tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25644495965331776512024-03-08T00:57:04.175-08:00New York City Street ScenesLooking at the natural and softer side of New York City. From the nature trails of Van Cortlandt Park to sunset walks along the Hudson River, New York can be a surpassingly serene place to visit. Quiet thoughtful walks through America's finest museums offer a break from the pace of New York City. Here you will find those cultural advantages and and the most celebrated outdoor spaces of New York city presented for your viewing pleasure.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-49243717892945637292012-05-19T22:27:00.000-07:002012-05-19T22:27:05.730-07:00Photos from a Sunday Walk in the CityFirst things first. You should know that I'm not a fan of blog sized photos. Clicking on any one of these little pictures will open a better and larger photo in a new window. I like to try and share the big picture so try a few clicks and enjoy the better view.
This is more a Greenwich Village guide and another of my walks on The High Line than a photo diary. On a visit to New York you could use this Sunday Odyssey as a tour guide. This is not my first time documenting one of my random neighborhood Sunday walks and it is far less about photography then it seems. These walks are about meeting and greeting some of the other people who live in my city and about learning the back stories of many neighborhoods where I don't actually live. The text winds up becoming a little city sociology, some neighborhood history and a lot of trivia.
I like to think of my photos as "Street Photography" without the edge but it's the walking that I enjoy most. Below, besides the fun text, you will find close to 100 pictures from a one day meander. Images of the softer side on New York City from a perfect day for a walk around town. Some of the photos are pretty good, some less so but it is a chronological walk. Some of the stories are pretty good, some less so but the pictures needed a little flavor.
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The visual point of this diary is suppose to be about the shadows of leaves on trees. It is that time of year, the flower pots have had their moment in the sun and then suddenly the trees on the city streets leaf out to interact with the rich earthiness of Greenwich Village.
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My walks are almost always longer that just one neighborhood. My Sunday story began on 11th Avenue at the 14th Street Park. "Few see it. Fewer chase it. What's Your Wild Rabbit?
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Even the Chelsea Market is quiet on Sunday morning.
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I wonder if this food shopping plaza was as quiet on Sunday mornings back in the day when the same building housed the factory that made Oreo cookies for a hungry nation.
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Here's a Chelsea view from mid-April, West 22nd Street and 10th Avenue with just a smidgen of the High Line in the background. <a href="http://www.isack-art.com/" target="_blank">Isack Kousnsky</a> is the name of the artist who sells his large photograph on the Chelsea sidewalks. Me, I just draw much eclat from a little street scene perspective and some empty chairs.
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Even the High Line Park, New York City's newest daytime plaything, seems almost too quiet on a Sunday morning.
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Almost like going to church.
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The High Line was so empty that I finally found time for a little nature study of New York's garden in the sky.
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From the southernmost point of the High Line, the view of Gansevoort Street before the party gets started. This "slightly surreal" meat packing strip has seen even more gentrification since the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/magazine/one-street-at-a-time-gansevoort-street.html">2001 NYT story about Gansevoort Street</a> but there was a memorable line <b>"It is now at least theoretically possible to see someone in Manolo Blahnik pumps step over an overlooked pork chop, en route to dinner in a good restaurant."</b>
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Apparently Manolo Blahnik pumps are a big deal here. Telling other people how to live their lives, not so much.
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Any MiB fans? <b>"You can kill us both but you will never find the galaxy."</b> The exterior can still be found at 69 Gansevoort Street but not the once famous perogies. Maybe designer perogies, who knows?
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The photo below is of a building on 14th Street that marks a transition between two worlds. If you look at the top floor window in the corner thinking of the note that ended with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP-Ih1ENGn4">"I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been,"</a> you might think of a two world inspiration that artist like Stephen Daldry and David Hare embraced.
Hardly noticed now in a skyscraper world, this miniature Flatiron that guards Gansevoort Square from a northern invasion, dates back to before the Civil War and has long been called "The Triangle." I can almost imagine horse drawn carriages standing outside the company that built this triangle of red bricks and windows. Long before the butchers took over the neighborhood this building housed a factory for the Herring Safe & Lock Company.
The two world transition that this building has long marked for me is the separation between the natural order of things streets below 14th Street and the efficiency of city planner's vision of endless rectangles above. As you probably already know, by the time city planners got around to designing the perfect city, the streets below 14th on the West Side had already become too established to fit into their plans. Today you can walk the length of 14th Street and there are few indications that the city grid does not go below. The Triangle offers a view of a city that "Stops Making Sense" for uptowners and a gateway to beauty for the neighborhood residents.
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I can only imagine Gansvoort Square before my time but I do go back to a time when the building was surrounded by men in bloody aprons. I go back to a time when <a href="http://www.doscaminos.com/">Dos Caminos</a> was J's Hangout and the pedestrian traffic was dominated by leather clad cowboys. I remember when a staircase in that building was marked by a sign that claimed “Abandon Hope All Who Enter Here” Those stairs led down to the dungeons of the Hellfire Club. It was once a place where people would go to be tortured, but just for the fun of it. Many years have passed since the city's Health Department padlocked the doors of both establishments for the safety of New Yorkers. The only visual evidence I can find of the club's existence now is in the 1992 thriller <a href="http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/12/swf-at-hellfire.html">"Single White Female."</a> I remember the graffiti and the oil cans filled with beef fat that would stink up the cobblestone streets. Truth is, the only reason I recall any of those things fondly is because I was much younger then.
The more recent sexual history of the Triangle may have inspired a few movie directors. Many scenes from the 1980 movie <i>Cruising</i> where shot there. In 1987 Glen Close's <i>Fatal Attraction</i> character lived in an apartment on the 9th Avenue side. But if ever you should see this building, don't think of that short term effect the Triangle has had. Look at that top window in the corner and think of a transition between two worlds, think of <a href="http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91md/" target="_blank">a great book</a> that inspired <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hours_%28film%29" target="_blank">a great movie.</a> Recall the words "Like that morning, when you walked out of that old house and you were, you were eighteen, and maybe I was nineteen. I was nineteen years old, and I'd never seen anything so beautiful. You, coming out of a glass door in your early morning, still sleepy. Isn't it strange, the most ordinary morning in anybody's life? I'm afraid I can't make it to the party, Clarissa. You've been so good to me, Mrs. Dalloway, I love you. I don't think two people could have been happier than we've been." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWZapP8b11s">Think of the human imagination moving Virginia Wolf into that top floor apartment.</a>
Now that the meatpacking has ended in Gansvoort and there is no longer the slightest chance of someone busting their Manolo Blahnik pumps on an overlooked pork chop I guess I have witnessed a few changes. That neighborhood no longer cuts the meat for the city but you can still find a tasty burger in the Triangle.
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The Triangle also guards Greenwich Village from the northern grid addicts. As a photographer I pick the West Village as my favorite walkabout. Often you will think you are going somewhere but find yourself walking in circles. Just like Gansvoort Square this neighborhood has a long history, once the upscale suburb of New York City, you can find expensive apartments that were once made a fine home for horse and buggy.
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The corner of Greenwich and Horatio Street. I've sort of got an Edward Hopper thing going on here.
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It's all a matter of perspective.
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The neighborhood dogs like to get out and about early. Usually they take a few humans with them too.
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Moving right along.
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Some photographers prefer the grittiness and graffiti of the East Village. I greatly appreciate a good East Village walk but I'm drawn to the red brick and wrought iron views in the West. A Sunday doorway on Jane Street.
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While the East Village did eventually conform to the city grid system and now stands as a testament to liberal urban renewal, the clean earth tones and pristine twisting streets on the Hudson River side of the Village just seems more relaxing on a Sunday morning.
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Here's at 22 Eight Avenue you can find a Greenwich Village gem. Far from unique in New York, actually only makes tenth place in <a href="http://ny.racked.com/archives/2012/03/13/your_guide_to_manhattans_best_international_newsstands.php">Your Guide to Manhattan's Best International Newsstands,</a> but the welcome you receive at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/casa-magazines-new-york">Casa Magazine</a> makes it obvious that the name is derived from "Mi casa es su casa." This is not a place for the claustrophobic but a place where you can really enjoy browsing magazines from all over the world in a tiny tight triangle. The magazines are packed so tight that you can never seem to get one to go back on the shelves. I find that a half hour browse of photography magazines in languages I don't understand sparks the imagination and greatly improves my day.
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On Sunday morning I didn't wind up lugging around a $15.99 copy of <a href="http://www.lfi-online.de/ceemes/">LFI</a> for the rest of the day but I went back.
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Just across the street, another store to spark the imagination.
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Sometimes I get too proud of photos that have no meaning, just graphic views that I find pleasing to the eye.
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Sometimes the pictures have meaning for me, like this barber shop that reminds me of being eight years old.
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More red brick and wrought iron with some mystery party going on behind the wall.
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This brings back fond memories. A young lady sitting on the fire escape reading a book.
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More fond memories, young lovers sitting on the stoop and planning their day.
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The photo below represents my most favorite of happy accidents from my Sunday walking adventures. These walks are solo acts, I could never take decent photos were I walking with a friend. I like to think of these walks as possessing a bit of Colin Fletcher but the highlights are the interactions. The couple above I walked up to them and began a conversation with "That will be my photo of the day. After showing them the shots on the screen we had a conversation about the tree leaves and then they told me their plans for the rest of the day. These pleasant conversations usually end with me thinking of an expression from <i>Fight Club,</i> "single serving friends."
I rarely spend much time looking through the viewfinder and experience very few accidental captures but trying to make architecture appear to be standing up straight is very time consuming for me. Often someone walks into the photo just at the instant that I'm satisfied with the building. The young lady below was not suppose to be in the photo and I thought it would be a wasted click. But sometimes those photos are more fun that the ones I'd planned. This time, I looked at this young lady and said "Got Ya!" in a comical aggressive fashion, drew a smile and then went home to find out on the big computer screen that I captured a beautiful woman walking down a blue slate Greenwich Village street and whistling while she walked. I like this photo.
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Finally I find where everyone in the West Village has gone on this Sunday morning, a popular place for brunch.
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Must be the name, <a href="http://extravirginrestaurant.com/#/home">Extra Virgin.</a>
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Friends? Well I never got around to introducing myself to the lady on this stoop but in the background, the building behind the bishop's crook lamp post, that was the building that most of the cast from <i>Friends</i> supposedly lived in for all the years that show was on the air.
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On the opposite corner of Charles and West 4th Street, it's not Central Perks but there is a Taxi for hire.
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The corner of Seventh Avenue South and Grove Street.
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I don't know many photo buffs who can turn down a snap of this Sheridan Square view.
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Need a Seventh Avenue Psychic Reading? Just stop in and see Clair Voyant.
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The next Seventh Avenue South photo is not from Sunday. I tried on Sunday but I just can't seem to capture this view again. Still this New York City street scene is worth seeing again. You can find just about anything in New York but you have certain expectations when viewing architecture and this one dosen't fit. This Mediterranean style home that is behind a wall which seems so out of place for the open New Amsterdam tradition, it just takes me to other places that are far away. I also wonder what is going on behind that wall.
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This view is also not from Sunday but I didn't get a second crack at this one. This Chinese restaurant on Seventh and Bleecker is out of business now. I've never shown this photo before but now it seems to have more value.
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Here's some Bleecker Street Asian that still seems to be thriving. <a href="http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/desperately-seeking-susan-script-transcript.html">"Now you have these Sushi restaurants. Everyone goes to sushi. Sushi I hate the stuff. Although I tell ya, I had some the other day, I took it home, I cooked it, it wasn't bad. It tasted like fish."</a>
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Do you remember music that you could touch? Didn't stop in this time, burning daylight and only one park on these Sunday excursions just dosen't cut it.
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Already past noon and the Downing Street Playground seems deserted.
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10 Downing Street, just because I heard that they have lost their lease.
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Still truckin' and I've made it to Sixth Avenue. Here's a mellow view of Avignone.
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Or perhaps you prefer an old world chemist.
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Old time apothecaries are a wonderful place to remember times gone by.
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Here's a Sixth Avenue blast from my past. Sadly the Shalom Amigo Travel Agency is long gone but the Washington Square Restaurant that is next door has not changed since I was a boy.
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The Waverly Diner also seems frozen in time.
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I made it to Washington Square Park! Through the arch is Fifth Avenue, the street that separates east from west in New York City, also know as 'the most expensive street in the world' but the real money is up top in the penthouses.
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Here's a rather prestigious address. The last time I checked Will Smith was living there as the last surviving New Yorker and having trouble keeping the zombies out of the living room. Need a little <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55s3T7VRQSc" target="_blank"><i>I Am Legend</i> mood music?</a>
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No sign of zombies now.
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There's a tap dance contest over here.
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A jazz concert over there.
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And William MacLeod, he is very friendly with the pigeons of Washington Square Park.
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But these three were the 'single serving friends' of the day. When first I saw them talking into pillars marked "Branch Out. Start a conversation with a stranger," I thought the city had installed some permanent installation fun for visitors. Then I saw the three of them walking away with the cardboard columns. It was all their idea and what big eyes the ladies have.
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The color of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDougal_Street">MacDougal Street</a> should improve the walk back to the High Line.
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First stop, the oldest coffee house in Greenwich Village and perhaps the birthplace of the café society in the Village. Caffe Reggio was once a place for beat generation poets like Kerouac and Corso but the history goes all the way back to 1927. Even if you've never been there, if you did go inside the ornately carved wooden benches, tiny marble-topped tables and iron-backed chairs of Caffe Reggio seem familiar. This coffee house that is rumored to have introduced cappuccino to America and has paintings on the wall that give off an interior feel of Renaissance Italy seems familiar because of classic movies like <i>Serpico</i>, the original <i>Shaft</i> and <i>Godfather II.</i>
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And speaking of relics of Greenwich Village's café society. <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/01/bob_dylan_in_ny.php">On January 24, 1961 a kid named Bob Dylan played the Cafe Wha?</a> The list of comedians who appeared at the Wha? includes Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. Early in their musical careers Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Velvet Underground, and Peter, Paul & Mary all played the Wha? But the fun trivia fact is an explanation <a href="http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/backbeat/backbeat-david-lee-roth-s-uncle-cafe-wha-1005813352.story">why Van Halen played the little tiny Wha? this year.</a> The original owner Manny Roth is the uncle of David Lee Roth.
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Good Chili and the owner is a really nice guy.
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The corner of MacDougal and Bleecker, perhaps the heart of Greenwich Village.
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A late brunch.
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Through the gate, a view of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patchin_Place" target="_blank">Patchin Place.</a>
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This pretty little house is just across the alley from the former residence of e e cummings at 4 Patchin Place.
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Age and wisdom on Greenwich Avenue.
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And here is one for Dylan Thomas.
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I like storefronts to capture the atmosphere of a neighborhood.
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But I've never been able to capture "The Spotted Pig" to my liking. Every time I try because this famous gastropub usually has so many famous people eating there, someone always approaches me to ask me "Who's inside?" I have never been able to convince a single person that I'm not a paparazzi and then there is a comical grilling. "Come on just tell me. Which star is eating there now?" This photo will have to do for now.
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Looking up Greenwich Street from the Bus Stop.
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And now, the best trivial pursuit in this diary and the perfect story for what was supermoon week. Neither the manager nor any of the waiters I spoke to were aware that this restaurant is hallowed ground. In <i>Moonstruck</i> the Metropolitan Opera House wasn't Loretta Castorini's only trip into Manhattan. That restaurant, the Grand Ticino where Mr. Johnny Cammareri proposed to Cher and Olympia Dukakis had dinner John Mahoney wasn't really in Brooklyn. In the movie they put a Hicks St. street sign in the foreground to fool you but the actual location for the restaurant was in Manhattan's West Village. Now it is called Cafe Cluny on West 12th Street and the new restaurant was used recently in another film starring Jennifer Aniston, <i>Switch</i>.
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Now I'm dog tired, walking far too long.
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Time to head back to Gansevoort Square. The joint is jumping now.
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Where I made three new "single serving friends." On the left an artist who sells her paintings on Washington Street and seemed to enjoy listening to my life story. In the middle is her sister and I don't know what Ian Hunter was doing there.
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Then head for the High Line for a walk back to the car.
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The view down Washington Street from the High Line.
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An April Dogwood in the afternoon sun. Fun fact, the last train to ride the rails of the High Line was in 1980 and carrying frozen turkeys. Now there are Flowering Dogwoods growing on the rails. How's that for transportation alternatives?
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Many people seem exhausted after such a great day.
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Now I'm invigorated all over again over some High Line people watching.
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Here's an old favorite of mine <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/07/26/757213/-To-Be-Back-On-the-High-Line-Again-a-photo-diary-" target="_blank">from my first diary on The High Line.</a> I've never been able to do that glass justice since my first attempt.
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My return to the morning scene but this time with very sore feet.
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Perhaps I was reinvigorated because of the high end fashion shoot I stumbled upon. Because of my many studies of fashion photography, this young lady seems familiar but I can't put a name with the face. Does anyone know the name of this fashion model?
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Here's another fun fact from High Line Park. While New Yorkers anxiously await <a href="http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120313/chelsea-hells-kitchen/high-lines-third-section-designs-unveiled" target="_blank">the 2014 opening of third and final section of The High Line,</a> there was an interesting story in The New York Times when the second section opened and the park had just turned two years old. In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/nyregion/the-high-line-park-is-elevated-its-crime-rate-is-not.html?_r=1" target="_blank">The Park Is Elevated. Its Crime Rate Is Anything But,</a> it was pointed out that there had not been a single serious crime on The High Line. Hopefully, that is still true today.
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Just above the Chelsea Market, where this story began, there is now a water feature. It is just running water on pavement in a area that has a really great view of the Hudson River but the temperature does seem to go down there. In the late afternoon sun the wet pavement section of the High Line does really feel like the end of a day at the beach.
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I doubt that New York City offers a better place to study human interaction than this aerial greenway with a backdrop of bricks and stone. I'm sure that The High Line is the most interesting place to be on a Sunday afternoon.
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The bridges to the Chelsea Market form a Statue of Liberty portal.
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Sometimes liberty gets blocked out. Isn't it odd how many people believe they can do without the necessities of live just as long as they can enjoy a few luxuries.
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The view below is of the Tenth Avenue Square in what I thought was some pretty stunning light. Unlike the rest of the railway that was designed to go through the center of blocks, that square is right above Tenth Avenue. For many years it was pretty much the only reminder that the High Line ever existed. Soon after that last turkey train came through nature began to take over. I remember driving up Tenth Avenue and seeing an overhead Ailanthus forest. I like to think that view was the inspiration for High Line Park.
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The sign in the background.
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Three views of the 23rd Street Grasslands. The first photo faces downtown and looks toward the Tenth Avenue Square.
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Here is the northwestern view with Frank Gehry's sailing ship <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/arts/design/22dill.html" target="_blank">IAC Building</a> pointed at the Chelsea Pier and the once famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxy_NYC" target="_blank">Roxy NYC</a> decaying in the foreground.
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And in the middle of it all, my favorite photo of the day. As my Odyssey was coming to a close I looked down and saw three young ladies who had grabbed some pavement in the last available spot of sunshine. I was weak tired and missing my youth something fierce. Viewing this youth and beauty I heard and saw the opening scene from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRHrbBA7qKQ" target="_blank"><i>Something Got to Give</i></a> but with the narration of Jack Nicholson. Rather than plug my ears to prevent any further spells I was listening. I heard a woman complaining to her son. I'm pretty sure that the furthest thing from that young man's mind was those young ladies ruining their clothing.
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The High Line is already famous for the natural beauty growing out of concrete in the sky but there is something else going on there. Like that hot new restaurant that everyone need to see and be seen in, there is still the electricity of the new. Really the people walking, talking, exchanging thoughts, laughing and enjoying life is what makes this one mile of New York City so special. So much youth and beauty packed tightly into an overhead park with only one direction, forward, it makes for viewing the urban human experience in a new and unique fashion.
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At the end of the day a gathering of people enjoying the 23rd Street Lawn and Seating Steps. It is a viewing area to watch the people passing in each direction. The little girl in blue is sound asleep, must have a big week ahead.
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I go back there often to remember my youth, remember it fondly.
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This was the furthest north I made it on my Sunday excursion.
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So, just in case you are feeling shortchanged, here is a shot of the Radial Bench from my second High Line diary, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/08/1022648/-To-Be-Back-on-the-High-Line-Again" target="_blank">To Be Back on the High Line Again.</a>
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But one last photo and not from my recent Sunday walk. This picture is from Superbowl Sunday and I found out that the flower shop is now out of business. I love this photo of Washington Street and not just because I'll never have a chance to repeat the view, just because of the color and the reflection of the winter trees of The High Line.
