What an interesting story! I can't believe I didn't know about this museum before. I am definitely going for a visit this summer.

Last post, then it's back to the grind! My sister has some really good news. Have I mentioned that beyond being beautiful, I believe her work is a good investment?

Historic preservation is close to my heart; one of the few issues (besides fighting animal abuse) that I really care about. So when I read this appeal to publicize a sad recent event, how could I pass up the invitation?

I am reminded, or course, of the outrage I felt when every trace of the Defreest-Church house was erased from the planet to make way for yet another big box (in this case, some parking spaces for a Target store). Yes, Joni Mitchell was right!

I also remembered that a few years ago I read a story about a neighborhood of Lustron homes in Albany being placed on the National Register, so I did a little "hunting," and came across many pictures of the houses on Jermain Street at this post.

What is it with developers rushing to demolish before a site can be documented? Can it be interpreted as anything but a purposeful and hostile act? I still remember that the ancient trees surrounding the Defreest-Church house were destroyed in the early morning while researchers from Cornell were on their way to take samples -- they arrived just hours too late.

I take comfort when outrageous things like this happen by thinking of Penn Station's legacy. The demolition's impact is widely regarded as the most significant milestone in the preservation movement. People's attitudes changed afterwards. They knew, and still know, that it was a terrible mistake.

I thought of this recently when I was dwelling on this story. They now have 4,500 followers on facebook; folks from every state in the country and all over the world care. I believe the story of their abuse may wind up decreasing breed prejudice and help to pass this pending legislation.

Sometimes something good can come as a result of something bad, and if so, maybe the Lustron amalgam at 4111 Tonawanda Drive will not have died in vain. (Unfortunately, this has not been the case for the Defreest-Church house, as that ghastly bullseye reminds me every time I go by. But one can always hope.)

This is the view from the back of the house right now. Yellow isn't my favorite color, but I have to admit: this is glorious!

Kateri Tekekwitha was canonized as a saint yesterday in Rome, so we went to her birthplace at Ossernenon (the Auriesville shrine) for a Mass to celebrate. Lots of people there. Some were descendants of indigenous peoples, and a few wore traditional clothing. The whole experience was amazing. Wonderful day. I will go back there again on a "regular" day because it was too hard to be leisurely and "soak it all in" with the crowds.

The whole place has a 1930s log feel, except for the gift shop, which is 1960s Thruway hot shoppe. The above statue is in the coliseum; it is St. Kateri, the Lily of the Mohawk.

Afterwards, we ate at Raindancer. Good place!

No chance to post yesterday, but on Monday night I scanned some photos I took in 1997 on a visit to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, on my 36th birthday. It seems like longer ago than 15 years, while eleven years ago seems like yesterday.

Wound up having a low key day yesterday. No corned beef, but I did make cabbage, potatoes, carrots and turnips. "Delish." Also discovered that the Irish Heritage Museum has opened in its new location. Didn't go (the parade revelers would have made that difficult), but plan to in the near future. It was a beautiful day, so we took the dogs to the cemetery. Rosie was so excited she was trembling. I guess that is her way of joining in with Sam's exuberant barking.

Lindenwald was great! I'd been there before, years ago. This tour was better. First, at that earlier time, some renovations were taking place. The servants' quarters were being worked on; in fact, I think they were in the process of being added to the tour after not being a part of it. It must have been the transition all social history went though in the past 30 years: inclusion of the poor and working class.

Then, the tour guide this time was outstanding. I'm not saying the one from last time wasn't good, but let's just say he or she wasn't memorable. The man today was extremely knowledgeable. Also laid back, didn't go through that long list of instructions about what can and cannot be done in the house. And for the most part it was a well-behaved group; no-one violated any of the usual rules, at least not that I noticed. One woman was texting which was rude but if she didn't want to pay attention, that was her loss.

Finally, the house was purchased by the Parks Service in the '70s after falling out of the family's hands when Van Buren's son owned it, so much of the furnishings were no longer on premises. They have acquired more original artifacts that belonged to Van Buren than they had when I visited before. They've also done a lot of research on how things were when he lived at the house, and reproduced that look.

