The Stick

This broken off branch was lying on the grass in the back yard, and I brought it out to the front of the garage, so I would remember to take it down with the garbage.  As I drove into the driveway today, I noticed the branch against the garage door, and I liked the shape of it.  So I got out of the car and photographed this scene.  I can't begin to tell you why this touched me.

My Last Visit to the Place I Worked for 28 years...

Yesterday there was a gathering of old Newsday colleagues at a country club for a dinner, and a book signing by a former editor.  It was a wonderful gathering and so nice to see a number of people I haven't seen in the last ten years.  From left: Bob Keeler, Henry Moritsugu, who has worked at the paper for 51 years, and me.  I went back to Newsday after the event with Henry to get a copy of a special section on the production and printing of the paper over the years.  Then we took a walk through the city room.

The Sunday paper was pretty much put to bed, so there are not very many people in the city room.

I did find one friend I have known for a long time.  This is Rich Loretoni, an art director for the paper.  But we worked together years ago when he was in the art department of Parents' Magazine, where I did some freelance work.

They have this wonderful display in the hallway at Newsday of reporters and photographers at work on assignment.  I was surprised to find this photo of me, at the lower left.  It is Bob Keeler and I standing by the New York State electric chair at Green Haven Correctional Facility, taken years ago.

And I had completely forgotten about this photograph, also on display in the hall.  I took this photograph in 1969 on Martha's Vinyard.  It is a photograph of the Dike Bridge which goes to Chappaquiddick Island - this is the bridge that Ted Kennedy drove off of with his car, resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.  There are several Newsday reporters standing on the bridge, along with other spectators.  It was sad, realizing that I would never again visit the place where I worked for 28 years.  Newsday printed its last papers last Saturday night on the presses in the building, before shutting them down permanently.  Newsday is now printed by the New York Times printing plant in Queens, NY.  The lease is up on the Newsday building, and all of the staff will be moved to an ordinary office building, to save money, since they don't need that much space for the smaller staff.

The Moon and Venus, Setting...

I was at an event this evening out where I used to work (more on that tomorrow...) and as I drove by Hempstead Harbor on the way home, I spotted the crescent moon and the planet Venus setting in the west.  I did a closer view of this, and then this wide angle version, and I decided the closeness of the two was more obvious in the wide shot.  There is something magical about seeing the moon when it is close to a planet like this.

"Heavenly Bodies"

This is the exhibit we went to the Met to see:  “Heavenly Bodies,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s colossal, hotly debated and richly anointed exhibition on the interweaving of fashion and Roman Catholicism.  It includes vestments from the Vatican. some of which have never before left Rome, and more than 150 examples of secular clothing from the last century.  Photographs are not allowed of the Vatican garments.  The secular clothing is clearly based on examples of religious clothing.  Some of it is quite beautiful, as these dresses show.  Some of the other pieces are, at the least, very strange.  And of course, my question is: "What kind of events do you wear this clothing to?"  If you want to know more, here is a link to the New York Times review of the show: nytimes.com/heavenly-bodies-met-costumes

This wedding dress is my favorite !

Musket Balusters

OK for the second day in a row, I must confess that Ann gave me the subject for my blog!  She said "Did you see the muskets on the stairs coming in to the armory?  Actually I hadn't because I didn't come in the front door - the signs that I followed had me enter the basement and take an elevator up to the gallery.  So on the way out, I took note of these, AND, of course I had to stop and photograph them.  I should have tapped on these to see what they are made of, but I am guessing that they are cast iron, which is what you would usually use for things like balusters.  Very cool architectural detail for an armory!

"Hey Ken, Here's a Blog Post..."

I went to the city today to meet Stan and his wife Ann, to see a couple of exhibitions.  The first one was at the gallery in the Armory in Central Park.  It was a collection of photographs taken of Central Park back in 1978.  There was a newspaper strike, and some of the photographers from the NY Times, who were out on strike, were hired by the NYC Parks Department to document the park, which was in poor condition, and also to show people enjoying the park in different ways.  The photographs have never been seen before.  When we were wandering around the gallery, Stan's wife Ann came over to me, and said: "There's a blog post for you over there..."  They both know me so well!  It was this carousel horse on display in a stairwell, not far from this Xerox machine!  Kind of incongruous to see the two so close to each other.  So it is a blog post!  Thanks, Ann!

Sempervivum

My sister Joan has always been a gardener, so when Kathy was up in Connecticut, she and Joan went to a nearby garden center so they could look at all the plants, just for fun.  To keep from being bored, I took my toy camera off my belt, and walked around looking for photographs.  Here's one!  Don't be impressed that I am not asking all my gardening friends for the name of this plant.  There was a tag on the plant!