Thursday, May 5, 2011

And On I Go ...

I'm leaving in a few moments to spend the day in Brooklyn with the aunt and the cousin and the dog. These day trips are getting harder to do - my ankle is almost always swollen, I re-injured the back picking up Hope and I walk with such a tilt that I must look drunk.

And don't get me started on the emotional side of these trips. I prefer to just keep doing all I can to put the FUN in dysFUNction.

Anyhoo - I thought I'd share a few shots from a trip in late March.

Ya gotta take dah bridge and den dah pawkway


Once off the parkway you go around the golf course - where my son got hit in the head with a stray golf ball twice, they sometimes come flying through the trees and over the fence


Around the curve and toward Fort Hamilton. When I was a kid we used to walk around the grounds. As an adult I dated someone stationed there and got to go to the officers club and I had a parking permit and everything. Now it's gated and concrete barriers are everywhere. There isn't even a spot to pull over anymore, traffic must keep moving past. At the light I managed to grab a quick shot of the VA Hospital entrance and then I waited for the helicopters to shoot at me. As a teen I used to volunteer at the VA - so many kids I knew were in Viet Nam.


Once you're on "dah avenewe" pray not to be behind a bus. It doubles the trip time and you get to be surrounded by billows of black smoke. But hey! Don't light a cigarette, that might make someone sick. The bus travels along Cropsey Avenue. As kids we all called it Crapsey Avenue.


Many of the homes along Crapsey Avenue have these decorative additions. Fences with little columns and lattice work everywhere. And of course the Italian flag. You are now in Bensonhurst.


Unlike Bay Ridge the brownstones in Bensonhurst have not been taken care of. My middle school friend Cathy used to live here. We were best friends until she stole David away from me. Then we were mortal enemies. Cathy had a terrible motorcycle accident in high school but I'm glad to say she fully recovered after years of surgeries and rehab. She has three kids now and lives in New England. On the day I took this photo there was a boy starting up a car that looked so much like I remember David that I thought I had time travelled. David was killed in Viet Nam but for a moment it was as if he was saying hello. The boy in the car caught me staring and smiled. I told him his muscle car was "really beautiful" and then the Mom in me had to tell him to drive carefully.


I took this last shot through my windshield yet I still don't know how that reflection of a white car got into the right upper corner. Funny - David had a white car.

So I'm off now. Hopefully my next Brooklyn blast from the past post will have better photos. For some reason I'm always late when I get to Brooklyn and photo inspiration seems to leave me.

Peace

22 comments:

ellen abbott said...

well, make the most of your dysFUNctional visit, whatever that means.

Daryl said...

you are such a mensch ... when are you coming to visit us?

Ron said...

"Ya gotta take dah bridge and den dah pawkway"

I just ADORE hearing your NY accent, Dianne!

Great photos! The fifth one down reminds me of the homes in South Philly.

"But hey! Don't light a cigarette, that might make someone sick."

Bwhahaahahahaha! Oh I love you, dear lady!

Have a great trip. And drive carefully.

X

JC said...

I felt like I was in the car with you. When I go back to where I grew up (which I haven't done in a long long long time), I do the same thing. Remember this or that from my youth.

jabblog said...

Great post - and I have to (try and) read it in the accent, too;-)
So many young lives wasted in war - so sad.

Jay said...

Have a good Brooklyn trip. If I lived up there I'd take it with ya babe. ;-)

Kay Dennison said...

Great photos!!! Have fun!!!!

Sylvia K said...

Great post and I felt like I was right there with you! Of course, we recognized the "dysFUNctional" in each other a long time ago! Too bad we don't live closer to each other! Enjoy your day and give Hope a big hug for me!

Sylvia

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

Have fun and stop by Daryls. She'll inspire you!
<><

Akelamalu said...

Loved your photo Dianne and hearing about that trip. It made me sad to hear that David died. :(

Have fun on your latest venture. :)

Reb said...

Beautiful photos, I really like the last one, that building is really cool - it looks like there was a fire, so hopefully that means they will fix it up again soon. It's sad to have friends die when we are young. Make as much as you can of this trip and take care of your back.

HermanTurnip said...

Here's hoping for a FUN trip! Take it easy, and keep off that ankle.

Oh, and amazing pics! It's always neat seeing the sites of fellow bloggers.

DJan said...

Nothing to add that wasn't already commented on, but hey, that white car reflection must be a message...

Stay off that ankle so it can heal, okay? And take care of yourself while you are on vacation. Please?

CrystalChick said...

Hope the trip isn't too hard on you and you enjoy the visit.
I liked the photos! Neat little freeze frames of your world. :)
Happy travels.

Jeni said...

There's an award waiting for you to pick it up at my place! I'm betting you will definitely do it justice too!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I sure hope you were able to put some "FUN" in that terrible other word that ends in functional....(lol) I love what you said about the Buses...I will never understand why they don't address the crap that comes out of Busses---it cannot be good for the environment and I know my particular lungs really really find that stuff toxic!!
I enjoyed seeing all your pictures of your trip there and your rememberences, too....David was obviously a very important person in yoyr life---I am sorry he lost his life in that useless horrific war....!
Hugs To You & That Little Bundle Of Joy.....'MS HOPE'!

Linda said...

Hmmm, perhaps David was along for the ride on this one and that's why that white car appeared in the photo as well as his "look alike" and his muscle car.

Sorry to hear about your ankle and your back and all of the other things that are making life more difficult these days. It just doesn't seem fair that at the times when we're supposed to be enjoying life, our bodies are crapping out on us and making even small pleasures like road trips to Brooklyn difficult. Well, maybe a road trip to Brooklyn isn't all that pleasurable but you know what I mean!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful shots!

So sorry to hear about your swollen ankle.. my knee is a bit like that and it really is no fun!

Scott Oglesby said...

I loved this post Dianne! I love New York and its 5 boroughs. Do you ever get around to Harlem? If I can visit NY this year, I’m coming to see you fo sho!

I hope you’re on some strong opiates for the ankle… and you have some left when I visit.

Tracy said...

I certainly hope you had a FUN dysFUNctional trip! and goodness, about that ankle and your back? Are they better?
Please take good care of yourself!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Hi Diane

We have a lot in common my dear, as I have a chronically swollen ankle, volunteered in the rooklyn VA when I was 14 (I was put in the mail room of all places) and I STILL live in Brooklyn--you described it well with this photo essay! :)

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I loved traveling along with you. The Big City neighborhood is exotic to me. But although I grew up in a tiny nowheresville country town in Eastern Washington I had many of the same sorts of "emotional traumas ;>) (that we survived). Maybe all kids everywhere do.

About the golf course. When Bill went back to college, married student housing was on the campus golf course. All of our kids got whacked or almost whacked at one time or other, not to mention windows etc. I never did understand these big fancy housing developments that advertise "on the golf course" . To me it was hell.