freekee thoughts

I came back from April's New York trip with a lot of photos. I posted 99 of them on Flickr, which is where I put almost anything worth looking at.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1454…

But then I actually fixed up twice that many.

By comparison, in my previous Flickr album of pictures from New York, from trips in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024, there are only 265 photos. Most years I only posted between 10 and 35 pictures. 2023 was the only one with over 100, because the purpose of that trip was to take photos.

On the other hand, I think the previous album had better photos. This time I had more photos where I discussed the subjects, rather than keeping only my best images.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1454…

The temperatures were well into the 90s for the last few days, with a very high humidity. It was not fun. I'd swear the forecast said it would be in the upper 80's over the weekend - much more tolerable. It was in the low 80's for most of the morning. Then I went inside to shower, and a couple of hours later I happened to notice the thermometer on the kitchen window said it was below 70. That turned out to be inaccurate, but it was in the low 70's. So I checked the forecast, and it said the highs would be in the low 70's for the rest of the weekend. Very strange.

Even stranger, the temperature went back up to the same low-80's as before the chill. It took the opportunity to wash the shed. I knew I'd get wet from the power washer, and I didn't want to do that when it was not warm out, so that worked out. I've got to do some digging tomorrow, so that will be a good task for the cooler temps. Assuming that's still an accurate forecast. At this point, who knows.

EDIT: when I went out this morning, it was in the upper 70's, so I was pretty sure they got it wrong. But starting around 10:30, the temp dropped ten degrees.

EDIT: And then the fog rolled in, followed by sporadic rain.

I previously made a couple of posts about New York. One about the art we saw and the other about the Public Library.

Since then I've been posting photos to my Substack, so here are the links if you want to see them:

street photography

architecture, the art deco edition

more New York City architecture

modern architecture

New York skylines

I'm never sure what to call the stuff... cleaning liquids? I generally clean the bathroom surfaces with a cleaning liquid mixed into a bucket of water. I sponge things down. I prefer to avoid harsh chemicals, and definitely stay away from strongly scented stuff, especially the fake kind.

I used to use lemon scented cleaners because I like lemon. But over time those scents became too realistic. I didn't want to be thinking about this yummy lemon while cleaning the toilet. Because pretty soon I'd be thinking about the toilet while eating yummy lemon. I started using Mrs. Meyer's products. They seem a little more environmentally responsible than, say Dow Chemical, and they use natural ingredients for scents, which are garden themed. So that's nice, but I don't find all of them to be attractive. I settled on lavender.

Here's a partial list of their scents: Blueberry, Tomato Vine, Fresh Cut Grass, Dandelion, Dewdrop, Lilac, Rose, Mint, Daisy, Rain Water, Lemon Verbena, Basil, Birchwood.

I would avoid tomato vine like the plague but lilac and birchwood sound great. But they don't make all products in all scents, and not all stores carry all their products, let alone all the scents. My grocery store seemed to have stopped carrying what I need (big bottle of liquid).

So I picked up a small bottle of Pine Sol. It's a very strong scent, and now the house stinks. Maybe I used too much. It's a very evocative scent, though. It's institutional. Reminds me of... school? Not sure.

Saturday I went to the Highland Games. I spent most of the time sitting in the clan area, hanging out with people. Usually I spend time working the gate, or watching people toss cabers at the heavy games. This time I watched the sheepdog demonstration for a few minutes, and about three tosses of the caber, and that was about it. Other than that, just whisky, friends, food and whisky. OK, not that much whisky. But there was whisky.

Then I drove downtown for a photography exhibition we were in. Got a few comments on the kilt.

Sunday, I picked up my CoPA VP, and we drove to Whitewater for another exhibition. This was a big photography exhibition, and there were a lot of people we know in it. But the main reason we went was to check out the gallery, since we're having a show there in January. It was good, though I spent about three hours in the car.

I got home in time for supper, and we went out.

Tonight I worked outside a bit. Pulled some weeds from the ditch and did some weed whacking around the house. Discovered my electric string trimmer has a broken handle. That's disappointing. Not sure I can fix it. I still have the battery operated one, but the corded one handles better.

I had a ticket to see Les Claypool's Gold tour in Chicago on Wednesday. He took all three of his bands on tour together - Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, The Claypool Lennon Delerium and Primus. I never put it on our calendar, so had kinda forgotten about it until my friend messaged me on Monday to say he wasn't able to go.

Tuesday night I saw where someone had posted a video of Union Pacific's Big Boy. It is the world's largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive. Built in 1941, it weighs 1.2 million pounds and stretches 132 feet long. It doesn't come around very often. This year it's on a coast to cost tour for America's 250th. So I looked it up to see where it would be and when, and see if I'd have an opportunity to see it. It turned out that it would be in the Chicago area the next day - the day I was going to Chicago for the concert. Perfect! And my friend wasn't going to the show, so I didn't have to worry about dragging him to this thing.

It was in West Chicago, which is a little town pretty far west of the city. I got on the road at 11:00, which was a little later than I'd planned, and I also hadn't planned on stopping for lunch. The town had planned on huge crowds, so they set up shuttle buses stopping at various parking lots around the area. I chose one and parked. I was the only one there. I waited ten minutes for the bus (and was the only one on it), and it took 25 minutes to complete the circuit and get me to the train. I finally got there at 2:30, and the event was to close at 3:00.

On the way down I was wondering what I was thinking - it's a big train. Is it going to feel spectacular. I honestly don't have a good feel for how big a normal steam train is, since I've only seen a few in my life. But it turned out to be pretty cool. And yes, it looks huge. I must have spent about 45 minutes around it (you could see it from one side from outside of the closed off area), and got almost 200 photos.





