Before watching Germany outlast Argentina’s brave effort, and, in the presence of their own Queen of Europe, Angela Merkel, lift the world’s footballing crown, Joe and Claire & I visited Athens, an antique dilapidated gem of a town on the Hudson, currently hosting a piece art by Claire: her beautiful Rock Paper Scissors II, an assemblage of paper cranes (plus scissors, and the window representing rock). The exhibition’s theme is… roadkill.
The sweet old empty houses of Athens
Athens was once Hudson’s twin, opposite each other on the river, connected by ferries. The Rip van Winkle bridge was built and gave larger Hudson the edge, making of it the more glamorous (and tawdry) of the old twins. Little Athens is now the lovelier of the two, with once fine, modest main street buildings going to seed, elsewhere a slew of superb Victorian homes and an artistic community that is a true upstate treasure. Around America people wonder what upstate New York might consist of. At its best, it’s this.
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