Detroit continues to surprise me. I heard so much negativity about this city, and honestly
I don't get it. There is such richness here - in greenlands and dynamic architecture, both old and new, in talent (not counting the Detroit Lions football team), culture, and history. Today
Karen and I visited the estate of Edsel Ford, the only son of Henry Ford. A genius auto designer like his father, Edsel ran Ford Motor Company until his untimely death in 1943. The estate is in Grosse Point Shores, fronting Lake St. Clair, not too far from Detroit City. Edsel and his wife built this huge stone estate in the late 1920's in sort of a Versailles fashion - a mansion filled with English and French treasures and elegance, on a huge gardened estate. I have to mention this - the cook tables in the kitchen looked like they are stainless steal - but they were actually huge sheets of genuine silver, and all the faucets in the Master Bath were made out of gold. The first picture is of the pond below their master bedroom - and the picture below is of the estate.
Edsel Ford died in 1943 and
his wife Eleanor left it as is, as a national treasure when she died in 1975.
Oh, before we went to the Ford estate we visited another historical spot - the Fisher estate, which was built in the late 1800's. In the 70's it was donated to the Hari Krishna people and is now in terrible disrepair. Once inside the entrance room stacked boxes, crummy tables of books and a wall full of pictures of serious looking Hindus. This led to the main hall with all sorts of colorful devotional deities and Krishna whatnot. (Sorry - Krishna is cool, but all the colorful hoopla is a bit over-the-top for me) While devotee's were in the main hall busy chanting the Hari Hari thing, we got to wondering off in the back halls, viewing some of the wonderful original 19th century paintings and tile work - the background to more contemporary Hindu sculptures like the one below.
After Edsel Ford we visited Karen's friend Pio, who was the head trainer for
the Detroit Tigers baseball team for 15 years. I've been suffering from a torn rotator cuff muscle for several months. Pio diagnosed me and gave instructions for a muscle building program to help heal it. He was a crusty old Italian character - and meetings like this, for me, are priceless.
I have to mention the night before. Karen took me into downtown Detroit. Below is a picture I took of the GM corporate headquarters in downtown, and another picture of a statue overlooking the Detroit River. We ate dinner at a classic (and real) Greek restaurant in the Greek section (which is unfortunately being overrun by casino's). The food was to die for. Our Greek waiter had been there forever - and even remembered Karen when she ate there in the late 70's. This is truly feeding my heart and soul.
Tonight we went to a free jazz concert in the Arab/American Museum concert hall. The audience was about 98% African American - and the musicians were just incredible. I loved
seeing the old black women with their arms raised, rocking in their seats. So rich! I was planning to leave Detroit tomorrow, but there are so many things I still want to see. Like the Detroit Institute of Art. It's lobby has a huge mural by one of my favorite artists, Diego Rivera. There are Van Gogh's and Dega's and originals of many of the reproductions of famous 15th century + artists in the Ford mansion. I'm sticking around until Monday.
I will begin posting the Introduction and first chapters of my Shambala novel soon. Stay tuned.
Many blessings, Dakan
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