Fall 2017 into the New Year 2018

With Jim and Juditha in Ocean Grove

In early October I went with Juditha and Jim to Ocean Grove (we were reading poems at an event in Long Branch and decided to make it an overnight). The next morning we had brunch in town, then went for a long walk, Juditha and Jim giving me a first-rate tour of the area where they had once lived. The next week we had the delightful experience of watching over our very grownup nieces in Arlington while their mother spent a long weekend in New Orleans. They really did all the hard parts, we just looked on...! For Thanksgiving we flew to Buffalo on a very skinny plane (more storage under the seats than in the overhead compartments). We watched four members of the Rados family compete in the annual Turkey Trot, and did serious sightseeing in the burgeoning Buffalo metropolis. Back home I read with the Cools at a "Talk Turkey" themed reading at the Highland Park Library.

After a quiet Christmas at home, we stepped out in NYC for a few days before the New Year. The first day we met our friend Helga briefly at her show at the Nailya Alexander Gallery, had dinner at L'Artusi, and saw a terrific play "School Girls." The next day we had lunch with Eddie, Wendy and Alex, and then dinner with Joel and Susan at The Tartinery, followed by a performance by Artek at Old St. Patrick's. On the third day we had dinner at Loring Place and went to a performance by Tenet of Monteverdi at St. Joseph's. Back home on New Year's Eve (no Times Square for us!). In late January we took a day trip to Wilmington, Delaware, saw Chris Schopfer's factory, had lunch at De La Coeur Cafe, and went to the John Sloan exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum.

Detail of "Dante and Virgil in Union Square" by Isabel Bishop

In early February we flew to Long Beach, stayed with Janet in Laguna Beach a few days, had dinner with Kent's family, a quick visit with SMHS friend Joan, then stayed for a few days at an Air Bnb in Pasadena, had brunch with Ed and Gipsy, a few meals and a visit to the Italian American Museum in L.A. with Kirk and Melinda, plus our annual visit to

San Juan Capistrano

Santa Anita with Mimi. Back home in time for Valentine's dinner with Bill at Enoterra.

Then we had big plans to go to DC but slopoet contracted a bad cold, don't even ask, the next few weeks were a blur. Except that in moments of brief health she attended one class, one session of book group, took the train to NY to attend another Tenet concert at St Luke's, and performed a few poems with the Cools at the New Brunswick Library (themed reading was "Mud Season"). Followed by a relapse of sorts. It's now mid-March, life will start picking up again. I'm certain of that. For anyone actually following this blog, there is a real surprise coming up soon involving publication of a certain book.

Summer 2017

Flying to Zurich was a great idea, we really enjoyed our stays there at the beginning and end of our trip in June. After Zurich we headed south to Bologna, dinner at Ristorante al Sangiovese for old time's sake. Then we reported to the Villa Torre alle Tolfe outside of Siena for the 9-day seminar led by my old professor/director Giuseppe Mammarella.

Pinturicchio fresco in
Piccolomini Library in
Siena's Duomo

Giuseppe Mammarella

A shame there was a heat wave on at the same time, made some of the touring somewhat arduous. We really enjoyed meals with the group, trips to Siena, Lucca, Florence, Arezzo and Montalcino, and classes back at the villa (Italian film, Political Science, Art, and even Italian lessons, the advanced class for me).

At the new Stanford campus in Florence

Il Gruppo di 2017

After the seminar was over, we rented a car (wanted a Volvo, were given an Alfa Romeo, not really ideal for dirt roads...!) and set off for Country House Montali (our last visit had been in 2010 so we were long overdue). This whole trip was really a celebration of our ten-year anniversary, a little late. The pool at Montali was really welcome in the heat and the food was as good as ever. We made short trips, one to Perugia, another to Panicale to see again the room where we were married.

Portrait of Masolino
in Panicale Town Hall

Perugino's Madonna
and Child in Fontignano

When this part was done, we took the train to Milan, another great dinner at Hostaria al Borromei, and the next day boarded the Bernina Express for stunning views of the Swiss countryside on the way back to Zurich. One of the Siena seminar group lives in Zurich so we spent some time with her on our last day, as well as visiting James Joyce's grave.

James Joyce, Zurich

Bill and Betty Gerson, lunch in Zurich

Dinner at Olea in Brooklyn
on our way home from Europe

I wasn't home very long before it was time to go to Chester again with my special poetry friends. Refreshment for the mind before our month in Gilmanton. Which has just now concluded. I would say the highlight of Gilmanton this year was my winning the annual croquet match. So I am up-to-date for once. Always an article for the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey to finish--the current one is our fifth in the series and due to come out in mid-September.

