travel – Page 18

Road trip?

So I never made it to New York this year which is a regular summer thing for me this time of year. This sort of had me down for a minute until my friend Harry said to me, “Thousands of people are sick and dying and you had to postpone a trip. Thank God you are safe and healthy. Besides, there are thousands of other places you can go other than New York.”

And I thanked him and told him I needed to hear that. It’s true, we are all blessed to be healthy and safe, while many are sick and dying. I pray that this caronavirus ends already, I pray that no one else gets sick. Or dies.

I didn’t go to New York for different reasons – the city is still closed regarding restaurants, theaters, museums, they really are not set up for visitors, some of my cousins are still sheltering in place, so I wouldn’t really see them and mainly because of the quarantine – now there is a 14 day quarantine for people coming in from Florida for the tri-state area – NY, NJ and CT, three states I enjoy spending time in. But I sort of see it as a good thing. I have this problem where something happens twice and it becomes the norm – a habit for me. While there are all sorts of places to go all over the world, I keep returning to New York, out of habit, an obligation in my head, I suppose. Now that habit is broken.

I have always wanted to spend the summer in Italy, maybe on the Amalfi Coast, but again, most of Europe has a quarantine on American travelers, and I fully understand that.

One thing I always wanted to do is to rent a lake house in North Carolina for the summer and have an open door policy – you know, anyone can come and spend time there, in and out all summer. But for now I am thinking of flying up to Charlotte, spending time there, and checking out Lake Norman where I want that Lake House and then spending time in Asheville. I have friends who live there now and also friends who are visiting now. I’ve been checking in on them about the situation up there. Seems like places are open, not fully, but they aren’t shut down like so many other places. They are being cautious and social distancing, but it isn’t a ghost town, which is good.

I would then drive home to Miami, stopping along the way to my favorite old cities – Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA and St. Augustine, FL. Then end up back in Miami.

I would take my time. Spend whatever time I like in places, three days here, four days here, a week here, and so on. I’m thinking of maybe doing this at the end of the summer, more when things open up and are safer hopefully, maybe August into September, spending Labor Day on the road. I’m still figuring that out in my head.

It’s all about the animals

the-zoo

There’s another tv show I’m addicted to now that I have found now that I’m home a lot – on Saturday night’s I watch The Zoo on Animal Planet. I also watch Saved By the Barn after that. The Zoo is rerun at all times during the week, too.

The Zoo is about backstage at zoos – mostly the Bronx Zoo but also there are zoos in Australia and the UK and other areas of the US including San Diego and Columbus, but the Bronx Zoo is featured mostly. It’s so sweet to watch how much the zookeepers love and respect the animals and how they dedicate their lives to them. It’s quite interesting, too; you learn a lot and you get attached to the people, almost as friends in my head now.

During the time that tigers tested positive for covid19 at the Bronx Zoo, they addressed it on the show. The tigers are all well now.

As for Saved By the Barn, that’s a show where a guy named Dan McKernan who goes back to his family’s large farm and he turns it into an animal rescue for farm animals where they can safely live out their lives. They rescue animals from various places and almost treat the farm as a zoo, but only for farm animals, so you wont see giraffes or elephants, it’s mostly pigs, cows, goats and that sort.

I know the next time I’m at the Bronx Zoo, I am going to be looking for the zookeepers rather than the animals, now! They are sort of minor celebs in their own right.

The World, The Sun, The Herald . . .

the-herald

I recently came upon this old photo of the New York Herald, which looks to be in the 1920s because the park is there in front of it and originally the park wasn’t there and the dress of the man in the photo looks to be that era. It’s one of the best photos I’ve seen of the old Herald, it’s the closest image I’ve surely seen, most are from a block away, which show all of Herald Square, but this – this is a nice, up close photo of the New York Herald.

It reminded me of this story I did last spring on the old newspapers of New York.

newspaperow — *Images via Library of Congress*

I saw a great documentary on Joseph Pulitzer (left) the other night which of course was a lot about the New York World, which he published from 1860 until his death in 1911, after that his sons ran the paper (into the ground) and then in 1931, it merged with the New York Telegram to become the World-Telegram and then years later, in 1950, became the World-Telegram and Sun. You can see the Pulitzer documentary in full at PBS’s American Masters here. The story is great along with the images of the old newspapers and offices and of course, old black and white movies of street scenes and society at the time.