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And so ends my journey but here I must make a confession. Only about eighty percent of the photos are from Sunday April 29th. I wrote the diary that week but I was unhappy with the look so I went back the following Sunday to retrace my steps and improve the view. Most of the photos in this diary were taken with a Nikon D7000 but there are also a few taken with a Nikon P7100.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-70791787942704830462011-12-21T21:15:00.000-08:002011-12-21T21:20:04.144-08:00Crosstown TrafficNew York City residents have long enjoyed reputations as walkers and I’m happy member of that group. For the past two and a half years there was usually a trusted friend in either my pocket or my hand. That friend has transformed many Sunday walks into many DKos photo diaries. Time has caught up with my little friend in low light situations. Now I have a brand new friend to accompany on my village walks but <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/articles/4333175133/buyers-guide-enthusiast-raw-shooting-compact-cameras/4">I've gone over to the dark side.</a> Hopefully this little fluff piece, the swan song for my Canon G-10, will serve as a proper send off to my favorite compact camera.<br /><br />I just spent the previous week working my favorite job of the year. I was setting up the <a href ="http://www.wqxr.org/articles/q2-live-concerts/2011/dec/15/contact-linderg-lunsqui-gruber/">Music of Lindberg, Lunsqui and HK Gruber.</a> Working in the Metropolitan Muesum is such a pleasure, all the players involved were great company and HK Gruber's Frankenstein!! was amazing. My favorite part was the fact that each rehearsal day either started or ended on the West Side and included a crosstown commute. <br /><br />I'm not sure why New Yorkers love to walk so much. Often it's a social event. Walking two abreast seeing the sights, viewing the lights and hearing the sounds, there is always something interesting to discuss. Great joy can be found in the chance to look more closely at what is going on around you. Or as Henry David Thoreau put it "Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."<br /><br />New York walkers are quick. Even when you have no place to go, outside of the Times Square tourist blockade, the pace is always fast. Jaywalking is the only time pedestrian traffic gets anywhere near the dull pace of an automobile but even then there are airborne Pinkberries and cursing out Taxi drivers as opposed to the "Big Gulp" cup holder and talk radio. I think the best comparison between the urban hiker and the Chevy Suburban can be seen in texting. People almost always stop walking to play with their telephones. <br /><br />Of course the sense that everything is just a few footsteps away contributes to New Yorkers' reputation as colorful hikers but the crosstown walk almost always seems like a necessity. Perhaps the highly efficient subway system has spoiled all of us going either uptown or downtown and when we need to go crosstown, it’s “feets don’t fail me now” time for an impatient population. <br /><br />I don’t think it is really because the crosstown bus is so slow and I don’t think all of those commuters pouring out of Grand Central and the Port Authority with sneakers on the feet and high heels in the pocketbook are all about physical fitness. I think the reason we walk is because walking the streets of New York is such a visual treat. <br /><br />Friday's crosstown walk, nothing spectacular, just a one hour tour with a camera that gave me over 100,000 photos, began at the Hudson River. Actually it began at Riverside Drive but I took a few steps to the left for a view of the blue sky horizon.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_2962.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_2962.jpg"></a><br /><br />Paying my respects at the western end of 72nd Street. I wonder what Eleanor Roosevelt would think of the state of the nation today?<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3052.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3052.jpg"></a><br />A little Manhattan trivia, the easternmost point of the island is the "FDR Drive." Since the westernmost point of 72nd Street is a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt facing east,<br /><br /><blockquote>Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.<br /> - Eleanor Roosevelt</blockquote><br /><br />I like to think of this street, the same drive that has "The Angel of the Water" as a midpoint, I like to think of 72nd Street as a family portrait of Democratic values.<br /><br />Looking back toward the western end of 72nd Street, the beginning of Riverside Park that is guarded by Eleanor Roosevelt and New Jersey in the distance.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3070.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3070.jpg"></a><br /><br />Reflections.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3078.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3078.jpg"></a><br /><br />Kiosk contrail.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3092-1.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3092.jpg"></a><br /><br />The center of the square and Gray's Papaya. Actually two squares at the intersection of Broadway, 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. To the north is Verdi Square and across the street is Sherman Square. Both were once known as by local drug users and dealers as "needle park."<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3084.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3084.jpg"></a><br /><br />WTF? The present Panic in Needle Park.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3093.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3093.jpg"></a><br /><br />"They call him 'Tony Two Times' because he says everything twice 'Time to get the papers, get the papers.'" <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3094.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3094.jpg"></a> <br /><br />Thus quotes the raven...<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_9982.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_9982.jpg"></a><br /><br />Fred Astaire to the left and the Bloomberg Lounge is on the right. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_7550.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7550.jpg"></a><br /><br />"Hey you guys feel like giving me a lift to the Metropolitan Museum?" <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3097.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3097.jpg"></a><br /><br />Well there is the Holiday spirit. Happy Chanukah. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3116.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3116.jpg"></a><br /><br />The entrance to "The Dakota." This photo was actually taken on December Eight.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_4514.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_4514.jpg"></a> <br /><br />The 72nd Street entrance to Central Park, a study of glistening pavement. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3128-1.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3128.jpg"></a><br /><br />First stop Strawberry Fields for a study of peace. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3144.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3144.jpg"></a><br /><br />The stains in the mosaic tiles are from candle wax when the people gathered to remember John Lennon on December Eight.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3143-2.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3143.jpg"></a><br /><br />The walk from Strawberry Fields down to the Lake.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3161-1.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3161.jpg"></a> <br /><br />Looking back at Strawberry Fields with the Dakota hidden in the trees.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3163.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3163.jpg"></a> <br /><br />If you are a tourist and having trouble keeping up with the New York walkers, we have options. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3167-1.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3167.jpg"></a><br /><br />Or you could ride in style. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3172.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3172.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Lake on a perfect Central Park day.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3173-1.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3173.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Angel of the Water waiting for the fountain to flow again in the springtime. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3185.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3185.jpg"></a> <br /><br />But still watching out for the passers by on the Bethesda Terrace.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3187.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3187.jpg"></a> <br /><br />Time to veer north toward the Conservatory Water and the path to the museum. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3200.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3200.jpg"></a><br /><br />The building to the right is Mary Tyler Moore’s home, also the home of the world’s most famous red-tailed hawks. look closely and you can almost make out the nest of Pale Male above the top center window. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3226.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3226.jpg"></a><br /><br />The sky over the Conservatory Pond is starting to look interesting.Well okay I played around with it a bit, <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3226.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3221.jpg"></a><br /><br />Time to go to work but first a quick stop to see what Alice is up to.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3233.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3233.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3247.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3247.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3241.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3241.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3257.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3257.jpg"></a><br /><br />Da Bears. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3288.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3288.jpg"></a> <br /><br />Art outside the museum.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3306.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3306.jpg"></a><br /><br />And finally, work sweet work. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3323.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3323.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_2886.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_2886.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3333.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3333.jpg"></a> <br /><br />What do you think? Not to shabby for a one hour tour with a camera on its last leg.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-65811158874160964082011-12-05T19:31:00.000-08:002011-12-05T19:34:59.688-08:00Photos from the Farmer's March on Wall StreetOn December 4th there was a food policy protest in Manhattan. The farmers joining Occupy Wall Street was a co-production of Occupy Wall Street's food justice committee and <a href="http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/">Food Democracy Now.</a><br /><br /><br />In the afternoon people came to the <a href="http://laplazacultural.com/">La Plaza Cultural Community Garden</a> to hear local farmers and activist explain everything from why a food policy that is based on $30 a barrel oil cannot sustain itself to how much local farmers have been hurt by this industrial food policy. After the gathering to hear speakers hundreds of farmers and their allies marched to Zuccotti Park to be seen and heard.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4084.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4084.jpg"></a><br /><br />I went along with my camera and listened as I took a few pictures of the people demanding justice. For photos and stories about the gathering and march from the East Village to Zuccotti Park. <br /><br />It was a holiday season event and a La Plaza Cultural pine tree was decorated. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_3971.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_3971.jpg"></a><br /><br />La Plaza Cultural de Armando Perez is a green space and open air garden on 9th Street & Avenue C, a place for the people. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0690.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0690.jpg"></a><br /><br />When you consider how many farms there are on the Lower East Side, it would seem that there was a surprisingly large turnout.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_3984.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_3984.jpg"></a><br /><br />The speakers came up one by one to tell their stories. A list of speakers can be found at this link from <a href="http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20111203132055246">The Paramus Post.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>George Naylor - Iowa farmer and president of the National Family Farm Coalition.<br />Jim Gerritsen - Maine based farmer who was named one of 20 world visionaries by Utne Reader in 2011 and is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Monsanto.<br />Karen Washington - Founder of City Farms Market and board member at NYC based organization Just Food.<br />Severine von Tscharner - Food advocate and producer of the film <i>Green Horns</i>, profiling young farmer entrepreneurs.<br />Jalal Sabur - Founding member of the Freedom Food Alliance and advocate working on the alliance of black urban communities with black rural farmers.<br />Mike Callicrate - Colorado cattle rancher, entrepreneur and rural advocate .<br />Andrew Faust - World renowned permaculture expert and educator.</blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/environmental-news-in-new-york/food-occupied">Examiner.com</a> took a closer look at some of the speakers and Jim Gerritsen even has a little piece in today's NYT, <a href="http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/a-maine-farmer-speaks-to-wall-street/">A Maine Farmer Speaks to Wall Street.</a> But there is little else from the media and I didn't see any politicians there.<br /><br />This was yesterday's view of the speakers from the upper balcony. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0736.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0736.jpg"></a> <br /><br />It seemed to me that the event was mostly to point out that this nation's agricultural system is at the center of the world's global warming crisis and that the government has supported big agriculture for too long at the expense of the family farms. A quote from the <a href="http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/farmersmarch/">Food Democracy Now invite.</a> <br /><br /><blockquote>Occupy Wall Street was born out of a legitimate frustration with the collusion between Big Business and elected officials of the U.S. government. And nowhere is that collusion so great as in food and agricultural production, where 4 firms control 84% of beef packing, 66% of pork production and 1 company (Monsanto) controls more than 93% of soybeans and 80% of corn grown in the U.S.</blockquote><br /><br />Pointing out the fact that it was "our government" that has made our food unhealthy, moved our food thousands of miles from our homes and transformed our food supply into junk that needs so much salt, sugar, chemicals and preservatives. Food that is harmful to the population in a nation where big agricultural corporations own our government. The speakers spoke and the people responded. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/LG_DSC_3980.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DI_DSC_3980.jpg"></a><br /><br />It wasn't just about the speakers and it wasn't all about protest protest. There were tables with useful information for small farmers, one table that was all about mulch and most everyone was exchanging ideas. You could also pick up a tee shirt to spread the message. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0664.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0664.jpg"></a><br /><br />There was a map of America where you could post your food issue in the section of the nation where you lived. The nice lady handing out the index cards was wearing one great hat. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0703.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0703.jpg"></a><br /><br />It was all about the people.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0769.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0769.jpg"></a><br /><br />And the message was very clear. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0771.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0771.jpg"></a><br /><br />Two nice drummers I met who were waiting to help bring that message to Wall Street. One of them had previously the pleasure of playing outside of the Bloomberg mansion. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0805.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0805.jpg"></a><br /><br />Here are a few photos from the march as the protesters walked along Houston Street.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4099.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4099.jpg"></a><br /><br />You can learn a lot from farmers. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4137.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4137.jpg"></a><br /><br />Like simple arithmetic that even the smartest politicians can't seem to grasp. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4130.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4130.jpg"></a> <br /><br /><br />But there are two sides to every story. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4145.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4145.jpg"></a><br /><br />I fully agreed with both sides of this sign. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4143.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4143.jpg"></a><br /><br />The drummers were making noise.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4089.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4089.jpg"></a><br /><br />People were being heard.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4123.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4123.jpg"></a><br /><br />Some were having fun. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4105b.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4105b.jpg"></a><br /><br />And the march moved on, to Zuccotti Park.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/DSC_4091.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_DSC_4091.jpg"></a><br /><br />There were many other topics at a gathering that was about the benefits of locally grown food. One topic discussed was the horrors of Monsanto and genetically modified seeds. Seeds that are not owned by the farmers who grew the plants that provided the seeds but are the patented property of Monsanto. Stories of how this large corporation with the help of the government has created a hostage situation for small family farms that never wanted anything to do with Monsanto. <br /><br />So at the end of the march, when the protesters reached Zuccotti Park, there was a seed exchange. Free seeds were handed out, heirloom seeds and seeds that were cross pollinated by farmers, anything but the patented property of some major corporation. <br /><br />The whole day was all about people helping other people. It turned out to be a good day for the people. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/IMG_0798.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_0798.jpg"></a>Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-48906143269736473372011-11-23T22:36:00.000-08:002011-11-23T22:38:40.175-08:00I went to Zuccotti ParkIf I didn't have my camera with me it would have been a five minute walk from where I parked my car. But I did...<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0391.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0391.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0374.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0374.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0357.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0357-1.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0364.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0364.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0394.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0394.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0404.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0404.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0400.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0400.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0421.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0421.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0438.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0438.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0441.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0441.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0446.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0446.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0450.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0450.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0457.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0457-1.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0474.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0474.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0479.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0479.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0493.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0493.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0501.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0501.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0506.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0506.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0523.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0523.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0526.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0526.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0538.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0538.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0557.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0557.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0558.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0558.jpg"></a><br 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src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0618.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0647.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0647.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0630.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0630.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0612.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0612.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0620.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0620.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0602.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0602.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0687.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0687.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0680.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0680.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0690.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0690.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0704.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0704.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0714.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0714.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0719.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0719.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0728.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0728.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0732.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0732.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0842.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0842.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0740.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0740.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0741.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0741.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0742.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0742.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0743.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0743.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0770.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0770.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0872.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0872.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0897.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0897.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0926.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0926.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0951.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0951.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0970.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0970.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1019.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1019.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1030.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1030.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1031.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1031.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1043.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1043.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1046.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1046.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1058.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1058.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1069.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1069.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1076.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1076.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1078.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1078.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_1084.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_1084.jpg"></a><br /><br />…so I meandered a bit. I guess you could say I’m “easily distracted.” But it was probably the November cherry blossoms that made me do it. <br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-70648871578353869732011-11-05T19:17:00.000-07:002011-11-06T01:59:43.376-08:00Snowtober in Central ParkTrick or Sleet anyone? With the finish line of the New York City Marathon being just across from the Tavern on the Green, Sunday is a big day on the Central Park calender. Last Sunday Central Park was dressed up as midwinter for Halloween but the leaves on the tress didn't want to play along. <br /><br />I've always been amazed at the view of pine trees in the snow but I don't think I've ever seen green broad leaves in a winter wonderland snow before. Please enjoy these best sixty-two pictures of a perfect Sunday in the Park. <b>Note:</b> Since little pictures are not much fun, you can click on any one of the photos in this chronology for a better view. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8364.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8364.jpg"></a><br /><br />Snowtober or Ocsnowber, whatever they were calling it, the record October snow came on Saturday. I'm always big on capturing the "seldom seen," so I spent Sunday in Central Park hoping to collect a few memories of the occasion. The best time for photos would have been on Saturday, when the fresh snow was clinging to the green leaves. At the first sign of light in the sky I attempted to drive down to Van Cortlandt Park for some snow photos but I could not get out of my complex. The hill down from my complex was rated double black diamond with car accident obstacles while the other street out was blocked by a downed tree. But I did get one shot of red maple and white snow.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8308.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8308.jpg"></a> <br /><br />On Sunday the road was clear. I was very happy to be getting out from my internet, cable television and telephone free apartment. So happy that I was snapping away from the moment I got out of the garage. Also seldom seen, a self-portrait. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8349.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8349.jpg"></a><br /><br />With an estimated one thousand downed trees in Central Park, it was not all good views. Central park has taken several beatings in recent years because of freak storms. I was still very excited to get there and to be seeing something different for a change. Coming up to my favorite wall I had no intentions to capture devastation.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8359.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8359.jpg"></a><br /><br />Usually this West Side playground at 96th street is packed solid with laughing children on a sunny October day. Odd that the snowed in water fountain was not yet turned off in this winter scene and a little snow scooping offered a drink of water. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8362.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8362.jpg"></a><br /><br />Now which way should I go in a big park that was melting fast? On Friday October 29th, before the snowfall, I did the north end. That is the side of the park that is seldom seen by tourist.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_7829.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7829.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_7698b.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7698b.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_7740.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7740.jpg"></a><br /><br />So I headed south to more familiar grounds. My first stop was the snow scene at Gothic Bridge. Did you know that ever bridge in Central Park is unique? <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8391.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8391.jpg"></a><br /><br />All of the Central Park bridges are unique but the three Calvert Vaux bridges that lead to the reservoir seem to be playing on a common theme. All three are cast iron and while the other bridges of Central Park all have names, the reservoir bridges at <a href="http://www.nyc-architecture.com/CP/cp017.htm">West 86th Street</a> and <a href="http://www.nyc-architecture.com/CP/cp018.htm">East 85th Street</a> went without names. This one that crosses the bridle path at <a href="http://www.nyc-architecture.com/CP/cp019.htm">West 94th Street</a> also tried to remain anonymous but the people named it “The Gothic Bridge.”<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8388.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8388.jpg"></a><br /><br />Followed by a walk around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, mostly to make sure the many great cherry trees along the jogging path had survived. It seems like only yesterday when "the Godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture" was in the news for stalking the American royalty of Jackie O during her morning jogs. That was followed by the bridge and tunnel crowd commuting to Central Park for weekend runs around the reservoir. Walking or running this large oval is heaven in April. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8418.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8418.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8412.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8412.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8409.jpg"><img src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8409.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Great Lawn was still white. It was just over thirty-five years ago that 500,000 people came to that lawn to see Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2DglHU04rQ">What a great show!</a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8473.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8473.jpg"></a><br /><br />Castle Belvedere that was Simon and Garfunkel's background until the light faded and is the source of Central Park weather forecasts, was already melting down.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8479.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8479.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8491.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8491.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8500.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8500.jpg"></a><br /><br />Should you ever find yourself wedged between the place where Simon and Garfunkel had their historic rooftop setting and the Belvedere, the Belgian waffles are definitely worth the wait and the young servers have already heard plenty about the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8469.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8469.jpg"></a><br /><br />Sunday brunch and yet another "seldom seen" self-portrait.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8503.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8503.jpg"></a><br /><br />Moving right along, a love struck Romeo was still wearing a bit of snow. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8514.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8514.jpg"></a><br /><br />Along the path to Shakespeare’s Garden, a short walk past the Delacorte Theater where “Measure for Measure” and “All's Well That Ends Well” were preformed under the stars this summer, there is usually chrysanthemums poking through the picturesque fences in late October. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8521.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8521.jpg"></a> <br /><br />I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures of those fences. The new green text message signs, not so much. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8527.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8527.jpg"></a><br /><br />It looks like the season at Shakespeare’s Garden has ended now too.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8531.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8531.jpg"></a><br /><br />But the Swedish Cottage seemed happy in the snow.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8552.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8552.jpg"></a><br /><br />Taking a noontime break at the northern entrance to the Olmsted & Vaux fantasy forest, the woodlands that have become an important part of LGBT history. From here you can view the northwest cove of the lake. The cove is called called Bank Rock Bay. From this view to the right is the last leg of tomorrow’s marathon and the path to Strawberry Fields. Onward to the left where a forest was designed and engineered as a change of pace from the surrounding formal settings of the park.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8557.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8557-1.jpg"></a><br /> <br />Ramble on, the Ramble is no longer the photographer's paradise it once was. Now that the most efficient government agency in history has gotten there, the crew that erects those fences in Central Park that are meant to keep visitors from ever walking on anything but blacktop have made it to the Ramble. Sure the undergrowth seems happy but fences in a forest? Here is one over the fence view. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8581.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8581.jpg"></a><br /><br />And another that almost has the forest feel of the good old Ramble. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8598.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8598.jpg"></a><br /><br />The view from inside the Ramble, looking out towards the Ladies Pavilion Peninsula with Columbus Circle in the background. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8625.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8625.jpg"></a><br /><br />The tip of that same rocky outcrop is almost lost in the western in the view from the Bank Rock Bay Bridge out of the Ramble. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8640.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8640.jpg"></a><br /><br />Walking south along the western edge of the lake. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8653.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8653.jpg"></a><br /><br />And the view of the Bank Rock Bay Bridge from the rocks tht jut out from the Ladies Pavilion.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8675.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8675.jpg"></a><br /><br />Here is the Ladies Pavilion. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8657.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8657.jpg"></a><br /><br />Continuing south.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8699.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8699-1.jpg"></a><br /><br />To look back at the rocks of the Ladies Pavilion from another shelter.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8716.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8716.jpg"></a><br /><br />72nd Street and Central Park West with the home of Yoko Ono that was also the setting for "Time and Again" in the background. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8756.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8756.jpg"></a> <br /><br />This is the Path to Strawberry Fields. Usually I don't leave the park without a shot of the Imagine mosaic but it was too crowded there on Sunday. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8771.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8771.jpg"></a><br /><br />The southern edge of the lake, perhaps the nicest view in New York City. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8794.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8794.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Bow Bridge.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8809.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8809.jpg"></a><br /><br />That was chosen by New Yorkers as the most romantic spot in New York City. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8831.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8831.jpg"></a><br /><br />Walking along to the Bethesda Terrace, my favorite place in New York City.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8842.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8842.jpg"></a><br /><br />"Smile you're on Candid Camera." I don't know this couple. I just saw them on the steps to the Bethesda Terrace. I think they made both a great couple and a pretty good photographic composition. Earth tone steps on the bottom, sky blue granite up top, even the pigeon seemed impressed. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8860.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8860-1.jpg"></a><br /><br />Also seldom seen, a diary within a diary. Right across from the steps, the Angle Bethesda was posing for wedding photos, <b>Angels in America.</b> Interested in the significance of The Angel of the Water attending that ceremony? Then give <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/31/1031736/-Vows-Taken-Before-an-Angel">Vows Taken Before an Angel</a> <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSC_8849.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSC_8849.jpg"></a> <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSC_8853.jpg"><img width="400" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSC_8853.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSC_8854.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSC_8854.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Mums on the Mall got crunched by the snow.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8868.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8868.jpg"></a><br /><br />And the Gorilla on the Mall did not appreciate my joke one bit. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8873.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8873.jpg"></a><br /><br />But I was very happy to see that the American Elms of the Poets Walk seemed to have survived the storm. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8873.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8889.jpg"></a><br /><br />And while the caution tape didn't hold up too long, Balto was still guarding the bridge.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8907.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8907.jpg"></a> <br /><br />I finally made it to the East Side. The southeastern side of the park took the most damage from the snowstorm.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8915.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8915.jpg"></a> <br /><br />This was the only view I could get of the most whimsical feature of Central Park that has been entertaining children of all ages since 1935. The famous Delacorte Music Clock with hippo violinist, tambourine playing bear, penguin drummers, goat playing the pipes and a kangaroo horn section with a goat playing the pipes was off limits on Sunday. Along with the Central Park Zoo, the Children's Zoo and the Armory, the animal musicians were closed to the public on Sunday because of dangerous trees. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8936.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8936.jpg"></a><br /><br />You think New Yorkers have small apartments? Well get a load of our snowmen!<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8940.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8940-1.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8980.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8980.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8986.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8986.jpg"></a><br /><br />The south end of the Park in the late afternoon sun. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8949.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8949.jpg"></a><br /><br />Zoomed out to include the pond and western skyline.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8958.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8958.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Gapstow Bridge. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_8990.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8990.jpg"></a><br /><br />So nice that I'll post it twice.<br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9008.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9008.jpg"></a><br /><br />Check out the rear view too. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9020.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9020.jpg"></a><br /><br />Well this is New York, we are big on modern art. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9026.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9026.jpg"></a><br /><br />No wait now I get it, from the front view it turns out to be a Halloween Snow Ghoul. <br /><br /><a href="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9029.jpg"><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9029.jpg"></a>Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-83633859234169000222011-10-22T07:40:00.000-07:002011-10-22T07:58:37.376-07:00A Driving View of Harriman State ParkIt has not been the best Autumn in New York this year but sometimes a short drive out of the city can be so rewarding. Less than a half hour takes you from Manhattan to Tiorati Brook Road.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7321.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7321.jpg"></a><br /><br />The first of many roadside attractions and the first time this year I saw a buck on the side of road. I tried to entice him over to the car with a Cliff Bar but he was having none of that.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7374.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7374.jpg"></a><br /><br />The Tiorati Brook was moving much faster that it usually is this time of year, a spring flow with autumn colors.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7310.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7310.jpg"></a><br /><br />The sky was more cloudy than sunny and I sat at the north end of Lake Tiorati for about an hour watching circles and ovals of sunshine racing across the lake. Finally the sun fell on the view I wanted to capture.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7360.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7360.jpg"></a> <br /><br />Much of the Seven Lakes Parkway is still closed as the park recovers from the beating received from Tropical Storm Irene but I did get to one end of Lake Kanawauke.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7388.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7388.jpg"></a><br /><br />I don't think they close for the season but Baker Camp seemed to have gone to sleep, no more summer sounds on the lakes.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7396.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7396.jpg"></a><br /><br />A row boat waiting for the next season of summer on the lake. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/MED_DSCN7822.jpg"/><br /><br />Lake Sebago in the late afternoon sun. <br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7408.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7408.jpg"></a><br /><br />Reeves Brook with the sun sinking low. To get this angle I had to lay down on the bridge and shoot through the rails. While I was shooting the Park Police stopped by, pulled up beside me to check and see if I was dead!<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7444.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7444.jpg"></a><br /><br />And finally, the Reeves Meadow that is just about where the Seven Lakes Drive Begins. The meadow is all out of color for the season and taking on earth tones before becoming a snow scene soon.<br /><br /><a href ="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7430.jpg"><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/DSC_7430.jpg"></a><br /><br />It was an excellent day for a drive.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-84719440826258001882011-10-11T11:23:00.000-07:002011-10-11T11:27:23.858-07:00To Be Back on the High Line AgainUsually I feel lucky to get just one decent photo in the course of a day...<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6111.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6175.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6179.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6184.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6186.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_5880.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6190.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6134.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6115.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6195.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6203.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6201.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6215.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6224.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6229-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_5680.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6233.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6252.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_5666.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6239.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6238.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6245.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_5852.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6258.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6262.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6275.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6281.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6282.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6283.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6287.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6290.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6291.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6292.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6294.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6296.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6297.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6298.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6310.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6314.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6315.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6316.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6318.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6320.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6329.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6332.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6338.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6342.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6346.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6349-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6344.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6356.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6358.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6364.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6373.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6370.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6369.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6377.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6379.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6391.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6392.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6406.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6413.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6412.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6416.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6425.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6418.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7444.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7457.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7475.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6456.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6441.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6440.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7516.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7525.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7502.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6450.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7553.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7608.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7614.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7623.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7643.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7648.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7678.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7684.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7689.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7685.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7702.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7709.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7713.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7716.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7721.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7724.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7750.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7769.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7763.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7772.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7784.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7786.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7794.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_7778.jpg"><br /><br />But last Sunday, things got totally out of hand.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-34129840640287321802011-09-25T07:43:00.000-07:002011-09-25T07:47:38.904-07:00Lincoln Center Hula HoopIt was the last day of fashion in Lincoln Center and I captured this moment with my camera. <br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6528.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6526.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6535.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6546.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6547.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6545.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6533.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6549b.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6559.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6564b.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="450" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6567.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6568b.jpg">Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-3144406465457381152011-09-05T14:13:00.000-07:002011-09-05T14:31:21.633-07:00A few days after the flood in Paterson, New JerseyHearing that the President would be touring Paterson, N. J. this past Sunday, I drove over to get a few photos of the city the day before.
