Glass

One of the glass models made by Leopoldo and Rudolph Blashka on exhibit at the Corning Museum of Glass

Corning seen from the north side of the Chemung river. Looks peaceful here but it caused 23 deaths in 1972 due to Hurricane Agnes
The back of the glass museum. I could see the office building from my bedroom when I lived here until 1961

The museum had a mix of historical glass and modern along with scientific glass. My father was a researcher there for 11 years

The back of a lens for a Mount Palomar telescope made in the 50s
Glass eyeballs

another glass model of a sea creature. These were made 150 years ago for the Cornell biology department. Actual specimens decompose even in formaldehyde

water level inside the museum. I went there March 1973. The museum had been cleaned up but my old house that was in the flood plain was still wrecked inside. The residents lived in n army trailer on the property as did many of their neighbors

After visiting Letchworth, we went the 50 miles or so to Corning stopping to eat on their main drag. Cream of artichoke soup. So good. Even though we stopped at a brewery, no beer for me. After visiting a few art galleries all featuring glass, up into the hills to find our overnight stay. I had screen shot several detailed maps. It was dark by the time we found the street our place was on. The road morphed into a single lane rutted cowpath with signs, Keep Out! Turn around! Private! All was dark and heavily forested.I called the place and was told I was almost there. We had an A-frame chalet complete with a surrounding deck all to ourselves. It was quite spacious. We had our own kitchen but all was provided was tea and coffee. The property owner was quite nice. I was surprised that she was African- American. Corning never was known for its diversity. It had many posters saying how it wa the most fun small town in the country. My father couldn't wait to escape it. He felt he was in the middle of nowhere and rarely hung around on the weekends. The few weekends we couldn't escape due to the weather, in the snow belt, was spent at the Glass Center. I was born there and moved to Michigan when I was almost 8. Michigan, especially the downriver community we first lived in, seemed so flat. No hills like Corning.