NEW YORK

I had the pleasure of visiting a very good friend in New York yesterday, and we walked several miles along the southwest end of Manhattan, through Battery Park and along the Esplanade.  One of the attractions along the Esplanade is this odd stone & tile structure, which houses nothing more than six chess/checker boards. 

 

On this very hot day there were no participants.  Research tells me it is called the “Upper Room” and was designed by someone named Ned Smyth in 1987.  When I saw it first I called it a “Temple to Checkers”. 

We took this opportunity to visit the pools at the as-yet-incomplete 9-11 memorial.  Thankfully, I didn’t lose any friends in this disaster, but there is a connection as a former MCC employee was among the victims.  I did not remember Alan Wisnewski’s name at first, but was able to find it on the touch-screen name finder kiosk.  I think the pools are a good way to memorialize the space, and they look big at first, but then you realize they’re the size of the buildings, and you realize that these towers were not very large in cross-section.  You don’t have to pay to go, but there is tough access control, including baggage scans. 

I also enjoyed another free attraction connected to the waterfront – the Staten Island ferry.  Where else can you get 20-minute sight-seeing boat rides for nothing?  Here’s a couple of examples of the view. 

 

We also had a police escort for some reason on the way to SI.  I didn’t see any activity at the dock, so I have no idea why they were along.    

 

 

 

HEAT WAVE – TAKE 2

Well, I’ve given in.  I made it one day into the current heat wave, but after an uncomfortable night I’ve caved and started the air conditioning.  I am trying to keep it set higher than we used to, though.  The toughest part is balancing the temperature on both floors, when the thermostat is downstairs, but the main solar gain occurs upstairs.  I’m still fiddling with vents, but I believe I’ve closed all the vents on the lower floor so we’ll see.

NIK WALLENDA

Along with I don’t know how many other people, I have just watched Nik Wallenda walk across a 1,400 foot deep gorge near the Grand Canyon.  I am not surprised at the fellow’s derring-do; some people need this sort of stimulation.  What I am really astonished about is that a network agreed to broadcast this event live as he walked with no more safety gear than his balance pole.  What in thunder would the perky announcing team have done had the worst come to pass?  I am told that people watch NASCAR races to see the crashes, and those are televised live as well, but this was different.  When Nik walked across the Niagara Falls gorge, ABC insisted he wear a safety harness, not wanting the responsibility of broadcasting his death on live television, so I wonder how he talked the Discovery Channel into letting him go across the “Wallenda Way”?  I did notice that the event was staged on the Navaho Nation, perhaps to avoid oversight by Federal and state authorities. 

FLEA MARKET

I have set up at my first couple of flea markets of the year, local affairs held in Willingboro by our Recreation Department and a local church.  I didn’t go all out, just brought a half dozen boxes of stuff.  Didn’t clear too much beyond covering my fees, but there were empty boxes when I repacked, which is a good thing.  I can’t go to more auctions until I get the inventory reduced a bit.  Here’s a picture of my stand.

CANOE

First, a note for the folks at West Marine: the life jacket works really well.

So I recently bought an old Grumman aluminum canoe for $200.  Having spent nearly that much again for the aforementioned life jacket and other accessories, I had the opportunity to go out for my first trip yesterday.   I have now learned a number of things.  14 feet of aluminum canoe is heavy.  One of the accessories I bought was a sort of wheeled dolly to make it possible to move it around.  Without that I’d never have gotten it in the water.  The second thing is that a fast-moving rain-fed stream with lots of snags wasn’t perhaps the best choice for a relative novice’s first trip.

I struggled upstream for about three hours and managed to travel perhaps one mile.  It was quite a workout, and I am pretty stiff today as a result.  But it was the return trip that was my downfall.  I thought it would be simple.  Just sit back and let the current repay me for all my effort in getting upstream.  But my wake-up call happened as soon as I tried to turn around.  Once sideways to the current I got swept under an overhanging branch, and into the water I went.  Well!  Anyway I pulled the boat to shore and clambered back aboard, got myself organized again, and set off once more.  A short time later I struck something submerged, broached sideways and got dumped again.  This time the boat was swamped, which where I learned another thing.  There is enough air in the enclosed ends to keep this beast afloat, at least temporarily. 

