Author Archives: Sans Souci

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 7. Friends and Writers

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  One of my friends from high school lives in the Northampton, MA area and I try to see her when possible. She has the most beautiful little garden on a stone porch outside her kitchen. I didn’t want to leave. She cut me a pristine gardenia and it lasted a week. I guarded it with my life!   On to a visit to Emily Dickinson’s House         Emily was considered an odd ball, and her work was not published until after her death when her sister, Lavinia, promoted it to publishers. She dressed strangely for her … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal 6: Yiddish, Burgers, Toilets and Art

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  The annual visit to the Yiddish Book Center was brief this year due to time constraints, but it was a gorgeous day and perfect for a picnic.   Later, the best burgers evah, at The High Horse Brewery in Amherst was found recommended in a magazine. The staff was wonderful and knowledgable, the brews were excellent and the burgers with bottomless hand cut fries were super. The only problem was that there can be a long wait because the place is packed and it is extremely noisy. Our waitress was a teacher. What does that tell you about teachers’ … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal 5: Child Labor In The Mills to Williams College Art, Dinner Of Course

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    An exhibit in the town of Adams, Massachusetts, of child mill workers was moving; I have been to several mills that now have exhibits. I have seen photos of the children, babies, who toiled from dawn to night, feeding thread to machines, handling cotton and slipping on oil in their bare fee even in the freezing Winter. They were used because their hands were small and dexterous. Many lost digits and limbs to machines. Finally the child labor laws came into effect. Lewis Hine’s photographic documentation of child labor–child slavery are a testament to our country’s history. Here are photographs of … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 4. North Adams, MA: Food to Art to Food

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  Breakfast at the Porches Inn helps you prove to yourself that: 1. You have no willpower at least on the first day you are there,  2. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach and 3. What the hell?     This area of Massachusetts is full of old mills that have since been abandoned and many have been sold. Artists have moved in and set up galleries. (believe me, I’ve been tempted). New York City is just too expensive for many artists. North Adams, Adams, and other towns like Lowell, are a terrific venue for the art world. Then … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 3. Williamstown, MA: Art, Noodles, and Chita

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      The Clark has reopened and it is fabulous. The expansion was long awaited and it is spacious and serene. Again, I spent time with some great friends who live fairly close to Williamstown. We explored the exhibit on loan of abstract art, we visited some classical art galleries, and marveled at an exhibit of Chinese art on loan from Shanghai (no photos allowed), that was thousands of years old. The (free) tablet explained everything and we were able to hear a song played on the ancient Chinese bells. I often find that the art viewer is just … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 2. North Adams-Williamstown, MA

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      Mezze is a wonderful restaurant in the Berkshires that works closely with farms to obtain the best possible food; it is what you could call a farm to table restaurant. I have been there a number of times and the roast chicken is always superb; it reminds me of the chicken of my childhood. The greens are spectacular as well. Isn’t it amazing that fresh food has become an adventure?         .

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Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 1. North Adams, MA

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  It’s time for the annual road trip photos of food and fun and and friends and art and kitties. Going back to familiar places has its place; it’s easy and welcoming. Back to The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA, a hip, chic, funky-artsy, cool place to stay, with the prettiest calico kitty ever (next to mine). It is across the canal from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, (Mass MoCA) housed in the former Sprague Electric Company building. It is a great venue for installations and performances as it is huge. First a bunch of photos of my dear … Continue reading →

New York City Photo Journal: From Madeline to Sunset

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  In an old house in Paris, that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…the smallest one was Madeline. In addition to the Madeline books, Bemelmans was a prolific writer and wrote for adults. He was involved with working in, decorating and writing about restaurants and bars. Ludwig Bemelmans’ grandson has taken over the Madeline legacy: John Bemelmans Marciano. There is nothing like the original. One of my favorite museums: The New-York Historical Society New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street) New York, NY 10024 Phone (212) 873-3400   … Continue reading →

Counting Cures Before They’ve Hatched

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I had a great health week last week; I managed to make it from Saturday the 19th after two ocular migraines for almost one week without any form of migraine. I had begun a plethora of methodologies to eradicate my almost two years of intrusive visual migraines. Therapeutic massage and acupuncture along with a Chinese herbal tonic were regular. And don’t forget all the Botox injections at the neurologist. I added the Cephaly machine, Gunnars’ computer glasses, a regimen of magnesium and vitamin B12, and “cell salts.”  (see this blog: Kicking Migraine’s Ass). With all the intervention I figured I … Continue reading →

Friday Fluff: A Melange of Stuff: Just Keep Scrolling

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Links to pages (click) and videos of interest but of no importance.  >> This Year’s Mayfly Hatch Was So Big It Showed Up On Radar And Caused A Car Wreck (PHOTOS)   Baby Kitten Drinking From Bottle The Rescued Porcupine The Dancing Penguin     This Girl Got Asked If She Could ‘Deep Throat.’ Her Response Got Her A Standing Ovation. “Patriarchy” Vanessa Marco, Poetry Slam   The world’s fastest way to tie your shoes, explained in one 30-second video. WATCH:    >>>The Great Pacific Garbage Patch     Finally, I am getting sick of people and wars. I decided … Continue reading →

