September in New York--photos

As promised, some photos of my recent trip to New York. I'm including photos of the High Line, One World Trade Center, the NY Botanical Gardens,Tarrytown, and Pawling. 

Map of the High Line

walking along the High Line

 garden and plants along the High Line 

Sculpure along the High Line

One World Trade Center

It's impossible to not love NY--there is no place like it in the world 

On a clear day, you can see the Manhattan skyline from Hastings

The NY Botanical Gardens--Alice in Wonderland exhibition

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

The newly-renovated lighthouse and the new Tappan Zee bridge in Tarrytown

a bookstore in Pawling

town square in Pawling

September in New York

My annual trip to New York this year was taken a bit later than usual. I normally travel during the last week of August/first week of September, but this year, in connection with a high school reunion that was scheduled for Saturday September 21st, I arrived in New York on September 18th. My friend Judy, who lives in Oregon, also planned to attend the reunion, so we decided to meet in Manhattan for two days before heading north for our reunion. We stayed at the Warwick Hotel on West 54th Street, where I stayed last year when I met my friend Cindy who flew in from Illinois for a visit. On the first day of our two days together, Judy and I walked the 1.45 mile-long High Line (Visitor Info | The High Line) in perfect weather--sunny and warm, and then walked down to the Memorial (The Memorial | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org) at the site of the former World Trade Center Twin Towers, where we visited the Pools and then the Oculus (Oculus Transportation Hub | World Trade Center (officialworldtradecenter.com). The following day we walked through Central Park starting at Columbus Circle and exited at East 79th Street in order to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we spent the better part of an afternoon. In the evening, we went to see the biographical musical Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theater on West 46th Street, which was superb. I had been a bit sceptical about seeing it because there was a lot of rapping, but suffice it to say that it blew me away--both music and lyrics. When we exited the theater and walked back to the hotel via Times Square, we were both amazed at the vibrancy, energy and life of the city and of the people hanging around there. It brought to mind the old saying--New York is the city that never sleeps. That seemed to be the case at around 11 pm on a Friday night in September. 

Our high school reunion on Saturday proved to be an enjoyable one; of the one hundred or so students we graduated with, about twenty-five attended the afternoon brunch that was held at a restaurant in Yonkers. It was fun to catch up with everyone, although three hours was too short a time to really talk in depth with everyone. I don't know if there will be future reunions; I doubt it, but who knows? At least ten of our classmates have passed away in the intervening years. It's hard to believe it's been fifty years since we all graduated from high school. 

After the reunion, I had lunch at Harvest on Hudson (Harvest on Hudson | Italian Restaurant in Hastings, New York (harvesthudson.com) with my friends Gordon and Mary-Ann, both of whom I know from my Memorial Sloan-Kettering Days, and spent some time with Jola, also from my Memorial Sloan-Kettering Days. I also managed to meet Stef for lunch at Horsefeathers (Home | horsefeathers (horsefeathersny.com) in Tarrytown. Horsefeathers has been around since 1981 and was the site of many a get-together with family and friends when I lived in New York. And then I spent the remainder of my time in New York at my second home--Jean's house. I always look forward to being there. Maria came down from Albany and we all hung out together as we love to do. We made a trip to the small town of Pawling in upstate New York, had lunch there and then wandered around the small shops. The following day we spent the afternoon with Maria's sister Margarete and her son Zac. I always return to Oslo from New York in a happy frame of mind and with a lot of energy to spare. That's because I am together with close friends and family. Just being together with people who truly know and love you is a gift from God. I know that's true because our get-togethers are blessed with grace, understanding, peace, and love. We love each other in the best possible way--acceptance of who we are, where we are in life, what we believe in, and genuine wishes for the others' happiness and wellbeing. I've said it before many times, but I'll say it again--I cannot imagine my life without my close friends. God has been good to me and I am grateful for them. 

I'll post some photos of my trip in my next post. 

Lights shine at Yonkers park for Grand Holiday Illumination

I've written about Untermyer Park and Gardens before in previous posts (A New Yorker in Oslo: Untermyer park and gardens (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com) and A New Yorker in Oslo: Two gardens worth visiting--Untermyer Gardens and the New York Botanical Garden (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com).     

I would love to see the Gardens lit up for Christmas, but for now, I'm posting a CBS news report about the Grand Holiday illumination. Enjoy!!

