Mystic at Dusk

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American Dreaming in the Gloaming

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

In the gloaming is a beautiful time to dream dreams of what you want to accomplish with your life. Mystic has a picturesque dusk (picturesque everything). I'm blessed to be here while I work on my American Dreams.

Ship's masts silhouetted against the sky…not many places where you can see that.

This painter is capturing the scene.

Same ship, a little later, different angle.

The largest white blob of light, right in the middle of the photo, is a light over the painter's easel. He wasn't going to let darkness stop him.

On another recent evening, the sun kissed just the spire of the Union Baptist Church.

A selfie at the famous Mystic Pizza, where the movie with Julia Roberts was filmed.

A fog rolled in. Here's the gloaming, giving the fog a blue cast. Lights barely seen on the opposite shore.

The most gorgeous lines on this catboat, tied up at a private pier.

You can see the superstructure of the famous Mystic Drawbridge, one of the few bridges of its kind, silhouetted against the blue foggy.

Now for some miscellaneous Mystic pics.  Here's a sight not many people see: a 3-masted ship passing through Mystic Drawbridge (to the right, behind the red brick building), while the traffic waits on Route 1--the same Route 1 that goes from Maine to the Florida Keys.

I just like the colors of the hull…and the lines on this boat.

An historic Mystic cottage adorned with spring blooms.

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American Dreams, and How the .1% Live

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Peapack-Gladstone: Horse Country, Fox and Hounds Country, Gatsby Country

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

I went to Mansions in May, led by volunteers for Morristown Memorial Hospital. The mansion, Blairston, is in Peapack, NJ, and has 26 rooms, plus four "indoor/outdoor" rooms, each one decorated to the hilt by top interior designers. I was dreaming dreams of writing a book like The Great Gatsby (meaning critical and popular success), because the son of a 19th-century railroad baron/Gatsby built the place and now that the Blair family lost its fortune, a modern-day Gatsby owns it. I asked how he made his fortune, but nobody knew. He will be deciding whether or not to keep times like the two Baccarat chandeliers on loan in the living room, priced at $250,000 each.

The reflecting pool, statues of stags, busts of Roman emperors lining the walk to the house…Get it? This place is meant to shock and awe your friends.

This is my friend Susan, smart, insightful, and fun!

As we left, Susan suggested that I take a walk on a country road nearby. She told me how to find the road. It turned out it was a dirt road. The ultra-rich pave their driveways but not their roads! They're shrewd. Susan told me about a friend of hers who runs a cattle-lending business. People on these big estates rent cattle from him, and he goes around to their places and takes care of the cows. The ultra-rich get a tax write-off, as if they were farmers, and Susan's friend gets to make a living without being in a cubicle.

Anyway, as I walked down this dirt road, with mansions hidden behind gates, and hedgerows of brambles, and trees, I saw a sign for Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve and Raritan Headwaters Association. So I started down the driveway.

The air was fantastic, lightly perfumed with the scent meadow grass basking in sunshine and wild blooming things. Birds sang in trees or swooped across the road. Far away, someone started up a tractor.

First, let's set your expectations. This is the kind of house you might see from the dirt road I walked on.

Or something like this, a huge McMansion for the nouveau riche. 

Well, here's the gates to Fairvew Farm (sorry the photo's tilted, I took it while driving past). Where does this enticing driveway lead? (I knew it was public before walking down it.)

The first 100 yards or so.

The second 100 yards or so.

The third 100 yards or so.

Are we 1/2 mile along yet? 

More to go...

A meadow along the way.

Another couple hundred yards.

At last, a sign of humans -- a bridge!

Here's what you get.

Beyond the white house was a classroom barn for a kids' nature camp.

A butterfly garden.

The classroom barn.

Inside the garden,

and the other side.

Here's the back of the farmhouse.

A place to sit and watch the birdfeeders. Then I had to walk all the way back...

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New York Public Library II - Rose Reading Room

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American Dreams of Having One of My Stories on the Shelves

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

You know that I'm passionate about the Map Room, but I decided to try something new today. I'm in the Rose Main Reading Room on the third floor. It's one of the largest uninterrupted interior spaces in the city--almost as long as a football field. 

Three kinds of heads, including a sleepyhead, at my table.

The people behind me to one side.

The people behind me to the other side. Past the glare of the windows, you can see skyscrapers lurking on the edges of Bryant Park, behind the library.

The fantastic ceiling, and most important, the cutie directly across from me. When my flash went off inadvertently, he scowled, I said sorry, and he didn't rip the camera from my hand. A nice New Yorker!

Each spot at the big tables is numbered. The catalog says there's room for 636 readers, but obviously that's not true. You can see the laptop that's responsible for this blog. 

Two people talking quietly. It's quite quiet in here. You can work but feel like you have company.

Dreams of Being Published at New York Public Library

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American Dreams in an Auspicious Place

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

On a recent visit to the New York Public Library, I approached it by walking on East 41st Street, which is NYC's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Stars. Many plaques with quotes from great writers are embedded in the sidewalk. This is my favorite, the one I'm keeping in mind while I write a book about my journey around America (see blog posts from September 2011 - February 2012).

This is by Virginia Woolf. If you haven't read her, please do! Especially "Mrs. Dalloway."

Here it is!

Not too shabby for a front door, no?

A cafe under one of the staircases. On the walls of the gift shop, people wrote the names of the books they were currently reading:

Excellent book!

Love the title! I want to read it. Also on the walls, sayings:

Then I went into the Map Room because it's beautiful, it has free wifi, and it's a great place to work.

It's actually "The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division." Step inside and look up.

Pretty fabulous, huh?

Look at the corners, where all the patterns come together.

A detail of the ceiling above one of the windows.

But the Map Room doesn't take itself too seriously.  Among its collection of priceless maps are these -- a child's globe and a bouncing rubber ball.

See why I like to be here? The world at your fingertips…

Do you ever go the New York Public Library? Or your town library? What's your favorite place to sit? Comment below, and tell a friend about this blog!