Winter 2017

Beginning December 7 with the launch of Volume Six of the Cool Women Anthology series, the Cool Women have been performing at a fever pitch, doing two more readings in March, and two in April. All our activities are up on our website at http://coolwomenpoets.org. In between this activity Chris Schopfer and I were getting out our third article in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey (it came out in January). Lois, Judy, and Juditha (of the Cools) and I participated in the Women's March in Trenton on January 21 (8,000 strong).

Then Bill and I headed to California on January 31, this time Southern California only, nice visits in the Pasadena area with our friend Mimi (Santa Anita races), Kirk and Melinda (saw their new home, and stopped in at Melinda's new workplace at the Washington Elementary School library in San Gabriel), and had dinner with Ed and Gypsy Bergstrom. With Fran and Roger we toured the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, home of Lion Feuchtwanger, exiled German writer, and then went to the Los

Library at Villa Aurora

Angeles County Museum of Art. My sister and I went to the Casa Romantica in San Clemente, home of Ole Hanson, founder of the city, and then I went back there a few days later with Bill. We drove down to San Diego to spend the last few days of our vacation. One day we went to the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, and another day was spent walking the beach at the La Jolla Shores. We also paid a sunset visit to Sunset Cliffs. Back home February 13.

San Diego Museum of Art

On March 9, I read to a very special group of friends from Guilford (many came from the Guilford Poets Guild, the sponsor) at the Guilford Free Library. It was a lovely place to read, and the audience was especially lively. It was taped for the local cable TV station and can be viewed here.

Volume four of our genealogical series is soon to be out. Flowers are finally blooming here in New Jersey (also our heat is still on, I notice!)--it's May for goodness sake. Yesterday Bill and I were in the city to hear Parthenia (group of viola da gambists) perform at St. Luke in the Fields, and dinner in the Village at Dell'Anima. Getting ready for our getaway in June, to Siena.

Fall 2016

My sister and I took off on the same day, September 27, she from Los Angeles and I from Newark. We arrived in Berlin a little over an hour apart. Highlights were the boat tour on the Spree, Max Liebermann's villa, my visit to Die Brücke Museum featuring paintings by Emil Nolde, dinners with Tyler and Kathi.

Mjällby Church

On to Sweden, starting with an overnight in Malmö, then we drove to Solvesborg, visited the church where our great-grandparents were married (Mjällby), and roamed around the gorgeous farmland, even stopped here and there at the coast. We stayed the next night at Bäckaskog Slott (“slott” means castle) where our great-grandfather just might have worked as King Karl XV’s wine steward.

The next day we drove to Lake Vättern and another castle to stay in, Västanå Slott. Woke up to a beautiful day for our next day of visits to locations for our great-grandparents on father’s maternal side. We visited the churches where the two of them were baptised, one in Ödeshög (our great-grandfather) and one at Stora Åby (our great-grandmother). She had grown up in Amundeby, and he in Kushult, both small villages of fewer than 5 farms. We found both places, and were welcomed by current neighbors into their homes, near where our family’s farms were located.

Stora Åby Church

We took the train to Stockholm, my first visit there. We went to Uppsala for the day with Corinne, then she came back with us to Stockholm. Highlights for me walking on the island Djurgården (visiting two art museums, Prince Eugen’s house and Thielsket Galleriet), and exploring Södermalm, where our great-grandparents had married (at Katarina Kyrka) and lived (Lotsgatan neighborhood) before

Prince Eugen’s house

they came to America.

Janet and I took the night ferry from Stockholm to Estonia, arriving the next morning. We had a wonderful guided tour of Talinn, visiting the old city (at both upper and lower elevations), Kadriorg Park, and the amphitheater where the famous choral festivals are held. The next day I went to the City Museum, which had five floors.

The next day we took the ferry to Helsinki, where we spent two nights. I spent my full day there exploring the park where the Sibelius Monument was located, and visiting the Ateneum, Helsinki’s wonderful art museum. We flew home on October 15, all-in-all an

Cafe Regatta, Helsinki

envigorating trip.

Not home for long, though, Bill and I flew out to Portland, Oregon for a four-day trip including a stay in Dufur, where our friend Penelope has her writing house. To get there we drove up the Columbia River Gorge, a place I hadn’t been in a long time. On the way we stopped at Multnomah Falls, always a thrill. Back in Portland the Cool Women gave a reading at Penelope’s house, a series called The White Dog Salon, the reason for our visit. My college friend Peggy was able to go, and we also had a good visit with her and Bill at their

Mt. Hood from Dufur, Oregon

house in Portland.

Our next jaunt was to Buffalo for Thanksgiving. On the way we stayed in Horseheads, New York, to break up the trip. In Buffalo one day Phil drove us to Niagara Falls, another place known to me only from childhood memory. On the way home we stopped off at Seneca Falls, visited the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, then stayed overnight in Ithaca, espresso at Gimme Coffee and dinner at Moosehead Restaurant. The next day on our way home I engineered a detour to Walpack Center, the village left behind but mercifully never submerged by a failed dam project. This was the place my mother came to visit her cousin as a child. I found this cousin’s grandparents’ graves in the local cemetery. Our last stop was in nearby Branchville where we found Broad Street Books, a fabulous used bookstore.

