The Bird Hotel

 Joyce Maynard is the author of the novel, The Bird Hotel. This is literature and historical fiction and travel writing. The story goes over 40 years. The story starts out when Irene is 4 years old and living/traveling with her Mom and the Mom's boyfriend as they travel across the country to attend a music festival called Woodstock. Irene is a neglected child who really doesn't understand that she is neglected. She ends up living with her Grandmother who tells her never to speak about her mother anymore. Irene grows up to be a talented artist. Tragedy strikes her again and she just up and leaves. She ends up in Central America at a hotel. The owner of the hotel, a kind and giving woman, takes her in and gives her space to heal. Eventually she inherits the hotel and brings it back into full service supervising the many necessary repairs. Irene meets many characters in her life as a hotelier. She leads an interesting and fulfilling life. I could honestly tell that the author has spent time in small villages in Central America. I loved reading this book and hated to see it end.

Hoot

 When I was in Florida my cousin brought a bag full of paperback books. I read several including Hoot by Carl Hiassen. This author is always good for a comedy book set in Florida. This one is about a 7th grader named Roy. Roy has moved to Coconut Grove, Florida from Montana. He isn't happy about moving to Florida. With all the 7th grade drama in school, Roy approaches the problems like a full grown adult in a 7th grade body. There are bullies and there are those who are bullied. Bullies don't work on Roy. Roy glimpses a barefoot boy in town and tries to find out more about him. In the process he discovers that a construction company is trying to hide the fact that there are protected species of burrowing owls on the property they are building on. Overall this is a very funny story.

Ellis Island

Next we took the ferry from the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island. While the girls worked on their Junior Ranger badges I went into the historical documents area to look up my Great Grandfather, Hilary Suchy. I found a thousand Suchys but no Hilary. Maybe he came into another city.

 

Liberty

Yesterday we took the free ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan and then got on the next ferry to the Statue Of Liberty. Inside the museum is the original lamp. The new lamp is all copper and no glass. Copper handles the weather better than glass.

We walked up 200+ steps to get to the neck. Here is the view from the neck.

I think this is New Jersey.

View of Manhattan.

To walk up all the way up to the crown means you have to make your reservation 4 months in advance. We did  not look that far ahead so could only take a photo of the steps inside the head.

Now I am standing from the island closest to Manhattan. She looks great!

 

Today I went on a family trip to NYC. Last night we stayed at the Navy Lodge on Staten Island.. We were up early and drove to the ferry station and took the ferry to Manhattan, passing the Statue Of Liberty along the way. Laughing girls and ring billed gulls flew along with us.

We landed on the south shore of Manhattan. We walked north past the statue of the bull and past Wall Street. Wall Street is called that because in the 1600's the people from the Netherlands had their slaves build a wall to protect the town from intruders. Here is the rebuilt World Trade Center.

There are two memorial pools. This is the southern pool. The names of the people who died in the 9.11 attacks are etched into the stone. The pool on the north side is under repair and has no water in it. After that we walked north exploring places such as the African American Burial Ground, Stonewall National Park, Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, the American Girl Doll Museum and Central Park. At the end of the day we took the subway south and the ferry back to Staten Island.

 

New Trails

Here in Pennsylvania I have been spending time with the grand girls, walking them to school and attending sporting events. I was sent on an errand today to pick up some groceries. I decided to spend some time at a local park exploring. New trails are always exciting. I found a dirt path that went along a creek and found this wonderful spot.

 

Her Hidden Genius

 Marie Benedict writes stories about smart women living in a man's world. I have read The Other Einstein and Lady Clementine and The Personal Librarian. This time I read Her Hidden Genius which is about a British scientist named Rosalind Franklin. She studies physics and chemistry and takes pictures of things with X-rays.  She was the first to hypothesize the double helix structure of DNA. James Watson and Francis Crick got the credit and were the first to go public with the hypothesis. This was an enjoyable book. The author does extensive research.