It was near 90°, and I sweated a lot. I didn't get any water, and the water I had in the car was then too warm to drink. I drove downtown, which took over an hour. Then I wandered around for another hour before I finally got water.

I bought parking at a garage there, and had a pass on my phone. I got in OK, but getting out was an issue. It took me a couple of tries to get out, but then I realized I wouldn't be able to go back in that way. I walked completely around the block and didn't see a way back in. I went up to the door I came out of, and just then someone was coming out, and he let me in. I found a different exit, and this one had a scanner where I could use my parking pass to open the door to go back in. Why is everything so hard?

I ate at Goose Island Brewery, next to the venue. Got in the venue just a few minutes before showtime. It was open air general admission. I'd heard old people complain about standing for too long, and I always assumed it was their feet or legs that gave out, but I've learned it's my back that hurts. I'm also too old for most of these shows. Frog Brigade was good, much as expected. Claypool Lennon Delerium was good, but I was hoping for great. I've watched shows on YouTube and loved them, but there really wasn't much added by the live experience. Much more subtraction. Much of that being the crowd. Everyone was constantly pushing by, going in our out. And I wasn't close enough to see anyone very well. The sound wasn't as good as when I'm listening on my headphones. And those two bands only played for an hour total.

What makes a show worth it for me these days is when I can get into it physically, like dancing or jumping around. And that's what I expected from Primus. But they didn't deliver on that. Claypool seemed to be stuck in the trippy, jammy Delerium mode. They still sounded like Primus, but somehow more laid back. They only played two songs I recognized, "My Name is Mud," which I didn't enjoy, and "Tommy the Cat," which I did. I saw them just last year, and they played their hits which had the whole place (literally) jumping, but they didn't do them this time. It wasn't the lack of songs I knew that was disappointing - I really wanted to jump.

It was an early show, being on a school night I guess. Started at 7, ended at 10, and I got home at midnight.

I haven't posted in over a week and a half. As the illness diminished my schedule increased. Been very busy. But today...

I worked in the morning, and drove to Chicago in the afternoon. I was going to work in the office, but decided at the last minute to stay home in the morning. I had an "appointment" to pick up my camera from the repair shop at 3:00. But leaving from home put me behind by 20 minutes. And work was busy at the last minute, so I didn't get out of the house for 20 minutes. Turns out I was 45 minutes late. The woman said she thought I wasn't coming. But I got my camera.

Unfortunately, in addition to the cost of repairs, I paid 40 bucks for parking - twice (once to drop off and once to pick up), and half a tank of gas each time, which was a bit painful this time.

And then I went up to pick up my whisky. The nav system in my car was not cooperating, so that was fun Instead of the map, I got an AI which told me all about my destination, but would not give me directions. I eventually got the usual map working.

So I got my whisky, and my friend's whisky (whose two boxes didn't even fit in my trunk), and went to Delilah's. But first I ate at a little Venezuelan style restaurant, which was good. And then had whisky at Delilah's. I made it home by shortly after 9:00.

I don't know if Cindy is still sick, or just feeling the effects that are hanging on, but she's not doing too well - coughing constantly. I still have some coughing, especially around bedtime but not like she's got. Other than that I feel fine except I don't have all my energy back. Yesterday I had to go out to get a new belt for my mower, then replace it, then mow. It took a lot out of me. After that, we needed to go to the grocery store, and were planning on looking for something for supper, but we learned that a BBQ food truck we like was at the brewery we like, so after groceries, we went out there and got some food and beer for supper.

This afternoon I worked in the gardens, did my Spring cleanup. I also drove Cindy to the pharmacy to pick up some cough medicine. We had leftovers for supper, then I went out for errands - got more groceries, and got my car washed. Then I left for the David Byrne concert. Cindy couldn't go because of her coughing, so I called my friend Steve, so we met and went down together. Cindy's daughter Heather was also at the show she texted me asking where I was. I told her and she said "ooh, you're all fancy, on the first floor!" I said, "you're in steerage?"

As expected, it was a fun show. Byrne did a smattering of Talking Heads tunes "An She Was", "Nothing but Flowers" "This Must Be the Place" and a couple more I wasn't familiar with, until he loaded up "Psycho Killer" "Life During Wartime" "Once in a Lifetime" and Burning Down the House" at the end. The other songs were enjoyable as well. The audience was on their feet more often than seated.

The walls around the stage were video walls, as was the floor. Since there were no shadows on the stage, it seemed like the musicians were just put in by video effect. They used a few video tracking tricks, like putting the musicians' names on the screen following that actual positions on the stage. Similarly with "spotlights" under their feet. For the first song, they were performing on the moon, as the Earth rose behind them. Byrne pointed to it and said it was heaven.

Last week in New York, Wednesday morning we visited the library. You know, that library. I’m sure most people who aren’t from the city refer to this building as the New York Public Library, but of course it’s a big city with a lot of branches, and this is just the most famous one. And it is very famous. The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. You know the lions. This is Patience…



(I didn’t pay my respects to Fortitude this visit.)

And this is the Rose Main Reading Room…



When you see it in the movies, it would seem to be right inside the front door. But it’s actually up on the third floor. Notice how high the ceiling is. Also note, if you want to see it, it’s only open to the public for an hour, at 10am.

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My favorite museum is MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art. It's been a while, so we had intended to see it on Tuesday afternoon, but we ended up spending the day in the ER. We had intended to take a day trip to Philadelphia on Friday, and see the Barnes, but that fell through due to illness, among other things.



This time we visited the Guggenheim. ( Collapse )