Once again I hauled it ashore at a point where I could roll it over to empty it out.  But my troubles were not done.   A little further down, I went under what I thought were just light branches overhanging the stream.  Rookie mistake, as the leaves were hiding a more substantial branch, and I swamped the boat once again.  It’s a good thing I tied off my cooler and supplies bag, but I still unfortunately contributed several cans and bottles, and a blanket to the trash in the creek, for which I am sorry.  Most of my supplies were in plastic bags, but my phone was not so protected, so I’ve been trying the rice trick to get it dried out.  I also am lucky to not have dropped my glasses.  I’ll have to buy a safety strap for them.

I think I’ll look for a quiet lake for my next journey.

NEW JERSEY

For years, my north Jersey & NY friends and associates have viewed me as residing in the back of beyond in south Jersey, or as one of you put it: ‘south bumblef***.  I have always tried to explain that Willingboro is only in the middle of the state, and that there was quite a bit of real estate further down the pike.

Last week I got a feel for the truth of this.  I drove down to Bridgeton to buy a canoe off a fellow.  It took me more than an hour, and although Bridgeton is much like any other NJ town, I got to see a lot of farmland on my way to the place.  But the important think was I was at still at least an hour from Cape May.  And, it probably was also at least an hour to Atlantic City, since I had gone nearly due south from my home, which meant I was still on the western side of the state.

There’s a lot to New Jersey than people realize.

1969 Convertible

A 1969 Mercury Montego convertible has been sitting in my driveway for decades.  We brought it from CA and drove it for a few years, but it got to the point where it wouldn’t run anymore and it was retired to await rebuilding.  Of course, there was always something more important on which to spend the money and time.  

Well, somewhere Cynthia is laughing and saying ‘I told you so’.  For years, she told me I should just get rid of it.  It took up too much room in the garage, and was in the way in the driveway when it was finally ejected from the garage, but I always resisted.  But this week I finally came up against the realization that I would never now have the money to finish it.

So I listed it on craigslist this morning, and had immediate interest.  So it’s gone now and I have an extra $800.  Such is the price of a faded dream.

WEIGHT

As my friends and associates know, I have struggled with my weight for a long time.  I now have a financial incentive to shed the pounds.  You may have heard of the airline that plans to charge overweight passengers for an extra seat?   I actually face this issue on an upcoming trip in an unusual way.  On an Alaskan cruise I am taking, I have booked myself on a helicopter flight to have a walkabout on a glacier, and if I am not under 250 pounds it will cost me an extra $350!  So now I have been really trying, and I am making progress.  Walking more has helped, and the beer in the fridge is getting lonely.  I am now hovering around 255 pounds, which is a level I haven’t seen since 2008, and is 20 pounds lower than I was in January.  Wish me luck!

CICADAs

I have one question for the scientific community: ‘Where are the cicadas?’  For weeks I have been hearing on evening news reports that the members of one of the main 17-year cycles is emerging and that human activity shall soon be drowned out by their insistent mating buzzing.  There was even a write-up in the latest Time magazine.  But I haven’t yet heard a peep.

I do know they can be loud.  Some years ago I attended an outdoor presentation of the Fantastiks and the singing was nearly drowned out by the bugs in the surrounding trees.  I thought the current silence might be due to having a lot of birds around my property (because of the feeder) as these bugs are like candy for them, but I still would have been able to hear them on my walks when away from the house.

Oh well, perhaps I should just count my blessings and be happy they haven’t emerged yet for some reason.  Maybe the unseasonably chilly May we had killed them off.

HEAT WAVE

 

After years of listening to my friends carping all winter about the cold (while I was perfectly comfortable in a light jacket, of course), I decided I’d find out once and for all what was so alluring about hot weather.  The shift into the current heat wave was quite abrupt, and I decided to simply keep my windows open and the air conditioning off.  Now it’s not as though I was sitting in the house the whole time, you understand.  I had to be outside doing yard work or running errands most days anyway, but it got into the sun-blasted 90’s all week, and the house has a lot of windows facing West and South so it was quite toasty upstairs, even with the breeze. 

 

The astonishing thing is that it has turned out to be less onerous than I feared.  I spent my inside time downstairs for the most part where it was significantly cooler.  There are ceiling fans in most rooms, and what little cooking I do happens in the microwave.  I’ve done a little sweating, naturally, but that’s been good for the waistline, and I’ll be really pleased with myself when the next PSE&G bill arrives.

 

As I write this the weather front that has caused so much sorrow in the middle of the country is about to sweep through New Jersey and cool things off.  The real question for me will be what to do when the next heat wave arrives.  Will I go back to my normal summertime habit of being refrigerated when the thermometer climbs once again?  Stay tuned.