BUS TRIP TO THE NATIONS CAPITAL ON APRIL 7, 2021 - note the date - PLUS I FELL

 

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Trip to our Nation's Capital - Cherry Blossoms - African Art - Hirschhorn - Souvenirs

My boss gave me the day off so I took a Hagey Coach to Washington DC. Met the bus at Montgomery Mall. Unsure of where to go, I arrived 45 mins early after missing the first jughandle turn, but fort'ly there was a U-Tube, oops, U-turn.

Bob Bergey, our coach driver. His wife Glenna was in the last row so she couldn't be a backseat driver, said Bob, who not only had a great sense of humor but was very knowledgeable about just about everything.

The name Bergey and also Hagey are common names in Perkasie where Bob lives. Here's his awesome website.

Our Hagey coach cost half a million dollars. It contains enuf diesel fuel - not cheap at over $5 a gallon - to drive to Florida and back.

Most of the cherry blossoms had already fallen off, but since there are dozens upon dozens of varieties Bob led us down an abandoned lane where there were scads of them.

Bonnie Woods took this photo of me. Four of us sat in the very front seat - the best place to sit b/c you can talk to the driver and also have a great view.

Next to me was her dad Tom. Across the aisle was red-headed 25-yo Bonnie, who's an artist, and her mom, a woman in her 50s who had quadruple bypass surgery at Doylestown Hospital, of which she couldn't say enough. Symptoms were: she climbed up a flight of steps at work and couldn't catch her breath. Husband Tom took early retirement from Verizon.

Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King gave his "I Had a Dream Speech" here. I did not climb up the stairs as I was conserving my legs. I knew they would ache by day's end. But I didn't dream that I'd have a fall.

As I've said before, my photos are really meant to remind me of all the great times I've had, 66 years and counting!

Roll em Ruthie!

Vietnam Memorial. Tom, the retired Verizon man sitting next to me, was in the Navy and was in a battleship and swam in the Gulf of Tonkin.

I knew several guys who fought in the war: My cousin Dan Sewell who was really messed up after he came home, David Moyer who was in a foxhole when the Vietcong came dangerously close, and Marine Frank Marrone whose wife died of cancer and he recently remarried.

This is a statue of the women who were in the Vietnam War. Never heard of it before.

The huge WWII memorial. Again, I was saving my legs so I just strolled by.

More WWII.

There were LONG LINES at most of the Smithsonian museums. But the art museums were not crowded, so that's where I spend most of my time.

My friend Judy Diaz told me about the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Outstanding! My sister Ellen was a friend of the director's - Susan Fisher (now Susan Fisher Sterling) - when we lived in Shaker Heights. We lived on Glenmore Road, she lived on Shelbourne.

I took a taxi to the women's museum. Unlike Philly or NYC, the cabs are not government-regulated, so everyone can charge what they want. All the cabs look different. I had a nice guy from Nigeria drive me to the museum. He had a blue van with sliding doors. I couldn't shut the door myself so he had to get out. You also had to step very high up. Not good for old ladies.

I told him about a movie Scott and I recently watched called The Bone Collector w/Denzel and Angelina. A cab driver kidnaps people and kills them, scraping out a bone for a souvenir. Tres suspenseful.

The above lithograph has an Emily Dickinson poem printed on it about a spider.

A book cut-out.

The previous works were on the ground floor. Mary Grady, who sat at the reception desk, helped me choose what to view. She's coming to Philly for Easter to see her kids. I thanked her when I left, but didn't tell her about my fall.

I took the stairs to the old masters room.

The museum, founded 25 yrs ago, is exquisitely beautiful. Forgot to ask Mary what the bldg used to be. Every little detail was gorgeous. So much to feast your eyes upon. Sorta like my house - seriously - where every spot in my living room office is covered with something b'ful or interesting like this:

Air Force Pilot, cover of LIFE, July 19, 1943. Ten cents a copy.

What could be more b'ful than this? That's Mary at her reception desk.

From their brochure I learned that the bldg, built in 1908, is Renaissance Revival and was formerly a Masonic temple.