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<br />I was too late to see <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/nyregion/paterson-nj-is-devastated-by-floods-after-hurricane-irene.html">the devastation.</a> I think most of the downtown streets were drained by the time I got there but the Paterson Great Falls was quite a view.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5017.jpg">
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<br />Here's a comparison, the falls on September 7, 2010;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_8745.jpg">
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<br />And what the view looked like on September 2, 2011;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5048.jpg">
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<br />A big difference between what I saw walking to the bridge last year;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN4779.jpg">
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<br />And last week;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5153.jpg">
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<br />A short and pretty dull video of the view from there;
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<br />Looking downriver from the bridge, then;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN4792.jpg">
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<br />And now;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5157.jpg">
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<br />I like the little tree that is hanging in there.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5163.jpg">
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<br />The view from the bridge on September 7, 2010;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN4808.jpg">
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<br />A video from the bridge on Saturday;
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<br /><object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ht9F-KBzP5E?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ht9F-KBzP5E?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
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<br />Walking down to the best viewing area last week;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5186.jpg">
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<br />This was last year's view;
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSCN4825.jpg">
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<br />And quick shot before my camera got soaked on Saturday.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5020.jpg">
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<br />There was a great deal of spray in the air.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5196.jpg">
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<br />So Sunday must have been like a trip to Niagara Falls for Barack Obama.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5016.jpg">
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<br />And those are the views from Paterson, N.J.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_8477-1.jpg">
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<br />Have a nice day.
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<br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_5115.jpg">Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-8363717701808438402011-08-02T06:43:00.000-07:002011-08-02T07:57:03.689-07:00July in Riverdale SunsetsRiverdale is the very quiet Bronx neighborhood where Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica come from. I often attempt to transform Riverdale into the Key West of New York City sunsets. From my window you can see the Hudson River and then the New Jersey Palisades. In this diary you can see the best 31 days of sunsets I've ever seen and the views have been whittled down to just 88 photos.<br /><br />Because a year ago last week I wrote <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/07/27/888097/-The-Riverdale-Tornado:-A-Disaster-Photo-Diary">The Riverdale Tornado: A Disaster Photo Diary</a> I want to start off with an old sunset photo. It took just about one minute for 850 trees between my window and the river to die that day. Here is a photo of where the trees met the water in the end of July of 2010. You can compare the present tree line in the photos below.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-23-2010_IMG_1033.jpg"><br /><br />But here is the view yesterday afternoon to see the new treeline and as an excuse to show what the Palisades looks like when the sun is shining on the escarpment. Before the tornado the steeple of the Spellman Retreat House looked like a church in the wilderness. The view has changed on this side of the river but across the water the Palisades still seems like it has been spared from the white men's footprint. That is what I love most about my view. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_5031.jpg"> <br /><br />These July sunsets from the Bronx are for my Mom, my Dad and my neighbor, who I think just watched her very first month of sunsets. As this long hot month began I had an elevator conversation with that neighbor who lives in the same apartment line and has almost the same view as I do. Inquiring about the Nikon D7000 hanging from my neck, I explained that I have no photographic specialty but the last on my list was "our wonderful views of sunsets." <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6736.jpg"/> <br /><br />To explain why she had never watched a sunset from her window she said "If you see one, you've seen them all." So in less than fifteen floors I tried to summarize eighteen years of sunsets from my window. I was feeling a bit like a sunset missionary as the conversation didn't end with the elevator ride. She was fascinated and wanted to continue the sunset conversation in the lobby but I was all out of steam and anxious to get out in the sunshine.<br /><br />My Dad, he is pretty much the same way. He closes the western blinds to keep the Florida sun from fading the furniture. Now Mom, she calls on the phone when there is a nice sunset to watch from her Ocean County, New Jersey kitchen. Often we have the same view. Sometimes ninety miles makes a big difference.<br /><br /><b>And now the July sunset and weather history for the Bronx.</b> I've never actually been able to pin down a best month for sunsets but since July and August are usually the months with the most rain and that rain is most often late afternoon rain storms after steaming hot days, I never thought July would be in the running. Perhaps it was the extreme heat or maybe July is the best month for sunset views.<br /><br />I often wish I could write what was going on in these diaries on the night of each sunset but I never remember. This month was easy. With each passing day, whatever respect Americans still had left for the elected officials in Washington, it seemed like that respect was seeing a final dull sunset. But on <b>July 1st</b> as I took these three, I was wondering if my neighbor a few floors below was watching her first Skyview sunset. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-01-2011_DSC_8073.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-01-2011_DSC_8084.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-01-2011_DSC_8088.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 2nd,</b> opportunity knocks. I was working and on a well timed coffee break but without a camera. I asked one of my co-workers "May I borrow your telephone?" Snap, snap, snap followed by "Will you email these to me?" Sundown on West 65th Street. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-02-2011_IMAG0179.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-02-2011_IMAG0173.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-02-2011_IMAG0176.jpg"><br /><br />On <b>July 3rd</b> the maximum temperature was 74° and there was almost an inch of cooling rain. After the July heat wave such a day is hard to recall. The end of a dull but cool day.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-03-2011_DSC_8118b.jpg"> <br /><br />But the <b>Fourth of July</b> afterglow offered a fireworks show. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8197.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8203.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8215.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8224.jpg"/><br /><br />The <b>5th of July,</b> that always reminds me of Christopher Reeve, had an orange glow with a crescent moon for the end of the show.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8452.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8480.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8490.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_8526.jpg"/><br /><br />And on <b>July 6th,</b> we were in the pink. Frida Kahlo was born on the 6th of July <i>"They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-06-2010_DSC_8862.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-06-2010_DSC_8867.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-06-2010_DSC_8874.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-06-2010_DSC_8880.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-06-2010_DSC_8898.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-06-2010_DSC_8907.jpg"/><br /><br /><b>July 7th</b> began a two day heat wave that nobody remembers. 92° was the high on the first day of the month that the thermometer broke ninety. Seems like a cake walk now. Obscured by clouds, it was an early sunset.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-07-2011_DSC_8913.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-07-2011_DSC_8919.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-07-2011_DSC_8928.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 9th</b> I remember well. With the temperature down to 88° I got out of the apartment for <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/22/995638/-Last-Week-in-Photos?detail=hide">a three island tour followed by Patsy's Pizza.</a> Then I came home to a big sail boat, the rays of the sun and the shadow of the Palisades on the water. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-09-2011_DSC_9291.jpg"><br /><br />And an interesting vertical cloud that stayed through the whole sunset show. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-09-2011_DSC_9301.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 11th</b> I was working but I saw an interesting view down at the end of 66th Street. So I hustled the two blocks with my pocket camera, then through Trump City and down under the West Side Highway to see what it looked like down by the riverside. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-11-2011_IMG_4837b.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-11-2011_IMG_4846.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-11-2011_IMG_4856.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 12th</b> was a 93° day. It was a bright clear day with a bright clear finish. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-12-2011_IMG_4995.jpg"> <br /><br /><b>July 13th</b> was one of two days each year when the sunset is exactly aligned with the grid of streets in Manhattan. It is called <a href="http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/resources/starstruck/manhattanhenge">Manhattanhenge</a> and as usual I remembered but was to lazy to go downtown. The sunset from my window didn't line up with nything in particular but dinner at home was tasty. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-13-2011_DSC_9311.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-13-2011_DSC_9330.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-13-2011_DSC_9349.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 14th,</b> bright sun and a bright moon. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9523.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/DSCN8182-2.jpg"/><br /><br /><b>July 15th,</b> the sun came through the clouds for a bright orange mid-July finish. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-15-2011_DSC_9637.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-15-2011_DSC_9658.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9682.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9691.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9701.jpg"/><br /><br /><b>July 16,</b> the real beginning of the heat wave.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-16-2011_DSC_0024.jpg"> <br /><br /><b>July 17,</b> a hot summer day but the heat was just getting started.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-17-2011_DSC_0065.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 18th</b> seems like a cool view but looks can be deceiving. Smoking hot, 95° was the high on that hazy, hot and humid day.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-18-2010_DSC_0087.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-18-2010_DSC_0087.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/07-18-2010_DSC_0089b.jpg"/><br /><br /><b>July 19th,</b> air so thick you could cut it with a knife. The maximum temperature and the maximum humidity matched that day. 94° and 94% offered a sun that set into a blue soup. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-19-2011_DSC_0370.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-19-2011_DSC_0376.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-19-2011_DSC_0383.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-19-2011_DSC_0388.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 20th,</b> only 89° for the high but once again the sun actually set into a fog of humidity. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-20-2011_DSC_0406.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-20-2011_DSC_0420.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-20-2011_DSC_0432.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 21th,</b> 97° and once again the sun set well above the horizon into low lying humidity. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-21-2011_DSC_0444.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 22nd,</b> 104° without the heat index. The record was set for the date and that day registered as the second-hottest day in the city's history. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-22-2011_DSC_0449.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 23th,</b> down to 100° what a relief? It was so hot "that Anthony Wiener went back to Congress for the cold shoulder." <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-23-2011_DSC_0462.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-23-2011_DSC_0466.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-23-2011_DSC_0472.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 24th,</b> down to 91° and it felt really great! I turned off the air conditioners, threw open the windows and took a long walk in a steaming hot forest felling like it was a soft and cool day. The haze that prevented the sun from making the horizon was finally gone. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0644.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0646.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0657.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0671.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0674.jpg"/><br /><br /><b>July 25th</b> was an amazing view. It was the day that the New York heat wave really broke and it cooled off so fast that steam could be seen rising out of the Palisades. The clouds also seemed to be reacting to the violent change in the weather. <br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0728.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0730.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0738.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0746.jpg"><br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0764.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 26th,</b> just before a welcomed rainstorm there was some good rays. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-26-2011_DSC_0777.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-26-2011_DSC_0784.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-26-2011_DSC_0791.jpg"><br /> <br /><b>July 28th</b> was a great view.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-28-2010_DSC_0806.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-28-2010_DSC_0807.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-28-2010_DSC_0818.jpg"><br /><br />With a nice golden afterglow. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-28-2010_DSC_0830.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-28-2010_DSC_0829.jpg"><br /><br />But on <b>July 29th</b> in the pouring rain, I was very pleased to get this shot. <br /><br /><img width="600" src= "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/DSC_0847.jpg"/><br /><br />And then the sky cleared for the sun. It didn't stop raining so the view seemed a bit hazy but a sunset in the pouring rain is a very rare view.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0865.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0880b.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0896b.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0899b.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_0902b.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-29-2011_DSC_0903b.jpg"><br /><br /><b>July 30th</b> was another perfect day for a walk in the park. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-30-2011_DSC_1172.jpg"> <br /><br />And yesterday <b>July 31th</b> seemed like the perfect afternoon for an end of month sunset.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-31-2011_DSC_1181.jpg"><br /><br />But the clouds rolled in and July sunsets ended early.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/07-31-2011_DSC_1182.jpg"> <br /><br />I think I picked a good month to talk my neighbor into opening her blinds and watching the sunsets. If she did watch I doubt she will be saying "If you see one, you've seen them all." Or perhaps I'm just too visual.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-61729198713843833612011-07-22T19:13:00.000-07:002011-07-23T06:38:59.176-07:00Last Week in PhotosAs a totally obsessed photo buff, sometimes I come up with the occasional piece of eye candy. As NY1 claims that with the humidity it was around 110° today in New York City, I'm thinking the debt ceiling will rise all by itself. With little too say I hid out all day and went through last week's photos. <br /><br />For me the camera is a sort of kinetic meditation. Basically I walk around with a camera to forget how screwed we are with the present set of so called representatives we are stuck with. So if you need break from ugly, than pull yourself up a Wave Hill Chair...<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9400.jpg"><br /><br />And take a ride with me for a week of photography.<br /><br /><blockquote><i><center>Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry<br />When I take you out in the surrey,<br />When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top!</center></i></blockquote> <br /><br />My week started out with a three island hike. It was sort of like the voyage of the Minnow only there was no boat and one island was a bit populated. The view of East Harlem, Spanish Harlem or El Barrio on Saturday. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9197.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4724c.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9191.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9171.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9184.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4655.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4700.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4711.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9169.jpg"><br /><br />Those photos represent my newest form of expression through photography, street photography. I'm a bona fide sunset sort of guy and I like to pretend that I know what I'm doing when it comes to flowers and the forest but about a year ago I discovered how liberal of an art street photography really is. I wrote a piece about it called <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/08/13/892707/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Street-Photography-Edition">Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Street Photography Edition.</a> In it I claimed that this is a pure art, an offshoot of photojournalism and that Jacob Riis is standing right beside me every time I take a snapshot on the city streets. <br /><br />Not that I could ever live up to the works of the greats that I mimic but things have changed since I wrote that. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/03/962165/-A-Sunday-Walk-in-the-Village">That's right I'm a flip flopper.</a> Now there is a little more Berenice Abbott and Helen Levitt standing beside me. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8940.jpg"> <br /><br />Those other two islands, not so much in the population department but before my three hour tour, the breakfast of champions. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8961.jpg"><br /><br />The tour destinations were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wards_Island">Wards</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall%27s_Island">Randall's Island.</a> What do you think of this for a "big government" pedestrian bridge? <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9090.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8974.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9001.jpg"><br /><br />Really I took the walk for the view of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. I knew the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the bridge was last week and wanted to write about what a Democrat once sounded like. Sounded like a good topic of conversation to me. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/DSC_9019.jpg"/><br /><br />Kossacks found the title <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/11/993485/-Happy-Birthday-to-theRobert-F-Kennedy-Bridge">Happy Birthday to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge</a> so engaging that a grand total of twenty-two of them opened the diary wile it was on the recent diaries list. Not really a big deal to me, no matter where you go, there you are.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9051.jpg"><br /><br />Both of these islands, that over the years have become one, have long histories as New York City dumping grounds. It was where New Yorkers sent both their garbage <a href="http://www.eastrivernyc.org/content/geography/the-islands/randalls-wards.html">and their less desirable.</a> <br /><br /><blockquote>The island became a repository for people considered undesirable to mainstream society. The city first used the island as a potter's field - a public burial ground for dead people without family or friends to claim them. Later, the city built a shelter for impoverished immigrants and an insane asylum on the island. In the 1930s, Robert Moses wanted to turn both islands into a giant recreational area, but Moses was not persuasive enough, and instead, New York State built the Manhattan Psychiatric Center on the area previously occupied by the insane asylum. In addition to the hospital, other institutional buildings on the island include the New York City Fire Academy, a homeless men's shelter, a water treatment plant and a maintenance garage for the Parks Department's vehicles and equipment.</blockquote><br /><br />Today much of both islands are parkland and quite a pretty place for a getaway from the city.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9081.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9078.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9025-1.jpg"><br /><br />There are even horses. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4648.jpg"><br /><br />I wouldn't know a Shetland Pony from Russia, the 200 lb. mascot of Auntie El's Farm Market on on Route 17 in Sloatsburg. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8817.jpg"><br /><br />But these horses are pretty small. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9070.jpg"><br /><br />The view of Randall's island from the north side of Wards Island. <a href="http://www.icahnstadium.org/about/About%20Icahn.htm">Icahn Stadium</a> can be seen in the background and if Cirque du Soleil this photo would be dominated by a blue and yellow tent. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9101.jpg"><br /><br />The bridge over the creek.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9109.jpg"><br /><br />And a look back at Wards. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9111.jpg"><br /><br />Getting pretty far from the pedestrian bridge.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9143.jpg"><br /><br />And close to the return bridge.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9144.jpg"> <br /><br />Photography is strictly forbidden. "Come and get me coppers."<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9155.jpg"><br /><br />The view halfway across the bridge back to Manhattan. In the middle you can see the largest building on Wards Island. The once infamous Manhattan Psychiatric Center that has not been in the news for years. You cannot see the Wards Island Men's Homeless Shelter <a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/52374/homeless-on-wards-island-say-they-re-trapped-because-they-can-t-afford-bus-fare">that is almost never in the news.</a> I once volunteered there and there are so many stories that people should know. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9158.jpg"><br /><br />Back in Spanish Harlem just in time for the best Pizza in the world. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9216.jpg"><br /><br />And I flew home just in time for a Bronx sunset.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6683.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6731.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6736.jpg"><br /><br />Early Sunday morning, the last time I saw sunlight that day. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4788.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4784.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4790.jpg"><br /><br />On Monday I went to work late but I got to seethe sunset both above and below the West Side Highway before trying to get through the Harry Potter fans. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4834.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4846.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_4967.jpg"><br /><br />Wednesday's sunset.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9311.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9318.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_9324.jpg"><br /><br />On Thursday I stopped in for a late afternoon visit to Wave Hill.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9359.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9367.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9382.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9386.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9438.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9423.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9492.jpg"><br /><br />Home for a sunset dinner.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9523.jpg"><br /><br />And I stayed up late enough for the view of Cosmo's Moon.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/DSCN8182-2.jpg"><br /><br />My weekend was all about the most beautiful drive in the New York City area, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Lakes_Drive">the Seven Lakes Drive.</a> The fastest route to this nicest drive is not the Palisades Interstate Parkway but there is more to life then speed. Might I suggest a breakfast pit stop at the State Line Lookout? It is a hawk watcher’s paradise. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9798.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9782.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9789.jpg"><br /><br />The Seven Lakes Drive that begins in Sloatsburg, New York winds through Harriman State Park. The entrance to the park and the beginning of one of the prettiest roads in America is only 27.8 miles from the George Washington Bridge. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8557.jpg"><br /><br />Seven Lakes Drive is around seventeen miles long and has a strictly enforced 40 m.p.h speed limit but almost nobody minds when you are driving too slow. The road was not designed to get from one place to the next. It was designed long ago for Sunday afternoon family outings in what was then a brand new invention, the motor car. A road that was built for the purpose of forgetting the city nearby.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7228.jpg"> <br /><br />There is not a single gas station or convenience stand to see, nothing but nature on a road that seems to belong in a forest. Seventeen miles of trees and lakes for the whole drive with deer checking you out, occasionally even a black bear can be seen from the road. The Seven Lakes Drive ends at Bear Mountain. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7415.jpg"><br /><br />The are more than seven lakes in the area. Harriman alone has thirty lakes and two hundred miles of hiking trails. About halfway through the drive <a href="http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hiking/find-a-hike">The Appalachian Trail</a> crosses the Seven Lakes Drive and there are free showers at the Lake Tiorati bath house. You will never meet a dull human who decided a 2,175 mile sounded like a good idea but occasionally you will meet a few who have made it to Medicare and Social Security. These two who were walking from Georgia’s Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin in Maine, were two of the the most interesting and happiest people I've met this summer. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7349.jpg"><br /><br />Of the thirty lakes in Harriman State Park the road is named Seven Lakes Drive because it actually comes within view of seven. Going north <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Sebago">Lake Sebago.</a> The name is Algonquian for "big water" and Sebago is the largest of the seven on the drive. There are several campgrounds and rustic cabins you can rent on this lake that is more like thousands of miles from New York City than the actual thirty five.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9812.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8680.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8628.jpg"><br /><br />There is a popular public beach but if you pull off the drive at the Lake Sebago Boat Launch and walk about a thousand feet south, you will find the old abandoned beach. You can walk through a vast meadow where there was one a parking lot and find a sandy beach that has become overgrown with grass. This beach is closed but always occupied by Russian and Eastern European immigrants, such rebels.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8699.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_8708.jpg"> <br /><br />The second lake on Seven Lakes Drive is around the bend at the Lake Welsh traffic circle. You can find a Nature Center there and beautiful stands of Eastern White Pine<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Kanawauke">Lake Kanawauke.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7256.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0352.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0357.jpg"><br /><br />Lake Welsh does not count as one of the Seven Lakes but it is a great place for a detour. Because most people go to Lake Welsh from the Palisades Interstate Parkway the Lake Welsh Drive is perhaps the least traveled road in lower New York State. This time of year the two miles will probably include fifteen or twenty deer and even more wild turkeys. <br /><br />One of the most fascinating stories in the area is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doodletown,_New_York">Doodletown</a> which is now a ghost town. There is only a cemetery, a few field stone walls and flowers that have no business in a northeastern forest to mark Doodletown but along the road to lake Welsh there is another secret hamlet with a more substantial reminder of times gone by. <br /><br />If you take the turn from Lake Welsh Drive at Johnsontown Road you will find a place where a small town called Sandyfield once stood. The town church, St John's in the Wilderness Church still had parishioners on Sunday but the only other signs of civilization are a caretakers house, the church barn and a well kept cemetery beside the church. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7139b.jpg"><br /><br />There I met Bob Woods and his wife. They posed for a photo in front of his father's grave but he also showed me the graves of his grandfather and great grandfather. The Korean War Veteran told me stories of the thirty families that once lived there. He even knew where they had all gone, down a road that is now a hiking trail called the Hasenclever to the town of Stony Point.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7155.jpg"><br /><br />The wife never said a word but Bob told me stories of courting her after church each Sunday and trying to win her hand with witty conversation standing by the town well house. It was in that church barn at a summer dance in the 1950's when he asked her to marry him. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7176.jpg"><br /><br /><b>Lake Skannatati</b> is the third lake on Seven Lakes Drive and has a free lakeside parking lot at the north end. A <a href="http://gonehikin.blogspot.com/2011/01/harriman-state-park-ny-lake.html">circle hike around this lake</a> makes for a very pretty day. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0265.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0271.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0270.jpg"><br /><br />The south end of <b>Lake Askoti</b> is just across the road from the Lake Skannatati parking lot and is best known for some pretty rock outcrops on the other side from Seven Lakes Drive. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0284.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7190.jpg"><br /><br /><a href="http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/117/details.aspx">Lake Tiorati</a> that until today I always thought was the largest in the park is the most visited. There is a public beach, a huge picnic area and many summer camps on the lake. The area know as Ceder Pond is very pretty.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7302.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7325.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7312.jpg"> <br /><br /><b>Lake Nawahunta</b> is probably the smallest of the Seven Lakes. I also think it is the most beautiful. