Art Should Not Be Censored

Messe des Morts
A festival I genuinely look forward to every year.
If you know me at all you know I dislike being in a crowd.
It isn't bad though when the crowd is made up of friends.

Fourteen of us (me and my friends) planned our trip to Canada for months.
Where we'd eat, where we'd sleep, and which attractions we wanted to see while we were there.
Many more people I know and often see at shows across the United States and in Europe did the same.

Montreal, Quebec - November 26, 2016

Montreal Fine Arts Museum

Across town, earlier in the day I went to an exhibit at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum.

And let's just say... art is subjective.

Art should not be censored.

Music brings people together.

Concert goers waiting patiently for hours in the cold outside Théâtre Plaza.

The metal community is one of the kindest I have the honor of being a part of.

One of the few times I have ever voiced my opinion on someone else's social media was to express that there is a camaraderie amongst metalheads that is unique.

Perhaps a bit dark

Perhaps a bit depressing

Perhaps a bit angry 

But they are accepting.

Of course we aren't perfect. People are human, so therefore erred.

I love Montreal!

I love Old Montreal.

I love the museums.

I love the history.

I love the food and restaurants.

I love the architecture of the buildings.

I love all the fabulous bridges.

I love St Lawrence River.

I love Mont Royal.

ANTIFA made me never want to return.

I find it important to state that even if you listen to a particular artist's music, it does not mean you share the views of the artist.

Some people like me, might not even know what life views the artist's have.

I just like what sounds good to me.

Concert goers being told to disperse peacefully because our show had been cancelled.

There are so many videos surfacing about the protest in front of the venue, but I haven't seen a single one from the Metro.
We were told to be peaceful.
We were told NOT to stand up for what we believed in.
We were told we would be safe at the Metro.
We were met with aggression from people who were young enough to be my child, with no real life experience, spouting hate with information that was incorrect, which they never bothered to even try to understand.
Brainwashed followers hiding behind masks.
Terrorizing the streets.
I never felt so unsafe in my life.
If you truly believe in your cause you should be able to stand in front of me without hiding your face.
You are a coward otherwise.

I was physically attacked.
I was kicked, shoved, and kicked at.
A young man threw his lit cigarette in my face.
No one was allowed to defend me.
I was not even allowed to defend myself.
I was so mad and upset that the police watched it happen and did nothing.
The Montreal Police had sided with the people who were truly spreading hate.

When my group of friends finally all made it in the building, ANTIFA followed us in.
Two of our friends had already made it through the turnstiles...
I was trying to stop the tears and anger in my heart.
The people I love most were being aggressively harassed.
ANTIFA, wearing masks, jumped the Metro turnstiles.
I REFUSED to be trapped in a place where there was no police presence at all.

I feel like ANTIFA wanted us to.

We got an Uber instead.
Some of our friends were still on the other side of the Metro turnstiles...
I can't write about their story, because it did not happen to me.
But I can say I was terrified for their safety.
I would not go into the hotel until I knew they were safe.
They arrived safe, and to my relief they didn't take the Metro.

Throughout the night I heard many stories of similar happenings.

This is just my account of a small portion of the night.
I feel such empathy for Black people and Natives in the US.

I feel victimized.

If you are like me, you have no idea what ANTIFA is.
At this point I'd say they are an extremist group who violate human rights.
Misunderstanding the difference between politics and the freedom of expression.

Yaddo

Yaddo Mansion
September 29, 2016

A History of Yaddo

The property on which Yaddo stands originally housed a farm, grist-mill, and tavern operated by Jacobus Barhyte, a Revolutionary War veteran who fought at the Battle of Saratoga. Many well-known writers of the 1830s and 1840s dined at Barhyte’s tavern, among them Edgar Allan Poe.

In 1881, Spencer Trask, a New York City financier, and his poet wife, Katrina, bought the property, naming it “Yaddo” at the suggestion of their young daughter. When the main residence burned to the ground 10 years later, the Trasks built the present mansion, completed in 1893. It was the scene of famous house parties attended by artists, statesmen, and industrialists.

