What a tricky name to spell and province but Skaneateles is as pretty as I remember from our last visit here, some 25 years ago. I forgot it’s only a 50 minute drive from “the cottage” (our friends’ place in Lansing/king Ferry).
We had fried fish but also a shrimp po boy and lobster roll at Doug’s fish fry, a local haunt with a much-appreciated picnic area perfect for our dog (and us) with picnic tables and umbrellas for shade in a enclosed picnic area with a green lawn bordered by pretty flowers.
The village feels much more well-heeled and touristy than Ithaca, with well preserved old buildings all my Main street and upscale gift shops and a pretty old inn overlooking Skaneateles Lake. The lakefront park is charming, as I remembered, with a dock where an old fashioned cruise boat takes visitors out onto the narrow finger lake. There happened to be a vintage boat show, with shiny wood boats as old as the early 1900s.
We did a loop drive, coming up the west side of owasca lake and returning by driving along the east side, both pretty routes through emerald green farm fields, narrow rollercoaster roads up and down the hills, past worn farmhouses, dairy farms, and small old towns.
(Oops. Forgot to post this a few days ago.) Lovely visit to our friends little slice of heaven in Duchess County. We mostly stayed put (why leave Heaven?) but did walk the dogs (our Millie; hosts’ Ollie and Leto) along the Hudson at mills State park, past the columned white concrete mills mansion atop a sloping green lawn with beautiful old trees and majestic river views. (Sampled red raspberries along the way.)
In the afternoon we tried out our friends electric bikes on hilly and curving back roads, past old white farmhouses, landing at Slow fox farms beer tent (technically in Rhinebeck).
Returned just in time for a brief downpour and then biked past omega institute, a retreat, and returned on dirt shady dirt roads to heaven!
Our near-annual trip to Ithaca (thank you Myra and Mike) has produced a few discoveries to share:
The parking is free at state parks here for people age 62 and over. Alas I did not discover this until age 66 (now) and have dutifully shelled out $10 at parks including our favorite, Treman which has a gorgeous trail hugging a gorge.
The money shot at Upper Treman
A ranger also told us that when we use the pay machine (in lieu of a ranger) we can scan our license with our birthdate to get free parking.
Tuesdays at Taughanock is a summer music series on the patio of the charming inn at Taughanock falls, which I first went to for dinner with my parents as a kid. (When it was as the Taughanock farms inn.) It sits high above Cayuga waters (not as high as Cornell to the east). $20 gets you a large burger, chips and a beer or glass of wine, plus the music, in this case a low-key performance by singer Annie Burns, of Burns sisters fame (a popular local group we last saw maybe 20 years ago.)
I was more of a Royal Oak gal growing up in suburban Detroit than a Berkley gal. But today I discovered Berkley anew, while visiting my family here. I generally thought of Berkeley’s business district as being along Coolidge road but turn the corner heading north on 12 mile and there is some interesting entrepreneurial stuff going on, the kind I associated with Royal Oak.
We had a charcuterie board at The Rind, therestaurant in the shop Mongers (as in cheese mongers), which also has excellent fresh soups (tomato, mushroom) and sandwiches (grilled cheese with bacon; a hefty muffuletta). The gourmet food area next to the dining area has lots of well-chosen cheeses (Pleasant ridge!), cured meats, chocolates etc. The cheese monger world is tight knit. The Monger owner told me he’s hung out with other cheese mongers I know including my cousin in Great Barrington, MA (@ Rubiner’scheesemongers) and in Des Moines (TheCheeseshop).
Next door we found a gift store I first visited in Ann Arbor, Catching Fireflies, which turned out to be the original store, in Berkley for some 20 years. Who knew?
Dinner was hearty Italian food at the old school Cafe Cortina in Farmington which has been around since the 1970s, I believe.
A complete thrill to see West Des Moines-native basketball phenom Caitlin Clark in person as she effortlessly (or so it seemed) made one of her signature “logo threes” — this one, 36 feet from the basket. We were in the packed U of Iowa basketball arena, Carver-Hawkeye. (Just watching her jaw-droppingly astute passes almost would have been enough.) This was Caitlin’s first return to play at UI since her senior year, only a year ago. Seeing her in action as a WNBA player was like seeing a famous rock star, but with the unusual added familiarity of the star being an Iowa kid. Caitlin is Iowans’ rock star/next door neighbor.