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0221.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0239.jpg"><br /><br />And Finally the <b>Silver Mine Lake</b>, where there was once a ski lodge. I remember $2 lift tickets and another two for the equipment. Now it is a gathering place to the largest flock of barn swallows I've ever seen. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0185-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0206.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7376.jpg"><br /><br />And after a drive along the Seven Lakes I always like to go up the Perkins Memorial Drive to pay my respects to George Wallbridge Perkins. Doesn’t that tower in his name just scream “New Deal?”<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0004.jpg"><br /><br />I’m sure glad that back then there were rich people influencing government to do the right thing, back when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Mountain_State_Park">the government wanted to put a prison on top of Bear Mountain.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>In 1908 the State of New York announced plans to relocate Sing Sing Prison to Bear Mountain. Work was begun on the area near Highland Lake (renamed Hessian Lake) and in January 1909, the state purchased the 740-acre (3.0 km2) Bear Mountain tract. Conservationists, inspired by the work of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission lobbied successfully for the creation of the Highlands of the Hudson Forest Preserve. However, the prison project was continued. <br /><br />Mary Averell Harriman, whose husband, Union Pacific Railroad president E. H. Harriman died in September of that year, offered the state another 10,000 acres (40 km2) and one million dollars toward the creation of a state park. George W. Perkins, with whom she had been working, raised another $1.5 million from a dozen wealthy contributors including John D. Rockefeller and J. Pierpont Morgan. New York state appropriated a matching $2.5 million and the state of New Jersey appropriated $500,000 to build the Henry Hudson Drive, (which would be succeeded by the Palisades Interstate Parkway in 1947).</blockquote><br /><br />What a view! <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9985.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0155-1.jpg"><br /><br />And a pretty woman sitting under my favorite krumholtz too!<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_9959.jpg"><br /><br />Just one more view, a look down from the northern hills at Hessian Lake in Bear Mountain State Park and the Hudson beyond.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0144.jpg"><br /><br /><blockquote><i><center>Watch that fringe and see how it flutters<br />When I drive them high steppin' strutters.<br />Nosey pokes'll peek thru' their shutters and their eyes will pop!<br />The wheels are yeller, the upholstery's brown,<br />The dashboard's genuine leather,<br />With isinglass curtains y' can roll right down,<br />In case there's a change in the weather.<br />Two bright sidelight's winkin' and blinkin',<br />Ain't no finer rig I'm a-thinkin'<br />You c'n keep your rig if you're thinkin' 'at I'd keer to swap<br />Fer that shiny, little surrey with the fringe on the top!</center></i></blockquote>Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-89641989328832821102011-07-11T15:09:00.000-07:002011-07-11T15:10:27.627-07:00Happy Birthday to the Robert F. Kennedy BridgeToday is the Sliver Anniversary of the bridge formerly know as the The Triborough Bridge. <br /><br /><a href="http://assembly.state.ny.us/Press/20080604/">The New York State Assembly voted to rename the bridge</a> two days prior to the 40th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/triborough-bridge-is-renamed-for-rfk/">the bridge was officially renamed</a> on November 19, 2008, one day prior to what should have been his eighty-third birthday. Amongst Robert F. Kennedy's many contributions to progress and civil rights, on the day he was recognized by the The New York State Assembly he was given credit for the oldest community development corporation in the nation, the <a href="http://www.restorationplaza.org/about/history">Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.</a><br /><br />Here's a photo of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge that I took on Saturday.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/DSC_9019.jpg"><br /><br />The Bridge is also a symbol of progress. The construction of the Triborough Bridge began on Black Friday in 1929 and was almost ended by that day in history. The project was resurrected in the early 1930s by Robert Moses and the bridge was opened to traffic on July 11, 1936. As one of the largest public works projects of the Great Depression the R.F.K. Bridge <a href="http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2011/06/30/queens/qns_triboro_anniversary_20110630.txt">created over two thousand jobs when jobs were needed most.</a> <br /><br /><blockquote>"The bridge symbolizes the best of what our city and our nation can do. Remember in the 1930s, this was a very, very difficult time. This was a time where they built the Triborough Bridge, the Hoover Dam and Empire State Building. To this day they are monuments to a wonderful dream," said Bob Singleton of the Greater Astoria Historical Society. "We consider it to be a planner's dream and engineer's triumph and a legacy to our city."</blockquote><br /><br />Today the toll revenues on the bridge that honors the name Robert F. Kennedy pays for a portion of the public transit subsidy for the New York City Transit Authority and the commuter railroads. To celebrate this significant step in bringing the five boroughs together, the MTA is promoting the 75th anniversary of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge by <a href="http://www.mta.info/mta/news/releases/?agency=bandt&en=110705-BT38">putting together a photo exhibit</a> and is hosting <a href="http://astorialic.org/">a roundtable discussion tonight.</a><br /><br />In a city where renamings seldom stick, it was very fitting to name the bridge that connects Manhattan and the Bronx to Queens and another renaming that stuck, John F. Kennedy Airport. I hope New Yorkers will think twice before calling that span the Triborough Bridge and take time to remember all of the bridges in American society that were created by Robert F. Kennedy.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-10645050093702443182011-07-04T21:39:00.000-07:002011-07-04T21:43:17.906-07:00A Coney Island Greeting on the Fourth of JulyThis started out as a gray day in New York City. Instead of a view if the Palisades and an armada of small boats slowly making their way down river for the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks, my windows seemed like very large glasses of milk. it looked like a perfect day to enjoy a second viewing of John Adams on HBO and remembering what politics was once like in America. <br /><br />Two years back I worked on the Fourth so I made a photo diary out of my lunch break. It was a celebration of the local farmers who also worked that day, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/07/04/750036/-The-Lincoln-Center-Farmers-Market-on-the-Fourth-of-July">The Lincoln Center Farmer's Market on the Fourth of July.</a> Ron Binaghi, a 6th generation farmer who really knows his product, explained the importance of being able to "Eat it raw."<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/DIA_DSCN3152.jpg"/><br /><br />Last year on this date, I think it was about 98° and way too sunny. Because I was too busy enjoying the crowd and fun at the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, I did not write a Fourth of July diary. So on this day, as I enjoyed John Adams, I found some of those photos and put together a Coney Island view of the Fourth of July.<br /><br />I hope you are having a wonderful Fourth of July. Since I started writing the weather has cleared up some and I can smell Bar-B-Cue on my terrace. But I'm feeling lazy and stuck in John Adams mode. With the sun breaking through, some city dwellers will be enjoying the Fourth in a Johnnie Pump. <b>And does anyone here remember Scully!</b> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1777.jpg"><br /><br />Living in the Bronx and with almost ever other driver out of town, half the fun of a Coney Island Hot Dog contest was getting there. National Parks are breathtaking but so is the view of and from the Brooklyn Bridge.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_8727.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_8737.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8723.jpg"><br /><br />There are few pit stops as delicious as a break for a <b>"Poor Man's Malted."</b> Have you ever had an Egg Cream? No egg, no cream but agitation with a spoon as seltzer water, semi-frozen milk and some chocolate syrup is mixed. Mixed with those long salty pretzels, it just doesn't get any better that a genuine <b>New York City Egg Cream.</b> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_8706.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8703.jpg"> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8709.jpg"><br /><br />While I was in the neighborhood I took a look around. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0690.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0689.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0796.jpg"><br /><br />Goodbye Presidents Street and Hello Coney Island.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8891.jpg"><br /><br />At Coney Island the year round fun never stops and there always some great views to see. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN0999.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3328.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3107.jpg"><br /><br />The view of the people enjoying the surf on the 4th of July.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1219.jpg"><br /><br />And last years turnout from the pier with the view of where Astroland once stood.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8894.jpg"> <br /><br />I was lucky enough to get out there before the final days of Astroland and posted a photo diary called <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/08/22/569768/-Got-a-Happy-Story-Coney-Island-Edition-?detail=hide">Got a Happy Story? Coney Island Edition.</a> That was back in 2008 and some might feel that now with a corporate amusement park, the homogenization of Coney island is complete. <br /><br />The southern tip of Brooklyn might no longer be, as <a href="http://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/steeplechase1.htm">George Tilyou</a> once said, <strong>"Coney Island, between June and September, is the world,"</strong> but New Yorkers are lucky that there is any amusement Park at all there. In that diary I met and thanked Dick Zigun, the self appointed Mayor of Coney Island and owner of the Freak Show.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_5933.jpg"><br /><br />Dick Zigun and others worked very hard as community activist to keep the amusements in Coney Island. His letter to the editors, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/06/19/2008-06-19_coney_island_surf_should_remain_working_.html">Coney Island surf should remain working people's turf,</a> is now a classic. <br /><br />Some say it was the economic downturn that saved Coney Island from Bloomberg's dream of high rise hotels, shopping malls and office buildings but I like to think that "people powered politics" played a part. <b>So CHEERS for the little guy on the Fourth of July.</b><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_6013.jpg"><br /><br />I think "Shoot the Freak" has survived. That's harmless enough but you probably won't see anything with the controversy of a "Waterbord Thrill Ride" anytime soon at the new Coney Island. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_6083.jpg"> <br /><br />Still amusements dodged the Bloomberg bullet at what was once the amusement center of the nation. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0957.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN0950.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN0932.jpg"><br /><br />The new amusement park is named after the once great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Park,_Coney_Island">Luna Park</a> and two landmarks have survived. <b>The Wonderwheel.</b><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3313.jpg"><br /><br />And the great Cyclone that Woody Allen did not live under in <i>Annie Hall.</i> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3190.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_5960.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3206.jpg"><br /><br />Another survivor that is still standing but no longer in use. Once the people who did not want to see the view from the Cyclone because of the steep hill that followed could take a nice gentle elevator to the top.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN0945.jpg"><br /><br />You can find the old Coney Island everywhere you look. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN1147-1.jpg"><br /><br />And you can't say Coney Island without saying Nathan's Famous. Those hot dogs really do taste better here. It must be the salt in the air. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3362.jpg"><br /><br />Last year a police officer told me that 50,000 people attended the hot dog eating contest. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0879.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1057.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0865.jpg"><br /><br />And who won? I don't remember and don't even know who won this year but it was fun to watch with so many people. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1076.jpg"><br /><br /><b>CHEERS to the people.</b> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3533.jpg"><br /><br />Had enough of my photos? If not you can always go visit <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/07/04/750036/-The-Lincoln-Center-Farmers-Market-on-the-Fourth-of-July">The Lincoln Center Farmer's Market on the Fourth of July</a> and celebrate some of the Americans who are making a difference.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/DIA_DSCN3218.jpg"/> <br /><br /><i>John Adams</i> just ended. You gotta love a mini-series that ends with; <br /><br /><blockquote><b>"My Dearest Friend,<br />Whether I stand high or low in the estimation of the world, my conscience is clear. I thank God I have you for a partner in all the joys and sorrows, all the prosperity and adversity of my life. To take a part with me in the struggle."</b> --John Adams to Abigail Adams<br /><br /><b>"Should I draw you the picture of my heart, you would know with what indescribable pleasure I have seen so many scores of years roll over our heads, with an affection heightened and improved by time. Nor have the dreary years of absence in the smallest degree effaced from my mind the image of the dear, untitled man to whom I gave my heart. You could not be, nor did I wish to see you, an inactive spectator." </b>--Abigail Adams to John Adams<br /><br /><b>"Oh, posterity.You will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it." </b>--John Adams</blockquote><br /><br />A parting shot. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN1038.jpg"><br /><br />Have a Happy.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-78224784383706452272011-05-23T14:32:00.000-07:002011-05-23T14:35:10.294-07:00Remembering an Artistic Watering HoleI have some fond memories to share. After <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/comments/969474/41277998"> reliving the experience of seeing The Dizzy Gillespie Dream Band,</a> thoughts drummed up about another aspect of Lincoln Center. The nostalgia for a once famous bar that was across the street on 63rd and Amsterdam, a place where I once helped make the music and sang along for many years, came on strong. <br /><br />Let me start out where Alvie Singer ended because it is a good way to set the stage. In the background during the final scene from Annie Hall you can see the concert hall where Dizzy Gillespie blew me away but in the foreground, the camera was set up in a bar and restaurant that was once called <b>"O'Neals' Baloon."</b><br /><br /><object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W-M3Q2zhGd4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W-M3Q2zhGd4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="349"></embed></object><br /><br />The view is for you. I need no reminders of what O'Neils Balloon looked like and this in not a story about me. Perhaps this is a story about a forgotten era that might just be making a comeback after of the success of the movie <i>Black Swan.</i> Well not really, more popularity and higher ticket prices can never take up the slack where the National Endowment for the Arts left off.<br /><br />This is a story of <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/dancers-at-a-bar-as-in-pub/">a painting getting its act together and taking it on the road,</a> a story of ballet at the barre and a recollection of times gone by. Just memories of a social gathering spot that was name "balloon" because it was illegal to call a bar a "saloon" in New York City. Those Blue Laws have been changed now. So much has changed now. So much has been forgotten. <br /><br /><a href="http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Upper%20West%20Side/?action=view¤t=DSC_8112.jpg"><img align="right" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Upper%20West%20Side/DSC_8112-1.jpg"></a><b>"So, set 'em, Joe"</b> Today if you look across the street from Lincoln Center the same corner of the Empire Hotel is still occupied by a bar and restaurant. P.J. Clarke's probably has an even richer history than O'Neals' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Clarke%27s">but that is another story.</a> As one establishment expanded, a joint that was famous for hard drinking news reporters, Frank Sinatra sightings and Johnny Mercer writing <i>One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)</i> on a cocktail napkin, the O’Neal family contracted back to the original Lincoln Center location. <br /><br />O’Neal's Baloon was not uncommon in many respects, very similar to most bars across the nation where you could enjoy a tasty burger and good conversation. It was a family run restaurant and one family member, Cynthia O'Neal worked hard to make sure the food was far better than most bar food but other than that, the roots of O'Neals' Baloon was no different from many drinking establishments back then. A place where a warm atmosphere could be found and friends were waiting at the bar. <br /><br />That root was The Ginger Man, a bar that was born in an empty garage on West 64th Street. From the beginning there was some link to fame. One of the four owners, two brothers and their two wives, was the actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0641929/">Patrick O’Neal</a> and he was appearing in a successful play on Broadway. That play was called "The Ginger Man" but it did little for drumming up business at first. The construction workers who were working to complete the very first gathering of major cultural institutions into a centralized location in an American city were probably the first steady customers at The Ginger Man. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Blogs/gingerman-20granular2-1.jpg"><br /><br />Back in 1964, when The Ginger Man opened in a neighborhood known for working class families, the tenements of 'West Side Story' and the automobile dealerships on Broadway, the neighborhood was in the final stages of a grand transition. In 1962, just across Broadway, the New York Philharmonic had already left Carnegie Hall and Leonard Bernstein conducted the gala opening at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) in their new Lincoln Center home. 1964 was the same year that New York City Ballet took up residence as New York State's cultural participation in the 1964-1965 World's Fair behind the travertine walls of the <a href="http://www.nycballet.com/nyst/fun.html">New York State Theater.</a> You can still taste the flavor of 1964-1965 World's Fair in that theater, that was built with state funding, renamed "The Ramada Opera House" by <i>The New York Times</i> architectural reviewer back in 1964 and had <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/12/975464/-Koch-Brothers-Exposed:-Sticker-Shock-and-Street-Theater-%28Video-Update%29?detail=hide">a tragic renaming during the summer of 2008.</a><br /><br />Two years later business was better at The Ginger Man, so the bar and restaurant expanded to the new location on 63rd and Amsterdam. The birth of O'Neals' Baloon, that was probably intended to cash in on the theater going crowd but almost immediately filled to capacity with people who worked in Lincoln Center, happened around the same time that Lincoln Center was getting into the swing of things. It was the year of final season at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera_House_%2839th_St%29">"The Old Met"</a> and on September 16, 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House, that just closed the 2011 season with Richard Wagner, opened with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's <i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Upper%20West%20Side/MED_IMG_3224.jpg"><br /><br />I was not there at the very beginning but I understand that the Baloon opened to rave reviews. The activity level and atmosphere of this liberal drinking destination in the late 1960's and early 70's is hard to explain in an era of the $14 Manhattan Martini and corporate bartenders who are more interested in their smart phones than their customers. Those thirsty times were also well before the popularity of red velvet ropes and people who looked like they should be playing for the NY Giants deciding who entered and who didn't. There was an atmosphere similar to, but much warmer than, the sidewalks of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Eight deep but instead of crowding up to police lines, the celebrants were hugging an oak rail and watching bartenders preforming a high speed chase scene to pass cocktails out into the crowd. <br /><br />There was the occasional tourist but it was the sort of bar that you could walk in and possibly see the Leonard Bernstein entourage at one end while George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins would be discussing the next New York City Ballet production at the other. Producers and directors from other media along with the stars of the Broadway stage and movie personalities were also drawn to O'Neals'. They came to embrace the people who were building New York's newest experiment, Lincoln Center for the Preforming Arts. So many great minds in one place made for a sort of magic in the air.<br /><br />The customers were mostly theater people but not all were movers and shakers in the theater world. Since getting rich and preforming arts rarely merge, I don't think any fortunes were made on cocktail napkins but several opera and ballet sets got designed that way and occasionally with the stagehand sitting beside the designer suggesting a scrim for that portal or coming up with more efficient stage moves. Musicians discussing their next "possible twenty" rubbing shoulders with composers going over their next masterpiece would become associations. Performing art deals were made, shows were created at the bar but more often it was elders passing on knowledge to the young and people from different fields discussing anything from the newest productions across the street to the families waiting at home.<br /><br />In this day and age of "social media" you would think such a crowd would become cliquish but that never seemed to be the case. Everyone knew everyone else and everyone seemed equal. It was very different times when you would be hoisting a drink in the evening with the same people that you would be sitting across from on the collective bargaining table from the next day or drinking with the director of the production you would be working on that night. Way back when a liberal and a conservative could sit at the bar and politely talk politics all night long, there was little separation to be found. It was just a familiar sort of place where <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/17/business/robert-irving-conductor-dies-music-director-for-dance-was-78.html">Maestro Irving</a> was just plain "Robert" and Rudolf Nureyev was "Rudy Baby!"<br /><br />About a year after the sad demise of O'Neals' Baloon, Jim Enzel who was the last manager there summed up the feel of bar when "The Talk of the Town" at <i>The New Yorker</i> was already trying to find the good old days. <a href="http://images.archives.newyorker.com/?i=1992-04-06#folio=CV1">Jim said;</a> <br /><br /><blockquote>"That was some bar. Every night you'd have Robert Irving, City Ballet's chief conductor, there, in his tuxedo, and next to him would be three or four dancers, and next to them would be stagehands in their sneakers. At 'Nutcracker' time you'd have kids running around too. It was terrific - artist, movie people regular people. You'd come up to the bar, and there would be a fur coat talking to a guy in bluejeans. I'd say in my restaurant experience that was one of the best-choreographed bars in New York." </blockquote><br /><br />Primarily O'Neals' was a ballet bar, a place for dancers to hang out and let loose. During the holiday seasons when 'Nutcracker' was playing across the street and the bar would really be buzzing, I have fond memories of not just children running around. I recall being surrounded by Sugar Plum Fairies nursing white wine spritzers and on matinees days they would still be in make-up. If the crowd was thin enough you could have seen something as amazing as a young Peter Martins demonstrating some new choreography to his fellow dancers. I was lucky enough to see that and also remember many a ballet star "busting a move" there that was more Bob Fosse than ballet.<br /><br />The late great <a href="http://www.nycballet.com/company/history/balanchine.html">George Balanchine</a> even wrote a song about O'Neil's Baloon. Well actually it was about ballerinas sitting on their behinds and getting lazy while drinking and flirting with the bartenders. But as any member of the NYCB company would tell you, it was all in jest. I worked there and remember the great choreographer as taking on the role of everyone's loving and caring father. <a href="http://www.balart.com/CarolSumner.htm">Carol Sumner</a>, who was once one of Balanchine's principle dancers, recalled both those times and Mr. Balanchine in <a href="http://www.onealsny.com/1-about-ourstory.htm">"TIME FRAME."</a><br /><br /><blockquote>"And you know what was really fun about the place too, because a lot of us were very young and had just moved into the City after living with our parents in New Jersey or Brooklyn and we were on our own? We were serious, good kids working at a career. We were level-headed, but at the same time it was wonderful to go into O'Neals’ and sit at a bar for the first time. Be a woman who could sit at a bar and be safe and understood! There would even be stagehands from the Met and the ballet. You didn't have to worry. You could even flirt a little bit if you wanted to. And everyone knew who we were and that we were in showbiz and that we were the up-and-comings of Mr. B. We were filled with emotion. If I could tell you the crushes on various waiters who were young and handsome! Mr. B knew everything but he would let us do it because it was part of our development as people ... I remember him taking me over there occasionally. We would be walking out the stage door together, and he would say, ‘Let’s go to O’Neals!’.' And we would have a drink and chat. He loved the place."</blockquote><br /><br />If you were young and single with a job in Lincoln Center than O'Neals' Baloon was the place to be. But it was also far more than that and sort of stood out as an amazing sort of cultural exchange. The dominant ballet company was the NYCB because the New York State Theater was just across the street. The walk was not much further when American Ballet Theater was in residence at the Met. Even the dance companies that preformed at City Center, all the way over at 55th and The Avenue of the Americas, those dancers seemed to find their way to O'Neal's too. <br /><br />But ballet came from much further that that, with Sol Hurok acting as the real Ambassador to Russia and the National Endowment for the Arts subsidizing many tours, the world's greatest ballet companies almost seemed like summertime residents of New York City. If the Stuttgart was in town, O'Neals' had a German accent and when the Royal was in residence your ears told you it was a London tavern. For the Bolshoi or Kirov they stocked up on the vodka and the parties never seemed to end.<br /><br />The cultural exchange was far more than teaching Danish dancers how to properly set a "Depth Charge," understanding London Pub etiquette or learning from Russians that after raising a glass and saying "Na Zdorovie" if one drop of vodka was left in the glass it represented bad wishes for all that you toasted with. Not that teaching "Liar's Poker" to people who never heard of the game wasn't a good investment but you could get rich in many other ways sitting on a bar stool at O'Neals'. Everything from learning what "Uncle Vanya" meant to the people it was written for to finding out from a British stagehand what their National Health Service was really like. A listener could learn what a day in the life of a Parisian was like or hear about relaxing vacations in Brighton, Niece or a dacha in the white birch forest of Russia. It was all pretty amazing to learn the realities of life far from home, especially so, while living in America.<br /><br />The ballet connection was caused by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0641890/">Cynthia O'Neal.</a> Her and her famous husband Patrick were big fans of the dance world. Actually Patrick O'Neal was famous for collecting the dirty rotten stay outs at closing time, dungareed stagehands included, and packing them into yellow cabs to continue the party at his Central Park South pied-à-terre. The view of the park was spectacular. Cynthia was really the huge ballet fan and had close ties with the stars of the day. She was also responsible for <a href="http://www.onealsny.com/1-about-ourstory.htm">the one enduring piece of O'Neals' Balloon nostalgia.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>"The dancers were always there: I was insane about them, and I just got the idea, Wouldn't it be fun – since they come here all the time – to do a mural?</blockquote><br /><br />That still famous 16 foot long painting is called <b>"Dancers at the Bar," by Robert Crowl.</b> The long bar that I remember so well and that windows that faced the Plaza at Lincoln Center along with the overhead rack for glasses and the distinctive clock were captured in that mural. Thirty-three of the regulars from that era, including waiters, the restaurant's maitre d' and manager, also included members the world's leading ballet companies standing and sitting beside the O'Neal family. The painting captured that era of ballet in America.<br /><br />Can you find <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Martins">Peter Martins</a> in the mural? I remember him being one of their best customers and I used to be able to pick him out but even though I worked with him when he was very young, I no longer can. The man who is now in charge of the New York City Ballet must be the blond kid in the red, white and blue stripes and the woman he is straddling seems familiar but my memory fails me. (<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/08/12/arts/muralenlarge/muralenlarge-custom1.jpg">Click here for the big picture</a>)<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Blogs/ONeils_Mural_Med.jpg"><br /><br />Outside of the unmistakable Patrick O'Neal in the Blue blazer and dark turtleneck, the faces are no longer familiar but I remember the styles. <a href="http://www.balart.com/CarolSumner.htm">Carol Sumner</a> said she was wearing hot pants, so she is probably besides the pant leg of the of the dancer in the Bruins jersey. <a href="http://bostonballet.net/?q=node/59">Sara Leland</a> got written up for wearing a mini. Perhaps Sara is on the right in the short green skirt. I think that is Balanchine's "Ruby" <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/06/arts/review-ballet-with-kisses-and-roses-patricia-mcbride-s-goodbye.html">Patricia McBride</a> wearing a Midi and long black boots while sitting above the rack that held glasses. So that must be <a href="http://www.ncdance.org/Newsilona.asp">Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux</a> beside her and the man Patricia McBride seems to be thinking about kicking in the head must be Robert Irving. <br /><br />Two of the great American Ballet Theater stars posed for the mural, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Villella">Edward Villella</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Gregory">Cynthia Gregory.</a> One of Mr. Balanchine's "Emeralds" <a href="http://www.nycballet.com/company/alumni/anniversary.html">Mimi Paul</a> is in there somewhere. Former Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet include <a href="http://www.robinsonarchive.com/viewImage.asp?pid=745">Ann Jenner</a>, <a href="http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_05/jun05/interview_wall.htm">David Wall</a> and one of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's favorites, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Seymour">Lynn Seymour.</a> A pair of John Cranko's stars from the Stuttgart Ballet posed, <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/egon-madsen">Egon Madsen</a> who is still active and <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/heinz-clauss">Heinz Clauss</a> who is sadly no longer with us. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Dowell">Sir Anthony Dowell</a> who retired as the Artistic Director of Britain's Royal Ballet and <a href="http://www.criticaldance.com/magazine/200405/articles/monicamasoninterview20040400.html">Dame Monica Mason</a> who has also been the director of that company can be found somewhere.<br /><br />There are several who are still at the top of their game, including the artistic director of English National Ballet <a href="http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_07/mar07/interview_eagling_jr_0207.htm">Wayne Eagling</a>, from the San Francisco Ballet there is <a href="http://www.sfballet.org/about/company/artisticdirector.asp">Helgi Tomasson</a> and <a href="http://www.balletsj.org/Nahatbio.html">Dennis Nahat</a> who directs the San Jose Ballet. <a href="http://www.losangelesballet.com/">John Clifford.