weekly update 10/20/2014 (back home in Savannah)
Last Monday, after I got back from my visit to the Flynns in Syracuse, I
had a few minutes for a quick nap before meeting most of the Schepler
family at a local burger joint. Because I wasn't sure how many would be
there, this place was great - we could all find something we like to
eat, and sit at booths or tables to visit. I saw Vicki, Tom, Rachel
& Amber Bordanaro, Dave & Diane Schepler with granddaughter
Miranda, and Brian and Sarah Field. It was great to see all these
friends and get caught up with what's going on with them.
Tuesday
morning I met two former co-workers from City Hall at a coffee shop on
Park Av. The weather was in the 70s (the weather on this trip was
generally wonderfully warm and sunny, but it got cool and, well not really
rainy but misty, toward the end. I can't complain at all), so we sat
outside and had pumpkin lattes and good conversations. In the
afternoon, I drove out to the LW Emporium to meet Donna for a second
visit. LW is a craft co-op east of Rochester that I'd been to many times
and wanted to see how it had changed - hardly at all. But Donna and I
had lunch and shopped, and we each found a couple of things to waste
money on. Since I was already out that way, I stopped in at Marcia and
Andy's house for one last visit.
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| Tony, me & Mabel |
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| Donna & me |
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| Marcia & me |
Ishy and I rose early on Wednesday to drive to Albany / Niverville to
visit with Allen for a few days. We took a nice detour to Glen Haven on
the way. That's where we've rented a cottage in past years, and we
stopped to visit with owner, Nancy. The cottage, pool, pond, everything
looked just the same - nice. And it was nice to see Nancy. We continued
on, arriving at the Blue Spruce motel about 3 pm. We went to Allen's home to visit, and in the evening, he and I went to Grappa's 72, the
restaurant where he works. It was his day off, but he and I enjoyed a
great dinner created by his co-workers. It really was nice - Chianti
wine, Cesar salad, pasta with marinara sauce and sausage &
meatballs, homemade bread, hazelnut gelato and espresso coffee. What's
not to like? Of course, then I had to go right to sleep.
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| Ishy driving to Allen's |
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| Allen at his restaurant |
Allen had made reservations at Olana, the historic site that was the
home of famed landscape painter Frederic Church, for Thursday. We drove
down along the Hudson River, and the leaves were spectacular. For my
whole visit, I took lots of photos of trees and leaves because each brilliant red or orange or yellow (or combination) vista seemed more
lovely than the one before. Olana, the mansion and the grounds
surrounding the estate were pretty amazing. From there, we went just a
short ways to the Vanderbilt Mansion. As one of the smallest homes built
by this generation of Vanderbilts (Biltmore is the home of a brother),
we were told this was not such a big mansion. Coulda fooled me. The
house, the surrounding land, the furnishings, everything was on scale
that make the suburban McMansions of today look like Hoovervilles. We
stopped at a DQ for burgers and pumpkin pie flurries before going back
to the motel. Thursday night for the three of us means NFL, so we
settled in to watch the Pats /Jets, which really wasn't even a game, but
the company made it fun. Allen went out for a pizza at half time and
with the beer and wine, we tailgated as best we could in the Blue Spruce. Allen spent the
night with us, so I had a little more time to visit with him. That was
really nice.
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| on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge... |
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| ...and a nicer view from the bridge |
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| Olana |
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| the Biltmore Mansion |
Allen had to be at work Friday afternoon, and Ishy and I had plans for
back in Rochester for the evening, so we bid farewell after our great
visit, and took the NYS Thruway across the state back to Ishy's. We went
out to Genesee Country Village because we had tickets to a "Spirit
Tour" at the recreated village museum. After dark, our group was led
around by a guide with a lantern, and we went into several of the
restored houses to hear actors tell ghost stories. It wasn't really
spooky (one told of Hansel and Gretel - I would have made a fabulous
witch at that stop!) but we enjoyed it. Plus, following that, we had
hot cider. It would have been perfect if we hadn't gotten lost on the
way home. A nice ride through Scottsville was not too bad, however, so
it was still a fun evening.