Flowers in the cafe.

Contemporary art and sculpture.

Loved this foto of David slaying Goliath. It's hard to see his enemy's face but it's grotesque. BTW, did you watch The Ten Commandments on TV Saturday nite? Charleton Heston's son played baby Moses, an Egyptian name.

I only watched bits n pieces cuz I was at a Passover seder at my 'inlaws.' The living room TV always has sports on, but we three women - Natalie (Scott's mom) and Debbie (his sister) had the Samsung kitchen TV on.

This one was a real beauty, full of great details: King Philip II of Spain Upon Hearing News of the Destruction of the Armada.

Mother and her son after a flood.

This is by famed artist Alice Neel (1900-1984). This young man has been shot by a bullet and will die shortly.





These are women in the Manhattan section of Soho. (South of Houston street. Houston pronounced HOW-ston. My sister Donna used to live there. She was a potter and gave live demonstrations that you could see from Macy's outside window.)

Loved this mystical painting of rainfall.

The always recognizable Louise Nevelson. Actually there's another sculptress I thought was Nevelson, but she's Louise Bourgeois.

The young Louise Nevelson - birth name Leah Berliawsky - and her family immigrated from Czarist Russia to the US. They spoke Yiddish at home but Louise quickly learned l'anglais, as we say en francais.

The two sculptures on the right are by Nevelson. I love the one directly in front with all its interesting shapes. The painting in the back shows a powerful woman: Ruth as she was falling.

View out the window from the Nevelson room. Museum is at the corner of New York Avenue and 13th Street, NW.

I'll tell ya, I was really enchanted by all the artwork. The museum was practically empty!

This work, made of wax and melted wax, hung from the ceiling by the window. The artist was raised Catholic and this gaily colored sculpture aspires to show the contradictions inherent in the Catholic religion. Celibate priests, pedophile priests, good priests, hatred of gays, which they say is espoused in the Bible. So what? The bible is merely one book out of millions in the world.

Why not read books by gay authors such as James Baldwin, experience art work by gay men such as Andy Warhol, or poetry by gay women such as the late Adrienne Rich?

They have made enormous contributions to the world. Are they not God's children?

Fascinating painting. Look at the little man at the tail of the wounded bird and the skeletons grinning on the side.

Wonderful room of B&W photography.

I was fainting away when I saw these fotos. My friend Helene Ryesky uses that term.

Here I was really fainting away. I love abstract art.

 

Patios, Pools, and the INVENTION OF THE AMERICAN BACK YARD.

Got this from the Smithsonian Institute. 

Let's see. Have YOU, Dear Reader, always had a back yard?

I have my house on Cowbell Road ready for a deluge that might arrive between tonight and tomorrow.

Michele Langanella is once again offering trips to various sites.

I do think they are repeats and of course I can't go anyway as I might get Covid.

She said that HAGEY COACHES went out of biz after 84 years due to the pandemic.

I sent her my very long post about Hagey Trips. 

Have I sent it to you?

Here goes. 

https://ruthzdeming.blogspot.com/search?q=hagey

Big day for Ruthie who finally leaves home - hair cut - and lunch at Zoe's near the Wawa

New Directions is gonna Zoom at 7 pm, so I wanted to make sure my hair looks good.

Every time I look in the mirror I see my mother there! She died this year on April 21.

Finally made an appt to get my hair cut.

What an ordeal that was!

Got out my clay sculpture I made to hold business cards.

Called Hair Cuttery BUT I went to the wrong one!

Went to the one near the Upper Moreland Library. The door was open but the place looked like it had been ransacked. A huge insect was on the floor, legs raised in the air. NO, I'm not gonna write a poem about it.

Finally I found SPORTS CLIPS. Amanda took c/o me. She did a great job cutting my hair. I just washed it now with Jhirmack Shampoo. 

Am letting it dry naturally. 

It actually has some curl in it.

I did call the original Hair Cuttery and Brittany said they are near The Target and Michael's. A long way off. I have half a tank of gas and don't wanna drive too far.

Scott said I shouldn't have gone out due to the virus.

BUT I do have to live my life.