Back in the USA

Back in the USA during the first two weeks of September. My traveling plans this time around included visits with friends I haven’t seen in years. My first visit was with an old college friend, Cindy, whom I met many years ago in the modern dance class we took together. We became friends and ended up choreographing several dances for the end-of-year recitals that were open to the public. She and her husband have visited us in Oslo, but that’s a while ago now. We toured the JP Morgan library in Manhattan (she wanted to visit the library because she, like many tourists there the day we visited, had read the two recent books about Morgan's personal librarian, a woman named Belle da Costa Greene, who happened to be a black woman). After we visited the library, we walked to the High Line so that she could experience it, and then we went to see The Vessel, which is a unique and beautiful artistic structure located on the west side of Manhattan. We walked at least five miles that day in 93 degree F heat. It was good to get back to our hotel (the lovely Warwick Hotel) to relax and cool off. 

After I said goodbye to Cindy at Penn Station in Manhattan, I took an Amtrak train to Boston to visit my theology professor from Fordham University who just happens to be a (semi-retired from teaching but not from writing) Jesuit priest. He is in his early eighties, is living in the Boston suburbs at a retirement home, and is as intellectually active as ever. I stayed in a very pleasant guest room at the center (they have accommodations for guests), attended a 6:30 am mass in the center’s chapel together with many elderly priests (a very touching experience), and otherwise enjoyed some really rewarding conversations with my former teacher. I had so many questions for him, and surprisingly, he had some for me as well. I realized that there is more that unites us in this life than divides us. He chose a different path (no marriage and family) but an interesting one. As I get older, I am more curious about my faith, not less, and he answered some of my questions. It was good to see him after all these years. We have kept in touch by letters and emails for many years, but hadn’t seen each other until now, and I don’t know if I will see him again.

From Boston, I traveled onward by bus to Albany NY where my friend Maria lives. Jean drove up from Westchester, and we spent the weekend together, hanging out, talking, and eating well. We managed a trip to Herkimer to take a boat trip on the Erie Canal, something that I’ve always wanted to do, especially after I watched the NY Adventure Club’s virtual lecture about the history of the canal. I’ve written about that in previous posts (A New Yorker in Oslo: The Erie Canal: A Story of Building the Impossible--a New York Adventure Club webinar (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com) and A New Yorker in Oslo: The film--The Farmer Takes A Wife, from 1935 (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com). 

Jean and I returned to her house for a couple of days, which I always look forward to; her house is like my second home and she is like family to me. I met her two new grandchildren for the second time, which was very nice. She and I met up with a biology teacher from our high school who is in her early eighties and who has dyed her short close-cropped hair a muted shade of purple. I don’t remember her as being a funny woman, but she is. We met for lunch in NJ together with another friend, Stef, who also attended the same high school (Our Lady of Victory in Dobbs Ferry NY).

From there I drove onward to the Milford PA area to get together with my sister Renata and her husband Tim. We enjoyed some nice days together just relaxing, and then I drove back to the Westchester area to visit my friend Gisele for an afternoon. She is unfortunately quite ill and tires easily. But it was wonderful to see her.

This has been my traveling year; my hoped-for goal was to visit with friends whom I’ve not seen in a while, and I've managed to do that. In December, I will meet up with another friend, Haika, whom I haven’t seen since 2010. We're planning to meet in Dresden Germany in order to visit the Striezelmarkt Christmas market there. It’s apparently the oldest one in Europe (Dresdner Striezelmarkt (dresden.de). I'm looking forward to experiencing it with her, as she's wanted to visit this market for quite a long time. 

I'm enjoying my travels here and there and want to do more traveling in Europe as well as the USA. I’m always amazed by the vastness of the USA and how things really do function fairly well in spite of that vastness. Some people tell me they are now content to stay in one place and not travel. Perhaps I will say that in ten years or so, but not now. 

