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Category Archives: New York

A brief detour to Syracuse

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by winifredcreamer in New York

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Family

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 7.31.19-skaneateles-cruise-002sm-1.jpg

Syracuse was just as warm as Chicago when I arrived, but I was scheduled to accompany my mom on a dinner cruise on Skaneateles Lake that evening. The weather was perfect, the water was smooth as glass, and the food was good. Even though we were guests, it seemed like a worthwhile activity even if I had had to buy tickets. Lake cruises are a popular summer activity for good reason.

Since mom is 94, we didn’t do a lot of trail-walks or swimming in the many Finger Lakes. We spent some time sitting on her tiny deck enjoying the good weather, ran a few errands, and shopped at the ever-amazing Wegman’s.

If you haven’t been there, you haven’t experienced the best in grocery shopping. Maybe Schwegmann’s in New Orleans, back when they allowed beer sales and you could see ladies in robe, slippers, and curlers sipping a beer and smoking as they shopped on Saturday morning, was as much of an experience, but for variety there is nothing like any Wegman’s in New York.

Sunday evening we met my cousin Gail, my brother Tim and my sister-in-law Margie for dinner. We tried the Inn Between, near Camillus, NY. It’s a restaurant in a big white house on the edge of town. It was a lovely evening with excellent company. The group’s comments on the food were mixed, but my dinner of scallops, crab, and shrimp was excellent.

After six days, I headed back to Chicago on a full but uneventful flight. When I looked out the window I saw the tops of high, white cumulus clouds as far as I could see. It reminded me of being a kid and wanting to fly among the clouds. It would look just like this.

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Something new: the toe of Manhattan

13 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Lyra, New York

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Museums, walks

Wall Street with the spire of Trinity Church in the background.


I thought I knew about Manhattan, having visited quite a bit while growing up and having lived in couple of neighborhoods. I’ve ridden on the Staten Island Ferry and been to the Statue of Liberty. Both require you to go to the toe of Manhattan. What I skipped over until this trip was the neighborhood just inland from the Battery that includes Wall Street. Now that Lyra lives there, we stopped in for a visit and it is a very enjoyable part of the city.

We stayed at the Wall Street Inn (on S. William St.), a very comfortable small hotel with an excellent breakfast included. It’s also near subway stops, but its greatest asset is being located right around the corner from our daughter’s apartment, by Delmonico’s. (We did not eat there on this trip.) We did take in the sights nearby and there are many. We stopped in front of Federal Hall on Wall St. where George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the US.

 

 

 

We saw historic Trinity Church and its churchyard.

Lady Liberty at the Museum of the American Indian

 

 

The former US Customs House, just down the street from Federal Hall, overlooks Bowling Green. Today it is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian and holds the collections that were formerly the Heye Foundation. It was difficult to visit before moving to the Customs House, because the building was largely storage and had limited display of collections. The museum was located way off the beaten path on 155th St. and Broadway. Now the museum is at the Bowling Green subway stop and the new exhibits show the rich collection of materials from North, Central and South America. I particularly enjoyed seeing the pottery from Costa Rica and Panama that reminded me of the time I spent in Costa Rica while working on my dissertation and how much I admired archaeologist Olga Linares for her book on the imagery on Panamanian pottery, “Ecology and the Arts in Ancient Panama.”

A scary plate from Panama.
A scary plate from Panama.
"The Thinker" as a rabbit, from Costa Rica
“The Thinker” as a rabbit, from Costa Rica

There is also the Wall Street Bull, though it was ass deep in tourists. The “Fearless Girl” statue facing the bull was put in place in March 2017 and was still there.

Just two blocks beyond is the shore, lined with a walkway that is used by strollers and joggers alike. Once you get beyond the area where visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island congregate, it is a relatively peaceful and uncrowded part of the city. The view out over the water to Liberty herself and Ellis Island are sublime. It’s a great neighborhood.

 

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Meeting up with Spring.

17 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in New York

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We have been observing spring in the Northern hemisphere. We left Peru on March 31 and stayed for a week in Wheaton, IL. The weather was cool but the flowers were emerging.

