New York City/Roosevelt Island Historical Society/Olive
I had a quick 24 hours in New York City on Thursday/Friday.
After a great lunch with Zoë Crossland (click on the pdf download media button) in Harlem I went downtown to the 9/11 Memorial. It is really quite moving.
The reason for going to New York was to hear Robert Kirkbride‘s presentation on asylums to the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. I’ll be back there talking about the suitcases on the 10th of May. Please come if you are in the area.
It is always nice to take the Tramway over to the Island.
Cheap as chips and great views as you cross the East River. Plus Roosevelt Island is a really cool part of the City.
Judy Berdy is the director of the RIHS and is amazing. We crossed the street for drinks after Robert’s talk and she just happened to have a set of plans for the Goldwater Memorial Hospital building designed by Isadore Rosnfield.
I stayed with friends Pieper and Merrill on the Lower East Side. This is a view of Grand Street from the window of my room.
I often get requests for more photos of the Olive, so here is a recent one.
Hope to see some of you in New York on the 10th.
Olive
Today was a nice and grey day and after editing some suitcase photos and watching Fulham beat Wolves, Olive and I headed up into the woods. I have never seen a winter with so much water, and it was really wet with small rivulets running all over the place. Olive was in her element. She carried that birch log that is in front of her for most of the walk.
It is always a bit surprising to see something so colorful in the middle of winter. With all this water, it might just be a good year for mushrooming.
I wanted to do this post for Patty, who follows this site and recently asked for more pictures of the Olive. It’s probably a good time to mention that if you want to see more of her, I post on instagram as jonkcrispin. It is a nice outlet for me to put up photographs that I take with my phone. So check it out, and thanks for following.
Beach Snow / Jellyfish
It is easy to see where the high tide line is here.
There were several of these interesting gelatinous creatures that had been washed up on the beach.
I want to call them jellyfish, but I’m not sure. They might fit into the cnidaria phylum, but I would appreciate anyone who could tell me what they are.
I love looking at the patterns that form when the tide is going out. This could be a photo taken from 20,000 feet, even though it isn’t.
Delaware
Hi Everyone, lots going on. Sorry for neglecting this site. I’ll have some suitcase updates soon. Here we are looking toward the Delaware Memorial Bridge just before sunrise. / Olive is in the foreground on her morning stroll.
An Interesting Day or Two
Yesterday I took the train from Stratford upon Avon to Marylebone London. It was raining.
I made it with plenty of time to spare to make the 5.30 kickoff for the Fulham v Derby County match (ended in a 1-1 draw, but still fun).
After the match I walked back to my hotel past my favorite row of houses. Most of them have these amazing stained glass doors. Mind blowingly beautiful.
This morning I had a bit of a plan that started in Bishop’s Park.
I wanted to walk past the Cottage again. Last night, I entered the ground through door 36. Quite narrow.
I really like these graphic tiles set into the pavements along the Thames Walk. Especially the smell lines coming out of the poo.
Next stop was The Dove in Hammersmith for a pint of ESB. Nice
I started inside in the tiny bar and then moved to the deck out back.
Just before I got to my ultimate destination (next photo), I got a text from Cris at home telling me to call immediately. This is why; a giant fookin’ tree had fallen on my Element, and had knocked over my Vespa. I think the Element might just be toast, but the Vespa could be ok. Kind of put a damper on things.
Many years ago John Wilson surprised me at the end of a very long walk along the Thames with this view.
Here is a closer look at the Naked Ladies of Twickenham.
And another.
I made it back to the Dove for more beer and a Sunday roast. Tomorrow I have some meetings with folks interested in the suitcase project. V exciting.
Back in England
My friend John Wilson picked me up at Heathrow on Monday morning. After a jammed up drive to Stratford upon Avon on the M40, we made it in time for the dog’s evening walk. Here he is with Violet, and Sid and Lilly. Sid is a pup and Lilly wears a muzzle because twice now she has eaten small plastic balls that had to be removed surgically.
The next morning we all went for a nice long walk on the Welcombe Hills.
The obelisk off in the distance is very cool.
These sheep were very interested in the dogs, but the dogs couldn’t be bothered.
Here are Flora and Violet heading back to the car.
And Sid taking a bit of a break while he kept an eye out for squirrels.
Today was another warmish day so we drove to Broadway in the Cotswolds for another chance to walk the dogs.
I first met John when I was living in Berlin in the 1980s and we have been fast friends ever since. I have actually had this Barbour jacket (which he originally bought in Berlin) for the last 20 or so years. He needed it back for his dog walks so it is now his again. I hope to have it back someday.
Here is Sid patiently waiting for a treat.
I have always had a soft spot for Morgan cars. This one is sitting in front of one of the Broadway hotels, and it took my breath away when I saw it.
After our walk we ended up here for a lovely lunch. We have come to the Snowshill Arms many times, and it always makes me so happy.
While John was sorting out the dogs and Flora was getting Violet organized, I went in to see about a table. John said “Four people and two dogs”. Sid and Lilly were under the table the whole meal. Here is Siddy giving me a nuzzle. What a sweet boy.
Leaves
I took a break from the computer earlier this afternoon to take Olive up into the woods.
Somewhere deep in my memory lives the idea that I have seen something like this before. But I find it quite amazing and wondrous that I saw two different instances of leaves attached to what appears to be a thin strand of spider thread floating in midair and moving with the light breeze. This made me really happy.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Great Dane
I was driving back from a shoot in the Albany area last week and as I was waiting at a light on Route 9 in Hadley I saw this guy. He is a really beautiful dog and I think his name is Felix. His chauffeur rolled her window down and chatted for a minute (it was a long light). Check out the slobber on the B-Pillar.
Willard Suitcases / Joseph A’s Wife
In yesterday’s post I mentioned that Joseph had two trunks in the collection and that one of them contained his wife’s clothes.
An aspect of this project that I find most interesting is to do with questions that arise from looking at the possessions of the patients. We know from yesterday’s post that Joseph’s trunks arrived more than a year after he was admitted. The fact that so much of his wife’s clothing was sent to him makes me wonder if she was alive for part of that year, or if she had died before August of 1945 when he was admitted. Did her death have something to do with his troubles? Who sent the trunks to Willard over a year after he became a patient?
There are, of course, answers to most of these questions. They are in the patient records that are housed in the New York State Archives. Due to state law and the policies of the State Office of Mental Health, almost no one (including the descendants of Willard patients) has access to these documents.
Early on in the project, I came to realize that my photographs could encourage viewers to think about the residents of Willard in a manner that went beyond their diagnoses. In most ways, the official records are not relevant to my feelings about the 400+ people whose cases are in the collection. As I continue to edit the images, my connection to the patients and staff at Willard continues to grow.
Peg Ross and I came across numerous small doggies as we were shooting the suitcases. This one is particularly cute.
I’ll have more to post tomorrow. Cheers all.
Dogs / Thanks / Home
I walked Cris to the World Ed office every morning, and back to the hotel at the end of the day. Kathmandu has a lot of street dogs, most of whom don’t seem attached to any particular person, although the ones we regularly saw were in the same areas every day. You would never want to try to pet them, and they mostly ignore you anyway. We got used to seeing this pup twice a day near a shop, and she was one of the few leashed dogs that we encountered. She clearly belonged to someone who cared for her.
Thanks to everyone who passed along good wishes in regards to my eye thing. I really appreciate it. We are home now and I see my retina guy tomorrow morning; I am really eager to see what he has to say. The huge black blob is beginning to resolve a bit, which is encouraging.
More suitcase uploads coming soon. Thanks for following.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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