Sunday, August 21
Rusty Comes Home
Madeleine and I drive into Surrey and the kennel where Rusty has been these past five weeks. Madeleine can barely contain herself as the handler retrieves the pooch. We hear Rusty first - yap! yap! yap! - and then mother and child reunion is only a moment away.
"now is a ship
"No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away, oh, little darling of mine"
at 10:48
Friday, August 19
Housework
at 09:04
Thursday, August 18
Denver Airport
Awaiting the over-night long-haul flight. These are words , Dear Reader, I do not like to put together referencing me.
at 14:08
Summer Groove
It has been one great , long, month as we pack the SUV for one last trip : DIA. Been here before, I feel. Our flight departs 8PM so we go to Whitney's pool club to burn off energy (kids) and sunbathe (Sonnet) before the long-haul home. Me, I swim some laps and contemplate my office and the future : summer almost over and another year nearly gone by somehow.
at 13:40
Forest Rd
We head to Denver - Beecher and Whitney, pictured - where we enjoy a Sonnet family reunion : Robin, Bill, Bill, Martine, Frank, Maire and Turk and their tots. This has not been a year without cancer and loss but we are together and happy to be so. Bill's cancer has caused cracks in his upper vertebrae which require cement fillings : The good news : His mind sharp as ever and his doctor allows him to ride. Bill a photographer and we compare notes on practices and places to shoot; his backyard not so bad. Beecher makes a huge spread followed by strawberry shortcake and ice cream; the kids chase each other around the backyard despite the heat.
at 13:18
Tuesday, August 16
On Stage
at 22:03
Balanced Rock
4AM, hello!, and I am up for Arches National Park. Eitan, who beforehand agrees-interest in joining me , immobile and snoring , so I leave him be. It is pitch black upon exiting Moab, Sunday morning, and not a car on the 191. Since 70 degrees I am in shorts and a tee-shirt and have the air conditioning "on" as I pass the deserted park-entrance (Arches open to the public 24/7, 365 days a year ) and curve up a windy rd on to the mesa. Adding some drama , my SUV informs me with a loud "beep" : no gas. I figure the fumes can get me to where I wish to be, and back , but my calculation based on nothing other than a hope , and a prayer, with a slight anxiety expressed in my mid-section.
And so here I behold Balanced Rock . The height of this magnificent ancient geo formation about 128 feet, with the balancing rock rising 55 feet above the base. The big rock on top is the size of three school buses and weighs 3,577 tons. Until recently, Balanced Rock had a companion - a similar, but smaller balanced rock named "Chip Off The Old Block", which fell during the winter of 1975/1976. It is a spiritual place and I remain in darkness , awaiting sunrise. To pass the time I do some deep breathing and yoga exercises. Magic, man. Plus I make it to a gas station.
at 16:30
Dead Horse Lookout, Utah
View of the Colorado River and Canyonlands National Park from Dead Horse Point.
The plateau, where I stand now, surrounded by 2,000 ft cliffs with a narrow neck of land maybe 30 yards wide connecting the mesa to the main plateau. It was easy for cowboys to fence off the neck and round up wild horses. Legend has it that one group of horses left fenced and eventually died of thirst in view of the Colorado River - hence the name. This where final scene of Thelma & Louise filmed.
at 16:17
Grand County
Our first night in Moab, >100 degrees, Sonnet, Madeleine and I explore a local park behind the fancy part of town (Eitan remains in the room, smartly, to watch TV). Our reward : a brilliant sunset followed by the moonrise, pictured, which otherwise appears much bigger than my camera records
The Biblical name "Moab" refers to an area of land located on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Some believe the name used because of William Pierce, the first postmaster, believing that the biblical Moab and this part of Utah were both "the far country". However, others think the name has Paiute origins, referring to the word "moapa" meaning mosquito. Some of the area's early residents attempted to change the city's name because in the Christian Bible, Moabites are demeaned as incestuous and idolatrous. One petition in 1890 had 59 signatures and requested a name change to Vina. Another effort attempted to change the name to Uvadalia. (Source: City of Moab website)
at 16:07
Monday, August 15
La Sal Jnct
at 16:30
Flume
at 16:08
Gateway
Gateway Canyon Resort, and its surrounding area, owned by John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel (Hendricks got his start, in '85, with a $5 M investment from Allen & Co, whose partner - Botts & Co. - my first opportunity in London. Allen's investment worth $ billions ). Hendricks' father, a home builder, knew of the area and , since public land, told his son that, should he ever have some money, he must own it. The rest of the story, as they say, history.
