I usually spend a goodly part of Sunday working on my Monday blog. NOT TODAY. I am getting in my adorable little buggy and heading north out of NYC to see friends in the Hudson Valley. By rights, tonight, we would be holding the gala for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. By rights, my beloved friend Nicoletta would be visiting from Italy just now, and we would be attending that gala together and staying on to see plays under the festival's gorgeous performance tent.
But the world is not in shape for "by rights." Still, I can spend Sunday night in a sweet little inn. On Sunday evening I can take a nice long walk along a country road with lovely friends (with masks and social distancing, of course). And on Monday morning, similarly clad, I can take a hike with dear ones. Country walks with some of the most wonderful people I know. My choice. I know you will forgive me for taking a break, before I break!!
See below for a peek at the territory that feeds my soul. The last words of this past post are a prayer that I have been praying every day.
I live in the Hudson Valley in the greatest city on earth. But there is a place, along that same majestic river, just fifty miles north of Times Square that I also know and love well. This past week, I spent a few days there, in Garrison and Cold Spring, New York with two of my dearest friends, tasting its delights: Familiar and new.
Most delightful of all, we saw, on three consecutive nights, the three MainStage plays at my beloved Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, preceded by picnicking while gazing at this view. Good food, great friends, and then Taming of the Shrew as an appetizer, Richard II as the main course, and The Heart of Robin Hood, a swashbuckling, hilarious and romantic romp as desert. What a feast!
The first of our hikes was on the grounds of Manitoga, which was the estate of the modernist industrial designer Russel Wright and is now a museum and nature reserve.
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| Susan Spann: Take note. I am doing a little training in preparation for our climbs. Fair warning, I go slower going down than going up! |
There is a brand new museum in the area: Magazzino, which means "warehouse" in Italian.
The art of I Poveri (the poor ones) is made from castoff or found materials.
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Many of the works were really fun to play with, especially the ones with mirrors:
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| Selfie with Molly McClure: Snooping |
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| Selfie by Dick Bradford, entitled Two Bearded Men Perusing a Text! |
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| This work is made entirely from natural materials, including volcanic ash taken from the slopes of Mt. Etna, in my ancestral stomping grounds. |
Our second hike was to to Arden Point on the banks of the Hudson.
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| I was doing fine until I crossed this bridge. |
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| Where I developed a problem with my soul--opps I mean my sole, which Dick tried to fix with a tourniquet made from his handkerchief. |
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| In the end, the only solution was to separate me from my soul, oops--from my sole. |
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| I made it to the river without my sole. |
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| My sole awaiting reattachment. |
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| `anc'ora - One of the works in the Magazzino exhibition. |
"Ancora" (AHN-cora) is Italian for "anchor." "Anc'ora" (ahnk-ORA) is Italian for "again."
The work in neon seems profound to me. In this context, with such dear and long-term friends, it meant that I have friends who are anchors for my soul. I pray we will be able to be together in this glorious place again soon.
