Category Archives: Photos

Part 4: A Vacation Journal: Over The Mountains and Through the Pizzeria

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013: Travel day … On  my way to the Amherst, MA area. It was as hot as hell … it was as hot as a pizza coming out of an oven in an unairconditioned roadside haunt: Country Pie Pizza, not bad but not as good as I remember it. Maybe it was just too hot! But what the heck, have some cyber lunch on me. Once in the Hadley, MA area, and at a local hotel, it was time to EAT again. Zoe’s on Route 9 was a pleasant surprise. MORE food. Can’t have oysters too many … Continue reading →

Part 3: A Vacation Journal: More Art, More food

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Monday, July 15, 2013 I find there are people from my area in New York City staying at The Porches Inn; we spend time chatting after breakfast and visit with Sabine the mascat. Everybody loves little “Bean.”   Then off to Williamstown to “The Clark,” The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute for my annual visit. The Clark is undergoing a major transformation and many paintings are out on world-wide tours, but there was a wonderful exhibit on George Innes and Winslow Homer. A few highlights by Winslow Homer. Homer was a businessman who knew how to parlay his work … Continue reading →

Part 2: A Vacation Journal: Hundertvasser, MoCA, Xu Bing, Phoenix, Amish Chicken

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Sunday, July 14, 2013 First stop at the Eclipse Mill: Now a home for artists and writers, the mill houses beautiful works and creative workers. I saw a small but excellent exhibit by the artist Hundertvasser, whose art has been featured on postage stamps. They are beautiful modern works that have embedded foil.   Second Stop: Mass MoCA. There are always many works to see of various artists.         But the most incredible exhibit was of the featured artist, Xu Bing, from China, whose works are monumental and criticisms and reflections of society. His animation on the … Continue reading →

Part 1: A Vacation Journal: Food, Felines, Fotography

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Friday, July 12, 2013 As interesting as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) is, The Porches Inn may be just as fascinating. This area of Massachusetts has long been a mill area with factories lining the rims of canals aiding the shipping of materials in and finished products out. If you read the yellow link embedded above about the history of the building where Mass MoCA is now housed, you will learn about the area, its factories and how so many people depended on them. I have spent many days in the summers since the opening, walking the … Continue reading →

New York City Photo Journal: Goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona

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        The website is here “Our corn is non-genetically modified and non-transgenic. It comes from Rovey Seed Farm Company, a company located in Illinois that applies kosher-certified practices along with an unprecedented process for selecting only the best quality corn for nixtamal production.” Nixtamal Tortelleria 10405 47th Ave. Corona, NY 11368 | (718) 699-2434 It’s time to eat! Fabulous food; the best mole sauce, friendly staff and lots of rain.   ↕  Click to enlarge photos See Nixtamal Torterlleria on the food network: Show: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives -> Episode: Latin Street Food Hosted by: Guy Fieri / … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Sunday in LIC (Long Island City)

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  The Long Island City Flea and Food market has opened. A nosher’s paradise. Not far from the “water” (the East River) and Gantry State Park. The place was jammed with unique and delicious stuff. This is just a small sample; I was too hungry to run around and photograph food, especially since the line for the squiggly potatoes and other strangely cut stuff was forty-five minutes long. Read about it here and here. More…on to the park, the East river, the breeze, the expensive new apartments we’ll never be able to afford. LIC may be the new Brooklyn which … Continue reading →

Part 45: Background Music

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Since I last spoke to you, my friends, I have been consumed by the usual deluge of details. I spent several days on the phone and computer trying to make sense of possible placements for my mother. I made an appointment for this Wednesday to visit “am affordable assisted living” on Long Island. I have an appointment with an elder attorney on Friday. I made lists and lists of nursing homes in the area. Then I remembered what a friend said last week when I was describing the situation which is that my mother currently resides in an assisted living … Continue reading →

Part 44: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: A Mundane Photo Journal

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I had several nice days where my worries took a partial back seat. Mind you, they are always there but I am trying to reclaim my life and focus on de-stressing. This sweet man is Al who has been a friend of the family for years. He is all together, brilliant, adorable, noble, kind. Name another wonderful adjective. We had lunch last week at a local Thai restaurant in honor of his upcoming birthday tomorrow: he will be ninety-four. He lives on his own, never complains, has a bit of a problem maneuvering and ambulating, but all in all he … Continue reading →

Part 42: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words; A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures

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Mom and Cynthia And so what happened on Sunday after that terrible nightmare I just told you about? I had a long talk with my mother. For most of my adult life my relationship with my mother has been via the telephone. When you have a telephone relationship you are forced to communicate–or not. If you choose not, you are left with shallow, meaningless words that fill time and not you. My mother and I have spoken a lot over the years. It wasn’t always easy. It is not easy now: the walls of time are closing in. I want … Continue reading →

Part 41: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

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One more Mother’s Day. Yesterday morning the bell rang; there was an express mail delivery which contained a Mother’s Day card from my mother’s aide, Cynthia. In it were photos. I had never seen the aide before and I hadn’t seen my mother in a while. It was a surprise–I was startled. I have to say I had a mixed reaction: here is this tiny, frail woman who is still alive, still wants to be alive and is alive because of Cynthia’s perseverance. I recognize her but I don’t, I can’t; it is very bittersweet. When I think of the … Continue reading →