"Ma'am, I don't know much about thoroughbreds - horses or women. Them that I did know, I never liked. They're too nervous and spooky; they scare me. But you're one high-bred filly that don't. 'Course, I don't know what you're talking about half the time."
“I've had three wives, six children and six grandchildren and I still don't understand women”
at 15:18
44 Road
at 15:04
Friday, August 12
Storage Drums, Cascade St, Montrose
Silver recounts Quaker boarding school - The Grove, in Maine, before Vassar : 9:30PM lights-out! No matches (cigarettes!). No boys (heaven, forbid!). Students achieving certain minimum exceptional performance allowed to pursue extra-curicular studies and Silver chose . . vocabulary. She learned one-hundred words a week and has not forgotten one.
at 03:29
Russell Stover
at 02:33
Thursday, August 11
Blue Lake
We hike into Sneffel Wilderness while our trail takes us to the first of three Blue Lakes : this one 10,980 feet. The lake unnatural blue , filled by a stream from the towering Mt Sneffels, which has some scant snow. The water freezing cold - I last a few moments before too painful - while Eitan does a full-on cannonball then scrambles out, Dear Reader, in something near shock.
"Mount Sneffels is a fourteen thousand foot mountain peak located in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness of the northern San Juan Mountains, about 5 miles west of Ouray. The mountain named after the volcano Snæfell, which is located on the tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland. That mountain and its glacier, Snæfellsjökull, which caps the crater like a convex lens, were featured in the Jules Verne novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth. An area on the western flank of Mount Sneffels gives the appearance of volcanic crater. Seen from the Dallas Divide on State Highway 62, Mount Sneffels is one of the most photographed mountains in Colorado."
at 15:11
Drive By Looting
The riots : like everybody, I am upset by the ransacking of London and other UK cities. This is violence fueled by boredom and opportunity : looters can do it, so they do. There is no Great Cause, like suffrage or the Arab uprising, motivating these people. Where is the imagination? Thatcher's coal miners thuggish yet fighting for their livelihood . Blacks in America , equality. We see criminals stealing electronics. We hear inarticulate, bored , yuf who believe they are owed yet fail to get educated or working. They contribute nothing yet receive health care, opportunity, and roads to leave. Cameron has it right, quoted in the NYT : "The sight of those young people running down streets, smashing windows, taking property, looting, laughing as they go, the problem of that is a complete lack of responsibility, a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals."
"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."
at 14:12
Wednesday, August 10
Lovin' It
at 02:40
Tuesday, August 9
The Shakespeares Sleep In ~ Riots And Cleaning
at 16:58
Corn Festival, Y'All
at 15:27
Feeling 44
As I am up at 4:30AM for some horrible reason , I rouse myself from bed to sneak from the hotel to the SUV to drive to Black Canyon. The temperature a perfect 70 degrees , despite the hour , while HW 50 deserted. I turn into the National Park and curve along the mesa, passing the empty ranger station, a number of look-outs, the closed visitor center and eventually Painted Wall , pictured, where I set up my camera and await pre-dawn. The gorge, cut by the Gunnison River over millions of years, puts my balls into my stomach : one slip and it is a long ways down. I jump about the rocks with my tripod in a reckless fashion that would make Sonnet scream.
"At a sheer 2,300 feet, the Painted Wall, a prominent segment of the Black Canyon's north rim, is Colorado's highest cliff. The darker rock is Black Canyon Gneiss. The bold white and pink bands are granites and pegmatites injected during Middle Proterozoic (1.4 Ga) through Cambrian (~510 Ga) intrusions. Large books of white mica (muscovite) and crystals of pink potassium feldspar and translucent quartz give the pegmatites their lustrous pink look.
at 03:54
Painted Wall @ Sunrise
at 03:32
Soccer Camp
And no vacation would be a vacation without football for Eitan. Thanks to Stan, Eitan joins 75 kids, ages 10 to 14, for three hours of evening action, Wednesday to Friday. The well groomed pitches offer sweeping views of the mesa and Rockies. Two-thirds of the players female. Photo by Sonnet.
