Wonder #SkywatchFriday #AtoZChallenge

Wonder is not a place.  It is many places, in this case all over the United States, and the sky comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors.

We start with a Charleston, South Carolina sunset.

Along a lake. (This may be Lake Erie in Pennsylvania; I can't remember).

A clear day in Brooklyn, New York.

Magnolias in Binghamton, New York, taken earlier this week.

Bradford pears in bloom in downtown Binghamton, New York.  Contrast this, if you will, with this:

This is a photo taken a few feet away, the day before.  It looks so much like snow on trees.  So, would you believe we may get snow on Sunday?  It's true.

 Not a sky here, but I was fooling around with filters on Photoshop Express and came up with this.

One more picture - a January sunset in Florida.

It's "W" day on the #AtoZChallenge.  My theme - Finding America through Photos.

Join Yogi and other bloggers who watch the sky each Friday on #SkywatchFriday.

Virginia #AtoZChallenge #ThursdayTreeLove

Today, on #ThursdayTreeLove, blooming dogwoods at Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers.

In that area, dogwoods generally bloom in mid-April.  I took this picture about three years ago.

Most of my remaining pictures were taken in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the state.

House of one of our Founding Fathers near Charlottesville.  I think this may be one side of Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's residence) but I am drawing a blank.

One thing you will find in abundance is statues.  This one honors our first President, George Washington, who was a native of Virginia (as were several other of our Founding Fathers.  This is on the grounds of the Virginia State House grounds in Richmond,

One thing you might not expect on the grounds of the Virginia capitol is a statue of Edgar Allen Poe, but he both attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (his dorm room has a historic marker on it) and also lived for a time in Richmond.  You can visit a museum devoted to Poe in Richmond (I haven't - yet) and, for whatever it's worth, his wife's name was Virginia.

State capitols need...well, legislative chambers.  I forget which one this is, but Virginia's legislative chambers are quite full of history.

But another thing you might not expect in a state capitol is - a picture of British monarchs.  Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal family have actually visited Virginia more times than you might expect.

And, why not?

"V" day on the #AtoZChallenge.  My theme - Finding America through Photos.

And, why not visit Parul at Happiness and Food and other bloggers who love trees on #ThursdayTreeLove.

Untermyer (Park) #AtoZChallenge

At one time one of the most popular gardens in the United States it sits, in Yonkers, New York, partially in ruins.

Untermyer Park, it is called.  Here's a brief history:

In 1865, John Meyer, who owned the largest hat factory in the world at the time, purchased 33 acres of land in Yonkers, New York.  He had a 99 room mansion called Greystone built for him. But his fortunes reversed and Meyer had to move and offer the property for rent.

Greystone was rented, in 1879, to a man by the name of Samuel J. Tilden (if you study United States history, you will know the name of Samuel J. Tilden).Tilden built 13 greenhouses in the property but died in 1886.  Much of his estate went to fund public libraries in Yonkers and in nearby New York City.

In 1899, at the auction of the Greystone property, it was purchased by Samuel Untermyer, a lawyer and civic leader born in Lynchburg, Virginia. As a teenager, he and his family moved to New York City, where he rose in the legal ranks and became wealthy.  In 1916, Untermyer started the construction of a massive garden complex at Greystone.

Untermyer was a strong opponent of the Nazi rise to power in Germany in 1933 and spent the next few years doing what he could to sound the alarm to the American public.  At the same time, he built a garden renowned in the world.  But, his health declined, and he died in 1940.  The city of Yonkers agreed to take on about 43 acres of what had become a 150 acre complex.

After 1940, the gardens declined and eventually fell into ruin.  But, in 2011, restoration began. When I first visited them in 2015 with my spouse and his cousin who lived in Yonkers all her life, they were still mainly in ruins.  Unfortunately, I can not find the photos I took back then.

We returned in March of 2019 and found a lot of progress.  It's still hard to believe, though, that what I was seeing was all that was left of what was once one of the most admired gardens in the United States.

Gate to the Garden of Love (complete with my finger).

Some of the ruins.  In the distance is the Hudson River and the Palisades.

More of the Garden of Love, showing some renovation.

Statues.

Not much was blooming besides crocus, but the leafless trees had their own stark beauty.

Speaking of crocus....actually there are a fair number of plantings of various types that have been put in by restorers.  I hope we can return sometime this summer and check them out.

Who knows, next year I might have a sequel?

"U" day on the #BloggingfromAtoZ challenge.

Tampa Treasures #AtoZChallenge

After my spouse and I got married, we moved to Tampa (we had family there) and spent a little less than two years there.  In the mid 70's, Tampa was not the city it is today.  But we had a lot of fun there.

We left in 1976, and did not return until 2006.  We got a tour from a cousin who moved from Tampa years ago and now lives in Pinellas County and his then significant other.  We returned to Tampa again in 2013 and revisited some areas with this same cousin.

Tampa is full of little treasures.

Mosaic Art, Columbia Restaurant, in the Ybor city neighborhood.

Another of the many mosaics near this restaurant.