Part 33: Saving a Princess

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My little Princess Blue This morning we picked up Princess Blue from the vet. She has been languishing in the bottom of a cage for weeks. She has been spayed, inoculated and found to have a cancerous mammary tumor which was removed; in short, she’s been through a lot. She has also been found to be FIV+, the equivalent of  HIV, however, cats are able to live with the virus for many years. We drove fifty miles out to the animal sanctuary that one of my cat rescue friends was nice enough to help us get into. Chris Arnault is … Continue reading →

Part 32: Gray Clouds and Tunnels

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<Play in his puffier youth Here we go again … this poor little guy who I have been injecting twice daily with insulin for diabetes came home and began to sneeze his head off. He’d be OK for a while and then a violent series of CHOO! CHOO! with spray all over. By yesterday, the vet tech’s suggestion that it was an “allergy” didn’t fly and I called the vet to ask what to do. You know what the answer was: “Bring him in.” You know what my response was,”It took an hour and a half to wrestle him in … Continue reading →

Part 30: Anxiety du Jour: Escape to: Mekong, Cupcakes, Ebony Hillbillies (felines follow)

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I am trying to get a hold of my anxieties, corral all the “what-if’s” and put them aside for now. It’s not easy. I am listening two two courses from The Great Courses, on Mindfulness, an Introduction to Meditation, and Stress and Your Body. Now that I know I am capable of doing myself in by worry–which I know intellectually does no one any good, I am trying to do something about it. Death by worry isn’t worth while and anxiety can be so overwhelming, as I am listening to these courses I find I am not alone; there are … Continue reading →

Part 29: Running Away to Brooklyn: Finding Solace in Art … and in Hot Pastrami

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1. Brilliant painting Time for a break from ringing phones, and sick pets. My break of choice is in Brooklyn: a little culture never hurt anyone and it was opening day for the John Singer Sargent watercolor exhibit  at the Brooklyn Museum. It  will travel to Boston and Houston. Some works by Sargent. His work in water colors with variation of translucence and opacity, some with the technique of wax resist creates wonderful texture and light.   2. Brilliant Photography In addition, the very haunting photography exhibit of La Toya Ruby Frazier should not be missed.   LaToya Ruby Frazier, … Continue reading →

Part 28: CATch as CATch Can

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Ampersand and Play, brothers in their youth One of my big stressors was knowing that I had to bring my cat back to the vet. There were three kittens: Romp, And and Play. And became Ampersand. My neighbor adopted Romp. I rescued them with their mother from my yard in 2005. Play was always the thin one, but he had gotten up to about seventeen pounds three or four years ago; it was hard to pick him up. Then it seemed like he was getting thinner and thinner, drinking a lot of water, always hungry. I suspected diabetes and cringed … Continue reading →

Part 23: On Mothers of All Kinds

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The family album I made for a birthday; my mother shows it to everyone I was wiped out yesterday after another marathon day on the phone. There was nothing left of me, no words to write, so I will try today, to piece yesterday and today together. I tried to get in touch with my mother’s primary doctor in hopes of her contacting Medicare to request an aide; there was no call back or response to my emails and call; I tried to get in touch with the doctor from the rehab who put my mother on Hospice care but … Continue reading →

Part 22: And the Birds Sang

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I need to document this journey, all the details, please indulge me. My day started with a panic attack and 5:00 am when I realized that for twenty-four hour care in addition to the care offered by Hospice (that can be removed from crisis care at any time leaving my mother unattended on a day’s notice) I will be paying over $8,000 this month and, that is not counting my mother’s close to $3,000 rent. I think the grand plan is that you spend down whatever you worked for over a lifetime so you can go on Medicaid and end … Continue reading →

Part 21: On Westerns, Voices, and Trees

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“we should all be as strong and beautiful as the tree outside my window”   Yesterday was my mother’s ninety-fifth birthday; the sickliest child grew up and outlived three siblings. I still find it amazing. My mother always believed in natural medicine and read extensively about homeopathy and natural cures. She subscribes to several doctors’ newsletters. She would always ask if I took my CoQ10. I do. Now she is surrounded by hospice nurses who do not know what CoQ10 is. She had a quiet day but perked up in the latter part of the afternoon in time for a … Continue reading →

Part 20b: Taking a Break: A Brooklyn Day: Rob Schwimmer in Concert

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Rob Schwimmer with theremin in the background (Cousin) Rob Schwimmer’s performance at the Stone House in Brooklyn, near Park Slope, was as brilliant as always. he is an accomplished pianist and composer and has played solo and with top performers worldwide. He is one of the most famous Thereminists as well, and is remarkable on the continuum. I am not sure if there is anything he doesn’t play. I heard him about three years ago at Caramoor accompany a symphony orchestra. One of the pieces was from Vertigo, the movie, and you can hear it here. Rob is also one … Continue reading →