Lep jesenski dan, ne preveč sončen, celo nekoliko svež, ravno pravšnji za izlet s kolesom. Že odkar sem tukaj berem in poslušam o slapovih v okolici, o lepoti teh korit in kanjonov. Pogled na zemljevid - danes grem na ogled Taughannock Falls v Trumansburg. Tod so (kot še marsikje drugje) živela indijanska plemena, ime Taughannock izvira iz jezika algonquian, ki so ga govorili Leni Lenape ("pravi ljudje").
11.5 milj :) ..... z nekaj simpatičnimi in doooolgimi klanci.  Nekje na tretjini povprašam pridelovalca jabolk, ali sem na pravi poti. Sezona pobiranja jabolk. "Pick your apple", prideš in si nabereš sam jabolka, seveda ceneje, pa še tisti pomirjujoč občutek ravnokar nabranega sadja in zavedanja o skrbi za svoje zdravje dobi človek. Zelo posrečena tržna poteza. Poskusim sveže stisnjen nefiltriran jabolčnik (cider) in zajaham rdečo puščico. Kmalu se ustavim (ne morem, da ne bi) v nekem večjem antikvarijatu, Antiquity Mall. Napasem se ter najdem nov dom za želvo iz hrastovega lesa in za losa na pivskem podstavku. Predmeti z vseh vetrov, od vojaške uniforme letalca iz druge svetovne vojne do kuhinjskih pripomočkov, starih oblačil, razglednic, kičastih kozarcev in skodelic, še bolj kičastega nakita, starih konzerv, steklenic, pohištva. Mali rudnik za iskalce detajlov....
Kraj me je spominjal na Cascada Cusarare v mehiški Sierri. Soteska v gozdu z nekaj lene vode. Baje je pozimi veličastna, ko zamrze največji slap, spomladi pa buči zaradi taljenja snega. Sedaj je slap - skromen. Ampak zelo lep, obdan z žarečim listjem v lenem jesenskem soncu. Ithaca is gorges. Nekateri se zgražajo nad tem napisom, ki se pojavlja več ali manj povsod, še največkrat na majicah. Poleg poudarjanja očitne značilnosti kraja, sotesk, namiguje tudi na visoko stopnjo samomorilnosti v teh krajih. Zaradi zahtevnega študija, pravijo, in zaradi temačnih, turobnih in dolgih zim. Najelegantnejše je poskusiti poleteti nad sotesko kot ujede, ki krožijo nad vodo. Vzdolž celotne sprehajalne poti na obeh straneh soteske je pedantno speljana ograja, vsaka najmanjša luknja je zakrpana in označena, ponavljajo se napisi, ki svarijo, naj ne zapuščamo poti. Verjetno ne kar tako...
Skoraj se ne obračam več za vevericami, saj jih je povsod dovolj, tudi an asfaltu.... squirrels make bad decisions and do stupig things.... Podrastje vseskozi šušti in šumi, nervozno nabirajo in si tlačijo v gobčke plodove, ki jih ne manjka. Ni varno posedati pod hrastom. Želodi neumorno padajo na tla.
Po uri poštenega kolesarjenja nazaj v Ithaco me je čakal še zadnji izziv, Buffalo Street, z vso svojo strmino. Hvala staršem za trmaste gene!

Antiquity Mall .... občasno Twilight Zone...

Letalska uniforma iz II. svetovne vojne

Kraj, kjer se izgubiš v nostalgiji zgodovine

Taughannock Falls

Joseph N. Pew Jr. sundial

Sage Hall

Olin Hall

First, some cultural stuff..... Red bricks and green grass, all surrounded by beautiful autumnal trees. Peaceful...

Then, the crowd. Red crowd. Supporting the local football team, Cornell Big Red homecoming. An Ivy League game, Cornell vs. Yale. Sometimes fortune is on my side.... I didn't know until the last hour, if I'd go to see this football game. The main purpose was to see a football game, to see this game that is driving crazy a huge country. I was not very enthusiastic, but then a free ticket dropped into my hand and hey, I just have to grab the opportunity! So there I was. Sitting in the middle of a red student crowd, trying to figure out what the hell are all those players doing and what is their purpose. Luckily I've got a quick explanation of the basics of the game, so the trick was only to localize the ball under the piles of huge players. Time is relative, they say, for sure is relative in football. Four quarters, that means one hour of effective play. But two quarters can last almost two hours.... and that was enough for me. I sneaked out with the sound of the Cornell marching band in my head and went back home to spread myself over a bed. Lazy, but it felt so good.....

