Fog In The Park

I was on the way back from recycling when I drove past this park bench standing out from the background because of the fog above the snow.  I started thinking about this shot, but didn't slow down.  When I got to the next corner, I finally figured out that this was a photograph.  So I turned right and then right 3 more times, and this time parked the car and grabbed my camera.  Only one problem.  A faint wind had come up and blown the fog away!  Oh no.  But I stood there waiting, and the wind died and so very gradually more fog formed over the snow.  Do you know why?  When the air is saturated with water, like when it is raining, if you cool it, it condenses and forms fog.  Same thing happens with clouds.  Warm, moist air is heated by the ground and then it rises because it is warm.  As it rises, it cools because the temperature decreases as altitude increases.  When the moist air cools enough, then it condenses, and clouds form.  How cool is that!

 

Trees and Fog

On my way to buy bagels this morning, I passed this scene on my favorite golf course.  Guess what - no camera in the car!  I had my "toy camera" but the telephoto lens is not long enough to get this scene.  What a dolt!  So I bought the bagels, and drove home and we had breakfast, and THEN I drove back to the scene with the right camera and lens.  I am lucky beyond belief.  I will show you another photograph tomorrow, where I didn't stop quickly enough, and by the time I circled back, the wind had changed just a bit and most of the fog was gone!

Crabmeat Stuffed Flounder

We were trying to figure out what to have for dinner a couple of days ago while wandering around "The Farm" where we shop.  As we passed the prepared food cases, we spotted a tray of "Tilapia stuffed with crabmeat."  This is NOT that dish!  THAT dish was a small piece of Tilapia with a pile of imitation crabmeat piled high on top.  I don't know why we bought a serving, but we did.  It was huge so we split it.  It was pretty much tasteless.  I mean, what did we expect, with imitation crabmeat.  So I set about making the real thing.  They had no tilapia, so I bought two flounder filets and a can of crabmeat, and looked up a recipe on the internet.  THIS is the result.  It was absolutely awesome!  And I cooked it.  I am a genius in the kitchen...   :-)

 

My Jackson Pollock

When it was snowing a couple of days ago, I was trying to find something different while also shooting trees and tree branches.  I looked that this bush across the street, and I was using a telephoto lens so the snow was falling between the camera and the bush.  You can see out-of-focus small white blobs that are large snowflakes and short white lines which are blurred snowflakes.  What struck me was the similarity of my photograph, to a Jackson Pollock painting in some ways because of all the lines going in different directions.  I like this photograph because for me it is a different way of seeing.

 

The Empty House

 

When we moved into our house back in 1970,  Dr. and Mrs. William King lived here with their children and dogs - they were veterinarians.  After about 5 years, they moved upstate, and the Gordon's moved in.  We have been friends with them ever since, but after 20 years there, they moved across town.  Then Glauke and Eric moved in and had two children, who are now teenagers.  They moved to Vermont two years ago,  and the house was rented to a couple with three young children who used to bring us handmade presents.  Then they bought a house and moved away.  The house has been empty for nearly a year, but now has been sold.  So we are awaiting the arrival of our new neighbors!  I hope they will be as nice as all our other neighbors over the years!

A Clearing Sky

Yesterday was crazy with the weather.  It snowed for an hour and then changed to very light rain, which went on for several hours.  I had an appointment at the Apple store to bring Kathy's iPhone in to have its battery changed out.  I dropped the phone off, and since the process would take 2 hours, I drove home.  When I returned to pick up the phone, the sky was clearing and by the time I got back to the store the clouds were clearing and the sky was this lovely shade of orange and pink.

 

I Know, I Did This Before...

...But this is a better version.  We had an inch of big white flakes of snow this morning, that were really light and stuck to everything.  If you go back a couple of days and look at that version, there is nowhere near as much snow on the branches.  So you can call it a "do-over" if you like.  I just think that this is a much prettier image.

 

Fun With A Drone

I happened to look out the dining room window late this afternoon and saw long shadows on the snow in the side yard.  I thought it might make a nice shot from above, so I ran downstairs and grabbed my drone.  The battery was low in the drone, and worse in my iPhone which I need to connect to the controller to see what I am photographing.  I managed to get the drone in the air, but only for about 5 minutes.  It was a bit windy so I had some difficulty getting the drone in exactly the right spot, but I did get this photograph which I really like.  If you wonder why the snow is so blue, the shadows of the house and the garage are on the lawn, and so the shadows are illuminated only by the light of the blue sky overhead.  The white snow is illuminated by the direct light of the setting sun, which is why it is white.  Can you find my shadow?

 

The Tree, Again...

Well, it snowed again, although you can't tell from this picture - all the snows look the same.  I think it is amazing how delicate some of the branches are.  So delicate.  It's really only possible to see the structure of the branches if it is winter, and if the branches are seen against snow, or against the sky,  This tree of ours is really magical if you really look at it closely.