I was surprised by how many people were on the tour: nine. There seemed to be about that many in the group that followed us too. I was pleased to see that the site is busy. Many of the roped-off spaces can't handle any more than that.

It was my mother's and sister's first visit, and they enjoyed it. Another visitor asked whether it is worth it to visit FDR's place in Hyde Park. The tour guide said yes, definitely. (I agree, and actually I was wearing a Fala tee-shirt today that I bought last time I was there.) He added that they consider the Van Buren site to be the "poor cousin" of FDR's house. Funny, and I suppose true. Personally, I think I like it just as much, even if the site isn't as "rich." I highly recommend it, in fact. The 19th Century is fascinating, and besides...it isn't as crowded. The sea of faces can wait until August 30 thank you very much!

Afterwards we visited Ocean State Job Lot. A worthwhile place. I like that they moved into the vacant Grand Union, rather than wasting resources, ruining a field and building a new box. I don't like to shop (understatement, add --at all--), and aside from the supermarket, farm stand and (of course) Stewarts' routinely, and the garden center, liquor store and beverage distributor occasionally, I get by (almost) exclusively with three online vendors (Vitamin Shoppe, LL Bean, Amazon) and three brick & mortar (Ocean State, Tractor Supply, True Value). I don't "do" malls, Target, Walmart, Burlington Coat Factory, Petsmart, Home Depot, etc.

Check out this great new blog!

Going to Lindenwald today.

More later.

I noticed this in the paper yesterday and I see it is in the blog area today. I am working on research for the Academy about this program and was at the show's opening a few weeks ago, it was the culmination of the fifth grade's unit. I think it is great that this was covered in the TU, but it would have been nice to see this article run before the show closed, don't you think?

I got another non-robo call (amazing again), this time from NYSUT, using the same tactic: "I'm going to transfer you right now to your state senator" but this time, the issue was the tax cap. I said no again. She was more polite, observed the social niceties, said goodbye before hanging up, the Miss Manners in me (perish the thought) was pleased. She's lucky I don't do phone advocacy, though, because I favor a tax cap (although I am not bothering to involve myself in pro- advocacy, so I suppose I don't care that much), but she didn't ask. I guess the assumption is that someone on NYSUT's calling list would never feel that way?

Our anniversary yesterday was quite an adventure. The Norman Rockwell museum was great. Something I wasn't expecting was that it is so much more about his work than about his life. I knew his illustration and art would be the major focus, but I thought there would be more artifacts that related to his life in general, and that wasn't the case at all. Maybe because his sons are all still living? Regardless, the tour guide was excellent and the experience overall was very satisfying.

Afterwards, our intention was to eat at the Red Lion Inn. We stopped in a little shop as we were walking from the car to the restaurant. There were '60s buttons on display in the store window. We are going to a friend's 50th birthday in a couple of weeks, and it is a costume / theme party - the sixties. We bought a few buttons (they will make great "flare" for the party, and I collect them besides), and headed for the Red Lion Inn. The walk was maybe a half-block at most - during that time, the sky opened up and soaked us! I can't overstate the rain - within seconds it was a downpour - even our shoes and socks were dripping. At the door of the restaurant, we decided that we couldn't sit there and enjoy it in that condition. So we took a "rain check," went back to the car and came home. What a disappointment!

We dried off, changed our clothes, and went to the Carolina House. It's a favorite place of ours, and not too far away. I'm not sure why we didn't call first, because it is closed on Tuesdays. From there we decided to cut our losses since it was getting late, and just go and get pizza. We eat in fancy places often, so didn't mind the downgrade (that much). We ordered steamers as an appetizer. The clams were spoiled! Seriously, they were so disgusting they sparked an almost immediate gag reflex. Then, the server told us that they made a mistake in preparing the pizza so it had to be made over. We didn't mind waiting, were not really in a hurry, but they must have been nervous about the various problems and didn't cook the pie enough, so the vegetables in the topping were crunchy. (I won't name the pizzeria, because it is always excellent and we love it, so I don't want to trash it for this one bad experience.)

So after the museum the day was a comedy of errors. But, I remarked - it's better than being in the hospital! That's where Bob was two years ago.