The film--The Farmer Takes A Wife, from 1935

The 1935 film The Farmer Takes A Wife was based on the popular 1934 Broadway play of the same name (see The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935) - IMDb). Sandy Schuman talked about this film in his presentation about the Erie Canal (see A New Yorker in Oslo: The Erie Canal: A Story of Building the Impossible--a New York Adventure Club webinar (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com). Henry Fonda had a leading role as farmer Dan Harrow in the play, and reprised his role in the film. The film depicts life on the Erie Canal before the railroads were built; it was an important waterway that connected the mid-West with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River in order to transport goods between Europe and America. There were many freight boats on the canal and a lot of life in the small towns along the canal. The active boat life on the canal was dominated by boat drivers who employed cooks, all of them loyal canal folk. They didn't want to hear any talk about railroads being built that would put them out of business. Few of them believed that railroads would replace their livelihood, and in the film, they were willing to fight anyone who supported the building of railroads and/or who believed that railroads were the future of freight transportation. Dan Harrow works on a canal boat in order to save up money for his life's dream--owning his own farm. He meets and falls in love with Molly Larkins (played by Janet Gaynor), a cook on one of the canal boats owned by Jotham Klore (played by Charles Bickford), a drunk and a bully. Molly can take care of herself; she's in love with canal life and has no intention of leaving it. Until circumstances change and she grudgingly has to realize that the time has come for her to leave it; she accepts Dan's proposal of marriage, but not without a few monkey wrenches thrown into the drama before it ends happily. The nice thing about the film was its depiction of canal life, the hustle and bustle of the small canal towns, the idyllic landscape along the canal, and the quaint characters that populated the canal towns. 

I recognized some of the songs from the film: Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal (the Low Bridge, Everybody Down song); I've Been Working on the Railroad; Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight. They're all songs that I remember from childhood from an LP that my parents had. I especially remember I've Been Working on the Railroad, especially the refrain Dinah blow your horn..... After watching The Farmer Takes A Wife, I understood more about life on the Erie Canal and how that came to an end once the railroads took over the same routes. 

What a rich and eclectic history America has. The more I learn about it, the more I want to learn. For example, DeWitt Clinton, who lived from 1769 until 1828, was a US senator, the mayor of New York City, and lastly the governor of New York State. As governor, he was responsible for construction of the Erie Canal, which was a big deal in the 1800s (construction started in 1817 and was finished in 1825). Think about this--the canal was 363 miles long and was finished in the course of eight years--very impressive. Clinton lived long enough to see it finished. 

There were thriving societies in America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and a lot of progressive thinkers lived during those times, DeWitt Clinton was one of them. Those who built the railroads in the nineteenth century were also progressive thinkers. Compared to our current society, household activities back in the 1700s and 1800s took longer to get done, travel and transportation were slow, and there were no telephones (until 1876) and computers (not until the twentieth century, at least in the form we know them). My point is that there was no lack of visionaries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many of them achieved great things and pushed the society around them to evolve and change. 

Virtual lectures offered by the New York Adventure Club

I started watching the virtual lectures (webinars) offered by the New York Adventure Club during the pandemic of 2020. They were a good way to pass the time, to learn something new, and to connect with others who were interested in the same topics. I've continued to watch a few of them since then and have been quite satisfied with the quality of both the lecturers and the material they present. Some of the outstanding talks have been about the Gilded Age of NYC and the mansions from that time, or about the famous parks and tourist attractions of NYC (the lecture about Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters in upper Manhattan comes to mind--Fort Tryon Park, From The Cloisters to Former Gilded Age Estate). I've also watched a talk about the history of City Island (City Island: The "Cape Cod" of New York City) that was fascinating, as well as one about the history of Grand Central Station in Manhattan (Grand Central Terminal and the Secrets Within). Today I watched one of the best talks so far--Samuel Untermyer: Life, Legacy, and Famed Gilded Age Gardens--about the life of Samuel Untermyer, a prominent lawyer and civic leader who was responsible for the creation of magnificent gardens at his Greystone estate in Yonkers on the banks of the Hudson River. He willed it to the city of Yonkers after his death, but it fell into disrepair and was mostly abandoned for many years before the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, in collaboration with the city of Yonkers, began to restore Untermyer Park and Gardens to its original splendor. The president of the Conservancy is Stephen F. Byrns, who founded the Conservancy in 2011; he is the one who held the talk today and he did an excellent job. I've visited Untermyer Park and Gardens several times since 2019, and it is being lovingly restored. It's a beautiful place, and my only hope is that it will tolerate the eventual increase in the numbers of tourists who will discover this pearl of a garden. At present admission is free; I can truthfully say that I wouldn't mind paying an entrance fee to cover maintenance costs. I've written a couple of posts about my visits to Untermyer Park and Gardens: A New Yorker in Oslo: Untermyer park and gardens (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com) and A New Yorker in Oslo: Two gardens worth visiting--Untermyer Gardens and the New York Botanical Garden (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com). If you'd like to check out the garden website, here is the link: Untermyer Gardens Conservancy - Home