</a> who established Los Angeles’ first successful resident professional ballet company posed. There is <a href="http://www.abt.org/education/archive/other/von_aroldingen.html://">Karin von Aroldingen,</a> one of the founding members of The George Balanchine Trust but sadly not Mr. Balanchine's <a href="http://www.downrightred.com/2011/01/07/101/">"Diamond"</a> the wonderful <a href="http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/ballet/farrell/">Suzanne Farrell.</a> <br /><br />There was a day many years ago that I remember the corner of O'Neals' Baloon being destroyed and I remember someone telling me it was a taxi cab. They get blamed for everything in New York. But when I read that Time Line Cynthia O'Neal, who always like to talk about all the times that Rudolph Nureyev almost posed, told a different story.<br /><br /><blockquote>Although they weren't portrayed in the mural, many of the most celebrated dancers of the Bolshoi, the likes of Maris Liepa and Yuri Vladimirov hung out at O'Neals' after performances, of course under the watchful eye of the KGB in those pre-glasnost days. Cynthia remembers particularly one after-hours, vodka-laced party that went on until very late. Shortly after everyone had left, a car pursued by the police crashed into the restaurant, demolishing the large round table that a couple of hours previously had seated the cream of the Bolshoi stars. She still shudders at the carnage that might have been. And the group portrait of dancers, hanging just above, looked calmly down over it all.</blockquote><br /><br />It was not just ballet that O'Neal's should be remembered for. The bar once represented a study for what a day in "Theater Life" was once like and for many it was like going home to family. Good food, decent prices and a pleasant atmosphere packed the Balloon with the blue collar theaters workers at the start of the "theater day," around 5 p.m. Ushers and supernumeraries were mostly people with day jobs who worked nights for very little money but to see or be seen on the grand stage. After the first hard day's work they would be the early arrivals, lining up at the bar in the late afternoon sun with place settings that made the bar seem more like a cafeteria counter. There was both the comfort of a chicken pot pie and a conversation with the bartenders about the day at the office. <br /><br />A little later, once the place was getting busy by most standards, the stage managers and technicians who worked rehearsals every day and needed to go right back for the performance in the evening would show up for a dinner break at the bar. The black bean soup with sour cream followed by hand cut French fries and the best burger in the Lincoln Center area could be had for little more than a song. On dress rehearsal days musicians, wardrobe and hair departments would also need a place to rest. The rainbow trout and steak au poivre were extremely popular.<br /><br />Then the theater goers would arrive as the place would start looking like a happy madhouse as the bartenders would go from good conversion to working their magic. They were the linchpin of the whole operation. If O'Neals' was happening now Robert and Richie, the two bartenders I remember most, would be celebrities on the internet as the real choreographers of that scene that is now forgotten. From the early evening cocktail juggling act to closing time when they were fondly known as the "train killers," Robert and Richie were just the right combination of a little drink pouring showmanship and a lot of knowing and caring about every single customer. "Train killers" as in "I need to make the 11:40 out of Penn Station"..."Let's have a nightcap and and then I'll have to make the 12:20"..."Just one more and I'll jump in a cab for the 12:40"..."Oops! I missed my last train. Can I sleep at your place?"<br /><br />It wasn't just about the bar. With one of the first Manhattan sidewalk permits I can recall and an interior tent wrapping around the entire establishment, the tables took up far more space than the bar rail. By seven o'clock Speed Stone kept the red and white checkered tablecloths humming with everything from visiting dignitaries to the bridge and tunnel crowd, while the bartenders kept the local workers and customers waiting for a seat buzzing at the bar. The young and beautiful waiters and waitresses, most of them actors working towards their big break, added to the atmosphere. Fresh after a hopeful audition enthusiasm raced through the crowd like smiling obstacle course runners and always with a pleasant greeting or a quick joke.<br /><br />But what a pair Robert and Richie did make. They both had a a strong mother instinct. No matter how crowded the bar was, if you called out for a hamburger you got more than just the best burger in the neighborhood. It was understood that you would also get a place setting and someone up front would be chased out of their bar stool. From Richie it would be "Theater worker on a short break need their nourishment." From Robert the negotiations would be too quiet to make out." Non-alcoholic beverage on short breaks were always free. I fondly remember Richie's line "Nonsense I never charge stagehands for medicine." From Robert it would be knuckles rapped on the bar to signal "On the house."<br /><br />Robert was the stereotypical Irish bartender. I don't know if Robert actually had any Irish heritage but he had all the right moves. He had that now rare talent of listening to a customer's story or thumbing through their vacation photos while seeming very interested and remembered the names of most customers along with their family members. Now Richie, he remembered you and made everyone feel welcomed but he also went to work to hold court. Everyone loved every word he said. Richie was a tall thin man with white hair who was not only impeccably dressed, it seemed that he never wore the same shirt or tie twice. Richie had all of Robert's talents plus he was also a walking theater encyclopedia. He knew more back then about the goings on both backstage and in the footlights than Michael Riedel does today and Richie knew which stories not to tell while telling the ones he did were far more interesting than the efforts of some <i>New York Post</i> reporter.<br /><br />They were also both also everybody's time clock. Since everyone who works in the theater doesn't need to be there from curtain going up to the bitter end for many customers a visit to O'Neals' was a 50 yard dash from the New York State Theater to the bar between scenes. There's an App for that today but back then the two bartenders kept a running tally of who needed to be back when and never missed a cue. Can you imagine Peter Martins dancing the lead role in the first part of a triple bill and sitting at the bar with blue jeans over his tights for the next two in the bill? Or better yet, the look on someone's face when Richie told them "That bar stool is taken. The customer just ran across the street to take a bow." <br /><br /><img align="left" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/PS_DSC_9035.jpg">It's all good memories but the story has a happy ending, or rather has yet to end. The high flying days of the family owning several Manhattan restaurants have ended and Patrick O'Neal passed way back in 1994 but his brother Mike is still a restaurateur. There are two outdoor eateries where he and his wife Christine can still be found. One is a small pretty building, just a few footsteps from the Dairy and Carousel in Central Park, a snack bar for the softball fields. <br /><br />The larger of the two is down by the Hudson River at <a href="http://www.boatbasincafe.com/">The West 79th Street Boat Basin Cafe.</a> There the food reminds me of the good old days and the photo to the left is a relic from the very first restaurant. The place is definitely worth visiting. <br /><br />Cynthia O'Neal, along with the famous director Mike Nichols, founded the crisis center for life-threatening illness that is called <a href="http://www.thebody.com/content/art30752.html">Friends In Deed.</a> <br /><br />As to the mural “Dancers at the Bar,” you could say it has gone home. When the second O'Neals' (originally the Ginger Man) closed stagehands carried the panels across the street to the New York State Theater, where the painting now hangs in the company’s main rehearsal hall. <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/dancers-at-a-bar-as-in-pub/">Someday you might be able to see it too.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>Rob Daniels, a City Ballet spokesman, said in an e-mail message, “We also hope to exhibit the mural in the front of house area of the theater at some point in the future.” </blockquote><br /><br />I could not find a photo of O'Neals' Baloon but back when the second O'Neals' closed there was an auction of the artwork and I saved a copy of this painting. My apologies to the artist, I did not save his or her name but here is a view I remember so well. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/896758929_nLZaY-M.jpg"> <br /><br />You won't find me hanging out at the barre anymore but at one time I thought it was about the most wonderful place on earth, my prime of life watering hole. Dancers, opera singers, actors and members of the New York Philharmonic mingling with stage managers, stagehands, wardrobe and hair people. Hey you know, expose yourself to art. I am looking forward to the day that painting goes back on display.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-78880111773554569842011-05-21T22:59:00.000-07:002011-05-21T23:01:31.066-07:00The Steaming Forest SunsetIt has been so long since I've seen a sunset from my Bronx window.Finally this evening the clouds cooperated and for the first time in months I saw steam rising from the Palisades. <br /><br />Here's the money shot. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3359.jpg"><br /><br />Today was a wonderful day in New York City. So much better than what we've been getting lately. The weather was all over the place and it seemed like a few days. <br /><br />In the early morning it looked like the Hudson was steaming. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSC_3107.jpg"><br /><br />Too bad I didn't have a camera for the drive into work because the whole river had disappeared and only the very top of the George Washington Bridge could be seen. <br /><br />After work it was the perfect blue sky day for a walk in Van Cortlandt Park. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3208.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3155.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3152.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3156.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3141.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3278.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_3273.jpg"><br /><br />But half way through the walk the sky darkened to a rain storm and it looked like another sunset free day. Surprise, first a break in the clouds while it was still raining. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3307.jpg"><br /><br />Then on a second break the sun came out and the fog on the river had turned to haze. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3319.jpg"><br /><br />Finally a nice sunset to enjoy. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3321.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3341.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3374.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3378.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3383.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3387.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3388.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3393.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3394.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3396.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/05-21-2011_DSC_3407.jpg"><br /><br />I love a good sunset but lately it seemed like the California coastline had shipped May Gray to the Bronx. Not tonight!Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-49295149519357191332011-05-07T09:18:00.000-07:002011-05-07T09:19:50.797-07:00I almost had a photography free dayClose...<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3073.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3020.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3029.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3048-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3066.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3071.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3059.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3087.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3120.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3113.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3126.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3130.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3132.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3143-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3139.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3161.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3167.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3179.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3173.jpg"><br /><br />...but no cigar.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-45618903301350864832011-05-02T19:44:00.000-07:002011-05-02T19:55:59.431-07:00Chelsea Mews or Walking with a Point and ShootWould you like to enjoy some pocket camera pictures from a week in Chelsea? I would love to be a professional photographer but I'm not. I just like to take pictures. So this is a little about pastime photography or capturing images to remember where you've been.<br /><br />Perhaps one or two have some impact. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2077.jpg"><br /><br />But mostly these photos are just pictures taken walking to and from the subway during a gig I had last week at the Chelsea Riverside Park and some walking around views during lunch. <br /><br />New York is a walking town and there is always much to see.<br /><br />For the past six years it has been a joy for me to come home and turn on the computer, upload some snapshots from the day and see on the big computer screen if I captured any keepers. Perhaps if I was younger and had sharper vision the upload would not be so rewarding but I don't and even with reading glasses, I can't see much on a three inch screen. With a point and shoot the computer screen always seemed to be full of surprises. <br /><br />Except for the fact that I own some very good point and shoots, I probably would have given up on them when I purchased a Nikon D-7000. Ever since getting a DSLR and looking through that big viewfinder that makes for far better composition skills and seeing such high quality photos when I get home, I still missed those surprises. The little point and shoots, besides being able to fit in a pocket and go anywhere, still offer that type of upload excitement that has been lost after the upgrade. <br /><br />So I walk to and from work with my trusty Canon G-10 and see what I can find. When I get home there is almost always a pleasant surprise to be found sitting on my couch between sunset shots with the big DSLR that rarely gets out of the apartment. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2620.jpg"/><br /><br />The photo above is early Monday morning, a man and his laundry. Except for the background, not a very impressive photo but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Chelsea">because of the background</a> there is a bit of Arthur C. Clarke, Charles Bukowski, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Iggy Pop, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, Patti Smith and Larry Rivers in the shot. I watched <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623742/">Cinema Verite</a> last week so there was a little Lance Loud in the view and I'm just the right age that I can't pass the Chelsea Hotel without thinking about Nancy Spungen.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/IMG_1984.jpg"><br /><br />A foggy morning at the Chelsea Pier. Notice the ghostly water taxi bringing commuters from Hoboken and Jersey City to Manhattan. An old square rigger is docked at a place where rich Manhattanites stack themselves up to fire golf balls at a worker driving a cart around trying to pick up the balls that missed him. It's class warfare I tell you.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2708.jpg"/><br /><br />Since my favorite photo in this diary is a picture of a dog, I'll offset that with the above photo for you pootie fans. You would think that with Chelsea being such a Democratic stronghold they would have named it "The Blue Cat" but what are you gonna do? <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2643.jpg"/><br /><br /><a href="http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/cartier-bresson-henri-matisse-henri/images-%C3%A0-la-sauvette/64268.aspx">"Images à La Sauvette?"</a> Well perhaps not but I still love the above photo. The "fives" are because it is 555 West 23rd Street. With that being an area once identified with rough and tumble longshoremen and factory workers struggling to earn their daily bread, the view of a block filled with upscale condos is still a bit shocking. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2720.jpg"><br /><br />Chelsea is a neighborhood in transition. Expensive condos are squeezing out the more affordable housing but nowhere near as much as other areas below 96th Street. You can find things in Chelsea that are seldom seen on the island of Manhattan. Like the seldom needed car wash and gas station. By the way the price for the cheap stuff is $4.18 and if you have one of those expensive German cars it's $4.44!<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2696.jpg"/><br /><br />Who'd a thunk it? A display of tulips way out west on Twenty-third Street.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2700.jpg"/><br /><br />Perhaps this is a holdover for the Old West Chelsea days, one of those steam table bars that was filled with longshoremen and factory workers. Here is an interesting historical question <a href="http://www.thehalfking.com/hk/">"Who was the Half King?"</a> It is <a href="http://www.thehalfking.com/podcast/">a literary bar</a> so maybe Dylan Thomas used to stop in when the walk from the Hotel Chelsea to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Tavern_%28New_York_City%29">The White Horse Tavern</a> seemed too long. Or perhaps it is a newer bar and just made to look old. What do I know besides the fact that I was thrilled to capture two New York City Taxis in the reflection of the windows. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2752.jpg"/><br /><br />Or you can just walk around the corner from the Twenty-third Street tulips to the Terminal Hotel for a view that brings back some of the old western side of Chelsea. Watch out for the hole in the ground. With all the noses buried in smart phones these days those basement stairs could be terminal too. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2627.jpg"><br /><br />Sadly a Chelsea renaissance view that did not hold over. How embarrassing it is to be a New York City photo buff and not have a photo of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Diner">The Empire Diner</a> back when it was still in business. Had I made it to 210 Tenth Avenue just one year ago I could have gotten a photo of the mini Empire State Building that marked the corner of 22nd and 10th. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/IMG_2124.jpg"><br /><br />The renaissance, or perhaps gentrification on Tenth Ave. has been going on for many years. The Empire Diner is gone but now surrounded by upscale art galleries and more expensive eateries. One block west and you can still find a different sort of art in buildings that have not yet found the new way. A view that is sure to be gone soon.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2623.jpg"/> <br /><br />I'll never make a good street photographer because I'm not intrusive enough. I do love to work the pedestrian kinetics into a picture. You know there is far more to the composition study of the photo buff that meets the eye. What a joy it is for me to just capture a moment and see what I would have missed when I get home. In that photo I would have missed "gramroom." <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/IMG_1217.jpg"><br /><br />Sometimes I get intrusive. How could I not snap that photo? Both a rewarding pastime and a means of preventing memories from fading. Oh yea, back to Chelsea. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/IMG_2039.jpg"><br /><br />A dinner break in the rain and I finally had The Highline to myself. This month the extension to 30th Street will open and I guess I'll need to write <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/07/26/757213/-To-Be-Back-On-the-High-Line-Again-%28a-photo-diary%29">To Be Back On the High Line Again,</a> again. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/IMG_2096.jpg"><br /><br />Here's a transition photo, an alley where Frank Gehry's IAC Building meets one of the old Chelsea factories. An expensive condo has already filled in the background. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2809.jpg"><br /><br />You never know what you'll see in Chelsea. Take this real live "Purple People Eater" for instance. That is Chris Doleman playing football with the kids in the park. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2675.jpg"><br /><br />And this year's NFL Draft choices talking to the NYC school children. I won't be able to name them until the become NFL stars. Any college football fans here who want to take a stab? <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2779.jpg"><br /><br />Well that's it, finishing off with a sporting view from a sporting week. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2733-1.jpg"><br /><br />Need some coffee in Chelsea? I highly recommend <a href="http://www.joetheartofcoffee.com/">"Joe"</a> that can be <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=nnf&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Joe+The+Art+of+Coffee+London+Terrace&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Joe+The+Art+of+Coffee+London+Terrace&hnear=New+York,+NY&cid=13455803622627123352">found in the London Terrace Apartments.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_2739.jpg"><br /><br />Or better yet, another look at the 23rd Street tulips. I like tulips.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-21453291625590606182011-04-18T19:08:00.000-07:002011-04-18T19:53:26.380-07:00Just some photos from the "Heart and Soul" concert tour.Two weeks ago on a Wednesday evening I went to see Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart at Madison Square Garden. <br /><br />I'm already having trouble remembering the rock concert, at least the second half is fading. Luckily I took a few pictures. Normally I would not post such low quality photos but seeing Stevie Nicks again was very special to me and I'd like to be able to look back at this someday to remember. These were mostly taken from the last floor row "Yay Last Row!" of the "Worlds Most Famous Arena" and taken with a pocket camera that only goes out to 5X. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1333e.jpg"><br /><br />There was far more light on the stage for Rod Stewart so the photos do get a little better in the end. So I don't feel so guilty perhaps I can throw in some tips on getting the shot in a big arena on concert night, add a little Fleetwood Mac political trivia and some Stevie Nicks memories to spice things up. <br /><br />First the trivial pursuit. You probably remember that Fleetwood Mac was very big with Bill Clinton. The Big man, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTkUeb6zQFA" target="_blank">who knows a thing or two about making music</a>, picked <i>Don't Stop</i> as in "thinking about tomorrow" for the flight song of the 1992 presidential campaign. On January 19, 1993 President Clinton even persuaded the then-disbanded group <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3JA1nWPFqM" target="_blank">to reform and perform <i>Don't Stop</i></a> at the inaugural ball. Bill Clinton was very fond of Fleetwood Mac both coming and going. At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, President Clinton ended his speech by saying, "Keep putting people first. Keep building those bridges. And don't stop thinking about tomorrow!" As he finished speaking <i>Don't Stop</i> began playing over the loudspeakers.<br /><br />For younger readers and Baby Boomers who were engaged elsewhere, let me further set the stage. On the long list of Fleetwood Mac accomplishments they had only had one chart topping single. The number one hit from back in 1977 was written and sang by Stevie Nicks. At the time <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEi7GPkxfsE" target="_blank"><i>Dreams</i></a> was released Stevie Nicks was still quite young but <a href="http://www.elyrics.net/read/f/fleetwood-mac-lyrics/dreams-lyrics.html" target="_blank">those haunting lyrics</a> seemed like the voice of an old soul.<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Now here I go again, I see, the crystal visions<br />I keep my visions to myself<br /><br />It's only me<br />Who wants to wrap around your dreams and...<br />Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?<br />Dreams of loneliness...<br /><br />Like a heartbeat drives you mad...<br />In the stillness of remembering<br />What you had<br />And what you lost...<br /><br />What you had...<br />Ooh, what you lost</em></blockquote><br /><br />Stevie Nicks was already far and away the star of the band because of a song she sang <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py3w5fttedA" target="_blank">"about an old Welsh witch."</a> That summer when <i>Dreams</i> was being played everywhere there was already "Rumours" that Stevie Nicks was a witch and the cover art captured the imagination of the masses, adding graceful ballerina to the mix. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Blogs/FleetwoodMac-Rumours-Front-1.jpg"><br /><br />The national fascination with Stevie Nicks was not merely visual. Yes she was young and beautiful, her twirling on MTV and on the the stage for those who got to see her in concert did sort of make her the Suzanne Farrell of Rock n' Roll and Stevie did sort of become American Royalty. Back in 1977 Stevie Nicks became a fashion statement and it seemed all the women my age wanted to be her while most of the young men wanted to be with her but it was more than just good looks and great sounds that captured America. <i>"The music there was hauntingly familiar."</i> Just about everyone, man or woman, saw or hoped they saw a little Stevie Nicks mystery in themselves. Perhaps her mystical ways and enchanting songs inspired a generation. <br /><br /><b>But does she still have it?</b> I think so and since I've seen every one of her solo North American tours, even flew out to Vegas in 2005 when the tour started and ended in the Celine Dion Theater, I'm probably a pretty good but hardly objective judge. So you make the call, here's a comparison of <i>Stand Back.</i> It would not be fair to use <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJ-i23OiJU" target="_blank">the video that had me screaming "I want my MTV!"</a> Here is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-2GD-d1Flk" target="_blank">the live video from 1983</a> and this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-fxOS658H4" target="_blank">looks like Red Rock back in 1986.</a> Back with the band to do <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1YvRWSIQOE" target="_blank"><i>Stand Back</i> live in 1987.</a> Then there was some tough years, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbWyQY6roBQ" target="_blank">playing Woodstock back in 1998</a> comparing that with the comeback, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0AlvSUcikk" target="_blank">Rocking the Plaza in 2005.</a> This is today;<br /><br /><object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sg3SAI8h9p8?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sg3SAI8h9p8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="349"></embed></object><br /><br />By now I sound like a groupie but while "I need a little sympathy" give me some credit. "Mod Rod" may have the soul in the "Heart and Soul" tour but Stevie Nicks, she's the heart. Still as much as I love the sound and the fond memories, I'll cherish these images. I was very surprised at how good they came out. I didn't have my good camera but that dosen't stop me from messing with the photos later on, zoomed out. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1320.jpg"><br /><br />Stevie Nicks coming out onto the stage, zoomed in.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1461.jpg"><br /><br />Pushing the optical zoom in this encore shot. Stevie Nicks was singing "Rock and Roll" in this shot, as in Led Zep's <i>"It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. Yes it has."</i> The guy in the background had me thinking that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeJkDewhTEw">John Bonham had come back to life.</a> That was pretty amazing!<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1482.jpg"><br /><br />This is my favorite shot of the evening, really just dumb luck and probably meaningless to many. It was not actually taken during <i>Talk To Me.</i> a song she did not do this time. But I was going for the shot on the video wall of Stevie Nicks dancing in that room <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZHJxP7EsNQ" target="_blank">in the <i>Talk to Me</i> video</a> and instead caught a transition that also reminded me of the of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJ-i23OiJU" target="_blank">"Stand Back" video.</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1381.jpg"><br /><br /><em>"Did she make you cry, make you break down, shatter your illusions of love."</em> Someone in the audience <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbbk-obzzm" target="_blank">caught <i>Gold Dust Woman</i>on video.</a> I've seen Stevie Nicks preform "Gold Dust Woman" several times but this time, because of a fuzzy photo and a shaky video, I'm going to remember how it looked. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1315c.jpg"> <br /><br />Another bad photo except that, because of the White Winged Dove, I really like it. <i>"He was no more... than a baby then. Well he... seemed broken hearted...Something within him. But the moment... that I first laid...Eyes... on... him... all alone...On the edge of... seventeen."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1412b.jpg"><br /><br />Two more transition shots of the video wall. From this;<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1379b.jpg"><br /><br />To this, brings back some old visuals that seem "hauntingly familiar."<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1383.jpg"><br /><br /><i>Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night. And wouldn't you love to love her?</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1340.jpg"><br /><br /><i>Takes through the sky like a bird in flight. And who will be her lover?</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1342.jpg"><br /><br /><i>All your life you've never seen a woman. Taken by the wind</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1335.jpg"><br /><br /><i>Would you stay if she promised you Heaven? Will you ever win?</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7-PYtXtJM" target="_blank">"This one is for you Daddy"</a> Those words <i>"Oh mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? And can I sail through the changing ocean tides can I handle the seasons of my life?"</i> All of the transition shots came from the song <i>Landslide.</i> Jess Nicks, Stevie Nicks' father, died on Aug. 10 of 2005 but Stevie said she "Could not turn around and look at the photos." There were family pictures on the video wall as she sang <i>Landslide.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1362.jpg"><br /><br /><i>I've been afraid of changing<br />'Cause I, I've built my life around you<br />But time makes you bolder<br />Children get older<br />I'm getting older too oh yes<br />I'm getting older too</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1372.jpg"><br /><br /><i>So, take this love, take it down<br />Oh if you climb a mountain and you turn around<br />If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills<br />Well the landslide will bring you down, down<br />And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills</i><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1386.jpg"><br /><br />Hopefully not the final bow for Stevie Nicks that I will see. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1486.jpg"><br /><br />Show is over, time to take another look at the Garden and meet some friends upstairs.<br /><br />But first I promised some hints about getting pretty good arena shots with a point and shoot. The problem with getting good photos when shooting in auto is that there is far to much light on the stars and the meter reads the entire stage. There are several methods of overcoming this but the least tedious is once you zoom in all the way, zoom in again with the optical zoom and press down half way to lock in the focus and exposure. With the button still pressed down half way, zoom back out to the composition you want and click. <br /><br />I was walking around when Rod came on. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1506.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1508.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1502.jpg"><br /><br />What, do you think I'm going to turn this into a Rod Stewart diary now? Give me a break. But that is one good looking arena. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1517.jpg"><br /><br />I'm kidding Rod. He is a pop music icon, a great performer and a living legend. Just ask him and he'll tell you himself. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1717-1.jpg"><br /><br />Still kidding, I have no clue what Rod's view of himself are and many of his songs take me back.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/IMG_1493.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1491.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1497.jpg"><br /><br />Rod also had the good sense to bring Stevie Nicks out for two duets. Note to Rod, the woman has a long list of impressive duets. What they were doing <i>Passion</i> together for was beyond me. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1534.jpg"><br /><br />But he gets credit for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAEu8Hn4354" target="_blank">Leather and Lace.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1582.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1565.