Taking a Break

I am at the Cleveland Clinic -- one of the world's foremost hospitals -- recovering from surgery.

Doctors cut out a non-cancerous mass from my digestive tract.

 I hear the surgery went well.  But, I will be lying here in recovery for another week or so.

Nothing to photograph from a hospital bed, so N+H goes on hiatus.

Weekend Reflections.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Roll and Roll Hall of Fame

I had some more free time in Cleveland, so I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I misspent many hours of my youth singing along with the music 

Woo Woo Ginsberg played on Boston's WMEX.

One floor has studios where visitors can play guitars, pianos, drums, etc.

Nearby, a band of young museum employees backs visitors who want to sing.

Stevie Nicks.  Be still, my heart.

I am one of the few in my generation who will admit not being at Woodstock.

Elvis still draws crowds.

Beatles, Hendrix, Prince, Chuck Berry.  All the greats.

There is a special place in my heart for One Hit Wonders.

Oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang.

I could have spent a week here.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Cleveland Art Museum

I am in Cleveland with some free time, so I went to the Cleveland Art Museum.  Wonderful!

The main building of the museum has a classical façade.

A special exhibition about Michelangelo began this week.  It features his drawings.  This room shows some of Michelangelo's drawings that were used to prepare for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. shown on the wall beyond the museum visitors.

A room of armor is an unusual feature of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

 There is a fascinating suite of galleries about Medieval art.
This is a French sculpture of the Virgin and Child from 1385 - 1390.

This detail from a 1460 painting of The Trinity by Laurentin Girardin seems
strikingly contemporary in its composition and style.

And this is a detail of a 1909 boxing painting by Ohio native George Bellows,
who painted in Manhattan.

Maira

Maira is a journalist from Venezuela.  She currently lives in Orlando but she is planning to move to Connecticut this fall.  (There is a guy . . . )  But, she is worried about the cold and the snow.

Harbor

Part of Plymouth harbor.

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Heaven

Heaven is a skateboard park in downtown Hartford.  Every surface is covered with graffiti street art.

Even walls higher than anyone can reach without a ladder.

Monday Mural.

Plymouth Country Club

It was a cloudy and windy day.  But, the golf was fun.  Until it started raining on the 13th hole.

A good excuse to call it quits and have a nice lunch.  Of course, once we quit, the sun came out . . .

Colt

West Hartford-based Colt Manufacturing has announced that it will stop selling its semi-automatic assault-style AR-15 rifle into the civilian market.  It will continue making them for the military 

and law enforcement markets.  Why any civilian thinks they need an assault weapon is beyond me.

Hartford has many places named after Samuel Colt.  This is a statue of Colt as a young man 

and as an adult. located in Colt Park in the south end of Hartford.

Chairs

Chairs in an empty dance studio in No. 24 EcoSpace,

a community arts space on Farmington Avenue in Hartford.

Go visit Weekend Reflections.  It is ten years old this week.

Invest

"Invest" and drive a hot orange Jeep Wrangler Rubicon?

Wanna bet this guy trades in bitcoin and loses his shirt?

Scott's Jamaican Bakery

George Scott died a few days ago at 92.  He and his wife were educators in Kingston, Jamaica, but they couldn't rise their kids on Jamaican teachers' salaries, so they emigrated to Hartford.

Forty years ago they started Scott's Jamaican Bakery on Albany Avenue in Hartford, the center of Hartford's African-American and Caribbean communities.  There are now three stores and a wholesale bakery business.  Mr. Scott was a leader in his community.  Rest in peace.

Butterflies

Yes, I am repeating myself.  But, I am so happy that butterflies -- especially monarchs -- are so plentiful this year.  Many different places, many different flowers.  These were in Elizabeth Park.

I have seen monarchs enjoying sedum, verbena, coneflower, phlox and many others.  Even dahlias.

A butterfly similar to the monarch is flitting around in the same places.  Thanks to Google,
I have learned that this is a painted lady (Vanessa cardui).

A Misty Morning in Elizabeth Park

Some early morning fog to nourish the rose garden.

A Waste

I'm back in Connecticut.

It drives me nuts that a major block in downtown Hartford lies fallow ten years after a network television broadcasting station moved to the suburbs and the building was demolished.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Mycenae and Epidaurus

The last day before heading back to the States was in Mycenae and Epidaurus, archeological sites about 30 minutes out of Nafplion, Greece.  

Mycenae is home to a UNESCO World Heritage citadel, the setting of Homer's Iliad.

It is also home in mythology to Agamemnon.  It is a beautiful site with ongoing excavations,

high on a hillside overlooking Nafplion and the Aegean Sea.

The Mycenae site is entered through the lion gate, constructed with huge stones.  

In the center is a triangle with two lions facing each other and a column.

A granary from 1300 BC is in remarkably good shape.

There are many overlooks back over the hillside to Nafplion and the sea.

And up the hillside beyond the archeological site.

A short distance away is the Treasury of Atreus, also know as the Tomb of Agamemnon, constructed in the Bronze Age, around 1350 BC.  Also made from huge stones,
inside is a high stone wall shaped like a huge beehive.

Not far away is the impressive ancient theater of Epidaurus.  It was built in the 4th century BC, 

holds about 14,000 spectators and has excellent acoustics.   Even today the theater 

offers sold-out performances of the famous Greek plays.