Hope

I took my grandmother shopping this past Saturday and it has stayed with me.  Not because it was necessarily a remarkable trip as shopping goes.  It was a textbook case of hope on display.

It's Spring, of course, so many stores are deeply discounting their winter clothing.  My grandmother was shopping the sale rack, looking at fleece winter tops.  She's 89.  She's obviously counting on another winter.  That struck me and is still making me think.

I hope to do more travelling than I have in the past few years.  Over the next few years, I want to do a few Europe trips and a Central America trip. My grandmother is hoping for at least one more winter.  I suppose my hope shouldn't be any different than that - or simpler, perhaps - hopeful for a tomorrow and time to wander.

Thrillist...in a city near you?

It would seem to be a sad state of affairs that my source of news and entertainment this week has pretty much been the Metro (Philly).  But maybe I'm being a snob?  After all, this is the second blog this week about something from the Metro that excited...or even thrilled...me.

Thrillist (read that as "Thrill list") is a website that claims to use untold powers to find your city's gold: new, unknown, and inexcusably underappreciated finds, all free.  The  website invites us to gorge on its email smorgasboard every day: the newest eats, drinks, gear, travel and entertainment. 

It looks like they sometimes send out more than one email a day.  If you simply view online, however, you get the "digest" version.  I already found points of interest this way.  For example, Stephen Starr, the man who brought Philly Buddakan (and sent copies of it to Atlantic City and then NYC), has expanded his empire with a new Mexican restaurant called El Rey.  It's located at 20th and Chestnut at the site of the former Midtown IV.

The website has another nice feature.  If you select a story, it provides the Amazon-like feature ("Other readers who liked this book also liked...) of "People Who Dug This Article Were Also Into..."  This feature led me down a lazy river of other interesting information.

Thrillist is available for a number of cities including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, DC, Las Vegas, London, LA, Miami, NYC, San Fran, and Seattle.  So, even if your city isn't a Thrillist city, you can still check out the website to plan visits to any of those cities.  Just be aware that all of the categories (examples, Sex & Dating and Travel) may not be populated with ideas yet.

I began to look at the Thrillist NYC but decided it didn't make sense to do that.  As a non-resident now, I don't have immediate plans to return for a visit.  This will probably change in a few months but, for now, I have to get my thrills in Philadelphia and the surrounding 'burbs.

"Old School"

My new work in Philadelphia is going to consume me for quite some time.  I'm on day 4 and I'm already putting in 9 hours there and coming home and working.  My wanderings, therefore, are limited to reading about places. 

I read in this morning's Metro newspaper (Philly edition) about a hotel in an old school.  I made a mental note, as I have for years and years when I read of something of interest, as a possibility should I be in Portland, Oregon again someday.

The McMenamins-Kennedy School Hotel features 35 classrooms-turned-hotel-rooms.  These rooms all have the original chalkboards and cloakrooms.  (Gosh, "cloakroom" is a word I haven't heard in a very, very long time.)  Each room has been retrofitted with a private bath.

The rates - at what I would consider this boutique-type hotel - are reasonable by city standards. Well, at least as compared to hotel rates in Northeastern cities.  The queens run from $109 - $125 and the kings from $114 - $130.  I'm not sure if the rate includes admission to the on-site movie theater, which is showing current movies now (Crazy Heart and Avatar).  There is also an on-site brewery.

A blurb on the hotel's website references this brewery...and smokin' in the...well, not exactly boys' room.

Remember when the worst thing you could imagine was being kept after class? My, how things have changed! At Kennedy School, you'll never want to leave. Here you can have a pint in a classroom, enjoy an aged whiskey and a cigar in detention, enjoy a movie in the old auditorium.... The possibilities here are endless. (Just don't run in the hallways, please. You might spill your beer.)

The school was a former elementary school that opened in 1915.  More of the school's history, and information related to the artwork throughout the hotel, can be discovered in the former principal's office.  With this history and the other features of the hotel, it is, according to the hotel website,

No wonder why in March '10, the Kennedy School was named the #1 Quirkiest Hotel in the U.S. by TripAdvisor.com -- an A+ for us!

The website also indicates the McMenamins organization has several other hotels.  Haven't done my homework (ha!) to see if these are in the Pacific Northwest or are in similarly "re-purposed" buildings.  (Most appropriate to mention as this is Earth Day.) 

As I daydream, I think this is one old school (for someone proudly "old school" and a former teacher-for-an-ever-so-brief-time) that requires a visit.

Red Hot Patriot

The Philadelphia Theater Company describes Molly Ivins as the "famously brassy newspaper columnist and best-selling author."  Sister playwrights Margaret and Allison Engel titled their play about her Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, which certainly indicates how they think about her.