Mid 2016

May 2016 will be remembered as the date of publication (in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey) of my first genealogical article, co-authored with collaborator Chris Schopfer, about New Jersey founder William Sandford, who received in 1668 a crown grant of 30,000 acres in the area of New Jersey now called New Barbadoes Neck. Sandford was always referred to as an Englishman from Barbados, but no one had solved his parentage. Chris and I slogged through various pathways to find William Sandford baptised in Hamburg, Germany in 1637, the son of Thomas Sandford, a merchant adventurer. We are on schedule for part two of this saga, which should appear in the September issue of GMNJ.

In June we spent a fun day in Philadelphia, precisely on June 16, Bloomsday. We attended much of the annual reading of Joyce's Ulysses held outside the Rosenbach Museum and Library. Local opera singers rounded out the program by performing songs which appear in the book, including a thrilling rendition of "La Ci Darem La Mano."

This year in Gilmanton I found myself the featured poet at Bill Donahue's Scriven Arts Colony on

August 6, a reading in front of many old Gilmanton friends and family in the Donahue family barn. This was a very special place to read, a night to remember. The very next day I drove down to Chester, CT to meet with the formidable Chester Conference Group (we change our name at will...). We eight poets read at the Maple and Main Gallery in downtown Chester on Wednesday night August 10, where one of us, the incomparable Gray Jacobik, was also having a solo exhibit of her paintings.

Remember August 23, 2016 as the date my lovely condo at Long Hill Farm was finally sold!! No more for me the life of the landlord, biting my nails until the next repair might be needed. Lovely to own only one house at a time. I'm still waiting to drink the bottle of Brunello di Montalcino my realtor gave me to celebrate. It was rattling around in the trunk of my car as we were coming home from Gilmanton. Perhaps I'll wait til the eve of my departure on the next planned trip, which you will soon hear about in the forthcoming installment of this blog. It involves Swedish ancestors and...my sister, that's all you'll get from me at this point.

Beginning of 2016

View from top of Clock Tower

As usual we began the year with a visit to California, not without missing the only major snowstorm of the season (ca. 18 in. of snow locally just before we left). We started in Northern California, the first day I had lunch at Spalti's in Palo Alto (a private room in the back) with a huge group of retired librarian friends. We went to two splendid concerts in PA, one to hear Voices of Music at All Saints Episcopal church, and the other was Quicksilver at First Presbyterian. One day while Bill was playing bridge I drove to Half Moon Bay, sat huddled against some rocks out of the wind to observe brave souls on the beach. Somehow we fit in lunch with Holly and Town, coffee with Ethan, and dinner with the old poetry group at Bistro Vida in Menlo Park.

Bart's Books, Ojai

Then we joined Gil and Joan on the Coast Starlight, probably the first time I had taken this train since I was a young woman. Beautiful scenery from the observation car as we glided past Elkhorn Slough, the green hills above San Luis Obispo (including a great view of La Cuesta Grade), and finally along the ocean on our way to Santa Barbara. We were met by Roger and Fran, and the next day the six of us toured the city, lunch at State and Fig, and going up to the top of the Clock Tower for an amazing view. The next day we all drove to Meinert Oaks (part of Ojai) and had lunch at Farmer and the Cook Organic Market, sitting outside on their expansive patio. On to Ojai and Bart's Books, the World's Greatest Outdoor Bookstore (well, some of it is indoors, of course).

At Buster's

We drove down to Pasadena to stay with Mimi, and one day we had lunch with Kirk and Melinda at Lincoln bakery in a soon-to-be-upscale (?) neighborhood of Pasadena bordering on Altadena. They also showed us Arlington Gardens, a little-known free park with sitting areas under the trees. We had coffee with Kathleen at Jones Coffee, a favorite. A tradition also was attending Santa Anita, this time with Mimi and Kirk (Mimi had the best day, finishing on the plus side). Melinda joined us for dinner at Gale's. On our last day we had brunch with Ed and Gipsy, and Meredith Taylor from my SMHS class at the old Huntington Hotel (now the Langham).

Emerald Bay

Was it too much to ask to just do practically nothing at Janet's in Emerald Bay for three whole days? Weather was perfect. On the way to LAX we discovered a new lunch place in Long Beach called
Berlin.

