Take the Newtown Creek to the BQE

Newtown Creek Trip
Summer, 2007
Video by Elderta

This video was taken on a trip up the Newton Creek. We usually only go about a quarter mile up the Creek, but on this trip, a smaller group took the Creek further up until we reached the Kosciuszko Bridge. We went a little past the bridge and hung out for a bit at a small bird sanctuary.

The Newtown Creek is still very industrial and is not quite as clean as the the East and Hudson Rivers have become over the last few years. However, it's getting better. Or at least I like to tell myself that as I'm kayaking in a small boat and watching the Creek bubble up from the massive 17 million gallon oil spill that still exists under the Creek bed.

I Dream of Summer

A Future Park
Brooklyn Waterfront, Summer 2007
Video by Elderta

Just a short video from last summer of some kayakers from the Long Island City Community Boathouse. We had just spent the day kayaking down the East River to the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way back to the boathouse in Queens, we stopped by a small cove that one day may be a animal and bird habitat and park.

I want summer to come so I can get back out onto the beautiful water that surrounds New York City. April seems so far away.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

As I noted earlier, I usually treat the summertime as a three-month vacation. Yeah, sure, I go to work and do my work, but mostly, my frame of summer reference has been molded by years of schooling. The summer (except for my three H.S. summers where I went to summer school because there was nothing else better to do), has mostly been for traveling and finding fun things to do in the sun. 2007 was no exception. Except that I didn't do much traveling, but I did have fun!

I didn't do anything spectacular this summer. I would define "spectacular" as some great trip abroad, like my friend Julia's three-week trek to Africa. I did not go to Africa this year. Maybe next year. Who knows?

I usually go to beaches in the summer or friends' summer houses, but after falling out with one friend with a summer house, another friend getting divorced and there no longer being a summer house to go to, and other friends going to their own summer houses with their families, I only went to the beach twice this year. It happened to be a friend's family's year-round "summer" house. It's in Rockaway Beach and is where he grew up. So that makes their summer house a year-round beach paradise! I spent July 4th there and a nice August day as well. I usually stay over July 4th, but this year I had to go back to the Bronx homestead in order to get up the next day and do the one thing I did the most this summer... New York river kayaking!

Now, it might be great to head off to Martha's Vineyard (a real treat) or spend three weeks on safari (a great treat!), but to be able to spend May - October (if the weather holds) on the East River, the Hudson River, Hudson Bay and what not, wow, now there's a summer to remember!

Elderta in a Kayak on the East River in Front of Domino Sugar
Summer 2007
Photo by Elderta

I started kayaking in NYC in late 2006, and Summer 2007 has been my first full season of participating in group kayaking. I haven't gone solo yet, and truth to tell, I'm a little afraid of heading out on my own at this point. There is so much to learn and several times over the summer I did things that only an amateur would do (like getting stuck in an eddy and not turning into it to get out of it). Only time and learning from more experienced kayakers can bring safety and confidence to go out on your own. One of these days, I will!

I did get to travel a little as well. A family reunion on my dad's side of the family took me to Charlotte and Shelby, North Carolina. I had a great time with my aunts, uncles and cousins. It was sad that Dad wasn't there, but my Uncle Charles and I had a great conversation, and we all went to visit their mother and sister's gravesite in Boiling Springs, NC.

Hopper Family Gravesite, Boiling Springs, NC

Photo by Elderta

The gravesite is a little sad. The church that it is attached to seems not to have enough money to maintain the site. There are about 50 graves of various families buried there, and it's dry and parched and pretty desolate. My grandmother Vertie died in 1937 and Aunt Jaunita died in the early 40s at the age of five. A few other relatives are also buried there, too. My aunts and uncles hadn't been to the site in like forever, so they didn't know how bad off it was and vowed to help its upkeep. My mother mentioned to me that Dad wanted to visit his mother before he died, but really, it's probably best he didn't see the graveyard in that condition.

On a happier note, my cousins are I are like the Four Amigos, and we had a heck of time together. I hadn't been to North Carolina in ages, and I'm really happy I went.

My other trip this summer took place over Labor Day weekend. I would love to say that it was a great time, and in many ways, it was... in actuality, everything that could go wrong, went wrong! I was amazed at how things went from bad to worse in a short five days. On the other hand, I had a great time with my mother and friends. I had been thinking about moving to this city, but so many things went wrong that I don't think the great city of Chicago is in my future.

Where's the O? by Elderta

Here's a list of what went wrong in Chicago:

• I had to go to Chicago for the Society of American Archivists conference and planned on going to either Milwaukee or Detroit to visit my mother for a week after the conference;
  
• That didn't happen;
• The conference hotel where I stayed (the lovely Fairmont Hotel on N. Columbus) had to charge my debit card twice... I didn't have enough money upon arrival to have one debit, so the next day they did a second debit without taking off the first debit;
• My mother had to leave Milwaukee for Detroit on Friday and took the train to Chicago; she had a four-hour layover at Union Station, so I picked her up and brought to the hotel, thereby missing the ONE conference session I needed to go to;
• I took her back to Union Station and thought I would die from being crushed by Chicagoans rushing to their trains home (and I thought NYC was bad!);
  
• Meanwhile, the hotel took over a $1000 of my cash to hold, leaving me almost broke and not being able to rent the car I had planned to rent for the remainder of my trip;
  
• I was so distraught that the hotel offered to fly me to Detroit; I was so distraught that I told them just to fly me back to New York and home;
• The day I was suppose to leave, I went to a Chase ATM, put my Chase debit card into the ATM... and the ATM promptly ate the card on the Sunday before Labor Day;
• The flight home was great on JetBlue; JetBlue lost my luggage and I didn't get it back until the day after I arrived in New York;
• My kitty kitty got sick and I might have to take her to the vet tomorrow.., if the hotel actually puts my money back into my account, that is....

