.”
It’s the first time in years that the Guggenheim has showcased their permanent collection. Arranged chronologically from an early Pissarro (1867) to a late 1940’s Pollack, it’s a fascination look at some wonderful art as well as an opportunity to learn how Guggenheim amassed this fabulous collection. Some of the works were familiar to me, but I discovered others I loved, but had never heard of before. I loved the colors and geometric shapes of this painting by Bauer.
After a delightful lunch at Table d’Hote on 92nd Street, we stopped at The Strand ("18 Miles of Books")to kill some time before our timed tickets for the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
Luckily we had no wait at either the Guggenheim or the 9/11 Memorial Museum, although the latter got very crowded before we finished the exhibits. It’s a sobering experience, made even more sobering by the recent tragic events in Manchester. You quickly realize how profoundly the world has changed following this attack. Understandably, no photos are allowed inside the main exhibits.
This photo is of a fascinating display hung in an outer hall. It’s made up of 2, 983 individual pieces of watercolor paper representing each of the victims of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and those killed in the 9/11 attack. It’s entitled “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning.” The artist, Spencer Finch, painted each square in a different shade of blue.
The color of the sky remains one of my strongest memories of that terrible day. I heard of the attack as I walked my fifth grade class into an assembly. It was determined that we would not tell the children about the event, believing that their parents would be better able to handle sharing that horrible event. It was truly surreal to continue to teach on that bright, sunny day as if nothing had happened.
We’ve spent today, Memorial Day, driving home. Like those who sacrificed their lives the rescue efforts after the 9/11 attacks, this is a day to remember the sacrifice and service of those who have worked so hard to defend a free world.
The photo taken from the train, and this one of the flag flying on the Mid-Hudson Bridge were taken with my iPhone. All the rest were taken with my new mirrorless camera. Although I'm frustrated by the fact that my version of Lightroom can't read the Raw photos from the Olympus, I'm quite happy with the camera. The color and sharpness are good, and it was certainly a delight to have a camera that weighed a fraction of my other cameras during a long day in New York City as well as on our walks. I still need to figure out some of the options on the camera, but overall, I'm very please with it.
And what about the mail?
Well, mostly junk and bills. But the new Simon Says Card Kit arrived with a wonderful stamp set geared toward weddings. Perfect timing, as we have three weddings to attend between now and early October. I also got a book I ordered before we left from Amazon by Patterson Freeman. When I was at the Strand, I picked up a book by the same author that had gone out of print. I read some of it on the trip, and had determined it was a good buy. Imagine my surprise to arrive home and discover the book I ordered is an update version of the same book! Well, now a friend will get the book from the Strand, so it won't go to waste.