In late February I took a very quick trip down to D.C. on the train so I could join Janet and Karen to see Elena and Marina perform in a local production of South Pacific. Their somersaults were highlights of the show. In March it was a treat to hear Bob Hass read at Princeton. Later that month I read with the Ragged Sky anthology poets (from the coffee and chocolate book Dark as a Hazel Eye) at the Mulberry branch library on the lower East Side. We had lunch at Tartine and then returned there after the reading for a snack with Jay and Maxine.

In April there were two Cool Women readings, one at the Franklin branch of the Somerset library, the second at the Hopewell branch in Pennington. Both were a lot of fun, especially the second one, which had a huge turnout even though it was raining, and I also performed as moderator for the first time. In the middle of that same week Kent and his family arrived in Princeton (Erika looking at colleges on the East Coast), and we had a very quick visit over lunch, and were also able to fit in a stop at our house on the way to Trenton Station.

Second Half of 2015

Lunch with Corinne at Hudson Eats

Whitehall Building

In early July we went to a great exhibit of Folk Music at the Museum of the City of New York (a few albums on display were ones I own), and then toured the new Whitney Museum. At the end of July our beloved Corinne came to visit us. She was game for everything. We went bicycling (twice!) and she joined me at the U.S. 1 workshop. She brought a poem that was critiqued with great reviews by my poetry friends. I took her on our special route to New York, via ferry from Jersey City. We walked along the Hudson River, went to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, then met Bill and ferried over to Staten Island, and later had dinner at Sant Ambroeus. The day she left I drove up to Chester, spent a week carousing with our very special group for its fifth year.

Drew Farm

Then on to Gilmanton, lots of croquet, swimming, a day at Ogunquit, Old Home Day, and a special visit with my old family friends Steve and Vicki, who have bought a home over in Gilford, such a coincidence! Bill and I started a new tradition by attending a concert at Castle Hill in Ipswich. In the afternoon we visited the John Whipple House and the Heard Mansion across the street. An added bonus, we drove to Smith Point at Manchester-by-the-Sea and found Alfred Perkins Rockwell's home (Bill's great-grandfather) and even spent a few moments on the beach nearby (which Bill remembered visiting as a boy). The next day I drove to the Florence Griswold Museum to participate in their Tour in Verse program, reading my poem "The Bass Have Vanished" after a painting "Hell Gate" by Michael John Boog.

Cool Women Poets

In September, as a new member of the Cool Women Poets, I performed with them at the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown, and then later in October at the St. James A.M.E. Church in Hightstown.

In early October Bill and I took one of the Hackensack River cruises, this one down the Hackensack to where it meets the Passaic in Newark Bay. Earlier in the day we found William Carlos Williams' house in Rutherford. It was the day the firehouse was having some sort of anniversary and about hundred police car sirens and fire truck horns were blaring all at once.

In mid-October we joined the Chester group again, this time in Washington, D.C. where Anne's play "Hannah Alive" was being performed (in Silver Spring). We managed to squeeze in a workshop, visited with Karen and Fede and the girls, went to the Newseum and attended a concert at the Folger Library.

In late October Peggy and Bill, who were driving across America on an amazing trip, stopped to stay with us for a couple of days. We had a great walk along the canal, had dinner at the Blue Point Grill, and the next day Peggy especially loved Grounds for Sculpture. When they left, Audrey and David arrived. Of course, they wanted to go to Grounds for Sculpture too--by this time I can give anyone their own personal guided tour.

For my birthday we went to Carnegie Hall to hear the St. Lawrence Quartet, and stayed for the first time in an Air Bnb, this one was in an interesting Art Deco building on Exchange Place in lower Manhattan. For Bill's birthday we got to go to NY again, of course. We had brunch at Marco and Pepe's in Jersey City, then had dinner at Boqueria, and heard Artek at Immanuel Lutheran Church. A week later we had dinner with Carolyn and other friends and heard the Dryden Quartet at the Miller Chapel.

Full Moon Cafe in Lambertville

For Christmas Eve this year we did something different. We ferried to NY again, had dinner at Po in the Village, then saw Little Girl Blue (about Janis Joplin) at Lincoln Center theater, and spent the night at the Warwick. It was a beautiful sunny Christmas morning walking around midtown, then we came home to open presents. A few days later we had a special visit with Karen and the girls, took them to Jammin' Crepes, Jazam's toy store, and Labyrinth Books. The next day we spent in Lambertville, having lunch at the Full Moon, then Karen went off to NY and we had the girls all by ourselves. They were great fun to be with. The next morning we headed off to NY, met Karen, had lunch at the Urbanspace Vanderbilt Food Hall, and hung out at the New York Public Library and Bryant Park.

On January 2 we went to a ceremony dedicated to the soldiers who fought the Battle of Princeton (in 1777). And the day before was the Rose Bowl, these days watched by us on the television instead of in the stands. This year was especially nice, seeing the Stanford Cardinal, and Christian McCaffrey, have an almost perfect game, beating Iowa 45-16.