The frugal travels of a vagabond

I've spent thousands of hours at Memorial Park over the years so I had to see the latest improvements to the park including the new 100-acre Eastern Glades which is the first major project in the ten year plan for the Memorial Park Conservancy

Gary and I visited the Buffalo Bayou Cistern to see the newly commissioned artwork by Albanian-born Anri Sala, Time No Longer; the cistern is open for art tours, historical tours and a weekly meditation group on Saturdays

The new Botanic Garden still has some growing to do and suffered from last winter's cold; a significant amount of money has gone into the Garden and I hope its location away from other attractions can be overcome

My first stop in Houston was to remember my friend and fellow Ironman, Mark Brooker, who was killed while biking last year in a residential neighborhood; Mark had just turned 52, was smart and a phenomenal athlete

The 4th most populous city in the country, Houston had 2.3 million residents in 2020 with the metro area having 7.1 million people (5th highest); it is the largest city in the US by total area, whose government is not consolidated with a county or borough

Admission to the Botanic Garden was $15; there were a few unique pieces of art (like this one) with special seasonal attractions like Lightscape (running Nov 20 through Jan 2) drawing visitors to this nice addition to Houston

Memorial Park, established in 1924, is 1500+ acres (more than twice the size of Central Park in NYC) and an oasis in the heart of the city; the park is currently being transformed thanks to $100+ million in private funds

The Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern is a former drinking water reservoir built in 1926; it held 15 million gallons of water, is 87,500 sq ft and has 221 25-foot tall, slender concrete columns

Everywhere I turned in Houston new high-rises are going up (mostly residential); Houston is the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major metropolis in the country

The 132-acre Houston Botanic Garden, carved from the old Glenbrook Golf Course, straddles Sims Bayou just off Interstate 45 at the Park Place exit (on the opposite side from Hobby Airport)

View of downtown from the museum; the museum's original collection of 300+ works of art by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell was assembled by Fort Worth newspaper publisher and philanthropist Amon G. Carter, Sr.

Woman Standing, Holding a Fan, Mary Cassatt, 1878-79; this work was likely done as Cassatt prepared for her debut with the Impressionists at their fourth exhibition, held in Paris in 1879

Edwin Booth, John Singer Sargent, 1890; Booth was one of the most famous actors of his day but is better remembered as the brother of John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln

New England Landscape, Frederic Edwin Church, ca. 1849; in 1844, at the age of 18, Church left his family to become the first pupil of renowned landscape painter Thomas Cole

Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1870; Bierstadt wrote of Yosemite - We are now in the Garden of Eden ... the most magnificent place I was ever in

Wrapped Oranges, William McCloskey, 1889; the vibrancy of the oranges is striking against the crisp white wrappers and the rich glow of a gem-blue backdrop

The Hunter's Return, Thomas Cole, 1845; in his 1836 Essay on American Scenery, Cole lamented the ravages of the axe that were destroying the wilderness; ironically, many of his patrons were responsible for America's industrialization

Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay, Martin Johnson Heade, 1868; Amon G. Carter contributed greatly to Fort Worth as publisher of the Star-Telegram, founding board member of American Airlines, and owner of the first radio station in the city

Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid; Martin Johnson Heade, ca. 1875-90; Heade's intricately detailed paintings transported the viewer from the everyday to faraway lands

Series I, No. 1, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918; the artist taught in TX for 18 months before returning to New York City where she painted this piece; O'Keeffe always asserted herself at a time when it was not considered proper for women to work outside the home

New England Landscape II, George Morrison, 1967; inspired by his friend Louise Nevelson, Morrison created this imposing landscape from driftwood he found along Cape Cod

Marion Crossing the PeeDee, William T Ranney, 1850; General Francis Marion (aka the Swamp Fox) was a hero of the American Revolution, second only to George Washington in the popular imagination

Neighbors, Valton Tyler, 2016; born in Texas City, Tyler was considered one of the state's most independent visionaries; this was the last painting he made, with his death coming the next year

The Council of War, John Rogers, 1868; the sculptor sold his work through mail order catalogs (this one was $25 and shows General U.S. Grant, President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton)

The County Election, George Caleb Bingham, 1851-52; although born in Virginia and thus a Southerner, Bingham was elected as a delegate to the Missouri legislature before the American Civil War where he fought against the extension of slavery westward

Crossing the Pasture, Winslow Homer, 1871-72; Homer initially earned his living as a correspondent during the Civil War; after the war, Americans longed for happier times so Homer took to painting nostalgic scenes

Left Scapula, Showing a Gunshot Fracture Nearly Parallel with the Spine of the Scapula, with Two Fragments of a Conoidal Musket Ball, William Bell, 1865; Bell was head of the photography department at the Army Medical Museum