I recommend checking out the New York Adventure Club: Insider Access to NYC Events and Best-Kept Secrets | New York Adventure Club (nyadventureclub.com). Their virtual lectures are not expensive and are worth the money if you want to know more about New York City and New York State. I just registered for a new webinar: The Erie Canal: A Story of Building the Impossible, to which I am looking forward, as I have always wanted to visit it. I hope I get the chance to see it in person. 

The new Tappan Zee Bridge

For those of you who are wondering about the header picture of the dual-span cable-stayed twin bridge at the top of my blog, it is a photo I took of the new Tappan Zee bridge during my September visit to New York State. The new bridge opened for traffic in 2017; the old one was taken down due to its age and constant need for repairs. You can read more about it here: Tappan Zee Bridge (2017–present) - Wikipedia

The new bridge is lovely, and at night it is often lit up in different colors to celebrate or honor different events and organizations. I'm proud to say that it connects Tarrytown, my hometown on the east side of the Hudson River, with Nyack on the west side of the river. There is a pedestrian/bike lane on the bridge as well; if you'd like to walk across you can park your car on either side of the river. It's not something I've done as of yet, but it's on the list of things to do when I visit NY. 

Two gardens worth visiting--Untermyer Gardens and the New York Botanical Garden

On my recent trip to New York in September, I visited Untermyer Gardens (Untermyer Gardens Conservancy - Home) with Jean and the New York Botanical Garden (Home » New York Botanical Garden (nybg.org) with Jola. Both Jean and Jola enjoy gardening and visiting gardens of interest, so it's always enjoyable to visit different gardens with them. 

I've written about Untermyer Gardens in this blog before (A New Yorker in Oslo: Untermyer park and gardens (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com); if you'd like to read more about the history of this garden I suggest Wikipedia and the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy websites. I visited Untermyer together with Stef and John in 2019 (pre-pandemic). A lot has changed in the space of three years; all of the changes are for the better, as they usually are in a garden. During the pandemic, the garden conservancy board planned and hosted different webinars that updated us on some of the changes occurring in the garden--new plantings, new areas dedicated to specific plantings, and renovation/repair of existing structures. The gardens are the venue for different music and dance concerts (carefully chosen) throughout the summer months. The dance concerts especially interest me since I used to dance modern dance many years ago; perhaps one summer I will be able to attend one. 

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has been in existence for a long time, similar to Untermyer Gardens that started development in 1916. The NYBG was established in 1891 and is the largest botanical garden (250 acres) in the USA. It is a national historic landmark that in addition to exhibiting a large diversity of beautiful plants (annuals and perennials), offers programs in horticulture, education, and science. Basic and applied botanical research are also conducted at the NYBG. I've written about this garden before as well in this blog (A New Yorker in Oslo: Beautiful New York State (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com) when I visited NY in 2011. In the early 1980s, I lived in the Bronx and was able to walk to the garden from my apartment on 205th street near the Grand Concourse. Visiting the garden was always a pleasure during the spring, summer and fall months. I remember that I took a daylong course in the use of herbs for medicinal purposes at the NYBG during one of the winters I lived there. Nowadays the garden offers online and in-person courses for people of all ages. I have already registered for one of them: Put Your Garden to Bed, a two-hour course that will provide advice on how to prep your garden for winter. There are also courses in soil science (soil chemistry) that I hope to investigate next semester. 

Here are some photos taken at Untermyer Gardens!

The Walled Garden

one of the pools (canals) in the Walled Garden

The Vista, which descends to the Overlook

closer view of the Overlook, facing west toward the Palisades

a view of the lovely Hudson River from the Temple of Love area

And here are some photos taken at the New York Botanical Garden, of flowers in the tropical water lily pond, of a mosaic plant in the same pond, of the perennial garden, and of a beautiful ceramic urn standing in the vicinity of the perennial garden. 