 

The Beautiful Tree Comes Through Again...

Once again, my favorite Japanese maple tree comes through for me.  The branches of this tree are so interesting, no matter where you view them from.  I walked out on the front porch this morning to go down the driveway to try find the newspaper, and this was the view that greeted me.  So I immediately turned around and went back in the house to get my camera.  Oh happy day, a beautiful photo of our snow-covered tree branches.

 

Hardly Looks Like Snow

This hardly looks like snow!  I went down to the Container Store to get a couple of things to get myself organized.  Yeah, as if!   :-)   Anyhow when I got back to the car I noticed this pile of filthy snow piled up in front of the car.  "Looks like a picture" I thought.  I thought it would make a good picture because it doesn't even look like snow.  It was piled up after two snowstorms, and as the heavy equipment moved the snow around, it was scraping up all the dirt in the parking lots.   It's funny looking at this now, but it almost looks like a breaking ocean wave! 

 

Not Much Left

I was out in Melville near where I used to work so I decided to go by where the building was.  I had taken some photographs of the demolition that had started maybe a year ago, and posted them on Januyary 11, 2020, but I haven't seen it since then.  I didn't know what to expect.  I was surprised that there was still a small section of the building still standing, on the left in the photo.  To the right were piles of concrete rubble, I guess from the floors and walls of the building.  I worked at Newsday for 41 years, but I started at the original building in Garden City in November of 1966.  Then we moved to here in Melville in 1980.  I took a buyout in March of 2008, so you can do the math.  Click on this photo to see more details.  Below is the panoramic photograph I took that gives a much wider view of the scene.  Be sure and click on that photograph.

 

And Now For Something Completely Different

 

I am jesting when I say "And now for something completely different."  It's Tuesday morning and we are at the beach for coffee and Dunkin' Donuts!  Only I am not calling it that.  I just saw these beach grasses and loved their fall colors, and the snow and the drift fences, of the same color.  This is not one of my great landscape photographs, but it will have to do for today.

When Skies Were Blue

I need to show myself some blue skies to brighten my day.  I cannot believe we have had such a long stretch of overcast skies.  This is a photograph from 10 days ago that I took leaving he grocery store just after sunset.  I loved the pink color illuminating the contrails and the cirrus clouds.  It makes me feel good to see blue skies and pink clouds!

 

Sledding

Well, this is not the greatest photograph I ever made!  I did my "uphill" walk again today, and it took me by the golf course.  I used to sneak through a broken chain link fence and go cross country skiing here years and years ago.  But the country club repaired the fence and got serious about intruders.  I guess that they don't worry about kids sledding on this distant part of the golf course.   This isn't much of a picture, with kids scattered all around the image.  Sorry.  It was the best I could do - I made the mistake of leaving my long telephoto zoom at home.

 

A Pastel Sky

I was thinking that this photograph was about the trees.  Upon further contemplation, I realized that what attracted me was the pastel sky.  It is so subtle.  This was another photograph from my new walking route, and these trees are on the golf course. Please click on this photo to see it larger, and to see how delicate the color changes are in the sky.

 

The Wall

I went for a walk today, but had to take a new route.  The sidewalks I walk on down by the harbor are buried under snow, and being that it is a state road, and busy, I am not going to walk in the street.  So I went up hill, and did my 2 1/2 mile walk on residential streets.  The photographic possibilities are not as interesting as down by the water.  So I found a few things that I will be posting.  But this is the last thing I shot and I really like this as something different from what I usually shoot.  This is a concrete wall with maybe 2 feet between the bottom and the curb.  The homeowner always has flowers and things growing in the narrow garden.  The wall was plain concrete, then he put up latticework, and painted it white, but after one season it warped and he removed it.  Then he painted the wall white, and this is what it looks like after another season.  To me, this is such a beautiful background with the gray streaks running down.  And with a bare, single plant, suddenly I had my picture

The Wedding Present

Kathy was in the attic looking for some old clothes so she could use the fabric for some of the dolls she is making.  She found a box, and in it was this beautiful sterling silver bowl.  We have not seen that bowl since we moved into the house 51 years ago.  It was a wedding present, so whoever gave us this, thank you very much!  I spent an hour or so with silver polish and now it looks good as new.  I put this on the dining room table to photograph it, and it looked different depending on where I photographed this from.  It is acting like a wide angle mirror, and so there are seven images of me in the bowl - can you find them all?  The bowl makes a wonderful centerpiece on the dining room table now!

 

First Snowman of the Season

We call the place where we shop for groceries "The Farm."  I went there the other day and found this little guy that some of the employees must have put together.  By the time I got there this little guy was in pretty tough shape.  One arm is missing, and the eye on the left eye has melted down into his head.  I wanted to retrieve it and make him look better but the grape was where I couldn't get to it.  It make me smile that some people made this, just to make everyone feel good when seeing him.  A wonderful small gesture that we can't get enough of these days!  Thank you to the snowman's creators!