Martha Washington (1856) and George Washington (1846), Rembrandt Peale; Peale boasted that, as the last living artist to have met the Washingtons, his paintings were the most reliable representations

Peaches and Grapes in a Chinese Export Basket, Raphaelle Peale, 1813; this is one of the earliest signed and dated works by the artist known for establishing the still life painting genre in America

Boston Harbor, Fitz Henry Lane, 1856; born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the painter and printmaker was famous for his style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light

The Fifty-ninth Virginia Infantry-Wise's Brigade, Conrad Wise Chapman, ca. 1867; though raised in Rome, Italy, Chapman returned to the US to fight for the Confederacy; it was rare to see the Confederate Army from a soldier's viewpoint

Chloe and Sam, Thomas Hovenden, 1882; after moving to Plymouth Meeting, PA, in 1881, the artist painted a series of works as a tribute to the town's proud heritage of abolitionism; Chloe may be a reference to a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin

A Closet Door, John Frederick Peto, 1904-06; a letter rack, which held notes, cards and other mementos, was a highly personal subject for trompe l'oeil painters that effectively served as a complex portrait of the artist himself

The Monongahela at Morgantown, Blanche Lazzell, 1933; this piece is a woodcut on paper with the artist using the backside of a spoon to apply pressure to the paper; this technique allowed her to achieve subtle effects of color and texture

One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, Times Square is often referred to as The Crossroads of the World with an estimated 50 million annual visitors; formerly known as Longacre Square, it was renamed in 1904 after The NY Times moved its HQ there

It was wonderful spending time with these great friends; I hadn't seen David Romero in many years and we also visited with Jason Coronado who was working at the US Open (he's taking time away from teaching at the moment)

The Edge ranks as my favorite observation deck anywhere in the world with just phenomenal views; you're outdoors with plenty of room to explore a virtually 360 degree panorama of Manhattan

Completed in 2014, One World Trade Center dominates the skyline of lower Manhattan and is the tallest building in the country and the 6th tallest in the world; the name Freedom Tower is mainly used by non-New Yorkers

Mike and I strolled the entire 6 mile perimeter of Central Park (sometimes in the rain); the 1872 Belvedere Castle is one of the most iconic features of the Park and sits atop its second highest natural point

Never was I able to climb the 16 story, $200 million Vessel and admire it up close since it has been repeatedly closed when I've visited due to suicides; the structure has 154 flights of stairs and 2500 steps but it's fate remains unclear

Mike, Gary and Bob visited the Museum of Illusions which is perfect for this Instagram-obsessed world; the reviews were mixed on TripAdvisor with the museum ranking #190 out of 1323 things to do in New York City

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, Gustav Klimt, 1907; also known as the Lady in Gold, this oil painting made with gold and silver leaf was the highlight of my visit to the very small and expensive Neue Galerie

The views from Little Island are nice but I honestly expected there to be more; it would be a great venue for small performances but I thought there would be more playgrounds rather than just places from which to take photos

The High Line is a must do on any visit to New York and conveniently goes from the Edge and the Vessel at Hudson Yards down to the Whitney Museum of Art and Little Island (it's only 1 1/2 miles though)

I've been anxiously awaiting the New Coke Zero (on the left) since I had read negative reviews and was afraid there would be a revolt similar to when New Coke came out in the 1980s but I honestly could tell any difference

Only one night was I out past 6pm (thanks Mike!) and able to see the revelry and chaos in Times Square; I opted to skip the $20 ride on the Times Square Wheel and did not stand in the long line for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

The New-York Historical Society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum; the hyphenated name is correct since it was the general use back then and has never been changed (it's also chiseled in stone on the building)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, built in 1872, anchors the Museum Mile; many of the world's most famous works of art are here in the 2+ million sq ft of exhibit space

With 98 floors and completed in 2020, the Central Park Tower (on right) is the tallest residential building in the world; on the left is 111 West 57 Street (aka Steinway Tower) which was completed in 2021 and is the world's most slender skyscraper

The Mall in Central Park is lined with American elms and is one of the most beautiful areas of the Park; it hasn't changed significantly since landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux completed Central Park in 1876

Mike and I enjoyed visiting the Museum of the City of New York which is at the northern end of the Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue; founded in 1923, the museum was originally located in Gracie Mansion which is now the residence of the mayor

Bethesda Terrace and Bethesda Fountain mark one of the most photogenic spots in Central Park; covering 843 acres, it is the most visited urban park in the US, with roughly 45 million visitors annually, and is the most filmed location in the world

Gorgeous Bethesda Fountain, designed by Emma Stebbins, was unveiled in 1873; Stebbins was the first woman to receive a public commission for a major work of art in New York City

The Cooper Hewitt is housed in the 64 room former mansion of Andrew Carnegie; it was the first private residence in the US to have a structural steel frame and the first home in New York to have an Otis elevator