Spencer designed the Yaddo Gardens in 1899 as a gift of love to his wife Katrina. The Trasks based their design for the Rose Garden on Italian classical gardens, which they had seen on trips abroad. The adjoining Rock Garden expresses in contrast an Anglo-American tradition of interest in indigenous landscape. Together, the gardens combine the formal and the free, the poetic and the idyllic, human art and nature. Katrina wanted her garden to be a garden of delight, a garden of romance, as an expression of her own life.

Engraved at the center of the arch on the gate are the initials ST KT for Spencer and Katrina Trask.
January 28, 2016

The future of this great estate was determined after the deaths of their four children left the Trasks without heirs. In 1900, they secretly formed what would become known after their deaths as The Corporation of Yaddo and they endowed it in perpetuity to administer a working community of artists. Noted philanthropist George Foster Peabody, a lifelong friend of the family and husband to Katrina Trask in the last year of her life, put their plan into operation after Spencer Trask died in 1909 and Katrina Trask in 1922.

National Historic Landmark

January 28, 2016
I discovered the entrance on accident, exploring the back roads of Saratoga Springs after an orthodontist appointment. As I was getting ready to jump on the Northway to go back home, I saw the front gate entrance proudly bearing the name Yaddo.

I remembered the name Yaddo from a conversation I'd had with a girl that grew up in Saratoga Springs.

I don’t know what I was expecting…
I also wasn’t let down.

I feel like the first time I walked around the gardens was the most magical.
Perhaps it was because everything was so new.
Hidden gems on the grounds still waiting to be found.
Perhaps it was because it was the only time I ever visited Yaddo where I was completely alone.
Apparently, over 50,000 people visit the gardens each year!

I get a good laugh about me going to a rose garden in the winter, but in all honesty, it was exactly what I wanted.

refreshing aloneness!
the crisp winter air
stabbing at my lungs
I breathe
slowing down time
my body feels
a magical and vibrant energy
radiating
from the frozen ground
reminding me to
just be

Frozen Rock fountain at the upper level of the Rock Garden.

View from the Rose Garden of the Balcony where the Sundial rests, and the Pergola.

Under the Pergola.

May 26, 2016
I thought it would be a good time to revisit the Gardens at Yaddo because surely there would be flowers, the statues would be uncovered, and the fountains would be flowing. To my surprise, that wasn't the case.

Of course some things were different.
The statues had been uncovered, but only one fountain was flowing.
and there weren't any roses…

It was a warm and sunny day
I was trying to determine whether or not the sundial showed the correct time.

When...

a stranger asked me,
"Have you ever hugged a tree?"
the words hung in the air
full of doubt
(why would this question come up amongst strangers?)
"Actually, I have." I said matter-of-factly with a smile.
The same smile that drew her to me initially.

She had mentioned my smile when she first approached me.
I can't seem to forget this exchange with a stranger.
It makes me wonder how others perceive me.
And I also wonder why it is that strangers always talk to me...

perhaps it is my smile

Foot of the Sundial.

Trillium could be seen throughout the Rock Garden.

The Wood Nymph Statue in the center of the pond in the lower level of the Rock Garden.

September 29, 2016
I felt like I should see what the Gardens at Yaddo looked like, one more time before winter approached. Maybe this time there would be roses...

The whole garden was in bloom!

Standing in the Rose Garden.

Roses blooming all along the Pergola.

View looking out over the Rose Garden from the Balcony.
The "Four Seasons" Statues can be seen bordering the far side of the garden.

The Gardens at Yaddo

The Rose garden is laid out on a north-south east-west axis. It is divided into four beds centered by a fountain and overlooked the three terraces, a balcony, and a rose-covered terra cotta columned pergola. Red, pink, white, and yellow hybrid tea roses and floribundas planted together reflect Katrina’s color scheme. In 1994, standard roses were introduced. Polyantha roses were planted at the base of the standard roses to simulate the early planting of dwarf roses.

View looking out over the Rose Garden from the Balcony.
All the statues are covered for the winter season.
January 28, 2016

Fountain in the center of the Rose Garden.
I was distracted for a while at this fountain.
Communicating with the dead.
My father and my Grandma Alice in the same garden.
So comfortable, so serene.
September 29, 2016

The sundial on the balcony is inscribed with a message from the Trasks’ friend, the poet Henry Jackson van Dyke:

Hours fly, Flowers die, New days, New ways pass by, Love stays.

