Staycation

Since July 4th, Bruce has been on a "staycation." We've done these stay-at-home vacations for years because there hasn't always been the money to go away. All of a sudden it has become trendy to vacation at home, because people can't afford to go away with the high fuel costs.

We did some running around at first, trying to grab all the gusto. After the July 4th party at Tony's (see my other blog, Brooklyn Humanist Community) we went to the Paley Institute of Media, which used to be the Museum of TV and Radio. There was a special on the late George Carlin, including his "seven dirty words" routine. He was hilarious, I was sad when I read he died so young. Nowadays seventy-one is young!

We also treated ourselves to some old TV shows like Get Smart, Seinfeld, and the Twilight Zone. In the library, I watched an Outer Limits episode that starred William Shatner, made back in 1964. Two years before "Star Trek," he played in this episode as a space explorer captain whose project was called "Project Vulcan." I wonder if there was any connection between the script writer and Gene Roddenberry who created "Star Trek" two years later.

Sunday we got a late start and wound up going over to the Brooklyn Historical Society. It was not that exciting this time but I did find some of the Vietnam veterans' stories interesting, and there was an exhibit of antique children's books. Some of them were so moralistic, today's kids probably would chuck them right out the window. For all I know, kids in the 19th century may have wanted to as well. There were stories about dreadful fates that befell children who disobeyed, sucked their thumbs, or committed various other heinous sins. You have to hope that impressionable little minds did not have to listen to these as bedtime stories; they are made-to-order nightmares.

But along with the cautionary tales there were some cute alphabet books and easy reading classics, such as "The Swiss Family Robinson" in words of one syllable.

Monday we met Cynthia for lunch and went to the Malibu diner, and afterwards Bruce and I visited the Museum of Sex. I had to see it at least once since it's such an unusual subject for a museum. I found it all very interesting but none of it particularly stimulating. What I came away impressed with was the extensive human imagination that has put so many bells and whistles on something that is a natural function. But we have surrounded it with so many fantasies and artifacts that it becomes something else entirely.

Tuesday we went on a walking tour of Greenwich Village. It was a Big Onion tour, led by a young man who just earned his Ph.D. in history, with a specialty in the history of New York City. So he was able to give us an in-depth talk on the history of Greenwich Village and why the area is so different from the rest of New York City. Community activism, whether by landowners or by civil libertarians and civil rights activists, has shaped the Village, even to the peculiar layout of the streets and the survival of older style buildings that have vanished in most of the rest of the city.

On Wednesday we went into Hoboken, the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, and took ourselves on part of a self-guided walking tour of the town. I got tired about a third of the way into it; there was too much zig zagging back and forth. So we headed over to their historical society before going home. It turned out to be a very tiny museum and only one of the two galleries was open. We saw a history of Hoboken in postcards. I enjoyed reading the little scribbles people wrote on them, little one liners like, "We'll meet you on Wednesday." Before telephones were popular, that's how people sent their "text messages." It's hard to imagine having to wait a few days to hear from someone about a simple meeting.

The docent was very friendly. We were the only visitors to the museum so we had his full attention. We chatted about Frank Sinatra, and about the museums in New York. Bruce invited him to see the Brooklyn Museum, which he'd never visited before.

After that we took a very long walk back to the Path station, and narrowly escaped the pouring rain.

Yesterday, we had to buy a printer because our old one insists on printing on a slant, and we went to the Bowery today and bought new living room lamps. We've had terrible luck with lamps and I hope these will finally turn out to be the ones that will last us for many years. Oddly, before this, the best lamps we had were a pair of used lamps we bought at a yard sale for $15 for the set. Too bad we didn't find a deal like that again.

Tomorrow it's off to the Bronx Zoo if the weather is right, and Sunday we'll probably take it easy. After that Bruce goes back to work on Monday, and our "staycation" will be over.