USA – the EAST

Yes, that is me in there lookin’ dang formal I’d say. The guys are dressed up plenty snappy too – Bernie, Bill, me and Will.

I went straight from the SF ship’s terminal to the airport and then flew into Boston. This was my large, modest yet lovely room with a great desk overlooking this view where I set up my computer, watched the town go by and could work in my pjs and dream of never getting dressed again.

Sailing into San Francisco heading under the Golden Gate Bridge, Again at Dawn(!). Notice the people on the very bow of the ship having their picture taken. It was far too cold and far too windy and far too early for me to even consider such foolishness.

Closer approach to the bridge with the city in the background.

Spring.

L&E’s New England home.

Here is the wonderful story of the candlesticks from Les:

‘My (and Phyllis’s) mutual Aunt Ida told me that the candlesticks had belonged to her grandmother. Because Aunt Ida was born in 1888, that would put them at least into the late 18th century. Phyllis and I know that our grandmother, Sarah Weiner, brought them from Pavlograd, Ukraine to LA in 1906.

They were used for Phyllis’s father Paul’s Bar Mitzvah in 1908, and that of my father, Noe, in 1911. They were also used by our Aunt Ida for my Bar Mitzvah in 1962.’

I’m adding a bit. I heard these candlesticks were the only possession Grandmother Sarah brought from her ancestral home in the Ukraine and they have been handed down to the women in the family ever since.

This is Les, David, Arthur and Phyllis.

The Bar Mitzvah boy and his best friend.

Cheers! even for the guests who have to eat and run.

Just after the Bar Mitzvah service. This is the Kiddish, the ritual blessing of the bread and wine.

The story of The Wine:

On the occasion of his son’s birth Les immediately bought wine futures from among his favorite makers and then saved the wine for the purpose of drinking it at his son’s Bar Mitzvah. I have followed this story for years and felt really privileged to be able to participate in such a happy and long awaited occasion. The wines are:

1989 Chateau Pichon Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac Grand Cru

and

1989 Chateau La Lagune, Haut-Medoc Grand Cru

Susie and Ken.

How cousins turn into Grandma and Grandpa.

Susie, Ken, Les, Carl and Robert.

A family portrait.

The end of a perfect weekend.

I took Amtrak from Boston to NYC and couldn’t recommend this more highly. The train travel itself resembled a real train system for comfort and ease of use on top of which the scenery was spectacular. This is arriving into NYC.

Johanna and Carl marveling at L&E’s wedding album. We were all so Young then but then we thought we were already Old. So old in fact that the bride and groom thought it was appropriate that they both wear gray suits for their wedding. Oh yeah.

Sweet Sisters and the sister’s husband.

Gray’s Papaya – my first stop on any visit to Paul and Gretchen’s.

My dear friends and generous guides to the glories of NY NY.

We took a train out to the Bronx Zoo, my first time to visit there, and it was really worth the trip. I think the main distinction of this zoo is that it was among the first to make a committment to natural-like enclosures.

You can see the lions in the distance there. It was so charming the way the crowd of kids ran up to the fence yelling and jumping up and down ‘the lions, the lions, the lions’.

His beak looked like the wood of the trees.

Hey big guy.

Who’s watching who?

Flamingos…

Lemurs…

Vultures…