Tustin Walk
Peter and I had a nice walk around the neighborhood today. It is very hot, but there is a bit of a breeze and there is always something interesting to see. Plants just grow out here, many of which I have never seen before. This round thing is about twice the size of a basketball.
This El Camino SS 396 is parked just down the street. We’ve been driving by it all week and I especially wanted to get some photos before we leave.
Watts Towers
John and Lynne took us on a mini tour of places of note in the LA area yesterday. It is amazing to watch John navigate around the area. He grew up out here and knows the streets very well. Lynne does the driving and John says things like “Why don’t you turn right here?” We always end up in amazing places. The Watts towers are a National Historic Landmark and worth a visit. Learn more about them here.
Whenever I think of Watts I am reminded of my great friend Alex’s tales of his time as a young man in the National Guard and being placed on a corner with live ammunition during the riots of 1965. Not having been given much in the way of guidance, he wasn’t sure what would happen, and fortunately for everyone around where he was stationed, not much did.
Yaz
Cris and I flew to California last night. JetBlue is the only airline with direct flights from Logan to Long Beach, and it was a nice flight. It was pleasant to see this life-sized Yaz at the gate. Only in Boston, I guess. To get to the airport, you drive through the Ted Williams tunnel and then just before you get on the plane you are reminded again about how big a role the Sox play in New England’s identity. I didn’t see Paul Revere anywhere, but Sam Adams was in all the bars.
Cat
I’m back home. I think I’ll stick to one picture posts for a bit. / This cat lives in Gary’s store in Tilghman. I’d never seen her (him?) in there before. I think it spends most of its time in the display case.
Jardin Botanique de Montreal
Before it started raining heavily yesterday, Cris and I got the chance to go to the Botanical Gardens out near the Olympic site. Since it was so early in the season, there was no charge to enter. The daffodils and some of the tulips were out, and the Alpine garden was especially nice. / Back to the States in an hour or so. It’s been fun.
Hotel Room With a View (finally)
Cris and I are well used to having hotel rooms with crap views. Were were pleasantly surprised to enter our room and see this. It is especially nice to be able to open the window far enough to stick out the camera and get a clear shot. / I am really liking this city.
Ben Laden est Mort
It is odd to be out of the country when something like this happens and interesting to see the Canadian reaction on the CBC. / I have spent the day walking around while Cris is in meetings. / This is an interesting and exotic city filled with very nice people.
Lake Champlain flood
I am in Montreal for a few days and decided to take the more scenic route through Grand Isle, Vermont instead of the 89. The level of the lake was quite high; the road was covered in a few places. I couldn’t tell if it was unusual, but a lot of houses seemed to be having issues with water. I’ll be curious to see what it is like when I drive back home on Wednesday. There is rain in the forecast.
Eating in car
Peter and I were once in Northampton at a stoplight and we noticed that the person driving the car next to us was eating a bowl of cereal while waiting for the light to change. She saw us looking at her and smiled sheepishly. / I walked by a car recently and saw this bowl on the front seat. Looks like they might have had some coffee too.
Day Peckinpaugh / Erie Canal
I was mostly crazed yesterday. Sometime over the weekend, I either lost, misplaced, or had stolen some important mail. I was preoccupied by it most of the day. So much so that at about 2 o’clock I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. For some reason, I decided to mess around with my web site instead. I had been wanting to update it fore a while, especially the projects page.
Several years ago, the New York State Museum rescued the Day Peckinpaugh from imminent scrapping. It was in Erie, PA, and by some miracle Craig Williams got a hold of it just before its demise. Most amazing was that he found someone who had actually worked on the ship while it was still an active hauler, and who knew his way around the engines. So they fired them up and started the journey from Erie to Waterford, NY.
The Peckinpaugh was built in 1921 and when it was retired in 1994, it was the last working freighter on the Erie Canal. I think I remember hearing that it was hauling concrete at that time.
I got the chance to be on her for much of the trip across New York State on the canal. It was late October / early November and the weather could not have been better. A really interesting group of people too.
John Callaghan was the skipper, and you can see by the concentration on his face that it was an intense job for him and his crew. The ship travelled mostly by her own power, but on occasion tug boats came in to help out.
So, at the end of the day, I still hadn’t found the mail, but at least I felt good about getting something productive done. To see more from the trip, check out the “projects” page of my main website (joncrispin.com) by clicking the link on the right (Jon’s main site).
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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