at 02:58
Big J
Big J's Pawn Shop on Main Street across from the Coffee Trader, the best coffee in Montrose. The founder-proprietors Fong and Will, both gay, from Las Vegas where Fong responsible for Harrahs Hotels entertainment and Will same for MGM Grand. In short, better than a sitcom. The duo moved to the Western Slope twelve-years ago, buying a derelict house, and turning it into their vision : a stately Victorian with a lovely coffee garden filled with flowers, tables , a few lounge chairs and a happy vibe. Many new proprietors followed their lead and, today, downtown Montrose celebrates a Main Street festival every Thursday evening of summertime.
at 02:35
Silver Is Purple
at 02:21
Texas Wedgie
Sonnet prepares dinner at her parents house.
at 02:07
Sunday, August 7
Emma Watson Goes To Brown
at 22:39
Highway
We cross the Rockies on familiar tarmac , heading for the Western Slope and Montrose.
at 20:54
High
at 20:23
EWR
Up and at 'em, 4:45AM, to the Newark Airport. We watch a spectacular sunrise over the Empire State Building. Kids pretty good about it, too, while me : I just drink more, and more, coffee. Does anybody else notice that the more you imbibe the more you need ?
at 15:08
Saturday, August 6
Shaw Memorial
Shaw Memorial, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1900, Gallery 66
Forced walk
at 15:00
Ziggy
at 01:48
Federal Reserve Building
The Fed, the US central banking system, created in 1913 in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907. Sound familiar ? Over time, the Fed's role has changed in response to things like the Great Depression. Its duties today "are to conduct the nation's monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, maintain the stability of the financial system and provide financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions" , according to their charter.
The Fed's structure composed of the presidentially appointed Board of Governors (or Federal Reserve Board), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, numerous privately owned U.S. member banks and various advisory councils. The FOMC is responsible for setting monetary policy. The Fed designed to serve the interests of both the general public and private bankers. The result : a unique structure among central banks.
The Fed independent inside government, ie, "its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government." However, its authority from Congress and subject to congressional oversight. Uncle Sam receives all of the system's annual profits, after a statutory dividend of 6% on member banks' capital investment is paid, and an account surplus is maintained. In 2010, the Federal Reserve made a profit of $82 B Band transferred $79 B to the U.S. Treasury. (Source: Wiki &c.)
at 01:30
Lincoln Memorial
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. "
at 00:02
Friday, August 5
White House To Capital Building
at 23:33
Ginevra
Sonnet and the kids give me one - ! - at the National Gallery of Art so I head to the information desk and a Senior Gal gives me a memo: "Less Than An Hour?" which includes the West Building's twelve must-see highlights.
at 23:23
All American
Dad (goofy hat) with three healthy girls. He's got his work cut out for him. The flags half-mast following the death of a FEMA officer in the AZ forest fires.
at 16:02
Washington Memorial
The Washington monument , made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss , is the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing at 169 m. Its construction began in 1848 but not completed until 1884, almost 30 years after architect Robert Mills' death, due to the co-option by the Know Nothing party, a lack of funds, and the American Civil War.
at 15:47
Thursday, August 4
National Archives, D.C.
Here we are , at the National Archives, to view the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The kids' attention elsewhere.
The National Archives created by Congress in '34 and has 9 B records including the census from 1790 to 1930, ships passenger lists and naturalization records; not surprisingly, then , it is most often used for geneology research.
at 16:08
Anne And The Peace Corps
Anne, pictured, in Peace Corps #1 with Moe and Grace from 1961 to '63; they met , with a group of about 20, in Syracuse, New York, for training before Malawi, where Moe and Grace stationed , teaching French, maths and history. Anne now an artist , living on 36th St. and 9th Ave., in one of those impossible open spaces that covers half a building-floor that we all know exist somehow. She is warm and energetic and it is nice to hear a few new stories+Madeleine grooves on the creative.
"To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower."
at 14:26
So Busted
at 00:25
Wednesday, August 3
Arms And Policies
I am free for a couple hours to take photos and amuse myself sans familia. I snap this couple on 33rd St - hand-in-glove.
at 23:28