What was interesting about The World was that it seemed to have everything, especially on Sundays. It would print dress patterns, color comics, cut outs that kids could play with and had stories that were not breaking news, but features. Pulitzer and his staff would seek out human interest stories, which was a first for its time. He also designed interesting layouts and pages which were completely different than what was standard at the time – rows and rows of columns.

The World was one of the first newspapers to run comic strips and it started with the Yellow Kid which was stolen by Hearst his New York Journal (later the Journal-American).

One interesting item the documentary talks about was timing. When Pulitzer began publishing The World, New Yorkers started taking public transportation more often and the newspapers at the time were a perfect diversion on city transit.

I always loved old photos of the World building down on Park Row, across from city Hall. It’s gone as of 1955, and I found out from the Pulitzer documentary that it was due to Robert Moses, who seemed to destroy a lot of NYC in the name of progress, including the demise of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to which my father has not forgiven him to this day. Moses demolished the World and Times to build another ramp for the Brooklyn Bridge.

nysun — These clocks can still be seen on the Sun Building today at 280 Broadway.

The Sun building was next door, but eventually moved to 280 Broadway, on the other side of City Hall, where the is still today. Clocks on each corner show the name – “The Sun – It shines for all.” The Sun came back in the early 2000s but is only online now.

The New York Tribune building was demolished in 1966 and is now Pace University.

The New York Times building at 41 Park Row is still there today. People mistakenly have claimed over the years that it was demolished for the Brooklyn Bridge entrance, too, but that is not the case. It is also part of Pace University today.

Of course, one of my favorites was the Herald, up on Herald Square, which is now an ugly box building housing Santander Bank and CVS, catty corner to Macy’s.

The World Newspaper

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How did we arrange to meet before cell phones?

bethesda-fountain — Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, NYC (photo by me)

I’m gonna miss New York this summer. But I think I needed a kick in the pants to get out of my rut, or maybe not a rut, let’s call it a habit. I do things twice and that’s it – it’s my habit. I go to the same restaurants all the time. I watch the same tv shows. I told you about my cousin who does a concert on Facebook every few Saturday nights, now that’s a thing for me and I have to text him and ask him if this is the week for the show. The world isn’t right (in my head) until the show goes on.

My habit was going to NYC for a large part of the summer for most of my adult life, or maybe even starting in high school. I would go most summers, but many years I didn’t, but it was a habit. I put off doing other things and going other places for this. But now I am open to do anything. I feel very free this summer by “being released” of my NY summer obligation, which is an obligation only in my own head.

I was thinking of all the times I would arrange to meet Miami friends who were visiting the city at the same time.

What I was finding interesting that years ago, before cell phones and email and all the communication we have now, I would meet friends and I am wondering how we did it and how they even knew I was going to be there. I mean, we didn’t announce things on Facebook back then, so I must have told people separately – “I’m going to NY next week or next month or whatever.” And the amazing thing is that we met up if they were going to be there at the same time.

I remember meeting my friend Albert a few times in the summer when he was up there visiting and my friend Vincent during Thanksgiving week and so on. But how did we know to meet? Did I tell them on November 1st “Let’s meet in front of the Empire State Building on November 23 at noon,” or “Let’s meet at the Bethesda Foundation at 1 pm on July 5,” and that’s how it happened?

They were always there at the place and time. But how did we communicate? We were all out of town, did we call each other at our cousin’s houses or hotels we were at?

I would always show up at such and such time on such and such date and there was the person I was supposed to meet. Talk about reliability. Now with all the communication abilities we have it is worse. “Text me when you are near,” “text me when you are there,” “text me tomorrow.” And still they don’t show up.

The grass is always greener

north-carolina It’s interesting in this time of self isolation, people are reinventing themselves or at least living their dreams or trying to.