Let's move on to Bayshore Boulevard, which is said to have the world's longest continuous sidewalk.
It has some interesting architecture, too.

The Tampa skyline, so different from when I lived there, taken from Bayshore Blvd, March 2013.  My spouse and I have walked almost all of Bayshore's sidewalk.  You see wonderful homes and hotels, shorebirds, joggers, Spanish Moss and more, from Bayshore.

More Tampa architecture.

Have you ever returned to visit a place you lived in a long time ago again?  What did you find?

"T" day on the #AtoZChallenge.

Street Art Skillet Stars and Simple Minds #AtoZChallenge #MusicMovesMe

Welcome to the #AtoZChallenge and also a Monday music group I participate in called Music Moves Me. So...yes, you guessed it.  Today it's all about the letter "S"

Before we get into the music, let's give a Shoutout to some Street art I found in 2013 in Saint Augustine, Florida.   And now, it's time to Strut our musical Stuff!

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only on this music train, please!)   First, there is XmasDolly,   Her co-conductors are:   Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, Cathy of Curious as a Cathy and me. Also joining us from time to time is Callie of JAmerican Spice 

Let us begin!

Our guest conductor for the month of May is Kim of the ReInvintaged Life, and she has given us a free day to blog about whatever we want.  So, Songs or Artists beginning with S:

Strawberry Fields Forever- The Beatles

Subdivsions- Rush

Sanctify Yourself - Simple Minds (not my favorite song of theirs, but it fits the theme in both group and title.)

Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel

 Skillet - here, they do a song called "Stars".

Finally - Rainbow singing (live) "Since You've Been Gone".

 What are your favorite songs beginning with "S"?

"S" day on #AtoZChallenge - my theme (deviating today) Finding America through Photos.  But you can find America through music, too!

The Continued March of Spring

This is a week of rebirth in the upstate New York community where I live.

Where mere days ago, trees were bare, they now are popping with color.  Bare ground is now covered with flowers.  Even with strong winds and a lot of rain, it is still wonderful to witness nature waking up and stretching herself out after a long winter's sleep.

The last of my bloodroot blooms next to a fence.

Brunneria, with its beautiful small blue blooms.

So many colors to choose from.  My yellow jonquils.

My pink hyacinth.

My white (with yellow throats) species tulips.

White hyacinths.

Today, the birds are singing and the sun is shining - for now.

Happy Easter to my Christian readers.
Happy Passover (already in progress) to my Jewish readers.

How is the weather for you today?

Remembrance- #AtoZChallenge

Today, there is so much to remember.

Today is the 20th anniversary of Columbine.  No, not the flower.   To Americans it means something else.  As a former teacher at Columbine explains, "it's a brand...a verb, a metaphor".  Our shooting in Binghamton, New York (in an adult classroom) on April 3, 2009 (our 10th anniversary just passed), in fact, is tied with Columbine in number of deaths - a grim statistic.  The pain the people of Littleton, Colorado are feeling today is unimaginable.

The week of April 15-20 is a grim one in United States history.  The assassination of Abraham Lincoln.   The bombing in Oklahoma city (April 19, 1995).  The sinking of the Titanic.

Remembrance. Which leads me to this.

We all like to remember the happy parts of our lives.  Call it nostalgia.

I can remember good times visiting Charleston, South Carolina, and walking on the Ravenel Bridge.

Life has given me many R's to write about.

Such as a beautiful Redbud blooming in West Virginia in April of 2017.

But not today.

We are entering a portion of life, my spouse and I, too often devalued in our Western society.  That should not be. In some societies, the elderly are honored as keepers of wisdom.

Several months ago, I blogged about "human wormholes" and my spouse's last living aunt, who was alive when the Titanic sank and survived a worldwide flu epidemic.  She witnessed all the events above, and many, many more.

Today, I have something sad to report.  My spouse's 107 year old aunt has been placed in hospice care.  She has months, possibly only weeks, left to live.

My spouse and I traveled down to see her last month. She had lived at home until last December, when her younger son, who was caring for her, died unexpectedly.  She was then cared for by a niece who lives in her neighborhood, with extensive help from aides.  But it could not be sustained.

I won't be more specific except to say it was heart rending.  Dementia has taken her to a place of pain and suffering.

The ending of life can be very, very hard and I am not sure we will be able to see her again to say a formal "goodbye". 

Sunset, May 2017

So this post may have to do.  Today, while she is still alive, I remember her.  I remember first meeting her, almost 50 years ago, and admiring her fine crochet and her beadwork.  She made the most beautiful doilies and beaded flowers.

She told me stories of when she was young and the miles she would walk to and from her job.

She told me about how she contributed to the war effort during World War II.  She told me of watching her neighborhood change from one mostly rural to an urban one.

This woman who walked from one city to another can not sit unassisted anymore.  She can not feed herself.

We are left with our memories, even as she loses her.  What can I say but farewell, dear in law.

Have you had to say goodbye to someone you've loved for years?

"R" day on #AtoZChallenge.  My theme:  Finding America through Photos.