After my hair was cut I had passed Zoe's Kitchen.

A sign at the door read MASKS.

See, I'm a newcomer to this new world so I'm just getting used to it.

I ordered chocolate milk and chicken salad.

Delicious! Tried to tip him with my coins - the general manager Tony said 'everybody needs change' - but to forget it.

Every table is arranged so we social distance. 

Just ate dinner. Several bowls of Uncle Ben's Rice, all tossed with different ingredients, from Cabot Cheese to mushrooms - to peanut butter. 

In my business cards I found one from Mr. Kashani in Paris. Emailed him to thank him for the lovely Persian rug I had bought when Sarah and I were in Paris. I couldn't believe that me, RZD, could actually afford it and that I could carry it aboard the plane home.

Let's see if I have a picture on my blog. Check it out - great things to read!!!

I am a redhead here. 

The carpet awaits use somewhere in my house where I won't trip over it and break a hip, the malady of the elderly.

Mom, had you broken a hip? I believe so.

I should wear earrings for my Zoom call. 

HELPING MY PEOPLE

Though I love nice things

earrings, well-fitting shoes, 

Mom's warm white socks to sleep in

my red checkered couch for my Reading Room

what I love most is helping our people.

And they are doing well!

We work together, one helping the other,

We say Bless you, when they sneeze,

or "How brave you are during the titration"

Our people swim, walk miles, teach their

grandchildren over the phone and discuss

the upcoming election where we must beat

Idiot Trump.

May the Almighty bless these icons

of bravery Hallelujah!

This was from a day trip to Brooklyn via Hagey Coach.

Bus Trip to Home of Russel Wright and West Point, NY

The worst thing about these trips is waking up early in the morning.

It's dark and no birds sing.

 After being cooped up on the Hagey Coach for a couple of hours, it was a pleasure to get off and use my legs.

Who sang, She's got legs and knows how to use em.

Okay, we're heading now for the little-known home of "industrial designer" Russel Wright - 1904-1976.

Photos, please, from the Internet

Russel Wright - 1904-1976.

He was an influential designer of home goods, such as these lovelies



They were made of unbreakable plastic. He and his wife Mary would advertise them by dropping them. See! They don't break.







His work is on the cover.

WHY THEN HAVEN'T WE HEARD OF HIM?

I asked our guide Laurie if Russel was aware of Frank Lllllloyd Wright. Yes, she said. I myself had the great pleasure of visiting Fallingwater with the Fabulous Fleishers!

We drove up to Garrison NY to see his home and studio, perched high atop a hill. This photo is out of place. It's from West Point and is where the US defended itself from the British in the War for Independence.

Wright hired one David Leavitt to design his home. His wife Mary died of breast cancer before the two could move into "Manitoga." They have a daughter, Annie, who was only 2.5 when Mom died. So dad hired a nanny.

Getting up the hill to see Manitoga - Algonquin for "place of great spirit" -  was akin to scaling the Berlin Wall.

Many of the 26 folks on our trip couldn't do it. And, me, wanderer in Pennypack Trust, had a difficult time climbing up all those rocks.

When Russel bought the 75-acre property it was literally a mess from the detritus of logging and quarrying.

See what happens when there are no rules?

He diverted a river (!!!) and had boulders moved and artistically placed in many spots.

 Oh no! I'm getting dizzy.....

 Russel loved moss. So does Ruthie.

 We approach the studio, which is connected via pergola - or breezeway - to the house.

 Would you like a boulder on your property?

 Manitoga sees many international students come study and offer their ideas. How bout this lovely moss and stone sofa? It was designed by students from Czechoslavakia. I was the only one who wanted to try it out. And did.

Wait a minute! There is no Czechos. anymore. How about the Czech Republic?

 Click twice to enlarge and hopefully you'll see Russel's desk with his Salem cigs at the ready.

Yawn! Don't mind if I do.

 Reminds me of all the wood used in the Norman Fisher House, right around the corner from me in Hatboro, PA.

 Thanks, I just shaved my mustache yesterday.

Dig this! A door made of birch bark.