It's a beautiful day today! I would love to be gardening.

I had a really lovely weekend. Yard work figured into it prominently. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment from working outside. I just know in my blood I was meant to be a farmer! Last evening, we went to get a pizza after the long day of working in the yard and spied an abandoned vegetable stand on the way. I pointed it out, said that is the sort of place I want to patronize this year to buy my annuals. (If it was in business, that is!) Bob said wistfully, "I would love to chuck everything and open up something like that." Unfortunately after thousands of dollars of education and years of hard work of the mental variety, plus all the financial obligations that we've accumulated, that sort of lifestyle change isn't possible. And I know it may seem charming to a hobbyist, but it is a lot less romantic when it is the way one has to make a living. So I satisfy myself with some perennials and a few annuals, container tomato plants and three squares of carefully managed vegetable plantings. Oh, how could I forget? Also two days of haying in July, if my schedule matches with the timing (which is an opera).

The other thing that made yesterday particularly nice was that it was the 40th anniversary of our priest's ordination, and so the Mass had a few extra touches. We have a choir, band and musical director who are extremely talented. It's like going to a concert every Sunday, yesterday even more so. I also appreciated that there was no mention of the "rapture." Not that I expected it, but I know some clergy of other faiths planned to bring it up. The media was falling over themselves covering it, as if it was news worthy? Why?

Speaking of concerts, I bought tickets to see Bare Naked Ladies at SPAC in July. We rarely travel to SPAC any more; just don't go to concerts as often as we did, the ride to Saratoga is too far, and the last couple of times we went to SPAC we didn't enjoy the experience very much for various reasons. But I had to make an exception for BNL. They aren't playing alone, but with Goo Goo Dolls and Michelle Branch. I don't remember much of the music of either one so I'll have to get up to speed, but BNL could be playing with bands I hate and I wouldn't care.

On the subject of anniversaries: tomorrow we're off to Stockbridge to the Norman Rockwell museum (surprisingly, I've never been before) and the Red Lion Inn to celebrate ours! It's been two years since Bob was really well on this date, so this is major! For us it is about the equivalent of two weeks in the tropics since we do not really take vacations or even full days off. (Part* of that has to do with having two houses, it is the trade off one makes.) He was able to do some outside work yesterday, and I know he felt especially good resuming normal activities.

Finally: off to Samsonville for Memorial Day weekend! Really looking forward to it.

*not all, we never really did, even before the second home. Provincial me, I'm not much of a traveler.

This is awesome! I worked across from that building for nearly 10 years. At first the store was in business; every time I went in there (more than you might think considering it was an electrical supply) I would think, "what a charming old space." Then it went out of business and was vacant, and I kept hoping something else would open up. A museum far exceeds my expectations :-). An Irish heritage museum is perfect for downtown Albany.

Sparked by making this notebook, I've been going through old photo albums, and old digital pictures that I have stored on Photoworks. I scanned some of the paper ones, and downloaded some of the e-files, and I have been using them to make collages on greeting cards, as well as albums on facebook. (Where they are generating lots of commentary.)

I came across this photo, of me and a Seward Johnson statue in downtown Albany:



I see there is an exhibit this year as well.

We took Amtrak to NYC Saturday, went to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, walked down to see Freedom Tower (as Mark Twain wrote, it is 15 or so floors of the "bones" of the building at this point), and had dinner with Bob's brother, sister-in-law, and second cousin (who is visiting from Germany) at Nobu.

The museum is worth the trip! Wonderful social history. We saw the tour "The Moores" about an Irish family who immigrated right during the big wave caused by the potato famine. I chose that tour because the three of us (me, Bob, my brother-in-law) are each 1/4 Irish. Their paternal grandmother and my maternal grandmother were all Irish. I am not sure when their grandma's family came to the US, but Mimmie's grandparents were immigrants who I am sure came here due to the famine.

It was hotter than you-know-what, but I could have seen all the tours back-to-back. They take an hour each. I'm not at all heat tolerant, but there are a few activities I love to do so much, such as gardening or visiting museums and historic sites, where the heat barely is on my radar screen.