I visited the Neue Galerie which is a museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located in the William Starr Miller House at 86th Street and Fifth Avenue; it's quite small but seeing The Lady in Gold by Klimt was worth it

Favrile Shade, ca. 1910; the New-York Historical Society's Tiffany Lamp Collection is regarded as one of the world’s largest and most encyclopedic

The colorful Congo peafowl is the national bird of the Democratic Republic of the Congo but estimates are that just a few thousand are left in the wild; the Congo peafowl is threatened by habitat loss caused by mining, shifting cultivation and logging

The spur-winged lapwing (thanks to Joe Starr for the ID) breeds around the eastern Mediterranean, and in a wide band from sub-Saharan west Africa to Arabia; the Merlin app can be used to ID a bird from a photo

The hyacinth macaw, native to the tropical forests of Brazil, is the largest of all parrots (measuring up to 40 inches from head to the tip of its tail); it's an endangered species because of the illegal pet trade

The African spoonbill is fairly common south of the Sahara living in marshy wetlands with some open shallow water and nesting in colonies in trees or reedbeds; despite looking friendly, they usually don't share colonies with storks or herons

The sunbittern's range extends from Guatemala to Brazil and they famously display their large wings, that exhibit a pattern that resemble eyes, when they feel threatened

The white-crested laughingthrush is a highly social and vocal bird found in forest and scrub from the Himalayan foothills to SE Asia; the ideal habitat for this species includes bamboos, which provide excellent nesting substrate and camouflage

The African openbill stork feeds almost exclusively on aquatic snails and freshwater mussels; the birds were more interesting to me since the mammals are at most zoos or are ones I've seen in Africa

There were plenty of flamingos at the Safari Park which is 32 miles north of the San Diego Zoo in Escondido; the park is noted for its California condor breeding program, the most successful such program in the country

Reichenow's helmeted guineafowl, commonly found in Africa south of the Sahara, are particularly well-suited to consuming massive quantities of ticks, which might otherwise spread Lyme disease

The magpie goose is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea; the species was once also widespread in southern Australia, but disappeared from there largely due to the drainage of the wetlands where the birds once bred

By 1982 there were only 22 California condors left in the wild but a breeding facility was built that same year at the Safari Park; since then hundreds of chicks have hatched here with the condor population now 500+

Found mostly in New Guinea and Australia, the radjah shelduck is a protected species in Australia; they prefer the brackish waters of mangrove flats and usually form long-term bonds so they are often seen in lone pairs

The greater roadrunner (a member of the cuckoo family) is a local bird, capable of limited flight, which spends most of its time on the ground; it has the fastest running speed clocked for a flying bird of 20+ mph

The Dalmatian pelican (found in Europe and Asia) is the largest member of the pelican family, and perhaps the world's largest freshwater bird, although rivaled in weight and length by the largest swans

The endangered East African crowned crane is the national bird of Uganda and is found in eastern and southern Africa; they are beautiful birds and I always enjoyed seeing them when on tours in Africa

The Marabou Stork, the largest of all storks standing almost 5 feet, was frequently spotted on my African tours; this stork's large, heavy bill continues growing throughout its life and can reach 14 inches long

I think this is a young black-crowned night heron that has discovered an abundant food supply here; most active at dusk when they make frog-like croaking calls, adults have black backs with a white underside

The Abyssinian ground hornbill can be found from Senegal to central Kenya; the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is the first zoo in the world to hatch an Abyssinian ground hornbill chick

The Eurasian eagle owl is among the largest of owls and is widely distributed across Europe, Russia and central Asia; this species has a wingspan exceeding 6 feet but still weighs less than 10 pounds

The demoiselle crane, the smallest species of crane, is a migratory bird found in central Eurosiberia; the demoiselle was so named by Queen Marie Antoinette, for its delicate and maiden-like appearance

Mallards are considered dabbling ducks, a term that means they feed by floating on the water and tipping themselves forward, butts in the air, to graze on underwater plants or grab insects (as opposed to diving ducks)

The yellow-billed stork is widespread in areas south of the Sahara and does not generally migrate far; on descending from high altitudes, it has been observed to dive at high speeds and flip over and over from side to side, showing impressive aerobatics

Conventional Cushion Base (ca. 1900-06) with Rose Shade (ca. 1900-06); the Gallery of Tiffany Lamps featured 100 illuminated Tiffany lamps from a spectacular collection, displayed within a dramatically lit jewel-like space

Stalactite Hanging Shade, ca. 1904-10; Tiffany hung 4 similar blown glass globes in the entrance hall of his 600 acre Long Island estate, Laurelton Hall; the 84 room mansion burned down in 1957

