Amy Reading, on Her Birthday

We have been making good use of the front porch lately.  It is such a wonderful place to sit, read, have conversations and coffee.  And when Liz and Amy are home, this is the first place they go to sit and relax because they love it so much.  So here is Amy, sitting on the porch, on her birthday, reading and relaxing.  Looks like a nice place to hang out, right?

 

The Water Bug Goes to the Pool

Vivian LOVES to swim!  And we are lucky because there is a swimming pool for residents at the Dunkin' Donut beach!  Last year when Vivian and Amy came they visited the pool and loved it.  So this year we all went down to the pool. Kathy and I of course just sat in chairs and watched.  I was so surprised to see these brilliantly colored goggles which Viv wears because of the clorine in the pool.  I knew that was a photo right away.

And here they are in the pool!  Vivian is really an amazing swimmer,  and very confident which is wonderful, and she is capable of holding her breath and diving down all the way to the bottom of the  swimming pool!  It is astounding to watch her swim and a joy to watch she and Amy swimming together. 

 

Amy And Vivian Arrive!

We drove to JFK today to pick up Amy and Vivian!  What a joy to see them, especially here at home.  We saw them a month and a half ago in Los Angeles, but it is different when they are here, as Vivian would say, "At Nana and Boppa's House."  I took this photograph because of all the backpacks Amy is carrying.  Such is the life of a traveling mother!  And I love the wonderful light coming through the leaves of the Japanese maple tree behind them! It will be so nice to have them around, and it is not as if we are going to do "important things."  The important things are just to all be together.

 

American Vernacular

This is a private house I have photographed before in the middle of Sea Cliff.  I stopped to mail a letter at the post office just across the street and the sunlight on part of the home and porch seemed interesting to me.  I tried a closer photograph of just the porch but this wider angle, along with the American flag on the lamp post, seemed to complete the photograph.  "Vernacular" architecture I think has been described as particular to the country or region where it has been built.  Stan and I are always looking for "American Vernacular" objects and architecture as we travel around.  Please be sure and click on the image to see all the details of objects that are on the porch.

 

The Ovid Farmhouse

On the way to Rochester we always drive by the abandoned farmhouse in Ovid that I have been photographing for about 20 years now.  This view is looking back toward home.  On the way to Rochester we were looking for the farmhouse and apparently drove right by it!  I couldn't figure out what happened.  I thought that maybe the house had finally been demolished.  So on the way home five days later I looked more carefully and then realized I had found this area full of trees, where the house used to be.  It is still there!  The issue was, we have always traveled to Rochester in the early spring before the trees are leafed out and around Thanksgiving time when the leaves are gone.  If you click on this photograph, in the center of the trees you can see a small part of the remains of the house!

Once I stopped I could see the front of the house more clearly, but it was fully in shadow and all the new grasses were growing in front of it.  No wonder I missed it.  So much of the house has completely collapsed and with all the tress leafed out it was hard to find any good view of what it left.

I walked around to the right hand side of the house, based on the view above, and there was finally something left to photograph, this window against the sky.  How far this has deteriorated in the 20 years I have been stopping to photograph!  

This was the farmhouse back about 6 or 7 years ago, and of course with all the trees bare we can see so much more of the house.  Such an interesting project to photograph this house year after year.  If you are REALLY interested, in the upper left hand corner of the blog page there is an orange "B" and then a white box with a magnifying glass in it.  Enter the word "farmhouse" in the white box and click the magnifying glass and you will see all of my posts  of this house over the years!

 

A Double Rainbow

As part of her recovery from her knee replacement surgery, Kathy has been doing some walking.  Our street is way too steep for this so we drive down to the Dunkin' beach, park the car and walk back and forth on a level sidewalk.  It was sprinkling today as we walked late in the day.  When we were done, we started to drive out of the parking lot and then we saw this!  There was a single rainbow at first and then the secondary bow began to show faintly, to the right of the primary bow.  What a beautiful thing to see and I love the wide view that shows not only the bow and the clouds, but the blue sky as well!  Our lucky day!  This is an extra large post, so please click on it to see more detail.

 

Cumulus Clouds

Cumulus clouds are low-level clouds known for their puffy, cotton-like appearance and flat bases. Originating from the Latin word for "heap," they form on sunny days when warm, moist air rises and condenses. Typically, scattered cumulus clouds signal fair weather, though they can grow into towering storm clouds.  We had a perfect day for our trip home from Rochester. It was particularly lovely to watch the sky all the way because it was full of Cumulus clouds.  Blue sky and sunshine and puffy white clouds .all the way and then suddenly on the Palisades Parkway, we had several downpours which surprised us.  A perfect day for travel!