Hemos estado observando la primavera en el hemisferio norte. Dejamos Peru el 31 de marzo y nos quedamos una semana en Wheaton, IL. El clima era fresco pero las flores estaben emergiendo.

From Wheaton we went to Syracuse, where the grass was starting to turn green. The moon was full and we watched it rise over  the forest at Green Lakes State Park.

De Wheaton fuimos a Syracuse, donde la hierba empezaba a ponerse verde. La luna estaba lleno y lo vimos subir sobre el bosque en Green Lakes State Park.

Six deer picked their way across the grass to graze while we watched.

Seis ciervos recorrieron su camino a traves de la hierba para pastar mientras miramos.

We took a trip to Penn Yan and another to Seneca Falls, where we visited the National Women’s Hall of Fame. https://www.womenofthehall.org

Visitemos a Penn Yan y tambien a Seneca Falls, donde visitamos la National Women’s Hall of Fame (Salon Nacional de la Fama de Mujeres).

It was intriguing to learn about the women who have done so many surprising things. Did you know that a woman invented Kevlar (bullet-proof vest material)?

Fue intrigante conocer a las mujeres que han hecho tantas cosas sorprendentes. Sabia usted que una mujer invento Kevlar (material de chaleco a prueba de balas)?

At the end of the week we drove to New York to spend a few hours with Lyra at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central station.

Al final de la semana fuimos a Nueva York para pasar unas horas con Lyra en el Oyster Bar en la estacion Grand Central.

4.15.17 New York-009
4.15.17 New York-005

From there we headed to JFK airport and our flight to Rome. We plan to return to the US on Nov. 1, 2017.

De alli nos dirigimos al aeropuerto de JFK y nuestro vuelo a Roma. Planeamos regresar a los Estados Unidos el 1 de noviembre, 2017.

 

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First Accomplishment of the New Travel Season

13 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in New York

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When we left Wheaton last year in April, all our possessions were packed in our Prius (and the storage unit). We went to California for 3 months and stopped on our way to the airport to drop off a lot of stuff with Amanda, since she’s in CA. We left for Barcelona with 4 suitcases.

Five months have passed since our return from Barcelona, and we are hitting the road again and Voila! we are down to one suitcase each. Plus generous carry-ons.3.8.16 Leaving NYC-005sm Advice to travellers: Avoid driving through the NY area. Yes, it cost less to drive from Syracuse to JFK, even with the $250 drop off fee, but the tolls were a shock. $15 to cross the George Washington Bridge, and $8 more to cross the Whitestone. I was glad to turn our car in.

Crossing the bridge.
The New York skyline from the GW bridge–with some smog.

We had to hug Lyra a lot, since she was the only daughter available for hugging. She was a champ to brave the traffic to come and see us at the airport. This may never happen again.

3.8.16 Leaving NYC-007sm
3.8.16 Leaving NYC-006

Traveling business class makes the best of a long night.3.8.16 Leaving NYC-008smAs I mentioned on Facebook, the business class lounge for Iberia in Madrid is excellent. We whiled away the time until our flight to Marrakech. The day was perfect, and we could see Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa (left), and Gibraltar (right).

3.9.16 Mor Day 1 Ceuta-Gibraltar.16 Mor Day 1-003smWe landed in Marrakesh and were collected by a taxi from our hotel, Riad Selouane. The driver got a man with a cart to take our suitcases from the taxi to the riad, because it is in the Medina where cars are not allowed. The streets are only one lane, and very narrow.

Mint tea–Moroccan hospitality

We were tired.
I stared at the shadows cast by our large ceiling lamp, and then I was asleep.

 

 

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Mom is right, again!

