American Demographics / Hope and Feathers Exhibit (Image #10)
I have delivered all of the American Demographics photos to Hope and Feathers for framing. I get back from Nepal on the 1st and the show will be hung on the 2nd. The opening is Thursday the 4th.
I had heard that a house was to be moved in Ithaca and went down to hang out and watch the action. These two guys seemed to be enjoying themselves. You can just make out the corner of the house that is attached to this cool Peterbuilt. Robby Aceto did a great job on the colors.
Hope to see you on the 4th.
Nepal 2018
We tried something different this year on our trip to Kathmandu. Instead of going through Dubai we opted to fly Qatar Airways through Doha. It was a nice long flight and the Doha airport is wild. Here is the giant teddy bear with a lamp on its head. Quite bizarre.
The flight to Kathmandu from Doha was 4 1/2 hours and I was getting a bit tired and bored.
It is always great to get off the plane and be in Nepal. You can deplane from the front and back just like in Long Beach!
They have renovated our usual room at the Hotel Tibet. Brilliant sunset last night from our window. / We have today to goof around before Cris starts her World Education work tomorrow. Cheers and thanks for following.
Willard / Meadville Trip / Conneaut Lake Park
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After living in D.C. for the past 5 years, our son Peter has moved home for a bit to take some classes and do GRE prep. It is nice to have him around. Soon after he returned to Massachusetts we planned a quick trip to Meadville and Pittsburgh to catch a Pirates game.
The Willard employee reunion dish-to-pass event was happening on the Saturday that we drove out, so he and I stopped to say hi to old friends. We had time afterwards to go to the cemetery which is always a very moving experience.
The sign at the Jewish part of the cemetery is looking a bit run down and could use some help.
The little stone marker is still there.
Here is one of the numbered graves in that part of the cemetery. It makes me so sad that #43 has no name. The state of New York could remedy this if they cared enough to publish the names of the patients who are buried here.
Before Peter and I continued on to Meadville, we stopped by the Romulus Historical Society building to see the recent exhibit updates. It was nice to see Craig Williams and Debbie Nichols who had been a nursing student and then a nurse at Willard.
Here is Debbie sitting next to her actual uniform. It is a great little museum and well worth a visit.
I’ve been stopping at the Angola Rest Area on the New York Thruway for as long as I can remember. It is so nice to walk over the highway to get to the main building.
The first stop was a visit to Eddie’s Footlongs on the lake road outside of Meadville. I had 2 with the works.
Next stop Hank’s Frozen Custard. I had 2 here as well. Chocolate.
On Sunday morning we got word that the Pirate’s game was cancelled due to rain, so we checked out of the motel and drove to Allegheny College to see the tree we planted in honor of my Dad.
My sister Karen chose a lovely Winter King, and it is thriving.
It was a rainy Sunday morning and after breakfast at the Meadville Market House Grill, we drove out for a last Hank’s and then around Conneaut Lake. The amusement park was not surprisingly deserted, but it was strange that country music was playing through the loudspeakers.
There was no one there to yell at us to stay off the rides, so we wandered and took some pictures.
Ugh, clowns.
On the left above is the Blue Streak roller coaster. I was never keen on riding it, but once Judy Jacoby who was my girlfriend for a short time convinced me to go on it. It was fine.
It is difficult to know for sure, but I think the park is still open. But it was a bit eerie to walk around with the music blaring and nobody else there.
The coaster car is pretty classic.
A Century Flyer made in Dayton, Ohio.
Here’s the entry into the first tunnel.
The master controls. ↑
Peter and I actually rode the Devil’s Den many years ago. The “Infamous Gum Wall!! is just that. People started sticking chewing gum on the wall when the ride slowed down and it became….well infamous.
Cristine and I are off to Nepal on Friday. I hope to post regularly from Kathmandu.
Cheers everyone and thanks for following.
Lock 12, Erie Canal / “Ward’s Island” Derrick Boat Decomissioned (EDITED)
I got a call yesterday from my friend and sometimes patron Craig Williams. Craig worked at the New York State Museum and was responsible for getting me access to the Willard Suitcases, as well as work photographing the panels and artifacts from the World Trade Center 9-11 attack, and a ton of other interesting photography projects.
Craig has been really concerned with a plan that the NY State Canal Corporation has to scrap some historically important canal boats and sink them off the coast of Long Island to creat artificial reefs. He asked me to meet him at Lock 12 in Tribe’s Hill, NY and take a few photos of one of the boats as it made its way Eastward.
Above is the derrick boat “Ward’s Island” which is being pushed from Lyons, NY through the Erie Canal System and down the Hudson to be sunk off the coast of Long Island.
Craig and fellow supporters of Canal history are waging a bit of a protest in regards to the State’s decision to move ahead with this plan. On the left is Will Van Dorp who has a great wordpress site having to do with shipping. Here is a link that talks about the Ward’s Island. Interestingly enough, the boat was commissioned by the NY State office of Mental Hygiene in 1929 to ferry cars and people from Manhattan to the Ward’s Island asylum.
After about 10 years downstate, she was sent up to the Canal to begin life as a derrick boat, and was only decomissioned last year. Here she is in the lock. Note that this is the stern; she is being pushed backwards through the Canal.
Here’s a detail of the stern. She was sitting really high in the water as much of the weight was stripped out before the beginning of the trip.
It was an incredibly beautiful day at the Lock. I have felt for a long time that the Canal is a very underutilized feature of New York State. Destroying a part of its history is probably not a good way to attract positive attention to it.
Here’s the tug Lucy H pushing her towards Amsterdam.
