Moe
I took the train into New York City on Tuesday and met Craig Williams at City Hall Park. He took me over to One Liberty Plaza to meet some of the September 11 Memorial folks and have a peek at the WTC site. We then went over to Engine Company 6 which is just an amazing place. / The main purpose of the trip was to photograph the Albanese Meats & Poultry shop on Elizabeth Street. The history is a bit too involved to get into, but Moe has been cutting meat here for a very long time. He worked with his mom, Mary for almost 50 years until she died in 2002 at the age of 97. He is an amazingly nice guy. I’ll post more soon.
Pearl
The weather has been perfect for sitting on the deck and having a nice cup of tea in the afternoon. Pearl has become much less likely to slink off and get into trouble in the neighborhood, so all in all it is very relaxing. I love Autumn.
Honey
Cris really likes honey in her tea in the mornings. Usually we buy the cheap organic stuff at Trader Joe’s, which is pretty good, but this stall at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market had a really nice selection of flavors. The guy selling it said that the wildflower variety would be good in her Earl Gray, so I bought a 2 lb. jar.
Royal Palm
Peter Carroll and I went out for Indian food in Collegtown when I was in Ithaca. The Royal Palm has been there forever without much obvious change. It is a pretty cool building.
Willard Cemetery
Every time I go to Willard, NY to do some work relating to the Psych Center, I go to the cemetery and walk around. The setting is really beautiful; a huge rolling field with a view of Seneca Lake. It is also a very moving place. For reasons I have never completely understood (or agreed with), the only names on headstones are in the veteran’s section. All other graves are marked with a number. I spent all day Friday photographing the wonderful people who worked at Willard before it was closed, and then Brad Edmondson and I walked across the road to have a look. I was struck by the fact that it was late Friday afternoon on the 10th of September, the last day of Rosh Hashanah.
Nuns
On Wednesday I was driving to the Ithaca area to begin a few days of shooting former employees of the Willard Psychiatric Center. I had to stop for a piss and as I was coming back to my car I saw the nun on the right putting something into the back seat of her car. The wind was really howling, and her habit was all over the place. She and her companion were more than happy to be photographed, even as they were unsure as to why I would want to take their picture.
Peter
Autumn is always a transitional time for me. It is mostly my favorite part of the year, but it always brings up some mixed emotions. I have felt kind of wacked lately, but am starting to leave the transitional phase and get comfortable again. I am always a bit weird before Peter goes back to school, but once he gets settled I start to relax. Cris and I dropped him off on Sunday.
Tom
One thing I really like about living near a small town is getting to know the people that you see on a regular basis. Ren’s Mobil is in the center of Amherst and Tom has been pumping gas there for a long time. When I first met him he was a student at UMASS; now in addition to working at Ren’s, he plays bass in the band Outer Stylie (Psychedelic/Rock/Soul). It is always great to see him, talk about music, and get some gas. He is consistently cheerful and totally cool.
Newsstand
The New York State Museum is looking at some older style newsstands that are slowly being replaced by a more modern version. I was in the city yesterday on a mad dash down Broadway starting at 178th Street and ending around Times Square. It was very windy, rainy, rushed and a total blast. We were helped out by Harley Spiller, who is THE expert on the stands and in particular the paperweights used to hold down the piles of papers. An amazing and very cool guy. This stand is on the corner of 46th and Broadway.
Acorns
When I was growing up in Meadville, there were tons of oak trees. In the fall the acorns would start dropping and be everywhere. Sometimes we would fill our pockets full and inevitably someone would start throwing them,which would lead to some massive neighborhood battles. One day Don Blackmar’s father got involved in the effort, and since he was the only adult, just about everyone started heaving them at him. He got really pissed and took it to a level way beyond parental discretion. It was unusual to see a parent go over so far over the edge in what was mostly just a benign game. I never felt the same about him after that.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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