Upstate NY: Steve's photos

Corning looking NE at the glass museum. I lived less than a mile due west of the glass center

Gaffer Joe

Letchworth: the Grand Canyon of the East

There ere 3 major waterfalls on this section of the Genesee River 

Our Inn was located high in those hills

The New Dawn

Sunrise yesterday. I couldn't recreate the beautiful colors my eye saw

I still have plenty of mums

Looking southeast. Our house is at a 45 degree angle facing northwest. Steve mowed the lawn for the last time trying to grind up all the maple leaves

Already there are reports of angry white men shouting at possible immigrants go back where you came from. Some kids in Michigan (yes Michigan; not down south somewhere) are shouting Build a wall; build the wall. Some blocked minorities from entering the schools. Meanness and intolerance now prevails.

Three of my precious grandbabies have Arab last names. In the minds (small as they may be) of the Trumpkins,  Arab=Muslim=Terrorist, no matter if they were baptized Christian. My only grandbaby without an Arab or Jewish last name is African-American. What does the future hold for her?

Trump is what he is. He did nothing to hide his true nature. He won with empty and vague promises appealing to his people: It's Not your fault; It's Their fault!

Shades of Hitler.

I get so angry when I find out that someone who really, really should know better voted for Trump. 33% of Hispanics voted for him which I find unbelievable. Did they actually listen to him? A spouse whose wife is way over the former max of medical deductions votes for Trump because he doesn't think a woman can handle the job. Meanwhile, if the ACA is repealed, his wife will be out of health insurance. I don't think I can look this person in the eye. I used to like him.

Meanwhile back to non-travelling mode. I've been cleaning the house, making a mirror wall, expanding the playroom with more rubberized tiles, running, biking (just a little as it is so windy). I am trying still to lose the weight. Despite all my activity in NYC, I only lost a half pound but now it is starting to come off again. I did go to my cooking for survivors class the other night with an emphasis on non-meat protein. Stuffed acorn squash with tempeh and cheese; garbanzo bean soup with apricots and quinoa, a lentil salad with ginger and almonds. So at least I eat healthy for one night a month. Yep I have to incorporate these recipes into my daily diet. For now, I have increased the fruit and vegetables, eliminated desserts and most starches and of course avoid alcohol. It has been almost 12 days since my binge in Saugatuck. I hope to be finished with this by spring.

Coney Island

The parachute jump has survived countless decades despite hurricanes. It has not been used in 60 years. Steve's mother in the 40s was hoisted up to the top and then dropped. Not my idea of fun

At the far southwestern end. In the 80s, this part was scary to run on as crime was so prevalent. Much safer now. Here the wood has been replaced by textured concrete. Harder n the feet but at least it won't be burned

The rides are closed for the season

One of the many art walls

Nearby Nathan's

Outside the NYC aquarium. The sea lions were noisily barking on the other side

The boardwalk is 2.5 miles long. The boards are comfortable to run on though loose boards are a tripping hazard

Spring forward;fallback. While the NYC marathon was going on, I was on the Coney Island Boardwalk running.  another beautiful day. We were limited where we could go today because of marathon traffic. 40000 runners.  When we ran it in 1985, there were only 10,000 runners. I thought it was too crowded then.

Steve grew up  in Trump village (built by the Orange One's father) just two blocks away. When we visited his parents, this would be where I'd run. His mom moved out about 10 years ago but we still like to visit the boardwalk.

Later we had a big lunch at a kosher dairy Italian restaurant with his cousin and family. No meat but fish, very pricy fish at that, is considered dairy. It was fun.

The Basket of Despicables have prevailed

I've been playing around with filters. The sky looks dark and ominous, not the bright blue it was

rainbow cookie cake at the good Italian bakery on Avenue X

did we get any of this? Some rainbow cookies for the kids No sfogiatelle for me. I did taste Steve's cannolo

I did have some spumoni though. It's at least low fat

Manhattan from the BQE

It's 4:30 am and the Holland Tunnel traffic is at a crawl

no traffic in Toledo

very faint trace of a rainbow back at home

How could this happen? Are people that stupid, racist, xenophobic, short-sighted? Not that I ever believed polls but boy were they wrong. Due to our very early exit from Brooklyn, I went to bed early so I didn't watch the blow by blow disaster that will befall us all. I awoke at 11:30: argh! He was way ahead but of course this didn't include the Pacific coast states. Maybe they will save the day. I heard fireworks not long after (out here in the wilderness). Must be Trump supporters. The NYT had some arrow showing likelihood of winning. By 1:30, it was at 97% red. I tried to sleep to non-political podcasts. At 3:30, I noticed Hillary had given a concession speech an hour ago. F%$#!!!!!