This outing was even better with my friend Jane beside me. (she also snagged the hard-to-snag tickets.) Jane has covered women’s basketball in Iowa since way before its current popularity. She patiently answered my newbie-fan girl questions. For more see her excellent substack account: https://janeburns.substack.com/p/an-expedition-of-joy-and-basketball
As Jane explained, a logo shot (for three points) is when the player shoots from the logo design inscribed on the center of the court. In this case, Caitlin shot from beyond the 22 logo on the court. (22 is Clark’s retired Iowa jersey # and now her Indiana Fever number.) It’s a long way to the basket from there! The crowd (my three friends and moi included) went wild. The discreet 22 logo on the court (next to a larger Mediacom logo) is the spot where Caitlin, in her U of Iowa heyday in 2024, hit a logo three to break the NCAA’s all-time scoring record (that’s for women and men, my veteran basketball fan husband reminded me). To honor her achievement, the “22 Clark” was inscribed on the court.
This time, Caitlin dribbled down to mid-court, jumped into the air and shot the ball over her head, which soared in an arc above the court and right into the basket, hitting nothing but net, no rim. (I’m getting a lingo assist here from my husband). She made it look effortless. Graceful. She leapt like a dancer.
The Indiana Fever was in town to play a pre-season exhibition game against the Brazilian national team. The Brazilians got clobbered (100-something to 40-something…I soon ignored the score) and seemed as much in awe of Caitlin Clark as the older women and little girls in attendance. The Brazil players waited in a cluster with the little girls to have their photo taken with Caitlin. The stadium was packed with proud Iowans in #22 shirts. (I wore my #22 sweatshirt until it got too hot.)
Courtside
This exhibition game was unusual but for future visitors going to Carver-Hawkeye to see the Iowa women (or men) play, a few tips: We had excellent reserved parking for $20 in the lot across the street from the arena and there’s a grassy area with shade from trees for picnicking, but no tables or ledges. (Bring a fold up table and/or chairs.) A few others were tailgating. The arena has no AC and has a reputation for being hot. I didn’t find this an issue but it was a cool day in May. Also remember to bring a see-through bag. My not-see-through bag is small but wasn’t small enough. (It was oversized by 1/2 inch width and height.)
We continued our sentimental tour of Des Moines, stopping at favorite spots and remembered how much we enjoyed life here. first to Graziano’s Italian Import store where I had to restrain myself from buying too much at the deli counter. but I did get cacciatore, smoked provolone, salami, spicy green olives, for a gathering here.
Nadia’s
We stopped at Moglea, which few people in Des Moines seem to know about but has its colorful paper products prominently displayed in fancy stationary stores and art museum gift shops in places like Chicago and New York. It’s Des Moines production print shop has a little retail space and better yet, some good sale merch so I stocked up on gifts.
Moglea
Onto a little French bakery called Nadia’s near the governor’s mansion at Terrace Hill. The pastries looked good but we went to Zanzibar, an old favorite for coffee and met our friend Veronica at La Mie, another favorite bakery and lunch spot.
Busy day in my old stomping ground. I had an excellent lunch downtown at Allora, a sophisticated but casual lunch place in the very cool Krause Center, a 2018 Renzo Piano marvel, formerly home of the Kum & Go, that is now practically empty after the sale of that awkwardly name gas/convenience store company. The food was terrific.
I had a salad with long strip so of crispy prosciutto cooked like bacon, slices of Parmesan, apples, pecans, walnuts on greens. My friend Judy had a delicous creamy polenta with grilled mushrooms, carrots, garlic and onion. Excellent flavor. And there’s the Des Moines sculpture park to look at across the street.
Art center installation (with video screens inside)
I was sad to see that Bauder’s Ice cream on the now nicely named Ingersoll Ave is no more but Judy gave me the tip of the day: nearby Tandem Brick (frame shop/gifts) has a cooler full of bauder’s famouse peppermint ice cream sandwiches, so you don’t have to wait until the iowa state fair to get them! (The also sell the killer peppermint ice cream pie with chocolate cookie crust and a layer of chocolate fudge.😳
Next stop the fantastic Des Moines Art Center which has an interesting one-room exhibit of Haitian art borrowed from the famous collection in Waterloo. I dropped by Worn, one of my favorite resale shops and scored big time with two pairs of my favorite jeans, Democracy; also stopped at Gateway Market, picked up worlds best bread from South Union bakery. For old times sake, I ripped off a piece of chewy choibattta in the car to eat as a midday snack.
This afternoon, my friends Kathy and I went to an anti-Trump rally at the state Capitol. So good to see so many people there, resisting!
We made such good time on our drive from Chicago to Detroit – and the weather was suddenly sunny and a balmy 57 degrees- that we had time to stop en route for lunch at zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. I wisely called ahead to order our sandwich (lean corned beef, coleslaw, emmenthaler cheese, Russian dressing on hardy bread) so it was waiting when we arrived. Otherwise the wait time was one hour for a sandwich. I also got some outstanding chopped liver (from Amish chickens, supposedly.)
We had fun looking at all the cheeses, including Lively Run, a Finger Lakes fav (NY) and cured meats and Michigan products including American spoon (red haven peach preserves) and CherryRepublic.
