DC and Maryland

Here are the pictures from Maryland and DC, last week. I had a really great time looking up family history stuff with my mom's cousin, Bob Baum (Barbra's son, Margo and David's brother). He has all kinds of great old family stuff, letters and things going back quite a ways, as well as this family tree program that he's entered seven generations of our family into. I loved it (and I want a Mac compatible one, so consider that my birthday is in 3 weeks...). ;)

Bob took me for a walk along the trail at the C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal near Bethesda, which was quite beautiful.

Bob's wife Karen and her daughter, Cassie.

Bob cooking breakfast (pancakes...yum).

Bob's cats, Flip and America.

This I thought was so cute, until I noticed it was slightly obscene. Oh well.


The next batch of pictures are of my friends Kate (who I know from Missoula) and Jen, and Kate's son Elliot, in DC. I love them, love their kitties, love their guest room. Feel free to explain to them in your comments why they need to move to Portland (which they are considering doing, in, um, 1-4 years).

Kate and Jen.

Elliot at the dinner table.

Kate and Stella.

Kate and Stella.

Ms. Jen Kern.

Jen and me.

Elliot and Kate: a somewhat psychedelic phone picture. I like it.

August 25th.

Just wanted to share these today. The black and white ones are pictures of my mother (right) and her cousin Judith (who now lives in Arcata, CA) at their grandparents 50th(?) wedding anniversary party, taken by my grandfather Paul (1968?). The bottom one is my mom and me, circa 1977.





You can read my post from last year on this day, it has another picture of my mom, more recent, and some other stuff...

(Stay tuned for pictures from DC. I'm now back at Jerri's in Kansas City....)

Finally made it to Philly (and DC)!

So I finally got to hang out with my friend Terry, of Separation Anxieties. She had done one of Jennifer's previous writing workshops and is an old friend of Carrie's. We met once over lunch at Old Wives Tales (with Carrie and Holly) in Portland in February, but then were unable to see each other when I was east in April (due to a bit of family drama). So I was thrilled to see her and finally meet her gorgeous and talented family (I got to see Leo in Suessical: The Musical on Thursday night, he was the Mayor of Whoville). We had such a great time. Terry is just one of those people I could talk to forever (and she has plenty to say, too...). :)

Terry says about the top picture, "I'm trying to do my Jess impression." Hmmm.



Sophie, Greg, Terry, and Leo.





Philly at dusk photographed from the little red Miata convertible.

More downtown Philly at dusk (notice the Israeli flag..). Terry, you can tell us what building these are...


At lunch on Friday at a really funky restaurant called Pod. The different colored florescent lights were a little intense, but Sophie was into it!

I am currently in DC with my friends Kate and Jen, also going to see my cousin Bob in a little bit.

New York, New York!

I just had the most fabulous week in New York City. Mostly hanging out with Lucy (and one more dinner with David and Louis). We went to the Terrace in the Sky restaurant on Tuesday night. This was where Happie and Charles had their wedding reception in January 1980, when I was four. I had a memory of hanging out with my brand new cousin Jonah and trying to reach a bowl of candy on the bar, so I wanted to go see it. The view was amazing, but the bar had been renovated and was different. The drinks were good anyway.

On the roof at the Terrace in the Sky.


At Picnic, a lovely place at Bway and 101st.

Times Square on the way home.

Then yesterday morning I got to see Kim and Isabel! Kim had done Jennifer's second workshop with me in February. She used to be in publishing and is now raising her gorgeous daughter Isabel. We went for a lovely walk in Central Park and then to the carousel, which I hadn't been on since I was little. I loved that carousel when I was little. I have a picture somewhere of me on it when I was five, just recovering from chicken pox (still covered in red spots), wearing a sailor suit. Must find that.. Anyway, here's Kim, Isabel and me.










This morning I am back in Spring Valley with Alex and Miriam and Gerald, and later I am off to Philly to see Terry! :) OK, must re-pack my car now.

Pete Seeger and Kate & Steve

On Sunday I took the train north to Beacon, New York to the Corn Festival, a little festival by the Hudson River with lots of corn and some good music. Mostly I went to see my great friends Kate and Steve (who live about half a mile from me in Portland) and to see the great Pete Seeger. And my cousin Alex came up to hang out for some of it (thank you Alex, and sorry about the traffic).

Pete is 88 and totally adorable. He played for half and hour, got the audience singing, and galloped around like it was nothing. Kate and Steve are always great, and I can't tell you how wonderful it was to hear their voices and hang out with them for a while. Wish it could have been longer though.

Pete Seeger.

Steve and Kate.



Kate and Steve.

Kate and Steve.

Me and Kate.

Steve, me and Kate.

More Fire Island pictures!

Some more pictures from Fire Island.
David (Lucy's son), me, and Louis (Lucy's nephew) at Cherry Grove. I love that they have as many rainbow flags as American ones (maybe more).

Lucy.

Eating shrimp cocktail at Cherry Grove (apparently known for being more alternative and full of drag queens and aging lesbians, though I didn't see a lot of those things).

The boardwalk that criss-crosses the island (there are no roads and no cars).

One of the may ill-behaved and very gregarious deer on Fire Island.


These next ones document Louis and me (OK mostly him, but I supervised) making Bloody Marys and drinking them on the front deck. Definitely a highlight! They turned out very well, but I may still have to work on perfecting this skill at my next cocktail party.







Boys playing volleyball on the beach.

Lucy on the beach.

Me playing in the water.

All the boys and Lucy at dinner.

Lucy and me.

