myxer

  J.P Morgan had a spectacular private library, which raised questions for me, all of the inspriration I need for this weeks Sunday five. 1: Are there books you have multiple copies or editions of?  2: Have you ever stood in line to buy a first edition on the day it was released?  3: Do you buy books just to own them, or only to read them?  4: Have you read 90% or more of the books you own?  5: Do you have an active library card?  My Answers: 1: Are there books you have multiple copies or editions of? No longer, I did at one time, but we have downsized.  2: Have you ever stood in line to buy a first edition on the day it was released? Yes, Harry Potter books.  3: Do you buy books just to own them, or only to read them? Almost always to read.  4: Have you read 90% or more of the books you own? Yes. Probably more than 95%.  5: Do you have an active library card? No, I should do something about that. Please share your answers in the comment...

  I read this in an obituary recently:  In lieu of flowers or cards,  Jim would want you to write a card or letter to someone that is special to you. Dear Travel Penguin Blog Readers, I never met Jim, kinda wish I had.  He lived near where I was born and raised, I often check obits there, people around my age are often people I crossed paths with when I was growing up.  Those 20-30 years older are often the parents of people I grew up with. Sadly sometimes the younger ones are the children of my classmates.   You are special to me.  I know a handful of you. I wake up everyday looking forward to interacting in the comments. The statistics tell me there are many more that read, than I have never seen a comment from.  I write for everyone of you.  My sincere hope is that a photo I have posted, or a phrase I have crafted, makes your day a little better.    I hope through these photos and words I am able to express that life will be...

The City of Alexandria Virginia, redid the waterfront at the end of King Street (main street - high street.) This was a long involved process including moving the yacht club.  The new space has expanded public access and a larger park, including a public arts space that hosts rotating exhibits.  The current one is fabulous, I Love You, with lots of light and bright.  The previous exhibit was a bunch of knee hight posts, representative of the pilings for piers along the waterfront, it was not as fabulous.  I need to get down there at night, it lights up. 

I am working on a post that will appear in a couple of weeks of things that piss me off.  This week added a couple of things to the list.  We succeeded at ordering appliances for the kitchen replacement.  With luck the cabinets should be ordered in the next week or so. Appliances are still in short supply, the total sorcery cooktop we wanted is delayed at least 6 months, and the cooktop is an essential to the job.  We found a slightly less magic model in stock, it will be delivered this week.  The appliance dude didn't seem very enthused about what I thought was a rather large order. When we went into pay, there was an invoice laying on the counter, the first item was a refrigerator, I had to look twice, I didn't believe my eyes, the first item was a $10,000 refrigerator, makes my order look insignificant. Still I have bought new cars for less.   The world here has turned green, the last of the trees are starting to leaf out (the one outside my  b...

My oldest brother had a low draft lottery number, so he enlisted in the Navy the year he finished high school.  After basic training, he was assigned to the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise (now decommissioned and the last I knew it was being dismantled.) Someplace in southeast Asia he bought a Canon Ftb, a nice 35MM SLR. There was also a tripod, the gray zippered case above their arms is the case for the tripod. Looking at this it was taken with the camera on the tripod, and either a cable release or the self timer,  I suspect the self timer as Dale is almost blurred from having tripped the timer and rushed back to be in the picture.  This would have been taken in one of the crew living areas on the ship.  I think Dale only took a couple of rolls of film on the camera, this roll of slides ended up with dad's meaning it was probably in the camera when Dale came home on leave, and somehow Dad ended up keeping the camera.  Dad gave it to me a few years b...

Artisans, craftspersons, farmers, chefs, I love watching them work.  Historic sites sometimes have live demonstrations of how things were done, metalsmiths,  spinners, weavers, broom making, furniture, historic farming making are all fascinating to watch.  They are also often a financial loss for the venue, the cost of the demonstrations far exceeds the value of what is produced.  The glass blower working in a demonstration shop, produces less at the same cost as a glassblower working in the back room without the distraction of an audience.  So we see fewer of them.  When we lived in Kentucky nearby Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, had a thriving demonstration program, until a new director mandated that they had to pay their way or go.  The last time I was there one craftsman was working.  Sad that.   Non-profit does not mean free to operate, or exempt from the economic realities of the world.  That is why there are admission fees, ...