Time
is
Too slow for those who wait
Too swift for those who fear
Too long for those who grieve
Too short for those who rejoice
But for those who Love Time is
Eternity

East of the rose beds are Italian marble statues of the four seasons and a statue of a youth, “Christalan,” sculpted in marble by William Ordway Partridge in 1900 as a “memorial to the children of this house.” Christalan represents youth, chivalry, and victory over mortality.

Spring

Autumn

Winter

Summer

Christalan Statue

The renewal of the Rock Garden, west of the pergola, emphasizes the original design features of an upper and lower pond with fountains and a long connecting rill of flowing water bordered by dolomite rocks with a separating rocky incline. All are planted with spring and summer flowering perennial plants. As much of the original plant material as made possible by the shading of mature trees has been incorporated. The effect is as close as possible to the 1905 garden given the different light conditions. The lower pond area is highlighted by restoration of the “riot of color” of the flowering plants growing there.

Rock fountain in the upper section of the Rock Garden.
September 29, 2016

Wood Nymph Statue in the lower pond of the Rock Garden.
September 29, 2016

Yaddo’s Mission - to provide artists uninterrupted time to work, good working conditions, and supportive community - has remained central to its operation throughout the years.

All photos were taken by me.
For more information about Yaddo... Click Here!
I got my information about Yaddo from the brochure available at the gardens.

Tallulah Spring at Saratoga Spa State Park

Tallulah,
the forgotten "leaping water"
tucked away,
just slightly out of view,
from those who pass her by.
I had searched for her a few times.
I had walked past her numerous times.
never knowing
she was patiently
waiting...
on the hillside for me to find her.

On some Saratoga Spa State Park maps there is a spring simply listed as #5.
I had poked around the general area of where the spring was marked on the map,
but I never actually found it...
One time I was searching for #5
and I stumbled upon Ferndell Spring
which was delightful and delicious!
... but not the spring I was hunting.

October 2, 2016- I was tasting different springs throughout the park with my friend Becky, when I saw #5 spring for the first time. I was ecstatic upon the discovery and so very impressed with the spring's color, as well as the uniqueness of her erosion tendencies, all while creating a calcium carbonate alluvial fan, slowly over time.

I found the colors to be an eye-catching intrigue. The contrast of the green grass against the red soil was perfection, as the grass tried its best to strangle a narrow crevice created by the run off from the spring.

Tallulah Spring carving the landscape narrowly,
with tufa collecting far below from her steady stream of water.

The tufa and green algae growing in the farthest run off from the spring were intriguing as well. I imagine the rusty red slicing its way through the tufa are iron deposits, but I don't really know for certain. Something I found odd yet fascinating, was how Tallulah's water and mineral deposits just ran into the tall grass surrounding her, leaving no clue to people on the other side of the tall grass that she was there at all.

Tufa from Tallulah Spring.

After spending some time at this spring and enjoying her unique beauty, I obviously had to do more research about this elusive spring.

I learned that her name is Tallulah, formerly called Flat Well No. 4... and that's pretty much it.

A curious person can see Tallulah Spring
just enough walking by
to want to investigate
why there is a random, strange, clearing in the tall grass.

Tallulah is near Polaris Spring, on the same side of the road, slightly up a grassy hill. If you walk from Polaris Spring and reach the trail that takes you to Ferndell Spring, you missed her and must go back and look again.

As the autumn leaves finish falling,
and the tall grass begins to fall down,
you can get a glimpse of Tallulah Spring from Geyser Loop Road.

Tallulah Spring gets a ton of sunshine compared to her sister Karista Spring (formerly called Flat Well No. 2).

Even on days that are overcast, Tallulah always seems to be basking in the sunlight!
Me, before a taste of the spring.

I have gotten in the habit of paying tribute to the different springs when I visit them by tasting their waters, also known as "Taking the Cure."

Tallulah Spring is slightly sweet with a hint of salty, and very effervescent.

For more photos of Tallulah... Click Here!