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| LWS at the Genesee Country Museum tour |
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| some actors during a story telling |
Saturday I had not one but 2 guided tours scheduled for Mt Hope
Cemetery. Ishy went with me on the first one. It wasn't much history,
but was a fall foliage tour, guided by a horticultural expert. Though
probably too technical for my pea brain, it was interesting, and I got a
lot of photos of the trees and plants he was talking about (plus lots
of pix of fabulous monuments and symbolism). After that, we wanted to
eat someplace nice, but neither could remember any good places nearby -
until we thought of the Highland Park Diner. Originally build in 1948 as
a diner, it became an OTB parlour for a while when the popularity of
diners died, and was then vacant for a few years. It was restored in
1986, and has been a local hot spot since, enjoyed by college students,
young families, older city residents, and the LWS. I wasn't sure if the
rain would hold off for the evening tour, but I purchased a ticket
anyway. Ishy isn't a fan of going out at night, so I went back by myself
for the Torch Light Tour. This was interesting, too, but again, not
much well-known Rochester history. Instead, the guide told interesting
stories of some people buried in the cemetery who had met tragic or
unusual deaths. There were costumed people walking around, but none
spoke to us; the tour guides were the ones who told the stories. I liked
it.
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| I saw many wonderful colors, but this was the best - at Mt Hope Cemetery |
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| lunch at the diner |
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| SBA tombstone at Mt Hope |
There were a couple of friends of ours with whom Ishy and I had traveled on
many of our past trips to Europe. I had hoped to meet up
with some, but unfortunately, two were in China while I was in Rochester. Marcia
and Pat returned late Friday and were kind enough to meet us and Teri
(another one of our traveling group) for breakfast on Sunday. That was
wonderful, and it was so good to see these "girls". Since traveling is
what they like to do, I'm hoping a visit to Savannah is in the future.
After that, Ishy and I stopped at an Italian take out place for pasta
and pizza, since cooking wasn't an option. The Flynns and Jimmy had been
invited for dinner before the plumbing problems arose, so we had to
make adjustments. We bought paper plates and utensils, and ordered take
out food to minimize prep and clean up since we didn't have use of the
kitchen sink. It was all fine though, and we had another great visit
with Robin, Wayne, Rachel, Hannah, and Jimmy (Uncle Jimmy even took
Rachel to the Record Archive, and Rachel drove!) Brian, Sharon, Sarah
& Emily stopped later after Sarah's piano recital, and that was
nice. Not to mention a nail-biter victory for the Bills :-) After all
the company left, we cleaned up what we could and then settled in for my
last evening of the trip. We visited and watched the football.
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| the Travelers, out to breakfast |
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| Emily, Rachel, Hannah, Sarah |
Monday was a long day. I knew it would be, but it was made even worse
when I had a 2 hour delay in NYC. Generally, when I fly someplace, I
leave my car at the Savannah airport so if there's a delay, it doesn't matter.
But this time I would be gone for such a long time, and I haven't had a
delay in many travels recently, so I made plans to have my neighbor, Mike, pick me
up. I don't know why I continue to fly Delta, when almost all
experiences are bad ones. (Actually, I do know why - less $). That was one
of several mess ups on the trip, beginning before I even left Savannah.
As soon as I was on the plane to begin my journey, I realized I didn't
have my red travel pillow; I guess it never made it out of the SAV
airport. I need that, so I bought another in JFK. I left my phone
charger at the B&B in Penn Yan, but the owner found it and mailed it
back to me in Savannah. I'd bought another in the Verizon store near
Ishy, so I was good to go while on vacation. I bought a thumb ring at
the Windmill on the third day of my trip, and have already misplaced it 3
times - better not to wear it, I guess. During the second week, Ishy's plumbing backed up at
the front of her house where her kitchen sink and laundry are (lucky the
bathroom plumbing worked fine: that would have been a disaster indeed
if I'd broken that, too!). And then her heat wouldn't work! When all
the guys were over on Sunday, none could find out what the problem was.
I, of course, didn't think it was a problem as I prefer to sleep in a
cold room and during the day it's easy to add a sweater. She had everything back in working order before I even landed in Savannah again on Monday evening, so she's back to her routine.
I'm back to mine, too. The visits were all wonderful, but THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!