May there be light at the end of this tunnel. 

1: Where are you reading / responding to this?  2: How far are you from a phone?  3: Is it daylight or dark?  4: What can you hear?  5: If there is anything to drink within reach, what is it?  My Answers, 1: Where are you reading / responding to this?  At the desk in my bedroom  2: How far are you from a phone? Both the house phone and my cell on are on the desk.  3: Is it daylight or dark? daylight, later afternoon.  4: What can you hear? A freight train about 1.5 miles away. 5: If there is anything to drink within reach, what is it? A glass of water  Please share your answers in the comments 

  There are thousands of restaurants in New York City. From one-dollar pizza to the some of the worlds most expensive delicacies, if it can be sourced and legally sold, someone in New York has it on the menu.  When we came down from the walk in the clouds, it was time for lunch.  The Shops at Hudson Yards has a dozen options. All most all of them looked interesting.  So how did I pick one, the sheep on the sign.  Anyplace that has a sheep as its logo has potential to be great.  And it was.  Imaginative British inspired, made with the finest ingredients.  We were seated at the peak of the lunch rush. The actor filling in a waiter, was sweet and friendly.  He did warn us that the kitchen was a little backed up, to which I ordered a drink and told him our next commitment was a nap then dinner at 6.  He assured us we would be back to the hotel in time for a nice nap.  Lunch was leisurely, but not slow by normal standards....

Did you miss me?  I almost 8 hours late posting today, sorry!  The Bryant Park Grill in New York has become our "we have to go back there" stop in New York. It is tucked into the back side of the New York Public Library, on the edge of Bryant Park.  The setting is garden elegant, the food is amazing, with service to match.  The domestic cheese tray is amazing.    

I have made the first purchase for the kitchen replacement, a new faucet, and the next day the kitchen sink.  Both should be here by the time this posts.  The faucet is black and square, there was a TV commercial of a couple walking into an architect, placing a faucet on the desk and saying "design us a house around this."  Yes, that kind of a statement piece.  Appliances remain the major loose end.   I am in a crazy busy cycle at the work, three major trainings in two days, and another next week.  My first board meeting since becoming director is Friday, I get to shake things up. And it is budgeting season. And we are officially returning to the office.  Glad I am taking a week off in May.   I am back in a reading frenzy, I bought a stack of books in NYC, and I am almost done with those.  More on the Kindle to read.  It was nice to get into ink and paper bookstores a couple of times.  There is a nice small bookstore ...

This photo of my mother's parents was probably taken before I was born, definitely before his health forced them to retire.  He looks very robust in this photo. He was born into a large family on a farm. He preferred to farm with horses or mules, resisted using a tractor (and a tractor accident started the cascade of health problems that led to his retirement.) When I was sorting photos after my parents died, I came across a baby photo of him, and discovered that his middle name was Rollo.  I have no idea where that came from.  The best I can determine his family was primarily German in ancestry. As was my grandmother's. She had an unusual first name, Mina. (Yes like the bird.)  Any unusual names in your family history? 

  Almost every photo triggers and memory, or a story.  When I travel I take lots of photos, I come home and sort them, and some stand out.  But many are just there.  I find as I go back through them weeks, months or years later the memories and the stories are triggered.  This photo was pulled at absolutely at random from a list of over 60,000.  It was taken shortly after the first snow of 2022. It was a heavy wet snow, that brought down a lot of branches and trees.  This one was taken near home, as the eagle flies only a mile away near the river.  This is the entrance to the Dike Marsh trail,  I have walked there hundreds of times in the past couple of years.  My estimate would be that 33% maybe more of the trees along the trail lost major limbs in that storm, a couple of dozen trees were toppled. I walked the trail that day.  This image triggers that memory, and all of the stories related to my time on that trail.  We should ...

Something very upbeat this week, we need this. 

