For Tanya: Foster's Coach House Tavern

For Tanya: Foster's Coach House Tavern,
[photo by gail on the web].

When we were at Rhinebeck last weekend, we stopped in for dinner at this tavern along the main drag of the village.

The town itself is very old -- settled in 1686 -- and the tavern is a converted coach house complete with riding gear adorning the walls and equestrian stalls for... stalls! (Of the sanitation kind.)

Anyway, standing outside I saw the neon sign and my first thought was to take a pic for Tanya.

Home From the Hospital

I picked David up from the hospital a little earlier. After three days of medical attention, he's happy to be sprung:

Dave's Logbook: Free Once Again

I didn't write much about the hospital exile because it was an endless cycle of:

• nausea --- > medicate
• pain -- > medicate
• sleep deprivation -- > "I can't get any peace! Get me out of here!"
• terrible hospital food -- > more terrible hospital food -- > nausea
• REPEAT
  

I don't understand how Mercy Hospital's food services could be so inferior to CMC's, which is less than a mile away. David's just shuffled to bed, muttering: "I'm going to write a whole post on the state of the meatloaf..." (Seriously, it's enough to induce nausea by itself. I would've taken a photo, but I was given the unenviable task of its immediate deportation from the room.)

The Wedding Update

Radisson - Lackawanna Station

In case anyone is wondering, the wedding is still on for October 1, but scaled down and modified to make things easier for us.

I moved the venue from the Tripp House to the Radisson - Lackawanna Station.
- it's a beautiful and historic building
- it's near the house
- if David feels tired, he can rest upstairs (Tripp House doesn't have sleeping rooms)
- I don't have to deal with food & beverage vendors
- the restaurant (Carmen's) has a good reputation
- I don't have to decorate

We're only having a fraction of people we'd originally planned for -- David's immunity is too low. Some family members and friends in the wedding party, plus some friends from Europe who'd already made plans to come. Maybe 15 of us in total.

There will only be a short ceremony, followed immediately by a dinner. No reception, no formalwear, no wedding cake, no photographer. That will all be saved for next year, whenever David's feeling well again.

We're postponing our planned honeymoon to Europe until after next year's receptions. For now, I'm looking for something along the lines of a scenic rail trip on the East Coast. Historic. The autumn foliage would look fantastic from an old train, but I haven't found anything suitable yet. Suggestions/recommendations most welcome!

David is Back at Mercy Hospital

His temperature shot up this morning after we got home from the first radiation treatment, so I took him to the ER at Mercy Hospital. David finally got a room in the evening, and was shuttled up there at 9pm. They've got his temperature down from 102F and will be monitoring him for the next couple of days.

He's in Room 921, across the hall from last time, if anyone wishes to phone. David's immunity is extremely low, so a phone call would be preferable to a visit.

It's discouraging to be back at the ER again, especially after David's best weekend in a long, long time. But I know he's in good hands there at the hospital.

(We've learned our lesson, though -- DON'T SEND ANYTHING TO MERCY HOSPITAL EXCEPT PEOPLE.)

AviatorDave & Bill King

Got home late from our Sunday with Mom, so I'm just going to point to David's post last night from our day at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.

Dave's Logbook: The Best Medicine

Anybody who's ever met David knows he's the biggest aviation geek born after 1940. I say this only with the utmost fondness -- not just because I am terribly fond of David, but because he's the genuine romantic between us. If I could take us back in time to the period most true to his heart, it would be sometime between WWI and WWII.

"That's a good guess," he says. (I just asked him.)

David would probably have been a barnstormer, taking people for rides, charging only the adults but taking the kids for free. He might've wooed me into his plane with a perfectly polite invitation, written with a fountain pen, sealed with his initials and a tiny airplane logo in wax that he'd crafted himself. He'd be wearing those British aviator's goggles in the photo above, the leather helmet, and the silk scarf that he stores in an antique-style wooden box. I'd imagine he might even take my hand as I disembark his plane, as he does now*, and his one flirtation would be to plant a kiss on it before I took it back.

If I could have one wish, it would be to take this photo again in another 40 years, except he'd be the old aviator on the right... still flying and smiling in his gear at 76.


* except in our Tri-Pacer, because with one door in the front I have to get out before he does!

AviatorDave at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

AviatorDave at Rhinebeck Aerodrome,
[photo by gail on the web].

We just arrived home from a full day at Rhinebeck Aerodrome:

218 photos (incl. some videos) off the Canon A80
101 photos (2 videos) off the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1
4 rolls x 24 frames from the Pentax K-1000

I got to ride in a biplane! Woo-hoo!!

I just had a quick peek at the images as they were downloaded and I'm really excited at how they turned out. Can't wait to get the film developed!

But for now, it's nearly midnight and I drove us there and back (2 hrs each way) and I'm BEAT. We're going to relax tomorrow, so I'll upload the other images then.

Good night!

The Master Tinkerer

fixing the brakes,
[photo by gail on the web].

The Master Tinkerer,
[photo by gail on the web].

checking out a 1946 Ercoupe,
[photo by gail on the web].

Blogger's buggy for me at the moment, so I'll just post a link to David's journal entry for now:

Dave's Logbook: Back in the Saddle

We were too tired this morning to go to Rhinebeck Aerodrome (2 hours north, in upstate NY), so we'll try again in the morning. It's David's favourite place, and I'm looking forward to flying in a 1929 biplane!

Hangin' Out at Cherry Ridge

I took both cameras to Cherry Ridge Airport today and spent some time fiddling with the 80-200mm lens on the Pentax K-1000. The airport has some great scenes of machinery oxidation and old abandoned cars on the property but we were running out of light. I can't wait to return earlier in the day with the SLR to capture more, it's a goldmine of photographic subjects.

Central Park

Central Park,
[photo by gail on the web].

A pic I took last weekend in New York.

Some VERY BIZARRE things happened today -- not to me, but are events related to me. I know this sounds extremely vague and cryptic, but to fully appreciate the explanation I'll need an afternoon to tell you. An afternoon in person, because there's no short version to the story, and it will allow me to gesture wildly when necessary.

My brain has been on overdrive at times lately, and last weekend's photographic jaunt around Central Park's Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir provided a welcome respite. All I needed to do was stick to the path, find the right settings for my camera, hold very still while shooting, and sidestep the overgrown New York rats and underfed raccoons.

Love from Joseph, 7

Rachel and Joe,
[photo by gail on the web].

from Joseph, 7,
[photo by gail on the web].

My godson, Joseph, celebrated his 7th birthday not long ago.

Happy belated birthday Joe!

He sent David this lovely drawing through the post from England of his recent adventures on holiday in Greece.

The photo was taken last year at the rehearsal for his mum's wedding. The cutie with dimples is Rachel from Ireland, whose uncle was the groom. Joseph was the ring bearer, and Rachel was the flower girl. Aren't they sweet!