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1592.jpg"><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2011/03/29/go/9092076.txt" target="_blank">old crooner got good review</a> and he deserved it. Well <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/arts/music/rod-stewart-and-stevie-nicks-at-madison-square-garden-review.html" target="_blank">the NYT wasn't too happy</a> but you know how they get. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1710.jpg"><br /><br />Say goodnight Rod.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1708.jpg"><br /><br />I hope you enjoyed my views.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-41427862626756020912011-03-27T06:17:00.000-07:002011-03-27T08:22:16.827-07:00Photographs from the Memorial for the Triangle Factory Fire VictimsEvery year on March 25th people gather on the corner of Greene St. and Washington Pl. to remember the fallen. The tragic fire that took 146 lives was one hundred years ago today and there was a much larger turnout. <br /><br />This year throughout the media, both traditional and blogs, there has been much written about this tragedy. Laura Clawson did a great job of telling the story in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/20/957577/-Triangle:-Remembering-the-Fire">Triangle: Remembering the Fire</a> and also pointed out that a longtime member of the Daily Kos community, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/nyregion/21triangle.html?_r=2">has done great things to remember the lives of people lost on this day.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/03/26/850933/-Yesterdays-Memorial-for-the-Triangle-Factory-Fire-Victims"> I wrote a photo diary last year about the memorial</a> and tried to tell some of the stories. This year, just a few pictures of the much larger turnout than most years, the people who remember. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9708.jpg"><br />Some laborers with signs that have the names and ages of victims. <a href="http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/victimsWitnesses/victimsList.html?victimid=72">Kate Leone was not the only fourteen year old.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9579.jpg"><br /><br />Members of the once strong Union that was also so young when so many died. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9769.jpg"><br /><br />Many people who work to keep the memory alive, they carry shirts on sticks with the names of people who died either in the fire or jumping to there death to avoid the fire. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9681.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9742.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9744.jpg"><br /><br />The building survived. You can see the top floors in the background here.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9616.jpg"><br /><br />Blue and black banners hanging from some of the windows that Fire Department ladders could not reach. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9624.jpg"><br /><br />A view of this year's turnout. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9724.jpg"><br /><br />Musicians, members of Local 802, who played the marching music. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9750.jpg"><br /><br />And just a few more photos of the people. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9732.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9710.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9729.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9641.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/People/MED_DSC_9776.jpg"><br /><br />This year Eric Schneiderman, the Progressive New York State Attorney General, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/03/25/2011-03-25_out_of_the_ashes.html">wrote a few words about the tragedy in a local newspaper. </a><br /><br /><blockquote><b>Horrific deaths in Triangle Shirtwaist fire launched century of progress to safer, fairer workplaces</b><br /><br />It was a tragedy that galvanized New York and America like almost no other.<br /><br />A century ago today, the Triangle factory fire took the lives of 146 garment workers, almost all Jewish or Italian immigrants, almost all women, almost all young.<br /><br />The United States opened its eyes for good to unsafe working conditions and the plight of those thrust into them.<br /><br />In 1911, the world was more accepting of hazards, and business had freer rein to do as it pleased. Then, 18 minutes of flames and searing smoke raced through a Greenwich Village garment factory whose place on the ninth floor was both a sweatshop and a deathtrap.<br /><br />There was no fire alarm. Fire escapes didn't function properly. Wages were unbelievably low, hours were unbelievably long, conditions were unsanitary and dangerous to health.<br />The girls who died were, some believed, inevitable casualties of industrial capitalism.<br /><br />But then remarkable change happened. The New York State Legislature set up the Factory Investigating Commission, led by heretofore run-of-the-mill machine pols named Al Smith and Robert Wagner.<br /><br />The commission led to three dozen new laws or regulations on workplace and fire safety, wages and hours, child labor and the acceptance of unions to organize and bargain collectively. After generations of building on those accomplishments, worker safety is, today, something 99 out of 100 of us can take for granted. Capitalism can work for workers, not against them.<br /><br />So, as we remember the girls whose choice was certain death by fire and smoke or by jumping, we must remember, too, how this state led the nation in response.<br /><br />Ashes to ashes? No, ashes to progress.</blockquote><br /> <br />In the United States, from disaster comes progress, at least for some time. This year the were more people and higher profile speakers than most years but worker progress has gotten very hard to find.<br /><br />That's about it. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/03/26/850933/-Yesterdays-Memorial-for-the-Triangle-Factory-Fire-Victims">I already described what happens there in last year's diary.</a> The Memorial is all about the people.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_2970.jpg"/>Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-18818726803402734482011-03-16T16:54:00.000-07:002011-03-16T16:59:44.147-07:00The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden<b>Greetings from the Bronx</b> where <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-03-04/local/28669624_1_new-orchid-show-tunes-exhibit">"It's warm, it's tropical, it's just thousands and thousands of orchids."</a> As an early celebration of spring the <a href="http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2011/mar/04/orchid-divas-take-center-stage-new-york-botanical-garden/">Orchid Divas have taken Center Stage</a> at the New York Botanical Garden. <br /><br /><blockquote>"Horticultural theater" for the "divas of the plant world" is how the New York Botanical Garden describes the "Orchid Show on Broadway." The stars of the garden's 9th annual orchid show are over 25,000 individual drooping, weeping and otherwise highly dramatic blooms.</blockquote><br /><br />For this year's "Spring Awakenings" the Garden’s horticultural staff has worked with a Broadway set designer to make the Garden’s conservatory feel like a Broadway theater under glass. <b>Here is the view in the Palm Court for the limited engagement, a simulation of the proscenium at the Walter Kerr Theater. </b><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6555.jpg"><br /> <br />The curtain has already gone up on to rave reviews. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/theater/04orchid.html"> <i>The New York Times</i> also plays the Diva theme</a> for this horticultural theater “The orchids are the stars. We know how to deal with their persnickety nature. They’re flashy. They command and demand attention. But when everything is just right, they absolutely steal the show.” <br /><br /><a href="http://www.nybg.org/tos11/the-orchid-show.php">"Orchid Show on Broadway"</a> opened on March 5th and continues until April 25. Since I'm a bit late with my review, I'll try to offer a backstage pass with a few photos below.<br /><br />Most reviews give the impression that the entire Orchid Show is in the Palm Court and two glass houses where the lavish production takes place. That really isn't the case and the public walks through the other eight glass tubes and squares that are also decorated with orchids. <br /><br />These houses with a more natural setting and a host of docents to educate visitors are always my favorite. So let's take the guided tour the way all visitors do instead of focusing on the main presentation. Let's start off in a tropical rain forest.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIS_DSCN7978.jpg"><br /><br />After viewing the proscenium and approaching a more natural arch, amongst the epiphytes, the first orchids to greet you are the Dancing Ladies. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6798.jpg"><br /><br />These Dancing Ladies in Broadway curtain red would have been perfect for the arch. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7276.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7606.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6731.jpg"><br /><br />And a few Dancing Ladies of another color growing in the shade of a big banana. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6754.jpg"><br /><br />After the Dancing Ladies these show stoppers came on strong. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7627.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7538.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6704.jpg"><br /><br />To put on a hit show on the Great White Way you need excellent lighting. Something the Enid A Haupt Conservatory has plenty of. Have a corsage. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7784.jpg"><br /><br />Here are a few for either Julie Taymor "Turn Off the Dark," or Jules Fisher who really knows how to turn on the dark. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7917.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7912.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7915.jpg"><br /><br />Backdrops count too. This isn't really a reed orchid but this <a href="http://cattleya.wikidot.com/laelia-superbiens">Laelia superbiens</a> fits right in with the papyrus background.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6744.jpg"> <br /><br />Here are a few more with moody backgrounds. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7707.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7713.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/DIA_DSC_6783.jpg"><br /><br />And one of the real Reed Orchids in mood lighting.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_7629-1.jpg"><br /><br />Here a little special effects play. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/MED_DSC_6430.jpg"><br /><br />Speaking of moody, the real Diva of the orchid world. Cypripedioideae is more Ballet than Broadway or perhaps the "Javert" of the orchid world. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7760.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7767.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/DSCN7169.jpg"><br /><br />Then there is the Vanda that can be seen in a few places now. Every year Vanda seems underrepresented but they are budding throughout the show and by the time the outside grounds are covered in Narcissus, the conservatory becomes a rainbow of Vanda. One of my favorites, the Bernadette Peters of the orchid world.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_6696.jpg"><br /><br />But nothing finds the limelight as well as the moth. When the sun hits the conservatory, few can compare with the Phalaenopsis.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7939.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7723.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/DIA_DSC_6643.jpg"><br /><br />Of course you can see the real star there, <a href="http://audubonmagazine.org/webexclusives/starShow-webexclusives.html">the Darwin Star Orchid.</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/IMG_5867dia.jpg"/><br /><br /><b><i>Don't you fret, M'sieur Marius<br />I don't feel any pain<br />A little fall of rain<br />Can hardly hurt me now<br />You're here, that's all I need to know<br />And you will keep me safe<br />And you will keep me close<br />And rain will make the flowers grow.</i></b><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN7811.jpg"><br /><br />Well I guess you would expect the conventional review and as any Broadway fan knows you can't paint a Sunday Portrait without "Finishing the Hat." But first the unofficial DailyKos orchid, the beautiful butterfly.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/IMG_0614.jpg"> <br /><br />The main event happens in the last two glass houses. The first square of glass was adapted this year by hanging a Phantom Chandelier over water and there are four balcony rails with an audience of orchids viewing the phantom, but no ghost orchids. Here are the slipper and moth orchids watching the show and the orchid chandelier. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6349.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6661.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7395.jpg"><br /><br />Don't miss the perspective, like Castles in the Clouds. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6681.jpg"><br /><br />Looking down from the square glass gallery you can find another proscenium. This arch made of Spanish moss frames an arcade. The walkway represents the front of the house at the New Amsterdam theater and people keep looking up.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7672.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_6658.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7343.jpg"> <br /><br />Great views inside those columns. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7573.jpg"><br /><br />Cue the walkout music. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7676.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7473.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7469.jpg"><br /><br />And here is the backstage view I promised. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7492.jpg"><br /><br />It is a good show but it is really about the orchids.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/DIA_DSCN7866.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_7754.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/DIA_DSC_6629.jpg"><br /><br />Actually it is about the people and understanding nature. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIS_DSC_6457.jpg"><br /><br />For me, it is all about the sunshine at my favorite sign of the coming springtime. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/DIA_DSC_6596-1.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/MED_DSCN7689.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/MED_DSC_6764.jpg"/>Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-39981503269015875682011-03-16T16:45:00.000-07:002011-03-16T16:51:44.461-07:00The First Half of 2010 in PicturesI going to start off with a video not from the first half of 2010 but one I made recently. A video from December 8, 2010 because the message of the people has always been so moving for me.<br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yZJHwIUebQM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yZJHwIUebQM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />Now some photos of the year in chronological order from a student of photography looking for the good side.<br /><br />This first photo was not actually taken this year but it is from my first diary of 2010, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/2/821225/-The-Sad-End-of-A-Central-Park-Landmark">The Sad End of A Central Park Landmark.</a> It is the Crystal Room at The Tavern on the Green. A photo that is special to me because now all the crystal has been auctioned off, the windows have been smashed, the floorboards have been pulled up and the walls have been torn down. This dream of Warner LeRoy has gone the way of "Give Peace a Chance." The Crystal Room where it was once a poorly kept secret that their most famous steady customers were John, Yoko and Sean can still be seen in many movies and remembered for many a brunch but it is no more. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/IMG_7999.jpg"/><br /><br />January 8th, the first snow day of the year in Central Park. So cold and quiet, clop clop and saxophone, while it seemed so odd to see the Imagine mosaic without any people.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6405.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6313-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6271.jpg"><br /><br />For all the white of snow, the year began with a few rich colorful sunsets, the view <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/23/829130/-What-a-Beautiful-Sunset-Tonight">on January 23rd was especially good.</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/DIA_IMG_7417.jpg"/><br /><br />And this view on a January day did not seem cold at all from my living room. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/01-25-2010_DSCN6229.jpg"/><br /><br />But Baby it's cold outside.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/IMG_7651.jpg"/><br /><br />Winter in The Big Apple. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_2819.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_2821.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/La%20Vida%20Locavore/MED_IMG_2822.jpg"><br /><br />I took many January trips to the Van Cortlandt Lake in the Bronx because it is the one time of year that I could capture a sunset across the lake with trees instead of buildings in the background. I don't think I got one that was good enough this year but there were a few good photos from those trips.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/IMG_6140.jpg"/><br /><br />I took one of my favorite photos of the year there in the late afternoon sun of January. I've shown it several times, first in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/22/828609/-A-Day-in-the-Life:-A-Winter-Nature-Cartoon">A Day in the Life: A Winter Nature Cartoon</a> and just last week in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/23/931180/-Snow-Day-Photos-for-the-Holiday-Spirit">Snow Day Photos for the Holiday Spirit.</a> A favorite because I love how the ice went so blue and contrasted with the forest. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_IMG_6838.jpg"/><br /><br />I said goodbye to January greeting two friends with the setting sun to my back. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7826.jpg"><br /><br />February began for me with a trip to the Bronx Zoo. I was hoping to promote winter visits to the zoo so wrote a diary called <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/5/834213/-Friday-Evening-Photoblogging:-Winter-in-the-Zoo,-Pooties-and-Featherbutts-Too!-">Friday Evening Photoblogging: Winter in the Zoo, Pooties and Featherbutts Too!</a> There are plenty of places to warm up indoors and when the humans are rare, the gibbons take notice.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/IMG_8456.jpg"/><br /><br />Notice the Snow Leopard noticing me. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/IMG_8350.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/IMG_8348.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/DIA_IMG_8334.jpg"/><br /><br />But my favorite from that day was pretending I was on a solo safari.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/MED_IMG_8531.jpg"/><br /><br />You are probably sick of seeing this third time posted photo. It was both in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/12/836430/-Friday-Evening-Photoblogging:-Snow-Day-Edition-">Friday Evening Photoblogging: Snow Day Edition</a> and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/23/931180/-Snow-Day-Photos-for-the-Holiday-Spirit">Snow Day Photos for the Holiday Spirit</a> but it is a moment I really enjoyed.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary%20Photos/MED_IMG_9131.jpg"/><br /><br />Walking in a Winter Wonderland.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_IMG_9085.jpg"><br /><br />There was another snowstorm day for me. It was <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/19/838593/-Friday-Evening-Photoblogging:-Snowstorm-Edition">a snow day in Ft.Tryon Park and the Cloisters</a> and I had a real good time. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_0119.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/IMG_0150.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_9973.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/MED_IMG_0047c.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_0145.jpg"><br /><br />February is also a good month to visit the Cloister's Big Sister, it's so warm in the <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/">Metropolitan Museum of Art.</a> Sort of like a beautiful shopping mall when nothing is for sale, you can't touch the merchandise and you always go home to have colorful dreams. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9495.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9693.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9517.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9552.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9650.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9502.jpg"><br /><br />You can still see the "View of Oyster Bay" in the American Court but New Yorkers anxiously await the reopening of the American galleries. The word on the street is that American art will have ended at the time of the Ash Can School movement. That's right, even art has gone global. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9538.jpg"> <br /><br />February ended for me the same way every February does, warming my cold bones <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY4xLeKyxrI&feature=player_embedded#!">in a sea of orchids.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0730-1.jpg"><br /><br />I never got around to documenting my favorite sign of early spring this year. The New York Botanical Gardens Orchid Show, Cuba in Flower got places aside after <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/22/839652/-The-Bronx-Invasion-of-Brazil.-On-Friday-We-Take-Cuba!">a cold response to Brazilian Modern.</a> I was thinking that if up and coming Brazil didn't cut it, than the next diary would be a Cuban Orchid Crisis. It's not easy for the Progressive Orchid, I think even John Aravosis gave up but "Cuba in Flower" deserves a look so here's an overview and a few you missed. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6925.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6944.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/MED_DSCN6886_L.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6930.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1574.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6761.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6801.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6917.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/IMG_0614.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0883.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1527.jpg"><br /><br />March roared in and I began looking at photography a little differently. When I first started taking pictures as a hobby I tried too stay away from getting creative and just focused on copying the people who knew what they were doing, It was a lesson I learned long ago as a young cabinetmaker. My time as the photographer's apprentice had not yet ended but I reached a point where copying the framing of great advertising photographer and directors of photography had become second nature for me. I figured I finally had that framing part down but I was still not ready to find the art in photography. As spring arrived I began taking the time to really look and concentrate on the light and shadows. Just one for starters, the subway station at 72nd Street and Broadway. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_1769.jpg"><br /><br />Ah, the first flower of the year. Marsh Marigold from a nature hike in Van Cortlandt Park on March ninth. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_2312.jpg"><br /><br />In March I went to the movies and came home to experiment with my first text free diary, things were getting <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/19/847993/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Curiouser-and-Curiouser">Curiouser and Curiouser.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_4996.jpg"/><br /><br />No but seriously, on March 25th I met Firefighter James M. Sorokac for the first time. He is the keeper of "The Last Alarm" and a member of the of the FDNY ceremonial unit. After 9-11 his face his face became far too familiar to me. I was there <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/26/850933/-Yesterdays-Memorial-for-the-Triangle-Factory-Fire-Victims">to write a memorial of the event.</a> We met on a morning where he would ring that bell 146 times to remember those 146 victims of Triangle Factory Fire, remembering them ninety-nine years later. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_2988.jpg"/><br /><br />The day would turn brighter and I would have a great New York encounter. After snapping a shot outside of the best pastrami on the planet I muttered under my breath "Shit." My soon to become model said "I'm sorry" thinking I was upset because he got in the shot. After I explained I was actually upset because I had cut off the puppy's feet, he modeled for a few more shots. Just your typical New Yorker.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3337.jpg"><br /><br />I took many photos that day. Here's a sample.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3261.jpg"><br /><br />And here is another.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3448.jpg"/><br /><br />It would take me five months to post a diary with those photos. It didn't slip my mind for five months, I was actually writing <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/13/892707/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Street-Photography-Edition">Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Street Photography Edition</a> for five months. It was a diary intended to put a little Jacob Riis in your camera and progress in your pictures. Totally forgotten now but you know the old New York saying <b>"What are you gonna do?"</b> <br /><br />Moving right along, the view of the Cloisters at sunset from Dyckman Street.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_3528.jpg"><br /><br />Palm Sunday morning in Hell's Kitchen.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3729.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3692.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_3711.jpg"><br /><br />The Easter sunset on the Garden State Parkway.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3948.jpg"><br /><br />The view on the day after.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/04-05-2010_DSCN7503_filtered.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/04-05-2010_DSCN7504_filtered.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/04-05-2010_DSCN7505_filtered.jpg"><br /><br />The line up between steeple and sun, it happens around April 6th from my window.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/04-06-2010_IMG_4266.jpg"/><br /><br />April showers as the completion of the Lincoln Center face lift came to a close. They say it was "looking a bit long in the tooth." I say "but wait I was ten when Anthony and Cleopatra was all the rage at the new Metropolitan Opera." <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7108.jpg"><br /><br />And April flower as spring was in the air.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7770.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7598.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/IMG_5280.jpg"><br /><br />Oh well, off with the old and on with the new.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7043.jpg"><br /><br />The Earth Day sunrise of 2010. Do you remember when PBS showed <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/1463378089/">Earth Days</a> on American Experience? It opened with all the presidents over the years talking the talk and then went to the conservationist. Watching that sunrise I think it was Stewart Udall who gave credit to Ronald Reagan for the line ringing in my ears <b>"We've lost thirty years."</b><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/04-22-2010_IMG_6274.jpg"/><br /><br />And the words that should have gone with the view. <br /><br /><blockquote>Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life last...There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature, the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter. <br /> <b>---Rachel Carson</b></blockquote><br /><br />On April 29th I participated in a <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/30/862073/-Photos-and-Stories-from-the-Labor-March-on-Wall-St.-">March on Wall St.</a> It was a good day for the little bit of Union pride that we have left. The day was short on politicians but there was plenty of people there. I heard Richard Trumka give a speech that had given up on elected officials and he was all about reminding bankers that they need customers to survive. I had long ago given up on the Daily Kos sales pitch that when the Republicans are in charge everything is the Republican's fault and when the Democrats are in charge everything is the Republican's fault. Even if it is true, what's the use of getting involved if the Republicans are always in charge? Newer better Democrats when they just keep getting more and more corporate each year? So when I heard Richard Trumka asking the bankers to regulate themselves it sounded to me like there would be a shellacking just around the corner. Like most voters, I didn't much care either. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7672.jpg"/><br /><br />This year it was not until May that I took you to my favorite place, the New York Botanical Garden. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/15/866390/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Flower-Edition">Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Flower Edition</a> was a day late but not a peony shy.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8249.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN8225.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8237.jpg"/><br /><br />But I did try to tell a garden history that is much closer to my Bronx home in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/21/867835/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Wave-Hill-Edition">Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Wave Hill Edition.</a> Little did I know that I would be standing in this same place when the Riverdale Tornado hit. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6422.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8467.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6734.jpg"/><br /><br />On <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/20/868338/-New-York-City-Tax-Dollars-At-Work">May 20th I took you for a celebration walk</a> along New York's newest thoroughfare, bicycles, skaters, walkers and joggers only.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0514.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0540.jpg"/> <br /><br />The path along the Hudson was finally finished and to mark the occasion I got a bicycle. It's a Bianchi Volpe, that's Italian for Vixen. I might be better suited for a bicycle called an Orso but I got myself a Vixen. <br /><br />I took a second trip to the Bronx Zoo and tried to introduce you to Nala, Adamma and Shani in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/28/870967/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Lion-Cubs-Today!">Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Lion Cubs Today!</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN9343.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8928.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN9206.jpg"><br /><br />I guess I marked the end of the first half of 2010 with <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/22/878055/-Solstice-Sunset-Photos">a Solstice Sunset in Ft Tryon Park.</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/06-21-2010_IMG_6694.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/06-21-2010_IMG_6803.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/06-21-2010_IMG_6820.jpg"/><br /><br />Well that's my first half of 2010. I hope you enjoyed the view.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-59168495097262967722011-03-16T16:40:00.000-07:002011-03-16T16:44:39.517-07:00The Third Quarter of 2010 in PicturesThis is a follow up to The First Half of 2010 in Pictures starts with July but I could not squeeze in a half a year so this one ends in September.<br /><br />Summertime and the living is easy. Have you ever played "Skully" on a July day. There was a time that it didn't get any better than flicking melted crayon filled bottle caps in the spray of a "Johnnie Pump" on a hot summer day. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1777.jpg"><br /><br />Today there is a lot to be said for a rainy day in Central Park in early July with a book and a cup of coffee. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9643.jpg"><br /><br />Things are slowing down. Take a quite walk with me through the summer of 2010 in the Big Apple. Greetings from the Bronx. You are a Yankee fan, right?<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2188.jpg"><br /><br />Well perhaps not but you look like you could use an egg cream on a hot summer day and I know just the jerks that will fix one for you. Soda Jerks bring back some fond memories. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8703.jpg"><br /><br />That photo comes from the way I kicked off my July. I can't find any photos from July first so I guess that day didn't happen this year. On July second I drove to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Gardens,_Brooklyn">Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn</a> to see if I could find any signs of the deep Italian roots I remembered from my youth. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0689.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0690.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0794.jpg"><br /><br />There are so many unnoticed nooks and crannies to be found in New York City. Places that change and don't change. This year I began looking for those places that are just about to disappear.