09 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in New York

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My mother is going into her third year in an independent living setting and has just turned 91. She claims that there are all kinds of wonderful stories among her neighbors. In addition to the 23 retired priests (there’s a story there), and a retired ambassador (another), artists, intellectuals, she says everyone has a story, and she proved it by inviting her friend Florence to have lunch with us. Florence is 95, and came to the US from China in a cargo ship in the 1930s. She had a lot of adventures before she arrived (carrying a rifle among them), and a lot more when she settled in the US. Florence taught cooking at the China Institute in New York, and after meeting her, Craig Claiborne (long time food critic of the NY Times) wrote a full page article about her that led to her writing a cookbook about Regional Chinese cooking, long, long before anyone in the US knew there was anything but Cantonese food in China. Jonathan had her cookbook on our kitchen shelf for many years and was thrilled to meet her.

Florence is charming and wonderful to talk to. She invited us to her apartment to see her books and she had some beautiful souvenirs of China that she showed us. When she was young, women had to learn to embroider with fine, silk thread to decorate their trousseau. She still has some of the pillow cases she embroidered, and according to my mom, Florence is still skilled with a needle. We had a lively discussion over lunch and our visit. My mom is (once again) right, everyone seems to have a story and don’t let a mild gaze keep you from asking about what people did before they hit age 90. You’ll probably be surprised. I was.

L-R: Jeanne Creamer, Florence Lin, Jonathan Haas

L-R: Jeanne Creamer, Florence Lin, Jonathan Haas

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New York from two different angles

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Lyra, New York

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Attractions, Museums

We spent a clear, bright Sunday visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

8.11.15 Liberty smJPG

8.11.15 -009sm

An earlier torch was shaped like an aladdin’s lamp.

 

 

8.11.15sm

 

 

Lyra is standing beside a full-sized replica of the statue’s toes.

 

 

 

My paternal great, great grandfather was Michael Dwyer, and he may have arrived at Ellis Island from Ireland. I didn’t find him in the records, but I could do more looking.

On the way back to Manhattan from Ellis Island, we saw a fireboat with all its hoses shooting in the air. It was a salute to an arriving Navy vessel.

8.11.15 -003sm8.11.15 -004sm

8.11.15 -destroyer salute sm

 

 

 

 

 

9.11.15 Whitney Museumsm

 

The next day we visited the Whitney Museum in its new location, and looked at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from the other side.

 

We particularly enjoyed the Frank Stella retrospective.

9.11.15 Whitney Museum-004sm 9.11.15 Whitney Museum-003sm

 

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First Bites of the Big Apple

07 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Lyra, New York

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Museums

Arrived NYC from Barcelona on Wednesday, bought household supplies and crashed. The weather is wonderful for November, short sleeves, high 60s to low 70s, with some rain. Thursday was subway tickets (unlimited 1 week) and the Met. We selected 4-5 different galleries we’d like to see, mostly temporary exhibits (Faberge eggs, American quilts, House models from the Americas, and some jade). As we moved from gallery to gallery we had brief looks at many other things, Greek vases and sculpture, the Temple of Dendur, Egypt.

From the Met we returned to our neighborhood (E. 3rd St.) and had a late lunch at Katz’s delicatessen that resulted in our not needing dinner. It was divine pastrami, chopped liver, coleslaw and a vanilla egg cream, not to mention pickles.

Friday we went on round 2 to MOMA. I was particularly interested in the temporary exhibit on Joaquin Torres-Garcia (1874-1949) because of his overlap with the Barcelona modernists. Torres-Garcia lived the artist’s mobile life in Europe, working in Gaudi’s studio in Barcelona, spending time in Paris, and 2 years in the US. Well established by 1932, and seeing the impending possibility of war, Torres-Garcia returned to Uruguay where he began a school and taught, wrote and campaigned for art until his death in 1949. He was the first person to draw a South American’s view of the continent, America Invertida:

Torres_García_-_América_Invertida

Much of Torres-Garcia’s work looks familiar to be because it seems to have influenced my late mother-in-law, artist Eleanor Haas.

Torres-Garcia:                                     Eleanor Haas:

6.11.15 J Torres Garcia URU at the metsm 32L18WanimalsEleanor Haassm

 

 

 

Not to brag, but here I am with a famous painting….

6.11.15 MOMA-007crop

Here’s a short explanation of  Van Gogh’s success at depicting turbulence in “Starry Night,” despite this being a thorny problem in physics.

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