Tarrytown in September

When I was visiting Tarrytown in September, I took some photos of the Hudson River, the lighthouse, and the new Tappan Zee Bridge. It was early evening when a good friend and I decided to have dinner at the boat club. It was a beautiful clear evening with perfect weather, just right for taking some photos. Whenever I look at these photos I am reminded of how beautiful my hometown really is. We were fortunate to have grown up there. Enjoy.....

Fascinating blog post from NY State Parks and Historic Sites

I subscribe to their blog, and this post appeared in my emails yesterday. I wanted to share it with you. It's entitled 'Growing the Future in Gilded Age Greenhouses'
https://nystateparks.blog/2020/01/21/growing-the-future-in-gilded-age-greenhouses/#like-8286

Visiting the Sonnenberg area of NY State and these greenhouses is on my bucket list. I'll have to save it for when I have more time to spend in NY State (when I'm retired, in other words!).

Anything having to do with gardens, plants, seeds, greenhouses, state parks, conservation and preservation hooks me immediately and makes me happy. Reading about this today made my day. It helps to obliterate all the bad and depressing news in the world.

Untermyer park and gardens

When I was in NY in August, Stef, John and I visited Untermyer park and gardens, which are located off of Broadway in Yonkers. The gardens have a lovely Hudson River view. This is the link to their website if one wants more information about the gardens: https://www.untermyergardens.org/

The website states that "The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy is a non-profit organization that in partnership with the City of Yonkers is facilitating the restoration of Samuel Untermyer’s gardens in Yonkers, New York". 

The gardens are a work in progress, and are already quite lovely. What surprised us was that admission to the gardens was free; we would absolutely have been willing to pay a small fee to enter the gardens. In this way, there would be even more money available for restorations.

The day we visited was a very warm summer day, so we weren't there for more than a couple of hours since it was almost too hot to walk around. Perhaps the best time to visit would be the spring or autumn, when the weather is a bit cooler. But we took a fair amount of photos while we were there, and I'm posting some here so that you can get an idea of what the gardens look like.

one of the pools in the Walled Garden

The Vista

view from the Overlook

The Temple of Love

A visit to Bannerman Island

Bannerman Island, also called Pollepel Island, is located in the Hudson River near Cornwall, New York. It is the site of Bannerman Castle, which was once a weapons arsenal and ammunition depot, but which suffered a major explosion in 1920, leaving only the shell of the castle standing. The island is open to the public via organized tours. Beacon, New York is the embarkation point for the ferry boat that takes you to the island for the tour. The boat trip takes about thirty minutes, and is a pleasant ride, especially on a hot summer day like the one on which we had booked our tour. I'd been wanting to visit the island for several years now, and on this trip to New York it became possible for Maria, Jean and me to do so. Visitors are not allowed to walk around the castle ruins as the structure is too unstable and is currently being held up by large supports, but the rest of the island is open for exploration. We enjoyed the tour and can recommend visiting the island.

Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York

I visited Innisfree Garden with Jean on my recent trip to New York. I had read about this garden online; it is a 185-acre public garden located at 362 Tyrrel Road in Millbrook, New York, and is "recognized as one of the world’s ten best gardens". Its existence is yet another reminder that there is so much to see and do in beautiful New York State. As the years pass, I realize more and more how privileged we are to call this state our home state. It is also very nice to be able to visit different places with my good friends now, some of whom are retired and enjoying the freedom from the daily work routines that they followed for so long. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens"; that is how it feels now, even for me who is still working. I am winding down my own work life, and preparing for the eventuality of retirement. I will write about that in a future post.

You can read about Innisfree Garden here: http://innisfreegarden.org/  When we arrived, the woman sitting at the entrance booth told us that it would take about 1.5 to 2 hours to see the entire garden, and that was about right. We could have used more time, but the weather report for that day was thunderstorms starting in the early afternoon, so we decided to get to the garden at mid-morning and leave before the storms started. The walk around the lake would take about one hour if you didn't stop along the way at the different sculptures and gardens. But if you don't stop, you won't experience the beauty and peace of the garden. Walking around the lake reminded me of walking around Lake Derwentwater in England's Lake District, but that walk took much longer. I took a lot of photos as I usually do, and am posting some of them here. I would love to return to Innisfree Garden in the autumn and winter months, as I am sure the garden would have a different feel to it then, probably due to the variations in intensity of the light. I will return to it at some point. I would like to know who decided to call the garden Innisfree, and why they chose that name. I am certain that whoever did so was a William Butler Yeats fan.