We explored a farmers market across the street and Catching Fireflies, a fun shop with Michigan gifts. We were apparently in the Kerrytown Shopping area, with historic 19th- century buildings from lumber and agriculture purveyors in this town best known for the University of Michigan.
Whistlestop
On a dreary rainy Sunday we went to the Emagine (yes, E not I) theater to see the new Bob Dylan bio pic, which was excellent. This was our second movie theater outing since 2020 (pre-pandemic). We sat in snazzy fake leather recliners, reserved in advance, row D not too close to the giant screen. The sound was loud but fortunately the movie was full of music not noisy battles from some blockbuster action movie.
We had a pleasant late lunch/brunch (good eggs, sausage, blt) at The Whistlestop cafe in Birmingham and dinner (upscale Mediterranean/middle eastern) earlier at Phoenicia in Birmingham.
I don’t know how I’ve missed going to Old John’s Diner, since it’s been in my relatives’ upper west side neighborhood since 1951. I don’t even remember having walked on the block of 67th street that it’s on (between Amsterdam and Broadway).
But tonight, we got there, with our niece Erika, nephew Jonathan and his girlfriend Calista and it was really fun. I was worried it might be dead on a Sunday night, and more of a breakfast or lunch place but it was busy enough.
And the food was very good diner food, not fancy restaurant. We also had excellent service and a nice big table where we were welcome to linger. My aunt, who has hearing issues, would like it because she would be able to hear the conversation. We enjoyed hearty chicken soup, matzoh ball soup, a tuna melt (alas the tuna had relish in it, which I dislike but Jonathan was fine with), crispy chicken sandwich, Greek salad, fries – all good and some inventive (the Greek salad had romaine lettuce and fried chickpeas) and excellent fries. The desserts were great too especially the lemon meringue pie and ny cheese cake. The carrot cake was tasty but a little dry, according to our table’s expert, dirck. We’ll be back!
In the 70s, near Central Park West, my brother also recommends Yasaka for sushi, on 72nd, and Solid State coffee on 71st between Columbus and Amsterdam.
We took the Jitney (private bus) back from the Hamptons (Water Mill) family thanksgiving on Sunday at 1:35 pm. The bus was comfortable and well-run but packed, and a long haul. It made several stops including near LaGuardia airport, and with holiday traffic took over 3 hours (an hour more than usual/advertised). Next time, we’ll leave Saturday night or Sunday morning to try to beat the traffic.
The weather finally turned on us, getting rainy and cold (30s) but that didn’t stop us from one final day in central London, seeing two old friends (Una and Patti) and visiting old stomping grounds (CoventGarden and surrounds).
The National Portrait Gallery is a favorite and recently remodeled, we’re told. And free! I went to the contemporary portraits (Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Dua Lipa, the most recent queen Elizabeth…) while dirck headed to the old folks (Shakespeare and Cromwell, Queen Elizabeth #1, Queen Victoria). Then we briefly visited the excellent gift shop. In Covent Garden we happened past a cafe run by Petersham Nursery, which we’ve visited in Richmond so we shared a very salty prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich. Covent Garden has more American chains (shakeshack) and luxury brands but still some interesting stuff including the seven dials market and old favorites (Neal’s Yard cheese, Monmouth coffee.) and I still love the tight little lanes lined with shops, even if they’re too expensive.
In the once decrepit now hip spitalfields neighborhood in the city financial district, I spent most of my time at the Bishopsgate Institute, a quirky old place that is home to the Great Diary Project, although you’d never know it. The signage for the archive highlights the UK’s largest LGBTQIA+ (IA+ ??) collection.
I read some old diaries in a cramped reading room with a handful of other researchers. Una later joined me and found an amazing WW2 diary a woman wrote complete with hand drawn maps of Europe. I was obsessed with the 1980s “Dairy Diaries” which were offered as promotions by the now defunct Milk Marketing board. The entries were dull (rundowns of the often “dull” weather, comings and goings) but the pre-printed material especially the recipes for various cheesy dishes (Kipper soufflé, chicken chaudfroid) were fun to read and a telling look at the diet of that day (or aspirational diet). Dirck wandered around the shops and met as at the pleasant old worldy Market Coffee House for drinks.
With UnaBishopsgate
Next stop, dinner with Patti in Primrose Hill at Lemonia, a long-standing Greek restaurant, surrounded by a few blocks of attractive shops. (I bought a furry head band at a shelter housing second-hand charity shop and a baguette at a bagel store.)
Covent garden
Now we’re waiting on a British Airways plane to take off – we’re delayed as we wait for luggage to be loaded but the flight is not packed. Dirck and I have row of four seats to ourselves, although we can’t get the antiquated entertainment system to work.
TakeBetsywithyou 