The docent (who was top notch) mentioned that the neighborhood declined and then gentrified after the building was boarded up in 1935, so that an apartment nearby now is almost completely out of reach for new immigrants. I was struck, as I have been many times in the past while sitting in my own house, that the flip side to gentrification's impact on poor and working class people is that highly educated professionals then lived in mansions, but now live in the tiny little spaces formerly inhabited by factory workers and domestic staff.

Yesterday we went to Cooperstown to visit Hyde Hall. This is the view from the front of the house of Otsego Lake. Afterwards we went to Brooks' BBQ.

I visited the State Museum when the exhibit that this book is based on was on display. Powerful, interesting, sad stuff; good that it will be published.

The day we went to Springwood (FDR's home in Hyde Park) happened to be the day a statue of Winston Churchill was being unveiled:

Here's the beautiful view from the house, looking toward the Hudson River:

And, in keeping with my interest in all things dog, here is the sundial in the rose garden where Fala is buried (the big monument marks FDR's and Eleanor's graves):

The site is a lot more organized than I remember from my earlier visits. I also don't remember the visitor's center. Our tour guide for the house was a wonderful park ranger. She had the patience of a saint. Our group was very large, maybe too large. Then there was a couple there with two young children whose behavior was just awful. Why would anyone think a baby and a toddler would be interested in a historic house?

It would take much longer than a day to go through the house, visitor's center, and library. Something I noticed, and I can't remember whether this was true in the past, was that there were many exhibits that attempted to address internment during WWII, the conspiracy theories surrounding Pearl Harbor, etc. Although I'm not sure, I suspect this is a reflection of contemporary sensibilities and criticisms, and it was not there on my last visit. I also noted that while they still mention it, they seem to be a little gentler on the subject of FDR's mother and her relationship with Eleanor than they did in the past. Or maybe it was just me and I focused more on that when I was younger.

Our trip to NYC yesterday was great! The show was better than expected, dinner was nice, and after we arrived on the train we had a couple of hours to kill, so we decided to visit MOMA. Neither of us had been to MOMA for years, and when we got there, there was a sign that said "closed today and every Tuesday." So we went to the Museum of Arts and Design instead, and saw this exhibit on Droog. We took a tour, and the guide was fantastic. We took the latest train home (10:45) which got into the station at 1:15. Both of us said we felt we had been teleported - we dozed sitting up for the entire ride and it seemed as if the trip only took 5 minutes!

My letter is in the Times Union today! They cut the last two paragraphs - I know space is tight and my letter was long, but I think it was either because I slam horse racing (a big no-no in the Capital District) or praise John Sweeney (it is very clear they are rooting for Gillibrand).

OK, here it is: I Remember Rudy. Be sure you have a hanky handy. I made it the virtual museum for Fall 2006. The only reason it qualifies is because there are a lot of pictures. (Well, that and the fact that I haven't had a new one since Winter 2005). I also updated the "zoo," catalogue, bio, and home page. I just didn't feel like making the changes before this.

It was freezing, and the ride is very long, but we had fun in Vermont. On the way up, we took Route 7. Very scenic, also very, very, very long. We stopped in Manchester, and Bob went to the Polo Outlet.

Once in Burlington, we stayed at the Clarion (the room was actually a suite, complete with kitchenette and jacuzzi) and our niece showed us her college, St. Michael's. We then ate at the New England Culinary Institute Commons (very impressive and delicious).

On Sunday, we visited the Shelburne Museum. We were pressed for time - and it was very cold - so we went to three of the sites: the Collector's House (very interesting and different), the Lighthouse (very cool, and it reminded me a bit of our Castleton house), and the Ticonderoga (where we took a guided tour). You could easily spend a couple of days there, there was much more to see, even this early in the Spring.

On the way back, we took the ferry from Charlotte to Essex, and picked up "our" (NYS) Northway. That made the trip home somewhat faster, but it still is very long. The ferry was quite an experience, though - I'd never been in a car on a ferry! It was very rough! Almost scary. The animals stayed in Samsonville - so Bob took a brief nap there when we picked them up before we headed back north to Castleton.