Free Museums This Weekend

Today's fotos are things I liked when walking down James Street this week. Except for the last, which is something I decidedly did not like. This first picture shows a couple of unusual features in that historic district: an open lot, with a lawn; and a spiral fire escape.

I got an email alert today from the Bank of America's "Museums on Us" website reminding me both that this is the free weekend in September and that schedules may be different from usual due to Labor Day:

This coming weekend get free general admission to over 100 museums nationwide with Museums on Us®. Just present your Bank of America ATM, credit or check card, along with your photo ID.

Click here to find the list of participating museums in your area, and to learn more about Museums on Us®.

Holiday schedules are in effect at some museums. Please check individual museum websites before your visit.

This is more like what you see in most of the James Street Commons Historic District, well-kept townhouses with refined container plantings. Yes, this is Newark, New Jersey. 'Urban hellhole'? I think not.

On the right side of the website is a dropdown menu for states, so you can find what museums participate. In NJ there are six cities (Cherry Hill, Hamilton, Jersey City, Montclair, Morristown, and, of course, Newark). In Newark, two institutions participate, the Newark Museum and Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art. Aljira, the Newark overview screen notes, is closed Sundays, which is actually very odd for a museum. Its Saturday hours are also only 11am-4pm. I'm a member of NuMu (at least till the end of this month, when I need to cough up another fifty bucks for the coming year), so don't need to use up a Museums on Us day for that. I tried to get to Aljira last month, but it was closed for an installation! I won't even try to go tomorrow unless I call first — (973) 622-1600 — to make sure they're open.

This part of a wall around a parking lot is relatively bare. See next picture for what it will probably look like in a very few years.

On Sunday I may try Grounds For Sculpture, a 35-acre sculpture garden in Hamilton Township, near Trenton (10am-6pm), and pop into Trenton to take pix of the State House and Old Barracks (at least from the outside; I'm not sure I want to spend $6 (senior rate, 62 or over) to see the inside, but since I'll have saved $10 at Grounds For Sculpture (their $8 senior rate applies to people 65 or over, and I won't qualify until later this year), I might splurge and see the inside of the Old Barracks. That's only the equivalent of buying two large McDonald's shakes, and I can save some calories by redirecting six bucks.

There are other participating institutions in NJ, and in NYC, Philly, and farther afield. The weather is supposed to be beautiful both days of the weekend ("Museums on Us" is only Saturday and Sunday, even on a three-day weekend), so if I feel really energetic and adventurous, I might just drive to Winterthur in Delaware, before the weather turns grim. Mapquest suggests it would be a 4½ hour roundtrip and cost about $25 in gas. Got to think about this.

I have begun investigating the practicality of moving to Cuernavaca, Mexico ("City of Eternal Spring", 72° year-round) if I decide that, no matter how much I love Newark, I can't stand another winter with its discomfort, danger (to someone with bad knees), and expense. I've had 64 winters. 65 or 66 might just be too many.

Should I move to warmer climes, I would like to pass the baton to a younger and/or sounder person who will remain in Newark. So think about that. I may well not go, but if I do, would you like to carry on the "Newark USA" fotoblog?

I saw these and other Corzine signs in Washington Park when I went to check out the Wednesday farmer's market. (I arrived as things were being shut down, so must get there earlier next week.) Someone was overzealous, and should be corrected by the Corzine campaign. You can't put partisan political signs in a public park!