Jarvis House Gallery is now Open

The Jarvis House Gallery of Long Island Art & Collectibles is now open!

Right behind the Jarvis House, is an old barn that was moved almost thirty years ago, saved from wreckers, who were sub-dividing a property,  just a few streets from Park Avenue.

Finally after a lot of work, finishing the interior rooms, arranging the smalls and the garden accessories,

adjusting pictures that are hanging on the  Walker Display System, of Duluth, MN,

 trying to group items in an interesting way,

arranging the Delano Studios of Setauket, L.I., commemorative plates on a ledge that stretches from wall to wall,

tucking baskets of antique hardware under the ledges,

putting brass desk items on a blotter,

lining up the "old salts" and a Hopi Kachina

it is time to wander down the driveway, look at the heritage plantings of the Jarvis Garden,

see the Azaleas,

the boarders of Hostas,

see the colors,

rest on a bench in the shade,

see specimen plantings,

and unusual shrubs.

Jarvis House Gallery is open, fun and across the street from The Cinema Arts Centre, which shows Independent and Avant-Garde films.  Make a day of it.  E-mail for appointments or by chance in good weather.  Cheers.

Tax Day Tea Party Hauppauge 04.15.10

Sometimes you have to take a stand if you have an opinion.   This is a cornerstone of the First Ammendment right, part of the Bill of Rights as defined by the U.S. Constitution.  Click on highlighted words for more information.

This is what happened in Hauppauge, Long Island on tax day, April 15, 2010.

Groups of people came together in a grass roots  " Tea Party" styled movement on the slopes of the H. Lee Dennison Center, a Suffolk County complex of executive office buildings,

which also is the site of many memorials to U.S. veterans.

There were about 3,000 participants who listened to a few short speeches, said the pledge of allegiance, sang patriotic songs, and carried American flags, including the yellow Gadsen flag, and posters expressing their opinion regarding recent political events.

On the podium is Steven Flanagan organizer of the rally and head of the Conservative Society for Action.

Groups of people stood on the Veterans Memorial Highway with banners, flags, bells,  and patriotic costumes, receiving "thumbs up", cheers and agreement from drivers and passengers in cars as they streamed by on the way home from work. 

The rally message was about holding up the values of the Constitution, limited government as outlined by the Constitution,

and the increasing debt and taxes.

Frustration, and with a feeling of not being heard or represented fairly, caused people to speak out and assemble legally and in an orderly manner. 

People listened.

Some made dramatic statements.

Some wanted to clarify who they were.

The people  wanted their thoughts and views to be heard, and they did it in a respectful way.   I carried a sign that read:
Who am I?
a granddaughter of legal immigrants that came through Ellis Island
daughter of WWII army Veteran 101st airborne division
retired professional
mother of two
taxpayer since 1966 when I was 19
independent thinker and voter in every election

The whole time I was there I thought about my "blue collar" dad & mom who raised and paid college tuitions for four professionals, and believed in" no loans."

The reverse side of my sign said, " I have no debt, I don't want yours."
and "Patriotic American Woman."

There are many videos on YouTube.  Type in Tea Party Hauppauge, April 15, 2010.

Jarvis House Daffodils are Blooming

These have been around the garden for years.  They come out mid April and have a center that is pinkish and becomes more pink a the flowers age.

A daffodil that I purchased over 35 years ago when I  first moved into the Jarvis House has proved to be very prolific.  Over the years I have dug up these bulbs and separated them many times.  They are always a pleasure to see.

A  small multiple flower with a long stem.

 

This daffodil  has a very large and flat yellow cup and pale white perianth.

 

This flowers with a deep yellow cup that has an orange edge, with a white perianth.

 

The largest daffodil that has two colors came from a catalog many years ago.  It is almost as large as the King Alfred, which is also in the garden, and I have divided these with a lot of success.  The are striking in an  arrangement.

 

The cup of  this bloom is deep orange and is flat with a ruffled edge.

A very old variety is the Pheasant's Eye.  This beauty came with  my house.  I have transplanted and divided it too over the years.  The flower is flat with the tiniest cup and a long stem. 

This photo shows a medium bi-color daffodil and one that I call "Shaggy."

 

 This daffodil has a pale yellow cup that gest lighter as it approaches the peiranth. It really is one of the most beautiful blooms.

The perianth is recurved on this white medium bloom.  It looks like a shooting star.