The "world premiere" of this play happened right here in Philly.  I saw the play yesterday and it was very entertaining and educational.  Kathleen Turner performed in this one-woman show and she was amazing.  The critics have smiled on this play, too.  There is some speculation that it may go to Broadway.

Kathleen Turner resembles Molly Ivins, as seen in the advertisement to the left. (The real Molly is on the top and Kathleen Turner is on the bottom.)  It was a little eerie when Kathleen was on stage and they showed black and white pictures of Ivins in the background.
 
Turner performed by telling a story to the audience. At times, the storytelling became more like a conversation with the audience.  It was a wonderful way to learn about Ivins.  Her wit was caustic at times and most always funny.  For example, she was the first to refer to George W. Bush as "shrub."  She had a dog named "Shit;" she named it that because she said there were times she needed to go out side and say, "Shit!  Shit!"

Other Molly Ivins quotes and quips abound on the internet.  Google her to find them.  Some examples are:

• Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant - it tends to get worse.
• I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.

Ivins was fired from The New York Times for referring to a group of poultry farmers as "gang pluckers."  When she submitted the story, her editor called her and said she was trying to have their readers think of "gang f--kers."  To this, she replied, "I can't get anything by you."  (Of course, she was being extremely sarcastic.) 

Turner/Ivins shared how she was upset the Times wouldn't let her take Shit to work and that she couldn't walk around the office without shoes.  She also thought it was ridiculous that, when she was writing Elvis' obituary, she had to refer to him as "Mr. Presley" as was (and still is) the Times tradition.
 
While she was Smith College educated and was glad to win the prize of working for The New York Times, she was happy to head back to Texas.  This is where she was born and raised and where she worked for many years for many different papers.  Her favorite topic was writing about the ineptitude of the Texas legislature.  A particularly funny topic in the play was when she skewered a politican for his malapropisms.  One that I recall is "...you should not fire people but do it through 'employee nutrition'.
 
This play inspired me to request an inter-library loan book by Molly Ivins.  It's called Molly Ivins Can't Say that, Can She?  After that, I want to read a biography about her. 
 
Ivins was a hard working and hard drinking woman.  She died of breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 63.  She was controversial but wanted to make people think about their most important role - that of citizen.  She was, in fact, a Red Hot Patriot.

Endings: NYC, May 2009 - April 2010

My last night.  I just sat down as my cleaning and packing are done.  I have more stuff than I thought.  I suppose that's always the way.  In spite of that, I was able to take today at a fairly leisurely pace.

I watched some morning t.v. - Today show, Regis and Kelly, a little bit of Rachel Ray - and got busy cleaning.  I had to turn in my cable box today but decided to wait until after 1pm, which is when Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (or, simply Millionaire, as they seem to call it now).  At 1pm, I took my last shower here.  (Not packing a wet shower curtain and towel tomorrow.)  I then hoofed it down to 23rd St between Park and Madison.

The cable box return was completed with ease.  Only had to wait a few minutes.  After that I had a fake smoothie.  (Fruit juice and not actual fruit.)  Had I known that's how Tossed made smoothies (buyer beware - it's at 23rd & Park) I would have skipped it.  Not what I had in mind.  I sipped my fake smoothie and walked over to Madison Square Park one more time.  The line at the Shake Shack was immense.  People were eating burgers from there; they smelled great.

Came back to the apartment to do more work.  Around 5:45pm I left again and went to 31st and Lex to have dinner at Trattoria Bellvedere.  I've wanted to try this charming neighborhood restaurant for awhile so it was appropriate to have it as my "last supper" tonight.  I had a nice glass of Valpolicella with my filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.  It was a good, reasonably priced meal. 

I walked to 29th and Broadway for my crack in a cup - Stumptown coffee.  I sipped that on a very leisurely stroll back to my apartment.  I snapped some pictures on my way back but who knows where my device is to download pictures to my laptop?  That thing is packed away somewhere so the pictures will have to be added later.

I said goodbye to Phillip the doorman.  He's sweet.  He got extremely shy and almost embarrassed.  I think he likes me like a man likes a woman, which is why, as much as I like him, I've always felt a tad awkward around him.  He's a good man, though, and has never done or said anything inappropriate.

I got the two carts from downstairs and loaded them up with boxes.  I'm all set for when the guys get here tomorrow at 9am.  I hope they find a place to park easily and I hope traffic isn't bad getting out of the city.  (I'm riding with them.)  Those are my anxious thoughts right now but I'll let them go shortly as I can't control either concern.