Mosaic and Turtleback Tile Base (ca. 1900-02) with Trumpet Creeper Shade (ca. 1900-06); for Tiffany, color reigned over line and form; the gallery displaying the lamps was so dark it was difficult to read the descriptions of each lamp

Hurricane Lamp, ca. 1894-96; this blown-glass lamp, pre-dating the firm's first leaded shades by several years reveals Tiffany's interest in Middle Eastern and Islamic design

Hollyhock Hanging Shade, ca. 1900-06; Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) was the artistic genius behind Tiffany Studios but many of the designs were probably made by Clara Driscoll

Poppy Shade, ca. 1906-10; Clara Driscoll’s recently discovered correspondence, written during her employment at Tiffany Studios, reveals that she was responsible for many of the firm’s most iconic lampshades, including the Wisteria, Dragonfly and Poppy

Peony Hanging Shade, ca. 1900-06; the Queens Museum at Flushing Meadows, Corona Park also holds a large collection of Tiffany Lamps; the museum is located in the New York City Building, the historic pavilion designed for the 1939 World’s Fair

Peony Border Shade, ca. 1906-10; Clara Driscoll attended what is now the Cleveland Institute of Art before enrolling at the then new Metropolitan Museum Art School in New York City

Water Lily, Twisted Stem Base (ca. 1900-06) with Plain Square Shade (ca. 1900-06); the Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington, England contains a collection of 140+ examples of the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, including vases, tiles, lamps, and mosaics

Spun Oval Base with Three-Leaf Turtleback Tile Ornament (ca. 1900-06) with Black-Eyed Susan Shade (ca. 1900-06); a new exhibit at the Museum that opened after my visit deals with the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Bell Lamp and Lotus Shade (ca. 1900-06); the Arlington Street Church in Boston has 16 Tiffany windows of a set of 20 but it was closed for renovations on my last visit

The Four Feet Base (ca. 1906-10) sold for $25 in 1906 while the Plain Squares, Turtleback Band Shade (ca. 1900-06) sold for $50; the geometric shapes required less labor so were less expensive than other Tiffany shades

Roman Base (ca. 1906-10) with Rose Shade (ca. 1910-13); Clara Driscoll was one of the highest-paid women of her time, earning $10,000 per year (the year is not mentioned but I assume this was close to when she left in 1909)

Grape Table Lamp (ca. 1901-03); the value of original Tiffany lamps can range from many thousands to more than a million dollars; the highest price ever paid for a Tiffany lamp was $3.4 million at a Christie’s auction in 2018

Magnolia Shade (ca. 1906-10); the jewel-like lamps made by Tiffany Studios are icons of early 20th century American design; Tiffany pioneered artistic lighting for the then-recent invention of incandescent light bulbs

This Gourd shade (ca. 1900-06) is one of only two in existence; the designer took artistic license in portraying flowers simultaneously with the fruits, and in showing several varieties of gourds in a single pattern

Fruit Shade (ca. 1900-06); unlike most of the shades produced by Tiffany Studios, this model has no pattern repeats in the design

Mushroom Base (ca. 1900-04) with Nasturtium Shade (ca. 1900-04); one area of the exhibit focused on Tiffany knock-offs and how to tell the difference between a real Tiffany product and the many fakes

Blown Glass in Metal Base (ca. 1900-02) with Poppy Shade (ca. 1900-06); this best-selling model remained in production into the 1920s, long after many other leaded shades had been discontinued

Cushion Base (ca. 1900-06) with Peony Shade (ca. 1900-04); for every shade model, Tiffany artisans created numbered brass templates corresponding to each glass segment

Tripod Base (ca. 1900) with Crown Shade (ca. 1910); in addition to the leaded shades that have become synonymous with the Tiffany name, the firm produced special orders in a wide variety of styles

Elaborate desk sets (like this Etched Metal and Glass model ca. 1900-06) were an important part of Tiffany Studios' production and were a favorite of the gift-buying public

Crutch Oval Base with Turtleback Tile Band (ca. 1900-06) with Daffodil and Narcissus Shade (ca. 1910-13); Tiffany is best known for leaded glass lamps, but it's interesting that Tiffany was most proud of his blown glass vases and leaded glass windows

Crutch Oval Base with Turtleneck Tile Base with Daffodil Shade (both ca. 1900-06); Tiffany won a gold medal with his stained glass windows The Four Seasons at the Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris

Claw Feet Library Base (ca. 1900-06) with Elizabethan Shade (ca.. 1910-13); in 1893, Tiffany built a new factory called the Stourbridge Glass Company, later called Tiffany Glass Furnaces, which was located in Corona, Queens

Venetian Desk Lamp (ca. 1906-08); Tiffany's big break came in 1882 when President Chester Arthur refused to move into the White House until it had been redecorated; he commissioned Tiffany to redecorate all of the State rooms