I think back to last summer to a bus driver the bicycle ride had employed to drive us to the campsite ranting on and on about Crooked Hillary. I wanted to shake him. What exactly will Trump do for you? Will your bus driving job suddenly pay more? Will you be able to get health insurance? What job opportunity will be provided for you, an obviously uneducated person? Maybe there will be a job for him in the military though he looked too old. That's where the jobs will be.

Most of my friends are educated; most were for Hillary. Perhaps I am in a bubble. I listen and read to op-ed pieces that require at least a high school education to understand. All clearly stated the dangers of Trump. Was Michigan ultimately a red state? Not clear.. Only a few thousand votes at most. The counties surrounding us, save one where the local KKK was head quartered, were clearly blue. And the area around Grand Rapids and Flint. All red elsewhere. In the UP, where they especially love their guns and want to secede from the state, all red except a refreshing patch of blue around Marquette. I do like Marquette. Too bad the winter there lasts forever.

Some seemed to vote for Trump out of self interest: their health insurance premiums are too high and they blame Obama. Some are willing to overlook all of Trump's flaws confident that he will make abortion illegal. And there are the gun lovers. But for the most part, Trump cleverly tapped into people's inner demons, those racist, xenophobic, sexist ones. It was suddenly OK to let those demons out. And they came out loud and clear yesterday. I was hoping those with vested interests in Wall Street would save us. The market would swing up with favorable polls for Hillary. Guess where it is now?

Will there be enough checks and balances to save us from Trump's monomania? I hear already he is installing as Secretary of Interior some oil executive. He wants to get rid of pesky regulations that 'impede' business. Back to bad air and water.

And for those who are gay, Muslim, Black, come from immigrant families? Scary times. The evil side of me is confident that the 'uneducated masses' that voted for him will eventually find out that Trump cares nothing for them and that they will be in more dire straits than they are already.

Not proud to be an American now.

Scary times

It is shorter and cheaper to drive home though Manhattan. But obviously, much more traffic, thus the early departure time (Steve's idea..hard for me to get him going any earlier than he wants). First fly in the ointment, the Brooklyn Bridge shuts down in the middle of the night for repairs so we took the Manhattan Bridge; out of the way but has a more straightforward path to the Tunnel. Then there was lots of traffic in the tunnel (4:30 am!!!) and very confusing where to go out of the tunnel. I point Steve to the very far left lane as he was in the very far right lane. Finally we are doing well but then he inexplicitly gets off the route. More scrambling. It was fun watching the temperatures change: 50 in Brooklyn, 27 in the mountains of Eastern PA (f888ing red state now!), 68 in Ohio and 60 back at home where I frantically got in a bike ride before the rain. We stopped for breakfast finally after driving for 3 hours. Need coffee!

We will stay at home for the near future though I will want to escape the winter blahs in a few months. I have been gone a lot having fun for the most part. We have been lucky with the weather. Brooklyn was very fun.

The parrots of Greenwood

Our last day in Brooklyn. I wanted to look at the monk parrots again so we went back to Greenwood cemetery  Alas they were not roosting but we did see red headed woodpeckers. Too high up for photos.  Lots of unusual warblers there too. Note very beautiful Japanese maples in full bloom. So pretty there with the fall colors, hills, ponds and statues. so was I a pig in the food capital of the US?  No alcohol all week but today I had spumoni at Spumoni Gardens. At least it was low fat. also a trip to our favorite Italian bakery to buy stuff for the kids. We had perfect weather and I ran quite a bit, today up Ocean Parkway. We are leaving very early to escape Manhattan traffic. Not looking forward to the 11 hour drive

Persimmon tree next door.  who knew persimmons grew in NY

A few monk parakeets aka Quaker parrots roosting in the entrance towers. Why can they survive the cold winters? They build huge communal nests, some as big as a car to keep the flock warm. They also chose to put these nests on electrical transformers for added warmth. Those birds have since been destroyed. They originally lived in Argentina where they are agricultural pests. A few imported as pets escaped. Presumably pet monks can be taught an extensive vocabulary.

tower of parrots. There are none in Michigan but some live in the Hyde Park section of Chicago

The trolley is used for tours. In the 19th century, this cemetery was second to Niagara Falls for tourists

the entrance gate. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the parrot nests on the tallest tower

there is a heron there

This Japanese maple was my favorite tree