Tonight's bed is the futon cushion on the floor.  I stripped the bed to pack up the big comforter and I dismantled the futon.  I crushed my finger in the dismantling process.  Stupidly, I released the front of one side and, as I was working on releasing the front of the other side, I held up the bottom rail with my fingers underneath.  When the side screw came out the whole weight of the frame that comprises the bed crushed my finger between the hardwood floor and the frame as the frame fell a foot.  I was literally writhing on the floor in pain.  The top knuckle of my middle finger turned blue instantly and began to swell.  I put ice on it for about 10 seconds and thought, "Forget it, I'm busy."  (This was all before dinner.)  Tonight, my finger is very stiff and tender but I expect to survive.

I briefly contemplated going for one last walk up to Times Square to look at the theater marquees but I decided against it.  I'm going to do what I haven't done much recently - read a book.  I recently got Olive Kitteridge, whose author won the Pulitzer for it.  I'll read a bit and then go to sleep as I feel physically and a little emotionally drained.

The Forbes Galleries and the Museum of Sex

This is my last "resident as tourist" day as I will be packing, cleaning, and nursing my sore foot tomorrow.  I didn't get out until 1pm, at which time I headed to Greenwich Village and the Forbes Galleries at 12th St and 5th Avenue.  I wasn't sure about getting to the Museum of Sex, and was ambivalent about it, but I did make it there, too.  Of course, there was a "chow stop" in between.

The Forbes Galleries, in the Forbes Building, are gems.  And entry is free!  There was a wonderful collection of boat models, a history of toy soldiers with examples from throughout the world in a series of diaoramas, precursors to the Monopoly game, and trophies.  Some of the exhibits were motorized and had  background music for effect.  There were also interesting painting and photography galleries as well as flowers made by Cartier and costume jewelry.  I spent at least 1.5 hours there, if not closer to 2.

The thing that interested me the most in the section about Monopoly was the board invented by a man named Charles B. Darrow in PA.  (The first Monopoly-like board was invented by a woman!)  I liked this board because it had names of all Pennsylvania towns - like Ambler, Boyerstown, Lansdale, Pottstown, and Reading, to name a few.

Darrow sold many copies of his game during the Depression.  The instructions he provided with it had his name and address at the bottom.  Since I once lived in West Mt. Airy, it was neat to see his address as 40 Westview St (I don't recognize that street name) in "Mt. Airy, Phila, PA." 

Darrow, unable to keep up with demand, tried to sell this idea to Parker Brothers in 1933 but was rejected.  Parker Brothers had a change of heart in 1934 and the rest is history.
(Click on the picture one or two times to enlarge it.  You may have to click your Back button to come back to the blog.)

The photo and painting galleries have revolving exhibits.  One of my favorite photos is this one called McLean, VA.  It was taken by Joel Sternberg.  Look closely - the house is on fire and there are many firemen by it.  There is also one fireman buying a pumpkin!  Would love to know the story behind this!

Another photo I enjoyed is this one by Eliot Porter, who takes many wilderness photos. This photo, called Sculptured Rock (1967), was taken in Marble Canyon, AZ.

I was so fortunate to see an exhibit ending soon called A Contemporary View of Women Reading (in honor of the publication Forbidden Fruit: A History of Women and Books in Art).  This is a topic after my own heart!  I liked many of the paintings but fell in love with two, shown here.

I want this painting, badly.  It's called Something to Read by Vincent Giarrano.  It's available from the Grenning Gallery...for $2,500.  Ugh.  I just can't justify it in my head.  I checked the gallery's website and saw some other great paintings by Giarrano.  His works look like photographs; the detail is amazing. This woman, for example, has red-painted toenails.

I really love this next one, too, which also looks like a photograph.  (I don't feel like I need to own this one.) This is called Elizabeth Shea by Mikel Glass. His work is going to be shown at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA from 9/11 - 4/18/10.  I've marked my calendar so I can go see the show.

I enjoyed this next one as it reminds me of my experience - sneaking some reading time in on the way to work.  It's called Ontario by artist Paul Fenniak.

I left the gallery and noticed a place called Saigon Grill close by.  I was hungry, of course, and decided to check it out.  It seemed a little fancy when I walked in but they had lunch until 4pm so I had a seat.  I ordered the grilled chicken bun.  It was good and gave me energy for my next adventure.

I decided to walk slowly up 5th Ave.  (I took the subway down and wanted more fresh air.)  I passed the Museum of Sex and decided to go in.  All I can say is,"Oh my!"  I'll leave it at that.  Suffice it to say it was very interesting.  It's worth a visit...but not a "Top 10 things to do in NYC" trip.

I wandered one block east to the Ace Hotel for my Stumptown coffee fix.  They don't seem to have decaf in the afternoon so I had a decaf Americano.  Excellent, once again.

On my way back to my apartment I popped in the beautiful Church of the Transfiguration on 29th St.  When I walked in there was a prayer service so I didn't stay.  This is a sprawling building that I've passed many times and was glad to be in its peaceful presence, even just for a few moments. 