I saw an interview with a New York based Psychologist who estimates that 90% of us will experience post-covid trauma for up to 9 years.   1: Do you feel a need to remember or a desire to forget?  2: What artifact of this era will be you memory trigger?  3: What will be the longest lasting change from the experience?  4: What can we do to help future generations learn from our experience?  5: What are you most looking forward to returning to as it was before?  My Answers:  1: Do you feel a need to remember or a desire to forget? At my age, this is a part of my life experience that I will never forget.  2: What artifact of this era will be you memory trigger? Face coverings.  3: What will be the longest lasting change from the experience? Working from home, I think this flexibility will be retained (I hope so.)   4: What can we do to help future generations learn from our experience? I am starting to take photos, of what it was l...

Over the last few trips to New York we watched the skyscrapers at Hudson Yard be built.  Hudson Yard was a rail yard, one of the last underdeveloped large areas in Manhattan.  We noticed the cantilevered protrusion, near the top of one of the towers, it is called the edge.  It is on the 100th floor, 1,100 feet above ground level, and open to the public.  (Also available for private parties.) I kind of like this kind of high up observation level, so we booked tickets for the elevator ride.  We tried to get lunch reservations on the 101st floor, they were closed for a private function.  Lunch comes with a free elevator ride, well at those prices not exactly free (about $100 per person for lunch.) The morning of our reservations it was cloudy.  Low clouds, as in about 700 ceiling and we were going up 1,100 feet.  And why not?  We could have tried to rebook, but the weather forecast was not promising (it cleared out the following d...

Real men make quiche. Recently I was bored, looked in the fridge, I had a couple of dozen eggs, cream, a lightly smoked very lean bacon, forbidden cheddar, mushrooms, we always have butter in the freezer, the perfect cold day to make quiche.  The pastry was a variation on Mary Berry's grated frozen butter, flour, salt, a little cold water and an egg.  Americans don't usually put an egg in pastry, it works.  Pastry is really alchemy.  You mix together simple ingredients and make something devine.   The filling was 7 eggs, a chunk of grated forbidden cheddar, onions, mushrooms and bacon lightly fried, a dash of heavy cream.   I bli nd baked the pastry for about 20 minutes at about 400 degrees F, then added the filling and baked at about 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, turned the oven down to 300 F for another 25 minutes.  It was good, very good.    

Last Wednesday, not yesterday, a week ago yesterday, we met up with Mitchell from Moving with Mitchell for a quick chat and lunch. We met up in his original home town, Brooklyn, New York.  Those who read his blog will know he was in town to see his brother Charles (Chuck.)  We were honored to have a little slice of his time, while Chuck was out bowling.  We took the subway over from Manhattan, we used the trains quite a bit on this trip, a great way to get around.  The subway goes through a tunnel under the east river.  Possibly one my great grandfather worked on 110 years ago, when my grandmother was a child and they moved to Brooklyn (from London.) I have been to London, I had never been to Brooklyn.  The weather was a tad inclement.  Temperature in the 40's (F) and raining. When we turned the corner by Brooklyn Borough Hall, WINDY, very windy. The plan to stroll down the waterfront was scuttled, then we discovered that the best taqueria i...

  Sometime in the early 1960's my grandparents started snowbirding, going south from Michigan (as Spo describes it the land of perpetual snow and ice ) to Florida in the winters.  My grandfather worked for Ford for over 30 years, then left in the late 1950's to move to the farm and keep bees. Bees in Michigan are a seasonal farming operation.  There was no reason for them to stay in the snow in the winter (my parents started doing the same thing when I was in the 8th grade.).  They bought a newly built one-bedroom house in a fishing village called Istachatta on the Withlacoochee River (Google it, it is a real place.) When I say a one-bedroom, the first year they were there they added on, adding a bathroom and eliminating the out-house that had been build with the house. (Before zoning and building codes.) It was an escape, a second home. They spent winters there together for about 15 years. It was there one winter that my grandmother came to the realization that my g...

A few years ago I was asked to speak at a conference at Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.  I went in a day early, so I had time to ride the cog-railway to the top of the mountain, went out of my way to book a coal fired steam train.  It was spectacular.  When we got to the top the mountain was in a heavy fog.  I loved it.  I read recently that there is a proposal to build guest accommodations, a hotel of some type in the national park at the top.  I might need to go back.