 

Icicle

This is a serious icicle!  I don't ever remember an icicle outside the dining window like this.  I am not sure where it came from.   Maybe the rain gutter up on the second floor was overflowing or something.  In any case, I love the sense of gloom in this photograph - everything is a shade of gray and the icicle looks evil.

 

Have a Seat

Here's a nice bench down by the water, and a nice place to sit to look at the harbor.  Well, at any time when it hasn't snowed recently!  What attracted me to this scene were the decorative grasses behind the bench, as well as the softness of the snow on the bench.

 

Amazing Trees

Oh look, we got more snow today.  Not a surprise, however.  About 8 inches or so.  It was a beautiful, soft snow, with no wind and large flakes that rested gently on all the tree branches.  This first photograph is my favorite.  These are trees on our neighbor's property, and they are overgrown with vines, up where we can't reach them to remove them.  I helped by cutting the vines at the bottom so they can't grow any more, but the vines that are already up there are there to stay.  But what an amazing jumble!

These trees are in the back yard of our neighbor on the other side of our house.

And not to be left out, our favorite Japanese maple tree, frosted with snowflakes.

 

Shadows

I happened to look out the side window of the back room late in the day.  I saw these shadows of the hedges on the perfectly clean snow.  I enjoyed the patterns of the shadows and I like how smooth the snow is.  That won't last for long, though.  They are talking about 9 more inches of snow starting Sunday morning, and then snowing all day long.

 

Now What's She Up To?

I wandered through the kitchen and saw this on the kitchen counter.  What could it be?  Oh no, Kathy is up to something!  I pretend I am on a diet and then I pretend to not want any of the desserts she bakes!  But I always manage to help her eat the desserts!  So, can you guess what this is?  The yellow is eggs, oil, and pineapple.  On top of that are shredded carrots!  You guessed it - carrot cake!  It is absolutely delicious, especially with a cream cheese frosting.  I stopped to photograph this because of the brilliant colors in the bowl.

 

Blue Bottles in the Snow

I love these blue bottles and Aloe plant in the kitchen window.  But during the snow storm they stood out even more with the scene in white outside the window.  I thought it was a pretty contrast between the blue and the white outside.

 

Miniature Forest

I was sitting at the dining room table wondering what I was going to shoot today for the blog.  After the beautiful snow gets messed up and isn’t perfect any more it is hard to find pretty pictures.  Then I happened to look out the window, across the side yard, and saw these dried stalks in the side garden!  I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my Canon T7i and my 55 - 250mm lens and went over and started shooting the stalks from a long way away with effectively a 400mm lens.  Then I moved in closer and dis some shots with the lens at 55mm.  I was so tickled at how these stalks looked - I think this photograph is quite beautiful.  

 

The Man and His Machine

This is my monster snow blower that just loves to eat snow!  Without this machine I would be completely lost.  Up until 5 years ago, Kathy and I would shovel our 80 foot-long driveway by hand with snow shovels.  On days of heavy snow that process might take 3 or 4 hours with breaks. In later years, the neighbor across the street, or the neighbor kitty-corner from us would loan me their snow blowers when they had finished their driveways, which was a life-saver!  Then I decided we should have our own snow blower.  When it took 4 hours to shovel our driveway so we could get our cars out, that felt like being trapped.  So it is fun to have our own machine at last.  The question is, did I see the newspaper in the green plastic bag in time to avoid shredding it with the machine.  The answer is "Yes."

 

The Snowstorm

So it has been snowing since last night.  The wind has been howling all day, in addition to the snow falling.  So at about noon I got bundled up and headed out with my camera.  There was about 18 inches of snow in our driveway.  The street had been plowed, so it was easier to walk up to the center of town.  I was astounded to see this guy doing a wheelie, in the snow, coming down the center of Sea Cliff avenue!  

I passed the Sea Cliff Fire Department, where I saw this man whom I assume was a volunteer fireman shoveling the entrance to the Fire Department by hand.

Further down Sea Cliff, I saw this man with a snow shovel.

On my way back up Laurel Avenue, I saw this truck with a snow plow that tried to come down a short, steep hill, on the left, and got stuck.  Some young men who were trying to sled down the short hill pitched in and helped push the truck further into the road to free it.

When I arrived back at the house, I was taken by these leftovers in the herb garden, next to the driveway.  These delicate stalks seen against the snow in their simplicity, remind me of a Japanese drawing.

And finally, once back in the house, I noticed this icicle hanging outside the window of the dining room.  It was great walking around in the snowstorm!  Be sure to click on these to see them with more detail.