As I walked back I also saw a building with a gorgeous wisteria vine.  The base of the vine was so thick; it must be very old.  I think this was on 30th Street (somewhere between Madison and 3rd Ave.)

After a quick stop at the Gristedes grocery store, I entered my building and said my good-byes to Francisco the doorman.  He's a good man and it was always nice to see his smiling face when I got "home."  I told him that.

Earlier, as I typed this, the sun was setting and casting its last rays of the day on the buildings near the East River.  I've seen many of these sunsets from my futon perch.  I hope to see one more tomorrow night.

Beacon, NY

Yesterday's destination was to Beacon, a Hudson River town where the Dia Foundation has a museum of contemporary art.  I'm not necessarily a huge fan of contemporary art, but I love land art and Dia sponsors and preserves such art.  They also sponsor...um..."quirky" art that is amusing, if nothing else.  While Dia was my primary destination, I had the added treat of wandering the charming Main Street of the town.

I caught the 9:45a Metro North train from Grand Central Station.  The MTA sells a "get away" ticket for the train and Dia admission so I bought that for $29.50, as compared to a $26 round-trip ticket and a $10 museum admission fee.  (If I had a printer, I could've gotten this "get away" ticket for 5% less.)  The train ride was beautiful; the tracks hug the Hudson.  I remembered doing this trip years ago when I went by train from NYC to Montreal.  I didn't remember how pleasant the view was.  We went under the Tappan Zee Bridge, passed a lighthouse and many sailboats, and eventually started to see mountains.  One very interesting site was a castle.

The castle is very large and I didn't know anything about it until I walked through Beacon and saw pictures of it in galleries.  I also looked it up on the internet when I got home.  It is called Bannerman Castle and it sits on what is officially Pollepel Island but it is mostly known as Bannerman's Island.  Construction on this replica of a Scottish Castle started in 1901.  It was used as a storage facility for Francis (Frank) Bannerman, who was a munitions dealer.  On December 28, 2009, a large portion of the castle collapsed.  There is an organization that is trying to preserve it. There are also kayaking tours out to the island, which I think would be interesting.

The area between the black lines is the part that was lost from the collapse.

Needless to say, I didn't need the magazine I brought for the 90-minute train ride.  There was so much to see and contemplate.  When I arrived in Beacon at 11:15a, I began the 10-minute walk to the museum. 

The Dia Museum is in an old warehouse right on the Hudson.  Walking toward the museum was a sensual experience.  The tree leaves were bright green, the sun was reflecting off the water and it was warm on my face, I could hear a train in the distance, and I could smell new mulch.

Inside the museum was, well, interesting.  I stayed for about 50 minutes.  The museum is small but I also sped through it.  I saw a big piece of what appeared to be butcher paper with a big white square painted on it.  This was hung on the wall by masking tape.  Ah, OK.  There was a pile of broken glass.  (Made me wonder what would happen if someone fell on the upright pieces.)  One exhibit had string fastened from ceiling to floor such that it made a large rectangle.  There were mangled up car parts.  There was a Warhol section.  I saw giant, metal lined holes and flourescent light exhibits.  One exhibit featured drawings that appeared to be giant graph paper.  There were some pieces I liked but much of it made be chuckle...silently, of course.  I know it may not sound like it but I'm glad I went.
 
Artist: Robert Smithson.  Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust, 1968

(He has an outstanding land art piece called Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake, Utah but this piece escapes me.)

I spent some time with this exhibit by Zoe Leonard.  It is called You see I am here after all (2008).  It is comprised of hundreds - possibly thousands - of Niagra Falls postcards, grouped by the same postcard type. Some fronts of the postcards have postal marks and other, presumably old postcards, have space where messages were written on the fronts.  Some of these cards were from the early 1900's.  I can't imagine the work it took to gather all of these and then assemble them.  Maybe she wanted this to look like flowing water?

I had had enough so I walked into town.  It took me about 15 minutes.  The town reminded me of a larger Jim Thorpe, PA or a bigger Collingswood, NJ.  I had a great, "proper" lunch at Max's on Main.  (Lunch was a surf and turf skewer with pesto and cilantro on top in a bed of salad that included artichokes and avocado.)  I meandered back to the train, only about a 10-minute walk as the train station-Dia Museum-town are in a big loop. 

I was back in Manhattan by 4:30p.  At 6p, I met my Chicago friend at the Mexican restaurant at the base of my building.  We had some food and drink and said our good-byes.  After we parted, I looked at the brochures I picked up about the Hudson Valley.   I learned of the other charming towns on the Hudson and about a kayking trip on the Fourth of July where you kayak into the Hudson and watch the fireworks.  I think I need to book that trip!

For now, I want to take advantage of my afternoon and, in spite of the foot injury I acquired yesterday (long story), I am going to hobble out for a few more adventures.