The World is Round by Elderta
Chicago Millennium Park

Other than that... Chicago was great! I visited Navy Pier and rode the Ferris Wheel, got drunk at a bar and threw up in a garbage can from the heat, went to see Second City ETC with some Internet friends (one of whom is the musical director for the show), saw a high school friend, and got to see my mom for a few hours. So, all in all, despite everything that went wrong, it was a great trip nonetheless. Chicago is a fantastic town and though I don't think karmically I could live there, it's always a great place to visit.

I would even daresay that Chicago is more beautiful than New York.... but don't tell anyone I said that.

And that's what I did on my summer vacation which lasted the entire summer. Please note that I haven't mentioned politics in this entire post. While I didn't ignore the wider world burning around me, I did put it on the back burner for a few months. Now, it's time to settle back into reality... and another "school year."

Kayaking Update, Nan Melville, Photographer

Just an update on the fireworks of July 4th on the East River!

We had professional photograph, Nan Melville, kayak with us at the fireworks. The Long Island City Community Boathouse posted a link to one of the photographs that she took of us while the fireworks were in progress. Amazing! (There's a few more photographs here.)

From the LIC Community Boathouse website, a little more regarding the event:

In addition to the boathouse volunteers, we hosted harbor guests. One was Tim Gamble, a longtime officer at the pioneering Dowtown Boathouse (they really got the free paddling movement going in NYC!) and recent co-founder of the Red Hook Boaters, a great paddling group affiliated through the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. Another notable was Craig Kandell, who is a volunteer illustrator for the boathouse and a marathon swimmer with the Manhattan Island Foundation.

Some revelers stayed on the highground of the eco-arts and recreation center that John and Erik are assembling with Plaxall's help. After all, that's also where the food was. BBQ for carnivores and vegans alike. Other ventured out onto the East River aboard our kayaks!

It was spectacular. The waters were swept over with washes of color than rarely paused. The skyline began to bow to the fireworks as the flashes outshown lighted towers and smoke blanketed and smothered them. Several paddlers remarked that they'd never felt so near to fireworks this grand.

The LIC Community Boathouse is fortunate to have a launch on Anable Basin, which is literally yards north of the Coast Guard's holiday restricted zone. With lights, marine radios, and close coordination, we safely paddled out to see the show in a wide gap between the anchored pleasure craft. We scurried back before the traditional post-fireworks horn blowing was done. We also kept steady communication with the fireboats, police boats, and Coast Guard runabouts that were amply deployed.

I'm very happy to have found the Boathouse through my friend, John. I expect to be volunteering a lot to not only get the opportunity to ride the waters of New York, but to help the NYC community reconnect to our waterfronts. We are looking for sponsors for boats and if you feel like donating money or time or boats, please feel free.

Oh, and don't forget to come on over and kayak with us, too!

July 4th Kayaking on the East River

On a Kayak, East River Near Queens, Looking Toward Roosevelt Island and Manhattan, July 4, 2006

Lately, I've been doing something that I've dreamed about for the last ten years: kayaking on the rivers of New York City. In over 20 years of being in New York on and off, I'm one of many millions of New Yorkers who have looked longingly toward the water, either with desire to be in it, on it, or far away from it!

I was very lucky indeed to be on the water during the July 4th fireworks. Being out there in a small boat, with many gigantic boats, and watching the works together was a 4th I won't long forget. I'm very happy that I was able to do it and very happy that things are such in my life right now that I can enjoy the rivers of New York. It's good to be alive.

I took a few photos, but a moving boat and fireworks don't really go well... but it's kinda funky... I kinda like it...

On a Kayak, East River, Near Roosevelt Island, July 4, 2006

Do You Think She's Trying to Tell Me Something?

I wish the photograph were better, but I was in a rush trying to catch Paikea Renee Esme sticking her tongue out at me. OK, she's really not sticking her tongue out AT me... she does this all the time. It's the cutest thing ever... though sometimes it reminds me of when Zanzibar died. The meds relaxed her so much that her tongue was hanging out and I had to ask the vet to put it back in. Ack. Believe me, it's much cuter from a cat that's alive!

Anyhoo.... I haven't been posting much as things have been a bit busy with projects I'm not finishing. Ack. I also have been doing some neat stuff such as kayaking, and watching my friends prance around as French MerMaids and Salty Seaman at the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. Somewhere along the line I obtained a cold from all the damned rain we've been having, and this weekend I went to Rockaway Beach to celebrate the holidays early.

The Atlantic was lovely! The first day I didn't go in because of my cold, but I stayed overnight and couldn't resist a dip on the second day. It only exacerbated my impending ear infection, and a few hours later I felt as if an elephant were stomping on my eardrum. But I woke up today feeling a bit better.

Well, I wish I had more to say, but the world is still crap, the World Cup is still going on, and there's still a day free from work to be had today.

Have an excellent 4th of July, everyone!