Monday, April 17, 2023

Philadelphia Zoo (4/16/2023)

Sunday, April 16, 2023
With the visit of Kyle, Katrina, and Adaline, it was a good time to visit the Philadelphia Zoo. Considered the first zoo in America, it was chartered in 1859, but the opening was delayed until 1874 due to the Civil War.
Brynne, Kent, Adaline in stroller, Kyle and Katrina at
the Philadelphia Zoo entrance (c 1874, by Frank Furness)
The Ghostbusters were making sure the zoo was free of spirits
The Pachyderm House (1941, by
Paul Philippe Cret) no longer houses elephants
The Philadelphia Zoo was the first to create Zoo360, an
animal exploration trail experience allowing zoo residents
to roam mostly above the zoo in see-through mesh pathways:
here on the left are goats and on the right is a trail for humans
Primate pathway
Mother Lioness Carrying to Her Young a Wild Boar
(1880, by Auguste Nicholas Cain) 
Adaline can see the
Panthera tigris altaica/Amur Tiger
Adaline and Katrina sit on the Blue Gorilla (c 2022 in the
style of Don Kennell) who is made with salvaged car hoods
The young Gorilla gorilla gorilla/
Western Lowland Gorilla seems bored
Adaline and Kyle watch a
Melursus ursinus/Sloth Bear sleep
At the Rocky Run YMCA, we noticed
that a slide was installed upside-down
and backwards (note the "feet" at the
bottom of the green slide)
Adaline thought her mom, Katrina, made the
Bouncy Bee too bouncy at first
Kyle and Adaline on a slide
Adaline was soon doing the slides by herself
Whoa!
The jigsaw puzzle after Day 1

Monday, April 17, 2023
Kyle and Adaline on slides at Concord
Township's Kids Dream Playground
Katrina, Adaline, and Kent
Katrina and Adaline
Adaline peeks out at Kyle
The jigsaw puzzle on Day 2!
Thanks to Kyle and Katrina for bringing Adaline to us for a wonderful visit!

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Bundy Museum of History and Art (4/11/2023)

Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Binghamton, NY is home of the Bundy Museum of History and Art located in a complex at 127-133 Main Street.
We started our tour at 133 Main Street (1965) with
Admissions and the Gift Shop 
At 131 Main Street is a two-flat Queen Anne that
produces rental income
The Harlow E Bundy House (1892, by Elfred Hull Bartoo
in Queen Anne style), at 129 Main Street, features
original woodwork, stained glass, and furniture and
décor of the period, where we had a guided tour
Harlow Bundy and his brother, jeweler and inventor Willard L Bundy, began a company in 1889 to manufacture time recording clocks. By 1900 they merged with two other companies to form the International Time Recording Company (ITR). In 1906, Harlow Bundy moved operations to Endicott, NY. In 1911, another merger created the new Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) holding company with Harlow Bundy as vice-president. CTR was renamed the International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924.
The Parlor
The Dining Room
The Dining Room fireplace;
all the fireplaces are original
Bundy Memorial Table (1907, by Tiffany), a
communion table donated by Willard Bundy to
South Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, who donated
the table to the museum when they closed in 2006
Bundy Memorial Table detail
Note the gingerbread fretwork in the doorway
A Tiffany chandelier in the Front Hall,
and the stained glass of the front door
The Front Hall walls were lined with Lincrusta, a
deeply embossed wallcovering, made from a paste of
gelled linseed oil and wood flour spread onto a paper base,
which is then rolled between steel rollers, one of
which has a pattern embossed upon it
The Grand Staircase
Stained glass windows of the Grand Staircase
The room for the two daughters in the round turret
The Master Bedroom is wallpapered,
and the ceiling is painted in period style
The Master Bedroom fireplace
Art Deco-like light fixture on the third floor,
which is now used as an art gallery
The Whispering Gallery is
in the top of the turret
The Anna Palmer House (1889, by
Audley Reynolds) houses administration
and produces rental income
The Carriage House and Annex (viewed from rear
in order to see the carriage house) was our next stop
A reproduction of the Bundy Manufacturing Company
booth at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago
Bundy Key Recorders (on left c 1897-1900,
and on right c 1891-1893) where each
employee had a key to clock in and out of work
ITR Card Attendance Recorder (c 1907)
IBM "International" Weight-driven
Master Clock (c 1941)
Top: ITR Job Cost Recorder (c 1922), and
below: IBM "International" Trigger Trip
Job Time Recorder (c 1946)
Dial Recorder (by Dey Time Register
Company that was bought out by ITR),
where each employee was assigned a
button on the outer ring and used the ball
on the moveable handle to push his
particular spot to register his time in and out
Burrough's Adding Machine (c 1892-1920), which
out-competed Harlow Bundy's adding machine of 1905
Also in the Annex was the Rod Serling Archive,
with props from the television series The Twilight Zone
Rod Serling was born in Syracuse, NY, and his family moved to Binghamton when he was two-years old. He graduated from Binghamton High School in 1943, then entered the United States Army and served in the Pacific Theater. After recovering from his wounds, he attended Antioch College in Ohio and became active in the campus radio station. His career started with writing radio program scripts, and moved on to writing television scripts. He is best known for creating and producing The Twilight Zone. Serling won five Emmys, one of which was for The Twilight Zone.
This is the same model of Royal typewriter used by Rod Serling
A replica Dummy like that used by
Cliff Robertson as a ventriloquist
in Episode 98 of The Twilight Zone
Dictaphone that belonged to Rod Serling; he would
dictate his scripts to be typed by a secretary
Also in the Annex was the vintage 1930s
barbershop that once stood across the
street from the IBM facility in Endicott, NY
A mural (2021, by @greig3865)
of Rod Serling outside the Annex
Our last stop on the Bundy Museum campus
was at 32 Cedar Street, home of
Binghamton Photo, with a community
darkroom and gallery space
The photo exhibit by Eli Foote was titled Play Well,
which is the meaning of the Danish words leg godt,
from which the name Lego was created
One room had a display of camera equipment, most
of which came from the Anthony & Scovill Company
or ANSCO, based in Binghamton, NY
An Eastman 16mm sound telecine projector
Meanwhile we were listening to the WBDY local
community radio station broadcasting from upstairs
Time to head home!