Part 77. Been There, Done That

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It has been almost a year since my mother was brought back to her hometown, New York City. She has spent many of the subsequent months adjusting emotionally and physically. She spent about four of those months of adjustment ill and she always manages to make a comeback. She’s been been through a bunch of aides and is currently in transition again. This is the first time since March of 2013 that she hasn’t had twenty-four hour care. Paying for someone for round the clock care has depleted her of almost a whole life-time of her savings and her funds … Continue reading →

New York City Photo Journal: Mini Milestones in July

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Best crop evah! Just getting started.   Kitties adjusting to loss of their family member.   Doctor’s office again … a typical wait for this neurologist is more than five hours. Book the appointment and call in to see how long the wait is. Wait at home. Then get called in and sit there for another hour and contemplate the universe along with your toe nails.     Portraits in the Little Pepper Restaurant     A stop at the Paris Baguette Patisserie   Night at the Opera: The Passenger Super Moon     Dinner with friends at the Bohemian … Continue reading →

Kicking Migraine’s Ass

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I’ve been at war with migraine headaches of all kinds and have been trying everything I can to win. The neurologist injected me with six vials of Botox in my head, shoulders and neck; that’s three large hypodermics. And I was still getting ocular migraines. I have been going for acupuncture twice weekly, I took two week’s worth of Chinese herbs which I deemed my daily dirt martinis. The headaches persisted. I was getting head “aches” with pain and the persistent, pit bull headaches of the not painful ocular migraines which usually leave in thirty minutes. Sometimes they would come … Continue reading →

On Stage: Heaven and Hell: The Passenger

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  The Passenger An opera by the late Mieczyslaw Weinberg based on a radio play by Zofia Posmysz, libretto by Alexander Medvedev. As part of New York City’s Lincoln Center festival, the opera was performed by the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, conducted by Patrick Summers, staged at the Park Avenue Armory, a grand venue. The Passenger is about heaven and hell. In heaven, one is aboard a ship bound for Brazil. Passengers walk the deck, drink, dance. All is white: the people, their clothes, the band, their instruments. All is pure until it is divulged … Walter is a German … Continue reading →

Gray Matter Update

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  Just stopping by for a little right/left brain report: I am getting one kind of a migraine or another everyday; I am going to acupuncture twice a week. Between the treatments and herbs, now finished, the episodes appear to be shortening, but I still get thirty minute episodes; it’s unpredictable; I had a double dose of Botox at the neurologist, six vials. There was a new “configuration of placement;” all over the head and into the shoulders and neck. Now I have a stiff neck. Still waiting for an impact on frequency of episodes. I had two retinal migraines … Continue reading →

Part 76: Brain, Brain Go Away

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I finished with a “real” (cluster/pain) headache–THREE days, this morning after I had a strong cuppa. Then took an Imitrex. Then got TWO successive ocular migraines. Therefor: Imitrex does not prevent oculars, nor does, so far, acupuncture and related treatments. An hour ago the visual disturbance was on the left side, now it is on the right. (It is perceived that way but close one eye or the other, it is seen with both eyes=BRAIN SPASM). This has become the new norm. When I have a pain headache I am good for nothing. I suspect that the Botox treatment is … Continue reading →

Part 75: Life in Cartoons

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There is no better cartoonist that Roz Chast, whose venue is The New Yorker Magazine. (Please make sure you click the blue links) Her book, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is her pure genius chronicle of her elderly parents’ final year; what they went through, what she went through. I read it in a few hours and began to read it again, I just didn’t want the story to end; I laughed and then cried. There is no better illustration of comic tragedy or tragic comedy. It is the example in literature of making light in the face of … Continue reading →

Dining on Dirt … Mushroom Martinis

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Last night … Here I go, folks…first dose (1 pack) of the tonic prescribed by and made by my acupuncturist who is licensed in Chinese medicine. She has a huge cabinet of all kinds of Chinese herbs which are selected and brewed over a four hour process. It was the consistency of thick prune juice and tasted and smelled like I crawled through the forest primeval on my face. Very organic. Barks, roots, leaves, cinnamon bark, fungi that probably grew between an old man’s toes. I did it. It went down. Feels OK but I really have to brush my … Continue reading →

What’s Old Is Neue Again

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  The Neue Gallerie is the place for great art and culture in manageable-sized exhibits. The building is a magnificent mansion off 5th Avenue on Museum Mile. If you like Klimt (and who doesn’t?) this is the place to see heavenly, golden portraits. Photography is not permitted so I can’t indulge you first hand. But this is what you’ll find. Neue Galerie New York Museum for German and Austrian Art 1048 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028 Tel. +1 (212) 628-6200 Fax +1 (212) 628-8824 The mission of the Neue Galerie New York is to collect, preserve, research, and exhibit … Continue reading →

Back To the Future For Me

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  I thought I’d stop by between migraines and visits to doctors. I had check-ups and annuals from head to toe, a visit for virtually every body part over the last week, plus a tweak at the orthodontist; the week ended at the office of a new acupuncturist.   I spent two visits over two days at an ear, nose and throat specialist who specializes in vertigo at the request of my internist. After hours at Dr. S’s office including a full battery of tests (the final one launched an ocular migraine) the diagnosis was: “everything is normal.” Never mind … Continue reading →