Bridges on bridges, lost in Ithaca

I think the best thing that happened was one of those funny things that you don’t mean to do. It’s like this: We were driving from Corning to Ithaca, a trip of about 40 miles, which was one of those things that John and I don’t do well because he is very obsessed about being at exactly the right place on the map at all times even when you know you’re going to be on the same road for 10 or 15 miles. Anyway, we were relatively near Ithaca and I saw a sign that said “covered bridge” so I turned off, thinking there might be a photo op. When we got there, a woman was standing in front of the bridge and a man was there with a camera on a tripod. We went down to take a snapshot, and she said, "Oh, I’ll move my cases and stuff out of the way, we’re doing a little photo shoot for a CD.”
Me: “Oh, what do you play?”
She: “Norwegian fiddle and some other stuff.”
Me: “Do you play Nickelharpa?”
She: “You know what a nickelharpa is?”
Me: “Yeah, I think they’re cool. I play hurdy gurdy.”
She: “Me too, but I’m still working on getting the rhythm section down.”
Me: “Me too, etc., etc. yada yada yada.




You get the drift. Anyway, they were using this covered bridge to make a picture for the cover of a new CD they are making. You can check out their website here. If this link doesn’t work, it’s because there’s NO www. on this web address.
Anyway, they were balancing their instruments in the “crotches” of the inside of the bridge, and didn’t really have enough people, so I stayed and stood near the hurdy gurdy in case it should fall, and the other two people guarded the violin and viola. It was just kind of fun being involved in something so silly.







Following that we headed for the museum at Cornell. It was very hard to park there, because it was graduation day. The museum really wasn’t worth it. The building is by I M Pei, and I liked it, but John didn’t. We both agreed that the collection was boring.

Then we tried to go to Ithaca Falls which is on the map but not easy to get to. Suffice it to say we tried to drive around the back of the university (my idea and the wrong way) eventually went all the way back into town and came back to a place we had missed the first time and which was about 5 minutes away (even if we’d been walking) from the museum. We did have the scenic tour of Ithaca/Cornell, though.


After hanging around at the falls for awhile, we went downtown. We checked out an antique shop, where I got a copy of Elbert Hubbard’s Philistine in really good condition. I also got a baby’s shoe last that I intend to bead. Don’t hold your breath on that one. We also looked at a place that carries only the work of local artisans. The little baby shoe last I bought was quite heavy, and I didn’t want to think about packing it around for another week, and believe it or not, the UPS store was open. So I gathered up a couple of glass balls I had bought and took it all into the UPS store to have it all shipped home. While I was doing that, John was interviewed by some Cornell students on some kind of school project. They asked him for a one-word description of the war. He said “Foolish.”
The last thing we did today was something I’ve wanted to do since I first heard of the place. We went to Moosewood restaurant for dinner. They have a different menu every day, always seasonal, mostly local. I think it used to be vegetarian, but now they include some fish dishes. We had a tapenade on crackers with a side of caprese, then a salad (I had creamy basil spinach dressing, John had creamy dill – mine was better.) John had salmon, which I tasted and wasn’t too impressed with, accompanied by green beans and mashed potatoes. I had Morrocan vegetable stew, which tasted a lot like a dish I make called Imam Bayaldi. For dessert we split a white cake with rhubarb, which was really delicious.

Tonight we’re planning our trip around the lake tomorrow.