Utica 7/26/2024 - 7/29/2024

Friday 7/26/2024 - Arrival

I took the day off today and we drove out to Utica. We left the house at 11 a.m. We listened to the audiobook of Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" on the ride, arriving shortly after 4 p.m. It was great to see Tyson again. We were welcomed by Roxy the boxer and Spooky the cat.

I don't think we've had Indian since we visited Tyson two years ago. We told Tyson we'd love to go the Taj Mahal restaurant again. He reminded us of how hot it had been inside the last time we went, and suggested Minar for dinner instead. The funny thing is that it turned out to be just as hot (if not hotter) in there. We were sat in a basically empty room where they had not yet turned on the air conditioning, and it took a while for it to kick in. I had chili paneer, paneer naan, and a sweet lassi. Craig and Tyson had lamb vindaloo and garlic naan. Craig had Kingfisher beer to drink. The food was really good.

We went back to the house and listened to records and chatted. David returned from work and it was nice to see him as well.

Saturday 7/27/2024 - Bob Dylan Exhibit at the Fenimore

We woke up this morning and had coffee and homemade sour cherry and blueberry muffins. Then we hit the road to go to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. We had been there three times before, for a Herb Ritts exhibit, a Keith Haring exhibit, and an M.C. Escher exhibit. It is a great little museum.

When Tyson had told us what this summer's exhibit would be, we knew we had to go: "Bob Dylan Remastered: Drawings from the Road." These are pencil and charcoal sketches done by Dylan as he toured the world between 1989 and 1992. Then in 2007, he "remastered" them by adding watercolor or gouache color. It was a great exhibit. Such a multi-talented artist!

The exhibit didn't disappoint. Dylan had drawn all kinds of subjects, including potraits, nudes, architecture, etc., in his signature style. Though his drawings are sketches and are not photo-realistic, they do have some qualities of photographs, in that he doesn't shy away from drawing details that other artists might leave out for aesthetic reasons (litter on the streets, industrial scenes, unusual vantagepoints, etc.) There were 92 works in this exhibit, and we really enjoyed viewing them.

There was also a Banksy on temporary exhibit at the Fenimore right now: "Haight Street Rat", which had been painted in San Francisco in 2010 on the wall of the Red Victorian Hotel. The work was a criticism of Haight Street clothing stores that allegedly sold items depicting local artists' work without compensating them. It was very cool to see a Banksy artwork up close.

We saw some Marc Hom photographs hung on the wall inside, and then walked outside to view the rest of his "Re-Framed" exhibit. His larger than life black and white photographs of celebrities were mounted back-to-back such that the wind could rotate them. They looked stunning on the grounds of the museum on the banks of Lake Otsego. Tyson posed with Iggy Pop.

After checking out the exhibits, Tyson got a sandwich at the cafe, and I got a cookie and an orange cream soda. We ate outside on the patio. Then we stopped in the gift shop and I bought a small felt Bob Dylan Christmas ornament.

We drove back to Utica and then went to New Hartford to Michael T's for dinner. David was bartending, and we sat at the bar once some seats opened up. Olympic handball was playing on TV. Craig got a Flower Power IPA and I had a Moscow mule. Craig and Tyson got the prime rib (luckily, David had reserved two ahead of time, because they were sold out otherwise). I had my favorite: the veal Trunfio with ziti.

After our delicious dinner, we headed back to the house, listened to some vinyl, and watched "Married to the Mob."

Sunday 7/28/2024 - Cookout

This morning we had coffee and more homemade sour cherry and blueberry muffins. David's mom called to tell him that he was pictured in the most recent Turning Stone Casino brochure because of his recent winnings there. He dug out the brochure, and there he was!

David had the day off today, so we all went together to North Star Orchards farm stand. They had all kinds of local fruits, veggies, and artisenal foods. I bought a package of peanut butter cup cookies, which were delicious.

Then we went to old-school grocery store Chanatry's to buy "Utica burgers" for a cookout tonight. Chanatry's is unique, and has many cardboard stand-up figures of famous people positioned throughout the store. Today the Pope was overseeing the bakery department. I couldn't help but post a photo on Facebook with the caption "John 6:51 Jesus says, 'I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever.'"

We went back to the house and Tyson made fresh jalapeño poppers. We had been looking forward to these since 2022, when he prepared some, left them on the dining room table unattended, and Roxy ate the entire batch!

We all sat outside while Tyson grilled the Utica burgers and some ribs. We ate shrimp cocktail and the delicious jalapeño poppers and sipped drinks. When dinner was ready, we went inside to eat in the living room. Along with the burgers and ribs, we had salt potatoes and green beans.

After dinner, we watched the Barbie movie. None of us had seen it before. David couldn't handle it and retired to bed.

Monday 7/29/2024 - Departure

Today we had dessert for breakfast: black currant cake which Tyson had made but forgotten to serve the past couple of nights. So we had it with homemade ice cream for breakfast instead. It was delicious. We packed our things, said our goodbyes, and headed back home. We stopped for gas at the gas station near their house, and continued listening to "The Silmarillion" on our way home. We arrived home just before 4 p.m.