While walking on the Hollywood Beach

whispering your name
like trying to kiss the rain
leaves hints of sweet lips

Whew!

After logging in more than 3600 miles on my trusty Ford Escape, I am now home. My wanderlust may finally be sated for a while. Chicago was fun as I got to spend time with my daughter. Driving (actually, parking) really sucks. I generally had to park 10 or more blocks away from her apartment as there was only permit parking in that neighborhood. She lives in Wrigleyville, which means there are even more restrictions on street parking. It is generally fairly easy to get around the city taking the subway and the buses. There is still some walking involved, though. It's easier if you are younger.

We went to see The Dark Knight. If you are one of the people who hasn't seen it yet, run to the theater. Heath Ledger as The Joker is incredible. He makes Iago look like a choirboy. It will be hard for any actor to play a villain again given his performance. Everyone was excellent in this movie. I would readily watch it again. The City of Chicago starred as Gotham City, which made it even more special for the Chicago audience.

The time for merriment is almost over as school beckons. This was an incredible summer.

Water, Water . . .

I made the trek to Niagara Falls today. It seemed pretty hard to get near the falls on the American side what with the casino and everything, so I decided to take the Canadian route. They charge you to go over but not to get back. Going through customs took a while. It used to be easy. You'd drive up to the booth: "Where you born?" "Buffalo." "Anything to declare?" "No." "Have a good day." Of course, there would usually be a couple of cases of Molson's under the dirty laundry in the back seat. When I was a kid, I'd be sitting on it. I did have my passport. They wanted to know where I lived, why I was going to Canada, did I have any firearms, how long would I be staying? It was just the wait that was long. The Canadian side, though cleaner, is just as commercial now as the US side. Parking was easier to find though it was $20. They had all kinds of tours and exhibits. I just wanted to see the falls. It hasn't lost its power to mesmerize. At least I didn't feel compelled to jump in though I did fantasize about tossing a couple of tourists over the edge.



Right above the falls. The rush is amazing.




The Horseshoe Falls from Niagara Falls, Canada. It's always an awe-inspiring sight. The mist is always there. The small ships that take tourists right up to the falls basin is called "The Maid of the Mist."

I had a delicious frozen yoghurt made with real strawberries and blackberries blended together with a block of frozen vanilla yoghurt. Boy, was that good. Getting back to the US wasn't too hard. Of course, the US cops had to act like bad guys unlike the Canadian police. When I said I was from Hollywood, FL, he got out to check my license plate. I guess he hasn't heard of rental cars. They got a laugh over my plate. Oh well.

I took one more quick trip to the cemetery. On to Chicago tomorrow.

Buffalo Dreamin'

My summer odyssey continues. I am back home. Buffalo, that is. After two straight days of driving, with the second day consumed with endless roads up, down, and around mountains in Pennsylvania (never tell mapquest "avoid toll roads"), I made it here Monday night. My first order of business was to go to Anderson's and get myself a Beef on Weck. Yum. Actually, I had two of them. Today, I spent a fair amount of time visiting the cemetery. I bought some purple flowers for Bert's grave and to put in front of my mother's niche. I sat there for quite a while, listening to Elvis sing gospel songs. Bert loved to hear Elvis sing gospel. The weather was beautiful. It was an emotional time.



I also wanted to visit my grandparents' graves in the Old German and French Cemetery, which is down the road from where Bert and my mother are. I found the spot fairly easily despite the fact that the Drive-In that was next to where they are is gone, and the fence that surrounded it is gone, as well. There's a big stone by the road with an Italian name (go figure) that usually catches my eye. There are two larger stones with the names "Hartwig" on them. The one is for my great grandmother and grandfather. The other is for my Uncle Ed, his brother-in-law, his wife, and his wife. I guess he was married twice. My grandparents have two flat markers behind those. Try as I may, I could not find them. Feeling all over the area, I finally did locate them; they were totally covered by grass. Obviously, no one has been there since I was last time. Pulling the grass up by hand, I did manage to clear some of it. I finally went and bought a grass shears to finish it. It still took me a good half hour to free them both.

Later, I drove around some old neighborhoods and then visited my old elementary school and church, Our Lady Help of Christians. I talked to someone who was working around the shrine for a little while. She said the school had been closed about five years and combined with another school. The shrine looked very nice and was well-cared for. The original chapel is a national landmark. The shrine was built by the Batt Family in the 1800s. They were at sea when a terrible storm broke out. They prayed to Mary and said they would build a shrine to her if they were saved. They were, and they did. They are all buried on the site. I didn't realize that the cemetery there is still active. There is a mausoleum where the rectory used to be, and the rectory is where the nuns used to live.



August 15th (The Feast of the Assumption) used to be a big day there. The church is outside Buffalo, and people, especially Italian Immigrants, would walk from the city line to come to the shrine. Sometimes several thousand might come by in the course of the day. There would be mass and then blessings with various relics. The rectory basement used to be full of crutches, wheelchairs, and other things that people had left behind after being blessed and "cured." Hey, I know what I saw as an alter boy there. The lady I spoke to said she had asked the pastor to try and rekindle that interest, but he seemed to think it was too much work. Too bad.

I did more sightseeing after that, ending up downtown. It's one thing to see limited pictures of what people hail as projects that signal a rebirth in the city. It's another thing to see a few neat buildings surrounded by blight. Even areas like Hertel Avenue and Elmwood Avenue seem rather small compared with the sprawl of abandoned buildings and run-down sections of the city. Maybe it is impossible to bring this city back. I'll look around more tomorrow.



City Hall still stands tall and majestic against a pure blue Buffalo sky.

Buffalo Strives to Rise Again

I still plan on moving back to my hometown when I retire (assuming I make it that far). Though I've been away for 32 years, I've never stopped caring about Buffalo and its people. This video, which I found through a link on the Buffalo Rising website, might give you some idea of the people who live there.



Interestingly, this video came from the Al Jazeera website. As with any issue, there is the view of the politicians, and there is the view of the people. I love the guy who talks about the boom the mayor likes to refer to. The boom didn't seem to spread to him. His optimism and zest for life, as well as his never-say-die spirit, which has always been a major characteristic of people from Buffalo, are amazing. However, without help, no amount of local optimism can overcome the poverty and urban blight. Hillary may have understood that. I wonder if Obama and McCain do?