I have a friend who is a tv producer and editor. His tv shows are household names. He started out as a tv cameraman on reality shows. And his passion – making pies! While he is still working in the tv biz, his dream is to bake pies full time. He’s looking for a larger kitchen to work in and he is working on getting regular customers like restaurants and such. It’s so interesting how the grass is always greener. How many people would love to produce tv shows that are known and seen by millions of people?

The other day we were at lunch and he told me that he had to edit a commercial, which was for a major retailer, and he said, “This is going to take time from my pie making.” I had to laugh.

He loves taking advantage of this down time to explore his passion and I feel the same. After deadlines and pressures for so many years, I am living my dream cartooning. When I did the daily news I was pressured daily.

I remember one time we had an event in town and it was early in the morning. I was walking in town with my friend and she said to me, “Tom, you’re so lucky, you are at every event and in the middle of everything!” She said, “I have to go to work now.”

The ironic thing is as she was saying that, I was thinking, “Is it 6 pm yet? Is the day over?” I didn’t want to be there and it seemed like so much fun to her. The grass is always greener.

I may end up canceling my trip to New York for the summer, it doesn’t seem like the time to go, but in the end I may end up living my dream – going to the Carolinas and checking them out. My goal has always been to live on a lake in North Carolina, near the mountains. Now I may have the time to do it – to explore the area which I always wanted to do – to just get in the car and go. We’ll see.

Image by Clay Banks

Sundays are for ‘Breaking Bad’

breakingbad

Ever since we’ve been cooped up in self isolation, I’ve been finding myself watching Breaking Bad on Sundays. Usually in the afternoon I’ll watch two or three episodes. I don’t know why I’m so attracted to the show. I’ve talked about it before.

Sure the stories and acting are superb, but it’s more than that. It’s the location – the desert and Albuquerque and the darkness of their house and the dynamic between the characters – the family, I mean – the Whites and the Schraders. I love the family scenes, especially when they are all together at a backyard bbq or whatever. Of course Jesse and Walt’s relationship is special, too. And then there is all that crime and drugs thrown in.

I’ve never been to ABQ – short for Albuquerque, but it seems almost as if the place stopped in time. Like for instance if you go into a bar it may be a throwback from the 1970s, that’s what I get from watching this and Better Call Saul, also filmed on location in ABQ. I love that. Even the airport looks small and quaint and the gas stations look like 1960-70s throwbacks. The houses look to be from that period, too.

Here in Miami, everything is chrome and glass, there is no reverence for history, if it’s 20 years old, it’s knocked down for something bigger and shinier. It doesn’t look like that in ABQ. I would like to visit there real soon.

George Herriman, of Krazy Kat fame loved that area of the country. While he lived in New York and Los Angeles throughout his life, he spent a lot of time in ABQ – it’s obvious in his drawings and Krazy Kat backgrounds. I don’t know if I lived there in another life or what, but I’m always drawn to the area.

Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Ray Donovan and Shameless. All my favorite shows at the moment. And the weird part of this is that for all except for Saul, I started watching after their run or toward the end – you know, not from the beginning from when they first went on the air.

Kids making and selling comics

comics Next time I am in Brooklyn, I’d like to check out this comic book store called “Loot.” I saw a segment about it on the Today Show recently.

It’s not just a comic book store, but it’s a place where kids can sit around and create their own comics and the store will sell them! The kids keep 90% of the proceeds from the sale which is “loot” for them in the shop. It looks as if the place opened last summer.

There are over 3000 comics, mostly personal comics of owner Joe Einhorn, that can be bought or borrowed, like a library.

There are tables where kids can sit around and create. There are workshops, too where kids can learn the craft and where they are teamed up to create comic books.

The store has white walls and looks a lot like a gallery.

I would love to go and buy some of the kids’ work, I think it’s such a great way to encourage them to continue with their art. I’ll take you along when I get there.

Alaska is beautiful, but . . .

I’m still watching all those Alaska/wilderness shows like “Life Below Zero” and all, that I discussed here before, but I’m now wondering why these people put themselves through all that misery. I understand the wanting to be alone part, but the cold and misery. What is the point of living in 40 below zero. When Sue, the older lady breaks down on her snow machine and can’t get it through the snow and then needs to deal with a broken generator to try and stay warm, I wonder why.