Scarsdale and Fire Island

Here are a couple of pictures of Alex and me with our great-aunt Barbra, Happie and Mae's younger sister. These are from Tuesday night in Scarsdale.




Barbra gave me some old manuscripts of my great-grandmother, Amie. Who knows what manuscripts really mean, but it makes her writings sound important, and they certainly are, to me. They consist of three or four short stories she wrote when she took some writing classes.

And now I'm on Fire Island (The Pines) with Lucy, who is, technically, my step-grandmother. But she's not really quite old enough to be my grandmother, and is a little hipper than a grandmother (no offense, Grami). So, she's just Lucy. We've been having a lovely time out here in this amazing place. Yesterday was dark and rainy so we drank good wine, read old letters, looked at pictures, and just talked (and of course watched all the flamers on the boardwalk). It is awfully nice to talk to people who really knew my mother, and my grandfather. And someone who is so fabulous regardless of all that.






Today is clear and sunny and it's a whole new place. Lucy's son David and her nephew Louis arrived late last night, as well as their friend Richard and his boyfriend. Some of us are going on a walk along the beach to Cherry Grove soon.

Some old old family pictures...

This week I spent a few days at my great aunt Barbra's house in Scarsdale, New York. Barbra has all kinds of good pictures and letters in her house, and I had some of them scanned. I did the same at Maeluise's house in Rochester last month. So here are some of the pictures I found.

I'm not totally clear on exactly how many generations back this is, but it's Happie's father's side (the Nusbaums), German Jews. It is labeled "early 1800's".

The woman on the top right is Hattie Ballin, Happie's grandmother who she was named after. The youngest one in the front is Florence, who became a famous artist (you can find a bit about her on Google), she moved to Woodstock NY, died in the 60s. There are tons of gorgeous old postcards in Barbra's house, sent to Florence in places she traveled to all over Europe in the 1890s and 1900's. She later Married Konrad Cramer, also a well-known painter.

There is a later picture of Florence here: http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/maverick/fcramerdet.htm
and some info about her and Konrad and another picture here.

This is my great-grandfather, Ferdinand Nusbaum (Happie, Mae, and Barbra's father) with his mother, Hattie Ballin Nusbaum.

Ferd and his sister Janet, who much later wrote a memoir (just for the family) which from what I've seen so far is hilarious. She was a poet. I don't think I met Aunt Janet (though Barbra thinks I have), but I like her! And I love this picture.

Hattie with her three kids, Janet, Barney, and Ferd.

Hattie Ballin Nusbaum, my great-great-grandmother. There is something about her expression that makes me love her. And she's quite a handsome woman, don't you think? She died in the 20s, or around the time of Happie (her grand-daughter's) birth.

This is my great-grandmother, Sadie Peller Nusbaum, later known as Amie (because she preferred that to Grandma). She died when I was ten, I remember visiting her grand apartment on 86th Street when I was little. I love this one.

Happie and Maeluise, around 1923. They both look so much like themselves here.

Happie, Maeluise, and their dad, Ferd.

Katie and Alex and Miriam

Last Friday I had lunch with my cousin Katie Moos in Cambridge (I didn't even know she was there until a few hours before I left, thanks Jonah...). I hadn't seen her in two years and hadn't had a real conversation with her in many more years than that (probably not since she was a kid, she's 23 now). It was really good to see her and hear about what she's up to these days. She's going to San Francisco to work for 6 months in the fall, so maybe I'll see her again....




So I am now in Spring Valley, New York staying with my cousin Alex and her parents, Miriam and Gerald. Miriam is Maeluise's younger daughter (Judi is the older) and my mom's cousin. They live in the Rudolph Steiner Fellowship Community, “an intergenerational community centered around the care of the elderly. We seek to work and learn together using the spiritual science anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner as our basis.” It's a lovely place, although I've been so tired that I haven't seen a lot of it yet. But here is Alex and Miriam.



Tomorrow Alex and I are going to Scarsdale to see our great-aunt Barbra.

Oh, and Jonah has posted a slideshow of pictures, including some very cute ones of Zoe and Makaylah. That is here.

Two days at the beach

From Monday to Wednesday I went to Cape Ann/Gloucester, MA and visited the two beaches that my mom used to take me to when I was a kid (we often went with Cal and her boys, too). Also went to Woodman's, the seafood joint we used to go for lobster, where they apparently invented fried clams.

Here are some pictures from Gloucester, a walk in the dunes at Crane's Beach, and a day at Wingaersheek Beach (which was always my favorite, because I loved climbing on the rocks and catching crabs). I don't have time for a lot more details, but here are the pictures. The bird in the tree is for Jonah and Tracy, who each have a certain fondness for birds. :)

Falcon Ridge!

Pictures from Falcon Ridge Folk Fest last weekend.

Jim Henry and Ms. Tracy Grammer on the workshop stage (I think this was the Beatles one?).

Richard Shindell.

Katryna Nields.

JH and Tracy at another workshop set, with Mary Gauthier.

I like this one. :)

Workshop stage crowd shot.

Tracy with my cousin Alex.
Tracy and me.

Jim Olsen (of Signature Sounds) checking the wind direction.

Rebecca picking out a new skirt.

Me working at the Signature Sounds tent.

Arlo Guthrie.

Jim Henry, looking suave as usual.

Artists waiting in line to settle up at the end of the festival, fanning themselves with their paperwork. I don't know who everyone is here, but Cheryl Prashker is on the left, then Maura Kennedy, and Tracy is 2nd from right.

And then, I went to the beach, so stay tuned for that!