The next boat scheduled for scrap is the tug “Urger” (Edit; Urger is not meant for scrap. As of now the State wants to take it out of the water, beach it, and make it into a display at Lock E13. / Also, Will Van Dorp contacted me with a few more links about the Ward’s Island. Here and here). Here is a link to the Urger. Let’s hope it is not too late to save her.
Roosevelt Island Talk
The Roosevelt Island Suitcases talk went really well. Took this photo from the Tramway on the way back to Grand Central.
I made it back just in time to get the 9.06 to New Haven.
Thanks to Judy Berdy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society for inviting me back. It was a lovely evening.
Julianne Wick Davis / Grand Central Station
The evening at Joe’s Pub was amazing. Julianne Wick Davis’ song cycle based on my suitcases photos was really incredible. I was completely blown away by her talent and drive to get this going. The project is still in the early stages of development, but it is so exciting to have been an inspiration to her. / I was so thrilled that my buddy from Wittenberg, Chris Brigham came out from Chicago for the event. It was so great to see her.
I am on the Metro North train heading back to New Haven which goes in and out of Grand Central Station.
It is quite a place.
The suitcases site has been having a slew of problems of late. We are close to getting it sorted and it is currently back up and running. It appears that it has been innundated with bot attacks attempting to take over the site. Thanks to Steve Fox at Born Digital for all his hard work. It has been very frustrating and costly, but fingers crossed we are working towards a resolution. Cheers all, and thanks for following.
Ford Thunderbird LX “Roadster”
I have posted here and here about my interest in how American car companies choose to name special models of their cars. It seems like this was really popular back in the 80s and 90s.
This T-Bird belongs to our friends Suzan and Max, and they love this car! They are grad students from the Netherlands and did what many Europeans do when buying a vehicle in the States; get some serious “Detroit Iron”. I couldn’t find a specific reference to this Roadster model. I’ll have to ask Max if this is the 6 or 8 cylinder, and what year it is.
I really love the Thunderbird logo. It looks very Southwestern.
It appears in several places around the car. None more beautiful than the one in the grille on the front bumper.
I wouldn’t think those are real turquoise stones.
I tried to explain to Suzan that the term “roadster” doesn’t exactly fit this style of vehicle. This particular model is from the 10th generation of T-birds which were produced starting in 1989.
Opening Day
I will often go to Fenway without a ticket in the hope that something will pop up (no pun intended). When I got to the park I was amazed to see the line for the “day of game” tickets was quite short so I queued up and snagged a cheap (for the Sox) ticket out in the right field grandstand.
It is always special to walk into Fenway, especially on opening day.
The NESN sideline reporter was ready for the cold, but it warmed up nicely. By the 4th inning I took off my jacket, down vest, and wool sweater.
I am including this shot for Peter Carroll. Look closely and you will notice that the “camera” on the tripod for this guy’s live feed is an iPhone! Amazing.
The Sox were playing the Pirates, and I am including this shot for my son Peter. We joke a lot about the 1970s Pirates hats, and this gentleman was totally decked out, including his Willie Stargell jersey. He wasn’t so happy at the end of the day, as the Sox won 5-3.
I ended up sitting in the second row of right field box 88, and had a really enjoyable time with the usher in that section, Bobby the Brick. It was a blast to watch him work the game; keeping people moving, and bantering with the crowd. He would randomly ask folks what the score was, how many runners were on base, etc, just to make sure we were all paying attention. He is a totally great guy who grew up in the North End and loves his job.
I always like to look around between innings. My seat was just under the retired numbers of famous Red Sox players. Love that blue sky.
This was the first time I had taken the Commuter Rail to the park. There is a new stop just steps from Fenway and it was great. I love trains.
Atlanta
I’m in Atlanta for a few days.
Cristine is at the annual CIES conference and I am editing photos in the morning and exploring in the afternoons.
This was the entrance to a parking garage in Buckhead. I think it was connected to an AMC movie theatre complex that advertised that you could eat a meal and watch a movie at the same time. What is this world coming to? (I just checked and here’s a link.)
This is the Peachtree Center MARTA stop. I love that the walls are left to show the exposed bedrock.
For those of you who might be interested, I post mostly goofy stuff on instagram. Just go to the top of this page, and under the sites links on the top right, hit the “Jon’s Instagram” link.
Howth
We have been spending most of our time in busy cities on this trip, so we decided to take the DART train to Howth yesterday and spend some time on the coastal path.
This is a lovely seaside fishing village, and since it was Sunday it was a bit crowded, but we really wanted to walk, so it was worth it.
As we walked through the carpark at the beginning of the path, we saw a guy in a superman costume get out of a taxi. We didn’t think much about it at the time since it was a few days before Halloween. We started our walk, and some minutes later looked down to a little island just off the coast and saw him jump off a diving platform. He is in mid-flight in this photo but it is a bit difficult to see him. Look for the red spot on the left. Wild.
It was a lovely day. Not too hot, not too cool.
Ireland is really green, and like Cornwall has a really interesting variety of plants.
I can never keep these things straight, but I think this is gorse. So lovely.
There were amazing views throughout the walk. In the foreground is an entire field of ferns that are just starting to turn brown.
At one point the coast path crossed an enormous golf course. We were instructed to stay quiet. We obliged, and we did see some golfers teeing off. It would have been a lovely day to play 18.
But by far the coolest part of the walk was when we went through the Bog of Frogs. It was boggy, but not noticeably froggy.
We walked well over 10 miles, and it was spectacular. It was great to get a pint and some fish and chips once back in Howth.
As we waited for the train to Dublin, a Carphone Warehouse advert kept scrolling through this sign at the station.
Once back in Dublin, we stopped at Mary’s Bar and Hardware for a whiskey. They really love JFK here. And the whiskey was nice.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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