Tom Faranda's Folly

Easter and Lent

September 30, 2025March 23, 2008 by Tom Faranda

Today we are going to the 10:45 Mass, and then over to the Gagnons to eat lots of food and drink a bit of wine. I thought this was a cool picture. Tom Faranda’s Folly: "Apostles Peter and John hurry to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection" Unfortunately it’s a little small – … Read more

“Apostles Peter and John hurry to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection”

September 28, 2025March 23, 2008 by Tom Faranda

That’s the title of this painting, done by Eugene Burnand in 1898. It’s on the current cover of the Jesuit weekly magazine, America.

Good Friday, “Return from Calvary”

September 30, 2025March 21, 2008 by Tom Faranda

My friend Laura put me on to this picture, very coincidentally, yesterday. It is by British artist Herbert Schmalz (1856-1935). You can just see Calvary in the upper right hand corner. This morning I will be doing the Pax Christi Stations of the Cross, going across midtown Manhattan.

A classic. Spitzer on cover of New York magazine

September 29, 2025March 20, 2008 by Tom Faranda

As Donald Luskin says on his blog, this has got to be the “Magazine cover of the year. … And it’s only March.”

The Last Supper – artwork and interpretation

September 30, 2025March 20, 2008 by Tom Faranda

Here’s the first of nine interesting interpretations of the Last Supper. Hit the link below the picture for the others – I especially like 2, 4, and 6. You have to read the note to #9 to figure it out! The Last Supper – 1 of 9 | Christianity Today

Fr. Eugene Keane

September 30, 2025March 20, 2008 by Tom Faranda

I just got an email that this priest had died. I knew him a little, and then Brigid and I had some very pleasant contact with him. Tim and his birth mother stayed in his home (it was below Kingston, NY) before Tim was born. I doubt if we had seen Fr. at all in … Read more

Tragic death in Croton

September 30, 2025March 19, 2008 by Tom Faranda

Yesterday morning there was a terribly sad and shocking accident at the Croton-Harmon railway station, as Theresa Fiorentino, the operator of the newstand in the station was struck and killed by an Amtrak train. Like everyone else who ever commuted to New York, I saw the lady all the time back when I was a … Read more

St. Patrick’s Day

September 30, 2025March 17, 2008 by Tom Faranda

I liberated this picture from the Althouse weblog. Here’s a feature in today’s Wall Street Journal that’s timely – New York and the Famine – WSJ.com On this St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland is peaceful and prosperous. The animosities of the past will have little bearing on the great parade that travels up Fifth Avenue … Read more

First hike of the season; up Sugarloaf Mountain

September 30, 2025March 17, 2008 by Tom Faranda

Last Friday morning we had our first hike up a hill. We made the 2 mile round trip up Sugarloaf, a couple of miles north of Cold Spring. Joe and I had gone up the 900 foot high “mountain” last May. Tom Faranda’s Folly: Tom and Joe’s Sunday climb up Sugarloaf

We decided it would be a relatively easy first hike of the spring, just to see how we’d go. It turned out well, with Karen Riner, her daughter Lauren (who’s graduating in a couple of months from Johns Hopkins with a BS in nursing), and first time walker-with-us (but otherwise experienced outdoors maven) Hallie Flanagan Wolfe. Lauren was along to get the average age of the group down … but it was still the wrong side of 50.

Again, Tom with four women. It’s a tough gig, but somebody’s got to do it.

Here’s Karen and Lauren. Or is it Lauren and Karen?

After walking uphill for only a few minutes, the Gang of Four decided they had too many layers on …

A serious crowd –

Here we are at the top, along with the Riner dog, Emi.

At this point, there was a interesting discussion between Hallie and Karen. karen is a fitness instructor, so Hallie asked her about how to do a proper push-up, and Karen asked hallie about composting…

Karen then demonstrated how to do a push-up – not the ladies variety from your knees, but the full-fledged masculine variety, with only your toes and hands touching the ground. She did a number of them, and Hallie then followed suit.

Here are some views from the top of Sugarloaf, taken by Karen. The first being the dead tree which is kind of the signature image from the top, ~~as well as Emi’s tongue~~, and then a view south down the Hudson. the large hill across the river is Storm King.