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN0685.jpg"><br /><br />On this personal day I was looking for the places that stayed the same and found what has to be the thickest concentration of Roman Catholic churches on earth in this neighborhood that has been both passed on to a new professional generation and at the same time still existing as an Italian American stronghold. There were these perfectly preserved brownstones but I think they call them floor throughs out there. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0796.jpg"> <br /><br />It's so hard to explain why I would be looking for such things and the thrill of remembering a neighborhood I originally got to from meeting Italian American laborers in the 1970's telling me "You gotta come out and see the neighb, it's God's country." The thrill of places that may or may not have been Italian Social Clubs straight out of "Goodfellas." <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0716.jpg"> <br /><br />But I went back for the first time in thirty years and found a little bit of my young self. I saw President Street after so many years absent, a street that is meaningless to most unless you remember the <a href="http://www.metrolyrics.com/joey-lyrics-bob-dylan.html">Bob Dylan tune</a> <i>"The sun turned cold over President Street, and the town of Brooklyn mourned. They said, "A mass in the old church near the house where he was born."</i> The view is far more diverse now. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0728.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0744.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0754.jpg"><br /><br />I don't think you will find it to be quite the adventure that I did but I had one really great egg cream that day.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8709.jpg"><br /><br />Here's a photo from July second that might be popular around here, the Brooklyn waterfront house that can be seen from so many places in Manhattan. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0617.jpg"><br /><br />And here's a view of Manhattan on the drive home. My favorite view is from the Brooklyn Hts Promenade where I once lived. This one was taken from just below. I was driving the BQE with the camera hanging out the window. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8723.jpg"><br /><br />The Cathedral arches of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Lower East Side. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8737.jpg"><br /><br />Getting ready for the Fourth of July is a perfect time for a bicycle ride along the Lower West Side. Nobody calls it the Lower West Side, it's Battery Park waiting for a new shadow from the east.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1637.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1641.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1673.jpg"><br /><br />Nobody wants the boroughs, least of all Mike Bloomberg. I kid the mayor, it was a lot of snow and he couldn't see it from his mansion. How about Chelsea on a summer day? <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3106.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_2943.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3017.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3182.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3168.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_2818.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_2803.jpg"> <br /><br />The Boroughs do get forgotten but I went back to Brooklyn for the Fourth of July. I was at the Coney Island Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest for the first time in my life. I was not alone. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0879.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1057.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0865.jpg"><br /><br />Who Won? Who cares? <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1076.jpg"><br /><br />I was there to see the new Amusement Park. One of my best "Got a Happy Stories" was <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/22/569768/-Got-a-Happy-Story-Coney-Island-Edition-">Got a Happy Story? Coney Island Edition</a> because I got there just before Astroland died. I wanted to see the new Luna Park. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0936.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1001.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0957.jpg"><br /><br />It still has a ways to go but it was a day at the beach.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8891.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1219.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8894.jpg"><br /><br />Here's a sunset, July 15th, Hazy, Hot and Humid.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1422.jpg"><br /><br />I guess I mark the beginning of the second half of this past year with a Tornado. This is one of the last sunsets I would see with the once very familiar tree line at water's edge.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8794.jpg"><br /><br />I was caught up in The Riverdale Tornado about five blocks south of where 800 trees would be pulled out of the ground and many more would be severely damaged. I was in the greenhouse at Wave Hill with my camera and it was suddenly too dark to take photos. I walked outside and could see it was raining over the river.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2415.jpg"><br /><br />The next thing I knew I was running for my life and people that were smaller that I am were actually being blown down. The scary part was the sound of trees breaking everywhere. It sort of sounded like a war zone. When it hit I was standing right at the southern edge of what would be called <b>"Kansas on the Hudson."</b> When I got home I found out the place that took the direct hit is the forest outside my window at home. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/7/27/888097/-The-Riverdale-Tornado:-A-Disaster-Photo-Diary">I wrote a diary about the devastation.</a><br /><br /><br />After that <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/7/30/886123/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-High-Bridge-History-Edition">I took you for an historic walking tour.</a> Isn't running water great!<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2207.jpg"/><br /><br />So I followed the footsteps of Edgar Allen Poe down to the High Bridge and gave a good government history of the New York City water supply. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0135.jpg"/><br /><br />And tried to introduce you to the "Acckey"<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_1859.jpg"/><br /><br />August in the Bronx. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3669.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_2503.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3537.jpg"> <br /><br />V-E Day in Times Square this year. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_4154-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_4266.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_4173.jpg"><br /><br />Big Bambu on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7260.jpg"/> <br /><br />There were so many diaries that I started and never finished this year. I went out and explored both Hunter Island and the Twin Islands in the Bronx to write <b>Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Joe Two Trees Edition.</b> The text was going to be a recount of Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff’s encounters with <a href="http://www.thelastalgonquin.com/">“The Last Algonquin”</a> on those islands. I knew the good dentist when I was young and believed every word. I never wrote the story but I took the pictures. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1683.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1740.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1767.jpg"><br /><br />Another I never finished but might someday is <b>Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Butterflies Are Free,</b> a child’s guide to the indigenous butterflies of the northeast. This year I had collected quite a portfolio of butterfly photos, many at the Butterfly Zone in the Bronx Zoo. The text combines the value of teaching our children the names and habits of these beauties and an identification guide. I also want to retell the fascinating story told by Stockard Channing in <a href ="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/butterflies/">The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies.</a> But here is one taken in a Bronx forest this summer.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1621.jpg"> <br /><br />I did make it to the end of the line and on my bicycle, City Island.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_IMG_6455.jpg"><br /><br /><br />Do you know about the little Cape Cod town we have in the Bronx? I'm neither "Clam Digger" nor "Mussel Sucker" but someday I could tell you an interesting history of City Island. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_IMG_6542.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_IMG_6478.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_DSCN3689.jpg"><br /><br />September was a great photography month for me.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6710.jpg"><br /><br />September started out at not <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/5/575847/-Got-a-Happy-Story-Outstanding-in-the-Field-Edition">my first,</a> not <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/26/666598/-Outstanding-on-the-Roof:-A-Pre-Hoilday-Slow-Food-Feast-in-NYC">my second</a> but <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/9/3/898027/-Photos-from-the-Manhattan-Outstanding-in-the-Field-Dinner">my third Outstanding in the Fields dinner,</a> a farm dinner on the Lower East Side. That's then friendly welcome from Leah Scafe (on the left) and Katy Oursler at the entrance of La Plaza Cultural-Armando Perez GreenThumb Public Garden. Jim Denevan is walking the tables in the middle photo. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6730.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_6751.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_7084.jpg"/><br /><br />I took my first trip out to Paterson, New Jersey and saw the waterworks that date back to Alexander Hamilton. Checked out the great falls.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4769.jpg"/><br /><br />And trespassed to takes some photos of defunct industry. I'll have to write about that someday. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4563.jpg"><br /><br />I finally got the abandoned train station from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_and_Putnam_Railroad">"Old Put"</a> in a good light.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_3777.jpg"><br /><br />And did a little magic act to get a Cardinal Flower just right. The flower was in the shade of a shrub and there were specks of sunlight coming through the shrub all over on the ground. So I knelled down in front of the flower with my left leg extended to the base of the shrub. I moved the masking shrub around with the left foot until the sunlight was falling through on the flower just right. A few cheers for the left.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/IMG_7605-1.jpg" width="600"><br /><br />I wrote about that in a diary where I told the history of and showed photos from <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/9/10/899237/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Two-Queens-Stories">The Long Island Motor Parkway.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3517.jpg"/><br /><br />I also danced in the fountains that finally flowed again. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4295.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4262.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7169.jpg"/><br /><br />Here's a September view.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8906.jpg"><br /><br />My favorite sunrise of the year, September 14th.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIAP_IMG_9325.jpg"><br /><br />I remember spending the last week of September working on <b>Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Doors and Windows Edition.</b> This was a diary inspired by a popular poster from my early years. Having grown up in “Little Belfast” during an era when Northern Ireland had an image problem just about every business in my neighborhood had a <a href ="http://www.interestingideas.com/ii/pix/poster.jpg"></a> poster to soften that image. So timed for when the Supreme Court reconvenes I was going to post the doors and windows of the Upper West Side as a tribute to the values of that great neighborhood and to soften the image of Elena Kagan. But I had so many to choose from that I never finished. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9964.jpg"><br /><br />Another of my favorite photos of the year.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN9793.jpg"><br /><br />But I have a better closer. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_IMG_5416-1.jpg">Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-67303261423825073742011-03-16T16:36:00.000-07:002011-03-16T16:39:17.100-07:00The Final Quarter of 2010 in PhotosFrom a earlier post at another blog. The year has already ended, hail and farewells have been said and the top ten in every category imaginable have been posted. For myself I looked back in pictures. I had already posted <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/29/931825/-The-First-Half-of-2010-in-Pictures-%28My-Pictures%29">the first half</a> and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/30/932226/-The-Third-Quarter-of-2010-in-Pictures-%28My-Pictures%29">third quarter.</a> Now the autumn and beginning of winter are all I have left. <br /><br />This diary is fourth and long but let me see if I can paint a picture of Autumn in New York for you. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/DIA_DSCN9575.jpg"><br /><br />It's just a few months in Central Park. <br /><br />October 1st was a Rainbow day in the Bronx. Something to celebrate since rainbows are so seldom seen here in New York City. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/10-01-2010_DSCN6213.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/10-01-2010_DSCN6254.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/10-01-2010_DSCN6224.jpg"><br /><br />Autumn has always been my time of year and with the humidity of New York City summers it cannot come soon enough. Even though it once meant going back to school, I loved the earth tones of autumn even more as a child. Still all these years later I have the early reds and golds mapped out in my favorite parks. Long before the warm colors sets in I go looking and continue from start to finish.<br /> <br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/IMG_7542.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_8906.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSCN4235.jpg"><br /><br />To add to my repertoire each year when the Jewelweed begins to dominate the forest I search the deepest ends of the parks. This is a wetlands with no name in the northwest section of Van Cortlandt Park, not even a trail to it, bushwhacking in New York City.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9792.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9748.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_9743.jpg"><br /><br />That same swamp in late October. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/DIA_DSCN9025.jpg"><br /><br />Autumn flowers in the forest also seem so much warmer. The goldenrod above and the amazing aster below. Both bide their time and wait until the competition dies down. Does anyone have any idea what the name of the autumn flower in the middle photo is?<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/DSCN5952.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSCN5939.jpg"> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/DIA_DSCN9316.jpg"> <br /><br />Here is a fun sighting on a late September day. While I know that air flowers are almost always tropical these flowers almost fooled me. These are not really bromeliads. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN5983.jpg"> <br /><br />Some people just picked flowers and decided to decorate a tree. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN6013.jpg"><br /><br />Who knew?<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Bronx/MED_DSCN5862.jpg"><br /><br />Did you know that roses make an autumn comeback in New York City? I know just where to go. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/arts/22rose.html">The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden</a> that was designed in 1916 by the most fashionable landscape designer of her era, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Farrand">Beatrix Jones Farrand</a>. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN5574.jpg"><br /><br />They didn't get around to building the garden until 1988 but since then it has become a favorite Bronx destination each year around the time of the summer solstice. Very few are aware that the roses then take a break for the hot summer and come back for <a href="http://vimeo.com/1843014">an encore performance around the time of the autumn equinox.</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN5638.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN5588.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN5623.jpg"><br /><br />Of course the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is in the New York Botanical Garden but the lesser known botanical garden in the Bronx offered just as much color and and an interesting preview of autumn this year. An art project in the sun room of Glyndor House at Wave Hill this autumn. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Gardens/DSCN7199.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Gardens/DSCN7251.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Gardens/DSCN7274.jpg"><br /><br />Speaking of art, sometimes the light falls just right. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Art/DSCN0072.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Art/DIA_DSCN0258.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7126.jpg"><br /><br /><em>I’ll wait in this place where the sun never shines;<br />Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves. </em><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0287.jpg"><br /><br />The photos below have been removed from <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/30/932226/-The-Third-Quarter-of-2010-in-Pictures-%28My-Pictures%29">The Third Quarter of 2010 in Pictures</a> after learning that this <a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Six-Rare-Tiger-Cubs-Debut-With-a-Roar-at-Bronx-Zoo-104082878.html">was actually an October event.</a> I posted a recap of the lion cubs in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/29/931825/-The-First-Half-of-2010-in-Pictures-%28My-Pictures%29">The First Half of 2010 in Pictures</a> but this was the year of the Tiger in the Bronx. Six Tiger cubs were born in the Bronx Zoo this year.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/zoo/MED_DSCN6496.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/zoo/MED_DSCN6416.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_2130.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/zoo/MED_DSCN6446.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/zoo/MED_DSCN6434.jpg"><br /><br />This was also a photo that was actually from the last quarter of 2010. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN9793.jpg"/><br /><br />Every now and then there is a moment to capture from a Manhattan street. I caught this one from my car while hunting for a parking spot. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Manhattan/DIA_DSCN9928b.jpg"/> <br /><br />Strawberry Fields was too crowded on John Lennon's birthday this year so I took a walk in the park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSCN6954.jpg"><br /><br />It was a good day to frame Central Park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/MED_DSCN7109.jpg"><br /><br />Tricky, tricky.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSCN6992.jpg"><br /><br />October in Central Park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSCN3642.jpg"><br /><br />Driving a little north to Harriman State Park where autumn comes a bit early.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/MED_DSCN8113.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/MED_DSCN7822.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/MED_DSCN7930.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/MED_DSCN8002.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Harriman%20State%20Park/MED_DSCN7993.jpg"><br /><br />This was a very good year for capturing a Central Park autumn and I was there more often that any autumn before.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DIA_DSCN0383.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4292.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0361.jpg"><br /><br />A lone runner on the Park Drive just before the New York City Marathon. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0159.jpg"><br /><br />That photo is from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum where I was making a final visit to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/arts/design/01bambu.html?_r=1">"Big Bambú: You Can't, You Don't and You Won't Stop."</a> It was sad to see it go but I loved the fact that the wisteria got into the five month long project.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0138.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0116.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN0167.jpg"/><br /><br />The walk to Shakespeare's Garden.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4245.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DSCN4458b.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DIA_DSCN0432.jpg"> <br /><br />The Lake.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DIA_DSCN0500.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3471.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3410.jpg"><br /><br />The Dairy in a good light. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7018.jpg"><br /><br />Some of my favorite bridges through the autumn season.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN7034.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3459.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3950.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4211.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1849.jpg"><br /><br />The Conservatory Garden.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN1342.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1322.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN1763.jpg"/><br /><br />Just across from the Harlem Meer.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN1360.jpg"><br /><br />Hiking in the North Woods.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1626.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1588.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1695.jpg"><br /><br />And finally the leaves fell on the Central Park Mall.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3350.jpg"><br /><br />Once again a few from my Greenwich Village walk found in <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/21/920289/-Just-Looking-">Just Looking.</a> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2540.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2466.jpg"/><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2535.jpg"/><br /><br />Then came winter. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN5119.jpg"><br /><br />The solstice sun in Ft. Tryon Park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/MED_DSC_0871.jpg"><br /><br />And sundown on December 21th. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/12-21-2010_DSC_0922.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/12-21-2010_DSC_0931.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/12-21-2010_DSC_0945.jpg"><br /><br />Time for the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSC_0017.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/NYBG/MED_DSC_0076.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSC_0105.jpg"><br /><br />And I'll end this with the way I started the series, a Central Park video I made as <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/8/927061/-Strawberry-Fields-Forever-%28a-photo-diary%29">a tribute to John Lennon on December 8th.</a><br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yZJHwIUebQM?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yZJHwIUebQM?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-17958924895688471472010-11-22T13:08:00.000-08:002010-11-22T13:13:13.355-08:00Just LookingI have a few pleasant photography stories to tell from a week ago. Between the autumn color and the desperation of one last warm weather week, it was a good week for a photo buff. Now don't go busting my bubble by just looking at the photos because you can learn a lot from a photographer. We see things.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Central%20Park/DSCN3676.jpg"><br /><br />Below you will find a <i>Third Rock from the Sun</i> brief encounter during an evening walk in the Village. I have several memories from a lecture I attended on photojournalism. There is a pleasant Veterans Day walk under the George Washington Bridge on the New Jersey side followed by a sunset from the New York side. Then a Friday afternoon walk in Central Park with some music videos I made and all day Saturday there too. There is even a little taste of Florence, Italy. <br /><br />My brief encounter would actually be with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005060/">Kristen Johnston</a> but first something I would be reminded of later on that same evening by <a href="http://www.nfagallery.com/photographers/index.php?traitlist=&traitunid=56&unid=29">Allen Tannenbaum.</a> One of the biggest advantage of photography, a new way of seeing. <br /><br />It is something I'd been thinking about for a while, this dynamic of living in a freeze frame world. Ever since a day in September of 2006 when I pointed my brand new digital in any direction I could think of at Venice Beach, California and ended my thirty years without photography, a line from <i>Glengarry Glen Ross,</i> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AXTx4PcKI">"Always be closing,"</a> has been running through my head. Only the phrase has become slightly adjusted and became <b>"Always Be Composing."</b> That day on the beach I was reminded of something I once knew a long time ago. That once your central focus is how this will look on camera and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson#The_Decisive_Moment">"Images à la sauvette,"</a> you do find a new way of seeing. Everything becomes a photographic composition and it is not just about copying the way a good DP would frame the view, seeking some symbolism or even the great learning experience. The joy is in really observing not just the subject but the light. It actually does feel like seeing for the first time and the experience is progressive. There is another movie line that I think of when I go out with my camera, Penélope Cruz in Vanilla Sky saying <b>"Open your eyes."</b><br /><br />It was Tuesday afternoon when I had my brief encounter with Kristen Johnston and the air was already charged. I had gotten downtown early to explore the West Village before attending the photojournalism lecture from <a href="http://www.cencom.org/bios.aspx?id=4324">Susan Watts</a>, <a href="http://www.cencom.org/bios.aspx?id=4326">Allen Tannenbaum</a> and <a href="http://www.cencom.org/bios.aspx?id=4400">Susan Meiselas.</a> I didn't know much about them at the time because photographers don't get as much credit as they deserve but I was thrilled about hearing their stories.<br /><br />It was afternoon but it felt like evening. Before the lecture I wanted to try my hand at capturing a little of the West Village feel and go to a fun restaurant called <a href="http://veganfriendlynyc.blogspot.com/2006/08/snice.html">"sNice"</a> I had checked out earlier in the year with Jill Richardson before she spoke in the same lecture series. I never made it to <a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/04/village-cigar-store-and-mystery-mosaic.html">Village Cigar</a> but Greenwich Village has a lot to offer for a person who likes to watch.<br /><br />Because I'd forgotten about turning the clock back I didn't realize it would be dark and my brief encounter might have been a little different had there been more light. I don't get out at night much anymore because now that I've gotten into photography I like to be out there when I can find sunlight and shadows to explore. But there was a little charge in the surprising darkness. It has always seemed to me on the first darkened city street walk that the entire city had suddenly changed goals over the weekend. Women have changed wardrobes and everybody seems to have suddenly found a newer and faster pace because the clock was turned back. That first darkened walk has a sort of excitement about it because commuters feel like they had stayed in the office too long and want to get home fast. It seems like everyone has forgotten the summer and gotten back the cold weather hustle. Christmas is coming and kicking through the fallen leaves on Saturday is already here.<br /><br />If you recall my <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/8/13/892707/-Friday-Evening-Photo-Blogging:-Street-Photography-Edition">street photography diary,</a> I never got around to mentioning how street photography came about for me. Not thinking much about invading the privacy of others my collection of street photos came about because of "Chimping." By chimping I mean that I would be waiting for the street to clear and just taking pictures with people in them to check the viewfinder for compositions hints. Eventually I realized that capturing a lonely homage to the landscapes of NYC was less interesting than my test photos. Capturing how some anonymous city dweller engages their environment doesn't feel like an invasion of privacy just as long as you keep your distance. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2505.jpg"><br /><br /><b>But what about if that person is already famous?</b> When I met Kristen Johnston I was standing not far from the corner of 6th Ave. and 13th St. trying to capture an image of a "Food Emporium" vestibule. Not much of a image really, just something that struck me as a bit obnoxious, a Christmas and clementines display in early November. While I was clicking away the funny and beautiful actress opened the door and through my viewfinder I saw the most inviting smile. Kristen Johnston was smiling directly at me! Because of that invasion of privacy feel I never snapped the photo. <br /><br />Then she walked over to a man who seemed as though he regularly stands outside the "Food Emporium." He also seemed homeless and he had his hand out. She approached him, greeted the man by his name and before slipping him a few bucks had a conversation like he was her social equal. I liked seeing that. <br /><br />After her conversation Kristen Johnston passed me and my camera by. She had no intention of talking with me but I felt compelled to engage a person who does not feel above the homeless. I'm not very good with proper nouns anymore so my introduction did not sound very intelligent. I said "Hi, you're famous ain't ya." She replied with a friendly sarcasm "Well sort of." As I realized why I'd gotten such an inviting smile I said "Lucky I'm not a Paparazzi." Kristen Johnston's eyes light up as she said "That's who I thought you were when I walked out the door!" Then as she said "I'm really glad you are not one of them," she pointed at her hair. Her hair seemed perfect to me but I guess she has different standards. Still the woman is very good at her job because she is a comedian and just pointing her finger was very funny. <br /><br />We chatted a bit more. I told her that I was trying to capture the streets of the West Village. She mentioned enjoying photography. I would have liked to discus her relationship with more annoying photographers but it felt like prying so I didn't. I had almost asked her to pose for a photo but I'd never be able to resist the temptation of posting a shot of Kristen Johnston standing at the edge of the curb with groceries. I decided to keep the brief encounter pure and the memory in my head. <br /><br />Finally with little left to talk about, I said "Nice meeting you" and she said the same as I left her waiting for a taxi with her groceries. I walked down 6th Ave. thinking that I'd gotten a big smile from Kristen Johnston because she thought the image was going to end up in <i>US Weekly.</i> <br /><br />I walked around for a while, pretty new to nighttime urban images and came up with these. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2540.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2481.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2466.jpg"> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2455.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2493.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2546_filtered.jpg"> <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2501.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2535.jpg"> <br /><br />I guess there is light to capture at night. Then I went to the Center for Communications lecture <a href="http://www.cencom.org/programDetail.aspx?id=4348">Photojournalism: The Power of the Image</a> where I would learn much more about seeing the light. <br /><br /><br />I found the first question to be depressing but there would not be much time for self pity because fascinating stories began flowing rapidly. When Jeremy McCarter asked Susan Watts "When did you know photography was for you?" I knew exactly what she meant when she gave her answer. As Susan Watts said it was when she "watched an image develop on paper in a darkroom" I could actually smell the chemicals and remember the magic from my own youth. I had a flashback of when I took a darkroom course in the abandoned 20th Precinct turned community center. I was 21 and I knew right then that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But I had already found a path of least resistance and my cameras would go into a closet for thirty years. <br /><br />At first it seemed like Allan Tannenbaum who has probably forgotten more about photojournalism than anyone will ever know was not going to say much because Susan Watts can tell a story with the skill of Anna Deavere Smith. Asked about her start in photojournalism Susan Watts told a story about going out one night with her camera when a building in the neighborhood just happened to be burning down. Snapping away some reporter approached her and asked "Did you hear about this on the police band radio?" When she had no idea what he was talking about her new found friend realized how green she was and took her "under his wing" to show her the ropes. <br /><br />Her big break came in 1993 when <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/08/opinion/on-my-mind-give-them-a-parade.html">the Golden Venture filled with abused Chinese ran aground in the Rockways.