 Make yourself at home on the indoor boulders.

 Kitchen is downstairs. Russ designed the chairs, as well as the dishware.

 We're in the 'great room' - living room - and a huge door has been opened and one of The Twenty-Six stepped outside!

Fireplace of birch wood.

 This Bridge over Untroubled Water was easy to cross since it had a railing.

 Our guide Laurie was excellent. She took a look at our shoes since she was responsible for our rock crossings.

 B/c we were under time-constraints we couldn't visit the gift shop.

*

Next stop.....  West Point.



Our bus was boarded by a Security Dude who wanted to see our IDs.

Then it was lunch at last at the Hotel Thayer.

Our table. I was starving. Attractive decor.

 Salad, cole slaw. Brisket BBQ, Tilapia, Beans.  Tilapia wasn't any good. BBQ too fatty.

Peach pie was good. I asked the maitre D if I could have ice cream on it. He checked and said, If I get it, everyone would want it.

Therefore, he'd charge me $2.50.

I'd rate the food a C+ and the service an A.

 West Point has several stadiums. Soccer. Football. And the Abner Doubleday Baseball Stadium. He attended West Point.

The famous rivalry between Army and Navy. West Point is Army.

Cadet Chapel, largest chapel on the compound. All religious facilities are called chapels, including the synagogues.


Built 1910.

The organist sits here to play the largest organ in the US. There have been only 4 organists since the chapel's inception.

Wiki - The organ in the Cadet Chapel, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York is the largest all-pipe organ, in a religious structure, in the world. Built in 1911 by M. P. Möller.

In one of the pews are the names of the Superintendents of West Point. Current leader is Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen USMA '75.

Many famous generals are listed here, including Gen Douglas MacArthur.



Superintendent's house. (Wiki)

Student housing.

Okay, Shari, take us on a walk. Our legs need to start walking again.

 You'd see cadets walking by or jogging. They're in top physical condition. Shari told us they have special swimming pools that mimic conditions on the warfront.

Jan and I took a poetry class together. She's still writing poetry. 

 "Lady Fame" is atop this granite pillar, the highest pillar made of granite.

 The monument is very detailed. Upside-down torches mean "fallen soldiers."

 

 Every class donates a tree.

 Beech tree.

New exercise equipment.

 Okay, the tour is over. Let's visit the West Point Museum. It's free. They do not check your back pack at the door!

Ya like uniforms? Old timey band costume.

 I believe this is a Polish general who came to the aid of the US in one of our wars.

Instruments to help win wars.

Double-click to find out what these objects are.

 Look, you gotta take a break in between trying to kill your enemy.

First female cadet to graduate. She scored in the top of her class. Now she's out there whipping ass.

 General George Washington by Charles Willson Peale
He looks good in yellow, don't you think?

 Black soldier fighting in the Civil War.

 Robert E Lee surrenders.  West Point grad, as was Ulysses S Grant.

 This is just a really nice hat.

 Mask of a dead Indian. The display case states how Indians - native Americans - taught the US Army some winning war techniques.

Camouflage jacket worn by Germans in the Afrika Corps.

 WW2 Japanese POW's flag and accoutrements.

 Raggedy clothing.

 Vietnam medals.

 Poster to join the army.

 Double-click to read what this is.

West Point Museum, side view.


We were to meet our bus at 4:30. Unwilling to sit down, I just kept walking.

Carpet of pine needles across from an Inn for West Point visitors.

 Gift shop with parachutist.

 Setting off for home. Phil got us into the parking lot of Cheltenham HS at 7:30 pm.

 What are the chances of sitting next to Marion, who knows my friend Barry Bush? Marion, who works downtown at the Social Security Administration, is taking a trip to New Orleans to learn from a master gardener, one of the foremost experts on Roses.

We stopped at our final rest stop and Phil bought sweet-smelling French fries. "I can't gain weight," he said.

Inside were





The book I chose for the bus ride. Even tho it's about life in North Korea - altho true, it sounds like a dystopian novel, yes it does! - there are a few chuckles in there.

And now, if you'll kindly excuse me.....