GRIEF and GIFTS

Little Brother
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If a poet, I'd skillfully rhyme

all our being-together time.
Seventy years, birth to demise.
Sorrow blocks me, clouds my eyes.

 

Mostly home processing this loss.
Going through photographs of my Brother, William James (Jamie) with plans to have some of them rephotographed to send along to Rosa and Dennis Slater

Gift
Dee Mallon sent a handmade pine pillow I love and her pennant for  Mo Crows "Love is the Answer"
Wonderful details

 
 
 
 


Concert
 
 My old friend (Archangel) Michael treated me to the West Village Chorale Holiday concert at Judson church

  Plus supper after at our favorite West Village Delicatessen. We walked through Washington Square headed for the bus home.

Nothing is Lost

https://youtu.be/O-6No_N_zZc

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CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY

 
'For over a hundred years, a spiritual home and community center welcoming all--located in the Yorkville neighborhood on East 88th Street between First and Second Avenues on New York's Upper East Side and near the 86th Street stop of the new Q Subway Line. An Episcopal Church in the Anglican Tradition.'

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'A diverse community--black, white, Asian, Latino and mixed, straight, gay and undecided, younger as well as older, professional, retired, students, professors, opera buffs, football fans, writers, artists, 'math-letes', couch potatoes, fans of Shakespeare and Saturday Night Live, from-the-cradle Episcopalians, converts and spiritual searchers.'

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In the lovely garden with welcoming benches
St. Francis keeps watch over 'Norman'...

...a beloved rabbit remembered.

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A man was napping on the bench lower left...

...guarded by this Gargoyle

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Fragrant old roses scented the air and
made a fine frame for my friend Michael.

~*~

Memorial Day

 Though the church was closed, I plan to visit again one day. As you will see at the link below the interior is gorgeous. There's and active arts community as well: Triangle Theater is celebrating its 47th year of offering staged readings and full productions of classic and contemporary plays and music performances. It's a respected member of the New York City theatrical community, providing opportunities for actors to practice their craft, for writers to try out their plays and one of the very few theaters on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.' The Parish also hosts Tuesday senior lunch, Saturday suppers and a shelter.

LINK
https://www.holytrinity-nyc.org/ 

AIDS MEMORIAL

ST. JOHN the DIVINE

Amsterdam Avenue at 109th Street
NYC

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May 13th 2018
12:30-2PM

 
Dedication
AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT

 
My friend, Michael

A most moving presentation

Got home at 6PM because we ate of the generous foods, drank a toast, talked with others who lost friends and loved ones to aids, saw the quilts but no good photographs sorry to say.
We also visited the chapels that encircle the main altar. 
~*~

Keith Haring Chapel

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My flash didn't catch the true colors,
Better photo Here:
http://art-nerd.com/newyork/harings-altar-piece/
~*~

From here on, I have no notes. I simply shot a few views that interested me. There is so much beauty, so many art works and architectural detail you could be there for days and not be able to absorb all of it.

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We walked in the Gardens
fresh from rain

The residents Garden

Only one peacock on view, soaked because he chose to stay out.
There are two, the second one is white.

Last shot.

Links
Historical Overview
pre-1980 through 2017
https://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview
~*~
Personal Note
I was in Fire Island in the seventies before the epidemic was fully understood. I lost many friends from the dance community over the ensuing years and I was a volunteer at the gorgeous garden on top of Gay Mens Health old building where too many memorials overwhelmed everyone.

THE BEST LAID PLANS...

Short-short Story about a Tedious Trip

(peppered with a few photos I shot along the way)

Yesterday in Manhattan
Heading out to The Cathedral of John the Divine to meet my friend 'Archangel' Michael Beiser there at 4PM, visit friends Nemo and Julio at their market booth in the nave, then over to the Hungarian pastry shop across the street for a treat, l left my apartment on East 21st Street at 2PM, posted my monthly bill payments at the Post Office on E. 23rd Street...
(portion of an Aids flag in Housing Works thrift shop window)

 ...and was at the bus stop on Third and twenty third by 2:30 where I waited and waited and WAITED, finally boarding the Limited bus uptown heading for 110th Street around 3PM. The journey was long and slowed by unbelievable traffic. When I asked the driver about the scheduling of the cross town bus, I was informed "There's no stop at 110, only 105 or 116", so I got off, waited for the 106 cross town...

...boarded, but when it reached 5th Avenue it turned left heading back downtown!!!
What?
I was then informed the bus crosses to the West side at 93rd Street (Eeeeeeeeeek). I Asked the time (no watch or phone) 4:30--Realized I'd never make it to the Cathedral before 5 or 5:30 and the event ends at 6. Resigned, I gave up, got off and caught another downtown bus on Fifth Avenue.
(view out the front window as we passed the main Library branch at 43rd Street)

I  would have begged use of a cell phone from a fellow rider to call Michael...we had been chatty and friendly...
(the beautiful Ms. Jinji Nicole)

 ... but I never took any numbers with me because I hadn't anticipated this much trouble and traffic. Adding salt to the wounds, at 53rd we were told the bus was rerouting and we all had to get off. Another bus on fifth let us on and we continued, painfully crawling past the shopping district at a block every 5 minutes until, at 31st Street the new driver announced HE had just been ordered to reroute as well!
(Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaurgh!!!!)

Got off and waited for the bus cross town on 31st Street till I realized there was never a cross town there....walked on by now swollen knees very slowly the rest of the way...
(This sad, beautiful previously living creature in the window of 'Good Old Things' on Madison Avenue caught my eye)

... stopping at a local store for one item and arriving home not much before 8PM. Had a comforting conversation with dear Michael who had been worried. Turns out he had a lovely time with Julio and Nemo and got a beautiful scarf too.
~*~


https://youtu.be/CPXF5H0XcLk

"Dindi" 
Portuguese pronunciation: [dʒĩˈdʒi] - which sounds like Jin-jee in English, is a song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim, with lyrics by Aloysio de Oliveira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dindi