 

The Condos vs. The Farmland

Back in April of 2024 I photographed a site that was under construction.  It was farmland that was clearly being developed.  It started by my seeing an old farmhouse on a rise next to the road and there were two trees in front of it, back in 2023.  Then the farmhouse was demolished, but the trees were left.  Old Farmhouse So I spent some time showing the start of the construction back in 2024.  You can find those photographs of construction Here. So I have seen these buildings before but not in this way.  When we were driving by today, what struck me was the beautiful green field of corn and the perfectly tilled brown field which awaits planting.  It feels in this photograph that the buildings are marching toward this beautiful farmland. This photograph is the best of this take, but I also shot a panorama so you can see the full extent of the development.

BE SURE and click on this panorama so you can see the full extent of the development here!

I also did a close-up but after looking at all three photographs, it is not as powerful as the first photograph, or the panorama. 

 

The Restored Garden at Eastman House

 

I went out to the George Eastman Museum to see the current exhibits yesterday.  When I was done seeing those, I went out to see the restored gardens on the east side of the mansion.  This garden is known as the Terrace garden.  The bright sunlight was not my favorite choice of lighting for a garden but I made do with what I had to work with.  Because of the sun and shade combination I was unable to take a beautiful photograph of the whole garden, I just tried to find some lovely images of parts of the garden.

This is the closest thing to a wider view of a part of the Terrace garden.  They have done such an amazing job or restoration with complete replacements of all the brick walkways which makes the garden more accessible.  And they have done major replanting of all the flower gardens, and also restored the sunken lily pond in the center of the garden.  It is just beautiful now which is nice to see because it has been a few years now while the restoration took place.

These are Water lilies in the sunken lily pond in the center of the garden, which was completely restored.  I only wish the light was better so that I could a photograph, perhaps from the upper floor showing the entire terrace garden because it is something to behold after the restoration!

A Powerful Family Portrait

We are staying with Vince and JoAnne and in their guest bedroom, this framed photograph is on the wall.  I have been taken by this for years.  Look at those faces!  So the story is that JoAnne's mom, Jean is on the right.  This photograph was taken, get this, one hundred and one years ago in 1925!  On the left in the photo is Jean's sister Dorothy.  In the center is the baby Zoe, who sadly died at age 6 from the measles. What I love about this photograph is that way back when, if you wanted a family photo you gathered everyone up and went to a professional studio and deliberately had a beautiful photograph done.  Not just a quick snapshot, but a carefully composed, beautiful portrait.  The background of this, by the way, with the lamp ,is not a real lamp but rather a painted background. It is such a joy to look at this photograph, even after knowing the sad part of the story.

 

Upstate!

Oh No!  He is shooting photos while he is driving again!  No I am not!  Notice the white line on the right hand side of the photograph?  That shows that I actually pulled off the road and parked and got out of my car and took this photograph carefully and safely!  We drove to Rochester today to see Vince and Jo Anne. It was raining off and on the whole trip but traffic was light and the trip was easy, AND there were photographs everywhere because of the atmospheric effects of the rain and the clouds.  So this is almost an ordinary photograph but subtle and lovely.  I love the three "bumps" of the hills off to the left of the photo.  That was what caught my eye.  And of course, the beautiful, subtle gray clouds!

 

The View Out the Window

I am not sure what exactly attracted me to this scene.  I think it was the utility pole with all the different wires on it and the streetlight and then the wires coming in to the building I am in.  I looked at the pole and wires before deciding to shoot this.  Don't tell anyone, but Kathy and I were  having dinner at MacDonalds and this was the view out the window from our table against the wall.  I have viewed more beautiful scenes from restaurant tables in my time but there is some interest for me in this scene.  It is a little bit fascinating to me for some reason.

 

Lines and Diagonals and Squiggles

This is something I saw as we were eating dinner.  It is all about design.  Diagonal stripes in white and red and then vertical "things" and then a coiled cord in contrast to all the straight lines.  The view is through the doorway from the dining room to the kitchen.  The diagonal lines are shadows from the narrow blinds in the kitchen window, shining on the white wood doorway trim and the red wall of the dining room.  And of course there is the coiled cord from the telephone on the kitchen wall.  Did you figure it out at first glance?  A fun thing to play with design to make something of this scene.

 

At The Airport

I was going through some files of photographs and found this one.  I found it interesting to me because if you have not been to this terminal at JFK, it is a very strange photograph.  It does include one of the most beauriful aircraft every designed, but why is it there.  And the woman who does traffic control seems to be seeing this aircraft for the very first time.  So I like this because you are not sure what is going on.  The reality is that she is taking just a second during her traffic duties, to look at the airplane.  Nothing strange at all.

 

A Four Day Old Moon

This is a four-day old moon, meaning it has been four days since it was a "New Moon" and very close to the sun where we can not see it.  This moon is called a "waxing crescent" which means the crescent is getting "thicker" every day, on the way to being a "first quarter moon" which is half illuminated.  It is a beautiful thing to see in the sky!  If you click on it to see it in more detail, you can see smaller darker circular areas which are called "mare" because they looked like oceans or seas to the early people who first viewed the moon.  They are smooth because lava filled up giant craters and when it hardened it was so much smoother than the rest of the moon's battered surface.