Cornell Big Red

Yale

Cornell freshmen

The day before I saw something quite odd for me.... at 16:15 there was a long line of people, mixed students and staff, waiting for beer at the campus Big Red Barn. Ok, it was cheap, but anyway... At 19 the Barn closed and the thirst forced people to spread away. It was Friday....

Waiting for beer

Endorphins.... "endogenous morphine", those funny molecules produced by our own body, which make us feel dizzy and euphoric and happy, even if we are stressed. The funny molecules that make us feel strange during or after a strenuous run, so we were told.  To be careful not to become dependent of. To be careful not to enjoy their effect too much. ...."not in a way to have fun" says an older song. ""I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit hole - and yet - and yet - it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life!" Alice in Wonderland. I was thinking about that, today, as usually, lots of thoughts are brought up during that slice of the day that is only mine. About this and that, I talk to people in my mind, discuss with them, clear some stuff and complicate other. Relax and meditate in the field along with Bob Dylan's lyrics, get heretically rid of anger with the NINs, get inspired by Ligabue and find relief in pushing up hill with the industrial sound of Rammstein. The music changes with seasons, moods, phases. Now I stick with a repertoire that is somehow still linked to another place, another moment, and it's intriguing to observe the evolution of the feelings that it brings out. Like a self-analysis. You just have to listen to yourself and let the mind play with ongoing thoughts. Not too much. A thin line. But then, you don't have time to drift away with each thought. You have to breath, to put your feet one in front of the other, to keep the rhythm. And still to notice the grace of two deers grazing in the field close to you, flapping their ears and looking at the strange red-faced gasping creature passing by. 
Too much thinking for a simple thing? Just the mind that goes its own way....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8tuTSi6Sck

Just a few more impressions of the upcoming Autumn spirit. The nature is getting more and more beautiful as the  shadows become longer, caressing the reddish leaves and ripen fruits, laboriously collected by squirrels. More and more often when you see a squirrel its mouth is as full  of nuts as it can be. Cute.

Myers Park, Lansing...

Bradfield Hall

My corner in 915

Small regular coffee...

A glimpse into my everyday... And I've thought the coffee would be worse, but with a little fantasy touch it turns out very nice :) And I have the need to read The castle by Kafka, who knows why...

It has been a magnificent sunny Saturday here, but not quite the day I'd like.... not at all... How alone can one feel today, if he can't get in touch with people on the web? We've became dependent, perhaps too much. I wonder, how was back in the days of our grandparents, when the husband, brother, fiancee, father left for the army, for a couple of years. And all they had were those tiny letters and postcards from foreign place, with foreign faces on them and words. Now we want to see, hear people, share with our beloved ones each and every moment, and the distance is not an excuse. Did that guy at Cern imagined what he was launching into the world? How he would change the perception of distances? It was dazzling, and not in the magical and positive way, to see my pc faint, not responding any more to my needs. It needs to be taken care of now. So it got a small fellow to help him, a cute small reddish Ruby.... capable of nearly anything. I wander if a cup of coffee pops out of somewhere if I press Ctrl+C+F....

I missed just a glass of good white wine....

What a peculiar evening.... starting with The Rhiner's Brawl on Moonshine Island, with the Tailed and the Tu-tu'd skating girls skating around, god knows why and under what rules. They just seemed like a bunch of grown children having lots of fun and joking around. And everyone's brought his own foldable fishing chair, with the picnic basket and all  that unhealthy stuff we usually let us chew on picnics. A tall man, acrobats, a high school band, cats, ballerinas, transvestites. After the Tu-tu's defeated he Tailed, everything disappeared, like in a dream.

The painted faces moved to the Moonshine Toss, where the time machine brought us back in the 20's. With gangsters, money, poker chips and illegal alcohol. Cocktails for 3 dollars. And feathers and music and colors and this warm feeling of human gathering. There was a woman singing in a cage, alluring step dancers, a shiny fat singer, an amoeba and a dog. Like in a fairy tale...
Goodnight, liberal Ithaca!

Jack the Necrophiliac

Tony Amoeba

The Bill Murray Experience