is a sometime somnambulist

i discovered that within the park and beach are the remnants of an old fort, Fort Miles. submarine spotting was an important part of the US defense of the Atlantic coast during WWII. Cape Henlopen has quite a few submarine spotting towers and embankments. It guards the mouth of the Delaware River, I live very close to the source of the Delaware.

back then, i took a series of dark and foreboding large format images that ended up as platinum prints. i’m going back down there in a few days. with a little bit of luck i’ll find something good again.

to look out this window.

i have a very good reason to want to go to this place.

Waldfischbach-Burgalben – this the village that my mother was born and the name i adopted for my place here in the catskills. waldfischbach translates as, forest-fish-stream, and that is very appropriate to my current location and interests.

but forget about parking, fishermen only!

couple of hour stop along the bus route from Torino to Chamonix. had lunch and walked the old town for those few hours. really curious & wonderful combination of impressively layered historical architecture, tourist shops and luxury goods emporiums. wonderful water canals run down from the mountain through the town. Aosta seems like one of those places that you could enjoy as a base to see the surrounding region.

fyi – the bus ride to the tunnel that leads to Chamonix is remarkable and you could make it RT if you didn’t want to go through to France. or make taking the tram up Mt Blanc part of the trip.

one of the most interesting, comprehensive and well curated survey collections of modern/contemporary art in the world – really. leave the fort, old town and nougat behind for a few hours and treat yourself to this very fine institution. the pieces are not those that are reproduced often and that may be a good thing. be surprised by unique pieces by the usual suspects as well as those by artists that you don’t hear or see often if at all. a real eye opener of a collection that can hold it’s own anywhere.

20 years ago existed at the edge of reason where you were likely to be surrounded by fisherman, widowers & those who do not wish to be found. won a drinking contest with commercial fishermen just back from some months at sea, found an archive of 75-100 y/o glass slides of the the harbour including docked Irish boats filled with whiskey waiting to slip into the states, spoke in code for 2 nights with some bar owner, fell pretty hard for one of his bartenders who was very sweet. left after 4 days not knowing why i was leaving. Savage beauty at day, very french noirish at night, think Touch of Evil meets Bob Le Flambeur.

what is the name of that most magnificent terrine of potatoes, lobster, cream, cheese, potatoes, lobster, cream, cheese, potatoes, lobster, cream, cheese, etc.? just layers and layers of local goodness. i spent a week driving, hiking, snorkling and eating. some of the nicest savage scenery in the world coddled by very decent people—sorta like western scotland but with miles long sand bars and french food. makes PEI seem even more plain than it is.

was staying outside of Lyon year before last and it was raining hard and cold for days. decided to take the train to Turin and was astounded by the charm and sensibility of this northern italian industrial city. i can’t say enough about the city plan, architecture, commerce and culinary gifts even for a short stay. you could tell the city was planned around northern weather because of the stylish arcades and arched walkways. remained for 3 days and then took a series of buses up to the alps and through the tunnel to Chamonix and back to Lyon a few days later.