</a> Hearing about it on the police band she got out there, got the photos, processed them herself and then went to meet the photo editor of the New York Daily News.<br /><br />I assume that Susan Watts was talking about Mike Lipack when she described the meeting but while pointing out that he still calls her "kid" to this day, when she imitated his voice it sure sounded like Perry White. She walked in with the photos of the Golden Venture and he shouted <b>"Kid, where did you get these photos?"</b> After informing him that she took them <b>"Kid, who processed these contact sheets?"</b> After finding out that she did them herself in her own darkroom <b>"You're Impressing the shit out of me kid."</b> Everyone in the auditorium got a good laugh but Susan Watts got a staff position at New York's Picture Newspaper. <br /><br />It was a good icebreaker because after that came some real war stories. Susan Meiselas talked about the fact that there are no longer enemy lines and seeing friends die or getting kidnapped. There was a discussion about PTSD for photographers, unlike soldiers they get no help on the battlefield or after. Pointing a ArmaLite M4 at the enemy is scary enough but armed with Nikon D3 and without support of fellow soldiers. All alone with your life on the line while trying to tell a story. <br /><br />Susan Watts left out her harrowing experiences that varies from <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1998/11/19/1998-11-19_gunmen_rob_news_fotog_in_hon.html">Honduran gunmen</a> to the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-02-25/news/cops-stop-photo-ops/1/">NYPD</a> but did explain that her PTSD therapy was usually a few glasses of wine. Allan Tannenbaum discussed trauma too but got to an upside and almost sounded like he was waxing nostalgic, remembering the days when he would read about some far off war in his New York apartment. He would then call the airlines and worry about getting hired by a magazine once he got to the war zone. With so many magazines gone, those days seem gone but there will still be wars recorded by local photographers. <br /><br />Allan Tannenbaum has taken some very memorable photos on the local New York scene. <a href="http://www.polarisimages.com/Polaris-News/archives/lennon%20large.jpg">This one</a> and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/John_Yoko_In_Bed.jpg">this one</a> of John and Yoko for starters. But all three of these photographers who had traveled the world to get the photo walked out of their apartments on September 11th and those stories while extremely disturbing also told the most about what it means to be a photojournalist. Obviously while they had each traveled all over the world to document the worst events that mankind can produce, they did not need to explain that this was the worst thing they ever saw. Of course there were stories of survival instinct vs. capturing history. Just the fact that they left their apartments and ran toward instead of away from the place that would very shortly be known to the world as "Ground Zero" was a story that everyone listening was already thinking about. <br /><br />It’s actually hard to articulate, emotions relayed that were more visual than aural. Appropriate for photographers telling photographers what they saw and felt. Allan Tannenbaum talking about backing away from the plaza before the first tower went down when he usually gets as close as possible was chilling. Susan Watts asking "Do you remember seeing me just before the tower fell?" invoked the visual of both of them soon covered in ash. It was a lecture hall but you could feel the horror of people thinking "this is the end." <br /><br />While it seemed like the world was ending Susan Meiselas concentrated on capturing the emotions of the people, Allan Tannenbaum pointed his camera up at the tower, capturing the explosion of the second plane hitting and Susan Watts took that most disturbing photo of a person in midair who had chosen a nine hundred foot fall over burning to death. They told the audience what that was like. <br /><br />That photo of someone jumping to their death began an ethics discussion. When do you not take the photo? The answer was "never" and there was mention of photo editors acting as filters. Not so common in the age of internet reporting. This moved to a discussion about the time to put down the camera and just help. All agreed there is a time but Allan Tannenbaum told a story about a time he ended up the subject of instead of taking a Pulitzer Prize winning photo. He named the photographer but I forgot. It was a person trapped under a collapsed building and after he put down the camera to lend a hand, someone else took the picture. <br /><br />Here's a photo of three very important people, 9-11 heroes and some of the people that show us what it looks like. (left to right, Jeremy McCarter, Susan Watts, Allan Tannenbaum and Susan Meiselas)<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2587.jpg"> <br /><br />Wednesday's Child was full of woe.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-10-2010_DSCN2640-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-10-2010_DSCN2651-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-10-2010_DSCN2672.jpg"><br /><br />It was very early on Thursday morning, Veterans day on my terrace with breakfast and binoculars looking for hawks migrating as the sun hit the Palisades. I noticed that the New Jersey shoreline was gone. There was no storm but the Hudson had risen to a level I'd never seen before. So I checked the next high tide and decided to drive over for an inspection. The flag was out for Veterans on the George Washington Bridge. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/General/MED_DSCN2693.jpg"> <br /><br />First a short walk along <a href="http://www.nynjtc.org/region/long-path">the Long Path</a> up at the top of the Palisades for the type of photography I do, walk in the park pictures.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2789.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2723.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2701.jpg"> <br /><br />Then a trip down a WPA type road I've never been on.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2806.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2819.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2801_RT.jpg"> <br /><br />To a place I've never seen. Locals told me that there has been floods there but never so high and only during storms. Well they also told me the cops let you park in the grass during a flood and I came back to an $85 parking ticket. The snack bar was closed.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2842.jpg"><br /><br />And geese were swimming in the parking lot. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2854.jpg"><br /><br />From below the Palisades. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/MED_DSCN3031.jpg"><br /><br />I would find a very pleasant but deceivingly long walking trail to the George Washington Bridge. <b>"There and back again."</b><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2856.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2988.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2949.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3026.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3053.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3040.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3099.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3062.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3094.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3158.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3125.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3147.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3174.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2890.jpg"><br /><br />It was the first time I was ever under the George Washington Bridge on the other side and my first waterside New Jersey view of the Little Red Lighthouse. And look, I could see <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/the_cloisters">The Cloisters</a> from there too. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN2968.jpg"><br /><br />So I drove across the bridge to the Cloisters for a George Washington Bridge sunset. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-11-2010_DSCN3248.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-11-2010_DSCN3257.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-11-2010_DSCN3254.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-11-2010_DSCN3266.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Sunsets/11-11-2010_DSCN3269.jpg"><br /><br />Friday I spent the afternoon in Central Park. I would be the last week before the musicians under the many Central Park bridges would change over to Christmas music. The Mall (or Poet's Walk)was losing color and it seemed quiet for a Friday afternoon. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3350.jpg"><br /><br />I was standing in one of my favorite places, the Bethesda Terrace where they say "If you stand there long enough you will meet everyone in New York." I was viewing the Angel Bethesda aware that her healing waters would be drained the following week. Did you know that the Angel of the Water that stands above the Bethesda fountain is the Angel that winks at us in the very beginning of Angels in America?<br /><br />Thinking about the legend of this Angel that I had learned from Tony Kushner about how she became a symbol of living with, not dying from AIDS. That during the days of the Second Temple the Angel Bethesda descended on the temple square in Jerusalem and just one angelic foot touched earth. Where her foot touched a fountain shot up from the ground. If anyone who was suffering in the body or the spirit walked through the waters of Bethesda they would be healed, washed clean of pain an suffering. When the Romans destroyed the temple, that fountain ran dry.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3366.jpg"><br /><br />Watching the cast iron "Angel of the Water" waiting for her healing waters to be drained by the Department of Parks I heard the clop, clop of horse drawn carriages an the soliciting voices of pedicab drivers to my rear but from below the terrace I heard two voices that sounded to me like the voices of angels. I ran down the stairs to capture the music from under the bridge and caught the end of this song. <br /><br /><object width="600" height="475"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mehF7duw1z8?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mehF7duw1z8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="475"></embed></object><br /><br /><b>Their names are Kendra and Dominic.</b> Both have built reputations as solo street musicians. They had recently decided to merge, so I guess they are now a street musician super group. I asked if they would mind me making a video for YouTube and they asked "What song would you like to hear?" I said "Whatever you would like to be posted on the internet and they picked this.<br /><br /><object width="600" height="475"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sc0cjUdSLWs?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sc0cjUdSLWs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="475"></embed></object><br /><br />And that was immediately followed by;<br /><br /><object width="600" height="475"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LC6ffj-8S6U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LC6ffj-8S6U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="475"></embed></object><br /><br />Does Central Park have a musical identity? If it does than it must be John Lennon and because of the "Imagine" mosaic in Strawberry Fields, because Central Park was New York's best idea, then "Imagine" would have to be the theme song of this peoples' park. <br /><br />By the way the ambient sounds in those videos are children squealing in delight as they burst giant bubbles. The music and those children made a perfect day even better for an inspired walk beside the lake. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3410.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3449.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3497.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3514-1.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3562.jpg"><br /><br />I was shocked, shocked to find the <a href="http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/great-lawn/bow-bridge.html">Bow Bridge</a> empty. But the famous bridge was only half empty and it filled up in no time. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3459.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3471.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3486.jpg"> <br /><br />I would later run into an old friend I hadn't seen in decades and we would grab some grass in the Sheep's Meadow for the rest of the afternoon. Discussing old times and new it seemed comfortable remembering woman, beach houses and old cars "passed anything but a gas station." A bit more disturbing when the topic became upcoming retirement. There we were two New Yorkers who knew each other as young men club hopping and we were discussing Boca Raton vs. Clearwater. <br /><br />When the topic became places we've been I had to tell a story I had been thinking about since seeing Kendra and Dominic under the Bethesda Terrace. A day just after my first train ride in one of those six passenger compartments on a train. I was coming from a week in Rome and I had <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Ponte_Vecchio_at_Sunset.jpg">a room with a view</a> on the Arno River. I decided to walk beside the river to compare the <a href="http://www.uffizi.com/">Uffizi Gallery</a> with my recent visits to the <a href="http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html">Vatican Museums.</a> <br /><br />I was all alone. It was 1994 and I think it might have been my first solo vacation. I don’t think I spent a moment alone in Rome and the following week I would enjoy the company of many new found friends in Venice but Florence seemed built for a soloist. I was just walking in the afternoon sun on ancient quiet cobblestone streets with no river traffic to my right and not a pedestrian on the sidewalk to my left. <br /><br />As I walked, wondering why all those fine looking restaurants were closed, the Ponte Vecchio grew larger and larger in my view. My Florence Access Guide told me that Hitler had ordered the bridge not to be bombed. My eyes told me that it was an early version of a shopping mall crossing a river. When I got to the bridge on my right I looked down at the gold merchants selling gold where butchers sold pork and beef in the fourteenth century. <br /><br />But I turned to my left to the Uffizi that had reopened recently after a terrorist bombing. The were at least one hundred people on line and not to many hours left in the day so I decided on Michelangelo’s David instead. But my viewing of David would also be delayed. <br /><br />As I walked into Palazzo Pitti for the first time in my life there was a good old American hippie with a guitar, surrounded by a crowd while strumming out the current tunes of day like Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis. Actually he was a young American hippy, probably born in the late 70’s but he was dressed for the part. <br /><br />After he finished with an unplugged version of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quZ5rE8ujcA">“Lake of Fire”</a> I went over to chat with him. He told me how he got there and why he was staying. Then he suggested I go to the Boboli Gardens while there was still light and come back for David at night. For directions he told me to follow these sixteen girls who had been watching him perform because they were going home for dinner and that was where they lived. <br /><br />I looked over and there they were. Girls probably around twelve years old laughing, giggling and speaking Italian. They were all wearing the Catholic school uniforms I remembered from my youth and after saying goodbye to me new found friend I followed them back they way I’d come my thoughts on a few girls I once new wearing those uniforms when I was the age of these girls I was following. <br /><br />I had to give up, they were in no hurry and I started feeling both old from watching their energy and a little creepy for following grammar school girls around. But when I stopped for a terrible tasting slice of pizza just before crossing the Ponte Vecchio, they caught up with me and I picked up the trail. <br /><br />That was when I witnessed something I found to be amazing. Those young girls got to the middle of the Ponte Vecchio and formed a circle where they sat down. Then all sixteen began so very familiar back up vocals <i>“Do do do do... do do do...do, do, do do.”</i> Then one of the young girls with a beautiful high voice sang <i>“When the night has come and the land is dark.”</i> Another with a deeper voice added <i>“And the moon is the only light we'll see.”</i> Then back to the first vocalist for <i>“No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me.”</i> I just couldn't handle it when all the rest, who never stopped do doing, chimed in as sixteen young Italian girls sitting on a very famous bridge sang out <i>“And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh now stand by me, stand by me, stand by me.”</i><br /><br />I then gave up on the garden and walked back to see Michelangelo’s David for the first time in my life with Ben E. King singing "Stand by Me" in my head for a soundtrack. <br /><br />Too bad that perfect day in Florence, Italy and the song on a famous bridge that I was reminded of from hearing Kendra and Dominic under a bridge that should be as famous on a perfect New York day, it was too bad I saw that during that period in my life when I was without camera. But I got Kendra and Dominic on camera. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3404.jpg"> <br /><br />Because everyone knows winter is coming Saturday was a crowded day in Central Park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4074.jpg"><br /><br />So I started out up at the pond in Harlem.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3848.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3891.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3908.jpg"><br /><br />Exploring the Ravine and North Woods. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3921.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3917.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN3950.jpg"><br /><br />In the woods.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN1695.jpg"/><br /><br />I spotted a hawk that was only ten feet away from me. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4047.jpg"><br /><br />But the hawk didn't like me much, so he (or she) flew to a perch that was twenty feet away.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4065.jpg"><br /><br />Moving right along, heading south on the west side of the park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4119.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4147.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4211.jpg"><br /><br />The road to Belvedere Castle. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4245.jpg"><br /><br />Shakespeare's Garden.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4261.jpg"><br /><br />The lake again, the bridge in the Ramble and the view of Yoko Ono's house. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4292.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4300.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4316.jpg"><br /><br />And back to The Angel of the Water.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4332.jpg"><br /><br />For more blowing bubbles but no Kendra and Dominic that day. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4342.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4337.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4345.jpg"><br /><br />On Saturday I found my usual exit.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4427.jpg"><br /><br />And payed my respects to John Lennon. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4453.jpg"> <br /><br />Freeze-frame, twilight last Sunday.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN4515.jpg"><br /><br />Not a bad week for a photo buff.Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2564449596533177651.post-36872511697787083172010-05-26T13:51:00.000-07:002010-05-26T14:02:19.656-07:00Walking and Viewing Wave HillThe Wave Hill grounds were not opened to the public until 1960 but before becoming the newcomer to public gardens, this New York City oasis had a long and very rich history as a private garden. Wave Hill is a truly fascinating legacy, a gem in New York City. This is a good time to remember some American who once held a deep respect for nature, so take a walk around the grounds a hear a few of the stories of how the natural wonder came to be.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6447.jpg"> <br /><br />The perfect location, rolling hills down to the Hudson River and vistas of the Palisades also holds two historic houses. Wave Hill House was once the residence of "Darwin's Bulldog" Thomas Henry Huxley and Theodore Roosevelt spent summers there in his teen years. Both Mark Twain and Arturo Toscanini lived and were inspired by the sights and sounds of Wave Hill.<br /><br />Wave Hill is only 28 acres and older Riverdale residents still call in an estate but there is much more to this secret garden that is only visited by 65,000 people each year. While the best feature of these grounds are the topography and location of this National Historic landmark, romantically rugged terrain and magnificent vistas that have changed little since the day these hillsides were frequented by the Manhattans and Mohicans, neither the human touch nor a rich history of conservation should be overlooked. There is a fascinating <a href="http://www.wavehill.org/about/history.html">Wave Hill history page</a> and you can find a quote that captures the feel of these grounds.<br /><br /><blockquote>Mark Twain leased the estate from 1901-1903, setting up a tree house parlor in the branches of a chestnut tree on the lawn. Of winter at Wave Hill he wrote, I believe we have the noblest roaring blasts here I have ever known on land; they sing their hoarse song through the big tree-tops with a splendid energy that thrills me and stirs me and uplifts me and makes me want to live always.</blockquote> <br /><br />As a resident of the Hudson Hillside neighborhood I can attest to how brutally cold it gets here but come springtime the view is warm, almost intoxicating to a city person. From the entrance visitors are greeted by an inviting lawn and a pergola with a breathtaking sunset and river view.<br /> <br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8404.jpg"><br /><br />Then the bracing Hudson River wind begins to feel like mountain air with the slightest hint of ocean breeze. Unlike the 250 acre New York Botanical Garden to the east of this garden, Wave Hill inspires people to just sit down an relax. There is even a chair designed for Wave Hill, similar to the Adirondack chair but still unique. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8458.jpg"><br /><br />During the hot summer days of New York City Wave Hill is like a trip to the Catskills. Yesterday's view of the majestic Palisades from the pergola included a class group learning about nature in this combination botanical gardens, sitting park and cultural center. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0372.jpg"><br /><br />Today Wave Hill is also an educational institute where children go to learn about nature but long ago when it was a private estate several events played a vital role in American conservation. Wave Hill does have ties to the Catskills, even a relationship with the Hudson River school of painting. <br /><br />Around that time when American authors and painters were inspiring people to take an interest in the dramatic American landscapes and panoramas William Henry Appleton, a publisher with wide interest in science, the environment and social issues became interested in purchasing the country home that jurist William Lewis Morris built in 1843. It might have been because Appleton leased Wave Hill House for two summers 1870 and 71 to the banker Theodore Roosevelt that his young son developed a love for natural beauty at Wave Hill and would later inspire him to preserve millions of acres of national parkland when he became president of the United States. William Henry Appleton counted among his closest friends the natural scientist T.H. Huxley, John Tyndale and Charles Darwin. Huxley was astounded by the site, declaring the Palisades across the river one of the world's greatest natural wonders.<br /><br />In 1903, George W. Perkins, a partner of J.P. Morgan, purchased Wave Hill House. While both Morris and Appleton deserve credit for Wave Hill's status as a beautiful arboretum, it was Perkins who gets most of the credit for the grounds, credit that also goes far beyond Wave Hill. He would expand the property to 80 acres, purchasing the Oliver Harriman estate and building a new home for his family as he leased Wave Hill House to guest. Perkins would expand Appleton's greenhouse, gardens were created to blend harmoniously with the natural beauty of the Hudson River highlands, and he would also build a recreational facility into the contour of the landscape that is now called the Discovery Center.<br /><br />Besides grading and contouring the land to enhance the view of the Palisades, George W. Perkins took steps to preserve the magnificent vistas of Wave Hill. As plans to build a highway along the Palisades threatened the scenic escarpment, Perkins became the founding Chairman of the Interstate Parks Commission. The Roosevelt relationship continued from Appleton to Perkins as Governor Theodore Roosevelt worked alongside Perkins to save the Palisades. With the help of John D. Rockefeller Perkins acquired over 700 acres for the parkland across the river and this acquisition would provide a model for the development of America's national park system.<br /><br />And it was the Perkins family that gave Wave Hill to New York City. <br /><br />Well now that you have your bearings, let me show you around. From that smile shaped bed of tulips that so few see, facing north is the Visitor Center and garden shop. Uphill to the right are the hillside gardens. Downhill to the left is the Wave Hill House.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6452.jpg"><br /><br />Walking down to the Wave Hill House is one of several magnificent Copper Beech trees that invite you to set a spell. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6453.jpg"><br /><br />Here's a better early spring view.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6457.jpg"><br /><br />And the spectacular view of this tree in the late afternoon is a good place to point out that the contour of these grounds that compliments the Palisades to the west also create a park that faces the afternoon sun. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6637.jpg"><br /><br />The Wave Hill House in the morning sun.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8452.jpg"> <br /><br />And the Hudson River view side in the afternoon. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7022.jpg"><br /><br />There is a terrace attached to a small restaurant, a wonderful place in the afternoon sun. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7041.jpg"> <br /><br />There is no exaggeration in the presence felt when entering this historic residence where Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt and Arturo Toscanini once slept. One of the last residents of Wave Hill were chief members of the British Delegation to the United Nations in the 1950's and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother also spent a few nights at the Wave Hill House. But when you come around to the north wing there is an interesting story to be told about the history of this building. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_7014.jpg"><br /><br />The Cloisters to the south where much of the credit is given for the preservation of the Palisades is given to the Rockefellers that institution has an obvious association with the Metropolitan Museum but here in this north wing of the Wave Hill House the Museum's Arms and Amour collection was born. <br /> <br />In 1909 Perkins leased Wave Hill House to Dr. Bashford Dean. He was an eminent zoologist and a scholar if international reputation Deans two main interest were ichthyology and armor. I have a childhood memory of Dr. Dean because when I was a child his fish tanks were still well stocked in the basement of Wave Hill House. <br /><br />Besides being the only person to have held concurrent positions at the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, eventually becoming the first curator of Arms and Armor at the Met, Dean gained Perkins' approval to build this Armor Hall wing to house his collections before the collection found a new home in the Met where they are still on view today. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6471.jpg"><br /><br />From the Wave Hill House you can continue downhill to the entrance of a forest trail that is the perimeter forest wedged between the edge of the property and other property that the Perkins family gave to friends to become the Riverdale Country School plus around fifty acres that was given to the city to become Riverdale Park.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6986.jpg"> <br /><br />The trail can actually feel like a miniature hiking trip and meanders through the lowest parts of the property with the feeling of a hillside forest. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6994.jpg"> <br /><br />That trail represents one of my favorite features of this smaller garden that is seen throughout the grounds. Instead of taking the trail going uphill to Perkins gardens is the perfect example of squeezing in most features you would expect from a botanical garden while still seeming to be dominated by open grassy areas with a river view.<br /><br />The northeast corner of the lawn that leads to these gardens is one of the few places where you can find the outside world. The bench in that corner is still inviting because Riverdale has some of the quietest streets in New York City. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0444.jpg"> <br /><br />Further uphill to the aquatic garden it is early yet for water plants.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0431.jpg"><br /><br />But the surrounding trellises are now alive with flowers and many bees.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0430.jpg"><br /><br />And there are Blue Flags in the water! <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0335.jpg"><br /><br />The next garden is called the wild garden with a very relaxing place to watch the river flow.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6672.jpg"><br /><br />The view of the gazebo from the wild garden in April;<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6658.jpg"><br /><br />And the view of the wild garden from the gazebo yesterday;<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8584.jpg"> <br /><br />The next garden is called the secret garden. I can't tell you anything about it because it's a secret but I can show you one of the secret hiding places. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6663.jpg"><br /><br />There are many of these secret little hiding places on the grounds. I often wonder if that relates to a long history of being a private estate, places for a leisure class. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6774.jpg"> <br /><br />Walking along the winding high paths of the small gardens,<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6906.jpg"><br /><br />You can look down at the greenhouse, alpine garden and visitor center.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8629.jpg"> <br /><br />Being a huge fan of the T.H. Everett's Rock Garden at the NYBG I never thought these stone boxes that make up Wave Hill's alpine garden could hold a candle to the beauty of one of my favorite gardens. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6886.jpg"><br /><br />Then a gardener told me a story about these boxes that became a garden box because of recycling. When the automobile replaced the horse these garden boxes were watering troffs for horses.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0155.jpg"><br /><br />Not necessarily these particular boxes But it can be appreciated much more with that in mind. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0162.jpg"><br /><br />Coming down to the main greenhouse and also comparing it with the Enid A. Haupt conservatory, Wave Hill has an intimate and very private feel compared with the Victorian masterpiece at the big Bronx garden. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6422.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6837.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0409.jpg"><br /><br />And again, pretty places to sit.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6437.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8536.jpg"><br /><br />Walking along the east side of the park to the last landmark there is a wall of flowering tress separating the park from Palisades Ave.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6978.jpg"> <br /><br />This brings you to Glyndor House on the southern side of the park that is the third to stand on this magnificent site overlooking the Palisades. This was the house where the Perkins family lived while leasing out the Wave Hill House. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_DSCN8507.jpg"> <br /><br />It is now an art gallery and on the west side there is a wisteria that must bee seen. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6526.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6506.jpg"><br /><br />If you ever get the chance check out underneath too. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_0415.jpg"><br /><br />Than it is back to the main lawn and the end of the tour. <br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6543.jpg"><br /><br />But first take a last look at the view.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6734.jpg"><br /><br />Followed by a quick walk down some stairs.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6780.jpg"><br /><br />And take a sniff of those lilacs.<br /><br /><img src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/edc3/Diary2/DIA_IMG_6488.jpg">Eddie Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06031288545335828377noreply@blogger.com0