The Foundry

It was pouring as I made my way down the hill to Remsen St., but the band struck up some old Zeppelin, just for my entrance!  The Foundry shindig had shut down Remsen on one end, which was pretty impressive.  The band was good, The Foundry, itself was gorgeous, as both an art and a living space.  Arched windows overlook the City of Cohoes, it was immaculate and modern and incredibly inspiring in a way that made me want to go back up the hill and give everything I own away.
When Jesse and Alana are ready, The Foundry for Art, Design + Culture will be a force to be reckoned with!  I can't wait and wish them both the best of luck!

I Go Out at Night...Too Often

I finally realized that every walk I've taken so far has been at night, for some reason.  So, when I got around to going out in daylight, I was suddenly seeing things I'd never seen before.  There is Clinton's Ditch, and historical sign-posts to tell about the Erie Canal (I had no idea, New York State History was a long time ago.)  There are houses to cry for, they are so gorgeous.  I slunk down to Remsen St on a Saturday afternoon to see if it might have more inhabitants than on my previous visits, and I was wrong.  There were no more people on a fine Saturday afternoon that there are on a dark Thursday evening.

 I stood in front of each business, trying to ascertain if life was imminent.  Satchel, open in '09 on my first visit, (and where I picked up my own Global Girlfriend handbag) seems to be by appointment.  Joe Yoga is on summer holiday.  Bread & Jam is closed.  There are any number of businesses that I so desperately want to be open, but simply aren't.  It's frustrating because the city itself is incredibly beautiful.  I did find Remsen Street Studios, which made me really happy, as I've admired the work of local artist Jon Gernon for years.  (I interviewed Jon for a start-up indie zine in the early '90's.  Puppets come to mind.)

There are gorgeous things that I dare not mention here, for fear of spoiling them.
Cohoes hides her secrets well.

I Go Out at Night

...just to see what I can see.  Tonight was an amazingly huge moon coming up over a near-by church, rising behind the ancient-looking steeple.  The clouds cooperated and I clicked into the night air in hopes of catching anything at all.  Ta-da!  Something is better than nothing.  Welcome to the creepiness!

Moved!

We found a really strange, really old mill apartment on a hill in a really old city and moved ourselves right on in.  No central heating, ditched our queen-sized bed, our sofa, and various and sundry other furniture.  So, the living room is gone, and now I just use the whole space as a studio.  Why not?
Some things are better than our old place, other things are worse.
(No central heating?! What was I thinking?!)
The recycling here is bi-weekly, and we can't seem to get it right, no matter which refuse type or week we put it out on, but no one really cares which side of the street our car is parked on, a far cry from Albany, where that's such an issue, it kept me up at 3 am most Tuesday nights.

The morning this picture was taken, I was up at 6 am with Ash and Emmanuelle.  We were watching birds and having coffee when suddenly the most beautiful, iridescent green, purple and hot pink bird came and fluttered directly in front of the window.  It looked like a fairy princess, and it seemed to be playing.  I figured out it was a hummingbird, but which one is anyone's guess.  I know this story is boring in the recounting, but to experience a tiny, iridescent bird flapping it's way out of the bushes to hover mid-air, in front of your face at six in the morning is just, well, unexpected.

A Visit to Cohoes, New York

"O" is for "Ophelia"

Took a long walk around Cohoes with MAP on Thursday to scope out studio space. Found the Foundry, which is intriguing, exclusive, etc., and one or two other spaces to call for a look. There are exactly five businesses on Remsen St.: a knitting store; a wine shop; a Russian supermarket; Satchel - a purse/gift shop; and the Bread & Jam coffee shop. We met Sal at Bread & Jam and declared his coffee house amazing. He was wonderful and gave us instructions to one of the studio buildings we were scoping.
Cohoes itself has fallen apart in the most sad, beautiful way. It is a veritable slum/ghost town as people struggle economically in the houses and apartments built by their great-grandparents – structures made of ornately carved wood followed by bricks starting from the 1860’s forward. Then like everywhere else, there were a couple of wars, immigrants and a boom. And then there was a Depression. And then there was another war.
And then, recently, nearly everything disappeared. Word on the lips of local artists is that it’s ripe for a low-rent, artsy take-over. Let the transformation begin!