 Over time, the blooms get mixed up as I dig them up and replant them.  Sometimes it works, but not always dur to the size of the stems.  I try to plant the short mini daffodils, like tet-a-tet, near the front of the boarders and the larger varieties towards the back.  

 

Dogtooth Violets are a faithful companion plant, and come up each year.  You can divide these too.  They look delicate, but don't be afraid to dig them up and replant.

 

Sweet Woodruff is a ground cover that makes a great companion plant and spreads easily, but doesnot get annoying.  It has the smallest white flowers.

A mini variety of Sedum comes out at the same time as bulbs and looks like small green roses.  Later in the season they produce small clumps of yellow flowers.

If you take a screwdriver or dibble or any pointed stick or pencil, make holes in soil after a rain and stick the stems of Sweet Woodruff and sedum and pinch the soil back, they will take easily.

Mural Goes up in Huntington for Vets & Leonard R. Totora Jr.

This is just a small portion of a series of murals that are being painted, refined, and repainted at the former Exxon - Mobil gas station in Huntington, Long Island, NY,  located on 26A & Park Avenue.

Erich Preis, a local muralist and friend of the late Lenny Tortura Jr., was approached by Dominic Mavellia, the property owner, to enhance the exterior.

 Jane Spalholz, a friend of Erich's, and a presidential portrait painter took on the job of rendering George Washington and his horse.

I wandered over to the gas station to see what Erich was doing, during March, and asked if I could help out since I live in the neighborhood.

Mural painting was not something that I was comfortable with so I asked if I could work on the background figures and trees.

I painted a group on the right side of the large  "Lenny Parade" mural.  Still I was very stiff, but getting more comfortable.

Erich, on the other hand, was excellent with large compositions and went to town each day alternating between two murals, "Waving Lenny" and "Parade Lenny."

The man had a vision, and Jane come on board to paint Washington.

We needed this portrait to represent the historic event which probably occurred on the gas station property.  On April 23, 1790, George Washington did a Victory Tour of Long Island.  He made a loop over the course of three days going out as far as Stetauket, stopping in Smithtown and later on his was to Oyster Bay, had lunch in the Widow Platt's Tavern, here in Huntington.  The tavern's location  was in the next property, where the Park Avenue Deli stands, but there were barns on the gas station property.

Since Washington traveled with a carriage and horses, they were most likely tethered there.  3000 people, everyone who lived in the town, came out to see "the great man."  Washington gave a short speech to the crowd.

 Now Erich was really rolling, and said that we needed a picture of the Huntington Harbor Lighthouse.  Here he is making a grid in order to enlarge a photo of the lighthouse.

This was more my forte, so I asked him if I could do this mural.

The first day.

I worked on the rocks, but the top didn't seem right, so following Erich' lead, and I repainted it.

 When you work on a mural of this size, you have to go up and down a ladder many, many times.  We also used a scaffold, but there was only one and we used it for other parts of the project.  The ladder was my father's, who was a house painter.  It had a nice resting place for the paints which made trips up and down a lot fewer!

Erich went to town painting beyond the wooden panels, and onto the bricks.

News12 came to interview Erich about the murals and about the building in Copiague, which is intended to help shelter homeless veterans. Here Ken  Grimball, speaks with Erich.

Joshua Toor, son of the Newsday writer Joye Brown, came to help out, after school.

He started off with me, but quickly claimed the right corner of the Parade mural for himself, working on the buildings and a new group of parade goers.

Each day, Erich would show up and add some new element or repaint something. I tried to keep up with recording the progress with my digital camera.

One day a young man who had just come home from Iraq, stood in front of the murals and cried.  The next thing Erich did was to represent different eras of veterans on the murals.

He was well on to the bricks.

The morning that I saw this painting of a Viet Nam soldier, memories of the conflict came flooding back.  Several of my friends were in that conflict.

He wanted to represent all races, genders, and eras of American patriots in the murals

Erich asked the firemen to hang a large American flag over George.

Things were really interesting on the corner!

A Syracuse art student volunteered for a day, during her spring break.

Jane repainted George's face until she was satisfied.

Flags appeared, and flowers while posters in support of Veterans were posted.

He added more details in the Waving Lenny mural.

An environmental company showed up sent by Exxon Mobil to test the soil.

Lenny's face was repainted by Jane.  And each day something else happened.

"In God we trust." The flag and the hands were corrected.

With Erich Preis' vision this turned into

this

and this

and this