New York - 2026

We are back from a week in New York. Clay's mother, Berta, had her 90th birthday last week and the college where she worked (Bryant University in Rhode Island) held a celebration for her. Many of her former students (she worked as an advisor) came in from all over to share memories and say thank you. She had established a scholarship at Bryant that has now been running for many years. The big event was a dinner Saturday evening but we did other things while we were in town as well, seeing a number of Broadway and off-Broadway shows, a walking tour, museum, some shopping, etc. 

Clay's brother, Hugh, lives in New York and we used to visit there fairly frequently, but it's been quite a while since our last time there. What struck me most about New York compared to Lille, or even London and Paris, is how noisy it is. There's a lot of traffic, of course, and drivers use their horns freely. I can't imagine living there, but it's a great place to visit. Love it or hate it, there's really nothing like it. 

Times Square at night

Our first day there I was walking along the water on the west side of Manhattan and came across the Intrepid. I thought about going aboard, but it cost $36 and I wasn't that interested. It was a good reminder that everything in New York is expensive.

This structure is called "The Vessel." It was intriguing, but also cost more than I wanted pay just to climb a lot of stairs.

The Bethesda fountain in Central Park was shut down for repairs but still nice to see. 

We spent a morning in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but really you could spend several days there.

Times Square is entertaining and amusing and busy any time of day.

A wall mural in Chinatown from a guided walk.

Berta Hysell, at dinner one evening.

This was the poster created for the 90th birthday event.

This is the theater and set for a play titled "Downstate." I think it was the best thing we saw all week. Not pleasant, but a powerful piece of writing.

The set of "Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York." It was very good.

We also saw "Schmigadoon," "Good Time Charlie," and "Slam Frank."

One day we happened across McSorley's Old Ale House. It's a classic Irish pub and a New York institution.

Some beautiful mosaic tile work in a subway stop. (I don't remember where.)

John Lennon memorial in Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

Belvedere Castle in Central Park. I hadn't seen this before or at least didn't remember it. Apparently it was originally built as an observatory.

Flowers in the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park.

The horse drawn carriages will soon be a thing of the past, which is for the best. The city council voted to end them while we were in town. We had seen some in Brussels which had been converted to run under electric power. The recent push to end them follows a particularly horrific recent accident.

We flew back to France on Monday night and landed in Paris about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

We took the train home to Lille and got home around noon. Bailey's boarding facility brought her back to us Wednesday morning. She was very tired and very happy to be back home.

Cultural and other activities

Since we've been back from London we saw a play at the Theatre de Nord ("Le Cid"), a rugby match, the Lille Street Food Festival, a performance of the Lille Symphony Orchestra ("The Rites of Spring"), an opera (Handel's "Alcina"), a showing of the film "Paris is Burning" (not about Paris), an afternoon piano/oboe concert at the opera house, a virtual reality show about the ascent of Mt. Everest, a brass chamber concert, and tomorrow night we are going to the circus. Next week we are going to New York for about a week to see Clay's brother and mother. My computer is failing for some reason so I'm going to take it in before we go and hope they will have it fixed when we return. All that means that this will be my last blog post for a while.

The weather has been great for walking so I've been putting in a lot of miles with Bailey in the mornings and taking another long walk around town by myself in the afternoons, exploring the city. It's raining this afternoon so I'm cooking instead. I do a lot of cooking these days, as well as shopping and assorted food prep. The pictures are a pretty random assortment. 

Our 12th/30th anniversary

This past August was our 30th anniversary as a couple, a number that boggles my mind mostly because it makes me realize how old I am getting to be. Today, October 8th, is 12 years after we were legally married in a courtroom in the small county where we lived. Gay marriage remains a hot issue with the religious reich in the United States although public opinion has shifted to being largely in favor or at least indifferent towards it. However, the fucking republicans now have enough votes on the Supreme Court to overturn the decision that made it legal 12 years ago and I have no doubt that they are looking for the right case to bring a new challenge through the court system. It is among the many reasons that we chose to move to France.

Our marriage hasn't demeaned the value or meaning of marriage, nor has it caused the failure of anyone's marriage (except possibly a few closet cases who found themselves trapped in a heterosexual relationship and realized that they could do better.) Extending civil rights has never resulted in the diminishment of the rights of others. 

I have written quite a bit on this topic over the years and I don't really have anything new or different to say today. The pictures below are just some recent ones from around town. We are going out to eat this evening to celebrate our 12th. I'm going to fill out my absentee ballot for the mid-term election this afternoon.