Jonathan Katz and I go way back - Visit to Jon and Suzie's Upper Black Eddy, PA vacation house

This is the owner of the spectacular vacation house in Upper Black Eddy, PA, where one of my fave people in the world - Jonathan Katz and his wife Suzie - are staying for three weeks.

Jon came to my wedding - was I ever married? - oh, that's right, Sarah and Dan were not born of parthenogenesis - to the very same house where Mom and Ellen now live. We were married on the lower level by the stone fireplace. A justice of the peace married Millard Grove Deming and myself.

We met at my dad's store, The Now and Then Shop in New Hope.

We had about 40 people at the wedding. I wore a $5 Evan Piccone knee-length dress, which may still be hanging in Mom's closet. Hey! Maybe I could sell it and make a few bucks on Craigslist.

So, the Dearly Beloved are gathered by the fireplace, and Aunt Tay says, Where's Ruth?

Ruth yells out, "I'm taking a leak!"

Family lore. But true.

On the drive home from Upper Black Eddy, Donna says from the back seat So many people we know have died. And we'll all die some day. And no one remembers us.

I say, Let us now praise famous men. They read that at Daddy's funeral and gave us a copy.

Donna was very interested in this. She's a deep person.

I told her it's from the Apochrypha, the Book of Sirach. These are writings that are not accepted in the Holy Bible or The New Testament.

Apocrypha: Sirach Chapter 44

1 Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.

2 The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning.

3 Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies:

4 Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent are their instructions:

5 Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing:

6 Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations:

7 All these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times.

8 There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported.

9 And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them.

Oh no! I just remembered Shelly's Ozymandias:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away". 

 Relaxing over or-derves in the living room. Mmmm, that beer looks good, but I'm the driver, so I don't tipple. 

 Suzie is a superb cook. We had cold watermelon gazpacho. It was so flavorful! A smidgen of jalapeno pepper in there.

A two-sink kitchen. I loved the indentations in the sink. Granite countertops, of course.

 I first met Jon Katz at Goddard College. Always the performer, he had the lead role in the 1960 musical The Fantastics.

Jon became friends with playwright David Mamet. Together they wrote the screenplay for the great film House of Games. David's first wife starred as the psychiatrist who was victim of a scam perpetrated by



Joe Montegna.

 



Jonathan was one of the creators and the central character of the animated cartoon "Dr Katz, Professional Therapist."

Aired on Comedy Central from 1995-98. Watch a session here on YouTube.

I wonder where he keeps the Emmy he won for the show.


Hopefully he didn't sell it on eBay.

Rice pasta with fresh grilled veggies. Delish!  I had two bowls.

We tried to watch videos on Jon's HP laptop, but we couldn't stop talking long enough to listen. Oh that's right. Trick question. Who's singing this version of - was it a Joni Mitchell song? Anyway, I guessed it... the unmistakable sound of Prince.

Wait a sec, lemme go like him on Facebook. Just kidding.

 The owner Joan has the board game of Password ready for her guests. Think, tho, of the new meaning of 'password' in the Internet age. Allen Ludden could never have guessed that. Hmm, I wonder what Betty White's passwords are. Maybe something to do with her late husband?

 Many of the paintings were Bucks County scenes, just like at the Michener Museum in Doylestown.

 Every space is covered with ornamentation. Careful when going down the steps.

This is what a Massachusetts license plate looks like.

As a kid I was fascinated by them, and that people lived in exotic areas like Pennsylvania, since we Greenwolds are from Ohio.

 One of the Seven Wonders of the World were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which may or may not be apocryphal since there's no archeological evidence of them.

As we descended to the Delaware River, photo below, we passed through an amazing array of different foliage, as well as a tiny waterfall that dripped into a pond. See above.


There was even a trellis like we had back on Marlindale Road in Cleveland Heights.

Finally we reach the pier.

The Delaware River is very narrow at this point. In the old days, my friend Walter Straus, who lived in Bristol, would routinely swim from one bank to the other.

Suzie, Donna, Ellen and I watched the peaceful river flow by. Occasionally a breeze would tousle our hair and after five o'clock, a few boats skimmed across the water on the other side.