When Jesse and his dogs try to collect enough cords of wood to make it through the winter and living without running water, because the pump broke, I wonder why. He says he prefers the cold tundra and harsh conditions to Hawaii.

And hunting marten, moose, ptarmigan, caribou and muskrat (bleh) for food or doing without. Why when in the Blue Ridge or Smokey Mountains, Harris-Teeter is not very far off.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to live in the mountains and rough it in North Carolina or on a Caribbean or South Pacific Island? They could still rough it, they just wouldn’t have to freeze to death doing it.

Food is fresher, have you noticed?

pumpkin2

I was mentioning Mother Nature’s revenge and the reverse of climate change in an article at the end of March. The air is fresher, the ozone layer is closing, the water is clean – I noticed the other day how clean the ocean is. When I was a kid it was gin clear, you could be waist deep and still see your feet at the bottom of the water, my cousins from New York always were amazed at that. But over the years with the over-population of the state and more and more and more pollution, the water got murky.

Another reason could be that the cruise ships are not going out cruising and they are not dumping any trash and oil into the sea. Over the years the ships proliferated in number and of course the pollution caused by them proliferated.

I noticed another thing – fresh fruit and produce. Either Instacart shoppers are choosing the best there is or the produce is fresher and I tend to believe the produce is fresher simply because it’s always brought in fresh and the turnover is daily. People are buying more and more these days so the stores are stocking up more frequently, probably daily. I noticed it with lemons, celery, broccoli, apples and other things.

I’m sure the produce is going through the same amount of hands but you don’t notice it.

I have a neighbor who owns citrus and avocado groves. Every year for Christmas he would give each of us a case/carton of grapefruits or something like that. They were the freshest and most tender I ever have. I asked him why and he said only one pair of hands touched them, they came right off the tree into the carton, that was it. No other handling!

Which of course reminds me of apple picking in October in the Hudson Valley in New York state. I hope that happens again this year.

I saw an article about the future of concerts which mentioned 4th of July. I sent the first paragraph to my cousins, whom I spend 4th of July with: “Where were you planning to be on the Fourth of July this year? Backyard barbecue with your crankiest relatives, fighting over who gets to light the illegal fireworks that your derelict cousin smuggled in from South Carolina? Or maybe out on the Chesapeake Bay, arguing about the amount of mayonnaise in the crab cakes while drinking warm National Bohemian beer? Better yet, tubing down the Shenandoah with a soggy hot dog while blasting Grand Funk Railroad’s ‘We’re an American Band’?”

We laughed at the “crankiest relatives,” which is all of us at one time or another. We spend the 4th in The Hamptons, not Chesapeake Bay, but sort of the same thing. We are all hoping for a “normal” 4th of July this year.

Vanity before safety?

tom1 So I walked over to the hospital next door, usually once a week I go for a walk around their property/campus, it’s beautiful, big, wide open and on the bay. I went into Au Bon Pain which is there to get lunch. It’s usually empty, only me and the girl working there.

Well, yesterday there was a guy in scrubs, a doctor, tech, something like that. He told me I had my mask on wrong – even tough I looked at the video that a friend sent me on how to do it. Yes, I needed a video, and still got it wrong. He was a stranger getting lunch mind you, in line ahead of me. I didn’t know him.

He then proceeds to touch me! He took the mask off, fashioned it the way it’s supposed to be and then gave it back to me. Then he had the balls to Purell his hands, they had a Purell stand there. I Purelled too because it seemed like the thing to do.

So this hospital worker/doctor, who should know better is all Purelled up and I have his hands all over my face by putting the mask back on. I told him I had these flowery cloth masks at home that I was going to start using, too, but he said the one I had on was “safer.” I guess he means safer without his hand prints all over it.

I guess I was so embarrassed about having the mask on wrong and walking around like that that I didn’t care about the safety issue. Yet I did have the mask on for safety reasons. Go figure.