This is closer to my original photograph where the crescent moon looks smaller and more delicate.  I could not decide after I took this photograph whether or not I liked the original image or the closer version.  What do you all think?

 

Grace-in-a-Box

These cats are so funny!  We were using a cut off cardboard box to bring stuff Kathy needed upstairs at night and downstairs in the morning.  I would carry the box as she navigated down the stairs with her cane.  So the other night she took the stuff out of the box and put it on the bed and then the next thing we knew, grace had curled herself up to fit inside the box!  This is just the funniest thing because cats, for some reason love to be surrounded by things like boxes whenever they can fit inside them.  It was a good laugh for the day!

 

Cirrus Clouds!

One day recently I happened to look to the north while standing outside the garage and I loved the delicacy of these whisps of cirrus clouds. So I went and got one of my cameras and shot a few frames.  Kind of pretty to see these in a dark blue sky.  But THEN...

For some reason I happened to tilt my head back and look straight up and I could not believe my eyes!  I have NEVER seen cirrus cloud like these!  And I nearly missed this just concentrating on looking to the north.  I could not believe my eyes.  They were moving through rather quickly so I only had maybe a minute to get these clouds framed between the trees.  What an astounding sight!

 

I'm Switching Breakfast Cereals!

I went to the grocery store to buy some more Shredded Wheat Mini's and as I went down the aisle I passed by these two boxes of cereal.  I couldn't believe my eyes - a breakfast cereal with CHOCOLATE in it? Each bit looked like a chocolate crossiant!  So I read the side of the box to see about nutrition and sugars.  You don't want to know.  BUT...  I am tired of always trying to eat the right thing, the correct food.  Each morning since forever I have my 1 cup of Shredded Wheet Minis, with a bunch of blueberries on top.  Well, I am done with that!  From now on I an eating THIS cereal.  I can't wait for my first bowl tomorrow!  Oh wait, tomorrow is Dunkin'.  OK maybe the day after...

 

Peggy Weil: Core Memory

There is a huge screen that must be more than 25 feet high on the wall in one of the entrance areas at MoMA.  It is a screen that shows a very slow movie scrolling upward, made up of 88 digital images of ice cores drilled through the Greenland ice sheet between 1989 and 1993.  The drilling of the cores descends two miles and 110,000 years in time. Each year there is an annual "layer" of ice that is formed and these layers preserve time vertically, by trapping bubbles of atmospheric gases, giving a record of what was in the air at the time.  I chose to do a close up cropped version of the photograph first because it is mysterious photograph - you are not sure of what you are looking at.

This is the full frame image of the core movie, slowly scrolling upwards.  To watch the entire movie of 88 cores takes something more than 4 hours!  But it was fascinating to look for changes in the appearance of the ice as the movie slowly scrolled up.

 

Can You Slice Up An Onion, Please?

 Kathy and I both saw a photo in Newsday today with a recipe from Marge Perry for "Sausage and Peppers Pasta."  Kathy wanted to make it but it required a lot of chopping so I agreed to do all of that and then she would make the dish.  So I said where should I start?  So she said "Can you slice up half an onion, please, really thin?" and I said "sure."  So I cut an onion in half, and was stunned by what I saw!  Isn't this interesting, and beautiful as well!  So forget the slicing for the moment - I brought the half onion over to the window and got my camera with a close up lens, and took this photograph.  So here you go!

The Red Tree and the Blue Bed...

In addition to the major exhibit that Liz and I saw at MoMA, we also saw two much smaller exhibits.  This one is called "Frida and Diego: The Last Dream."  Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera were two of Mexico's most famous and beloved artists who worked from the 1920's to her death in 1954.  The story is complicated but the short version is this construction of a red tree growing on a blue bed may have been a model for part of the stage set for an opera about the two artists.  There was no text block on display and the guide I talked to said they had not been told exactly what this was.  But as you can see, it is an absolutely stunning work of art, created for the stage.

I was immediately taken by the roots of the tree and the bed and then the ground underneath and so I photographed that.  Then I thought I should do a wide-angle view of the entire piece.  Just amazing!

 

In Profile

I sat down on a bench to take a rest after seeing the Marcel Duchamp exhibit.  My camera was at my side as it always is.  There was some kind of group listening to a docent explaining something about the exhibit.  I saw this mother and her son at the back of the group and I was taken with their profiles.  I can't explain it exactly but this was clearly a photograph.  I shot about 8 frames as they moved around and chose this one as the best.  I really like this photograph for some reason that I can't explain.

 

The Escalator

During our visit to MoMA, Liz and I were trying to figure out what floor we wanted to go to next.  We were standing looking down onto the escalators criss crossing each other and I took a wide angle photo but it was not that interesting.  So I zoomed in a bit and saw this woman all alone on the down escalator looking at her phone.  So I started shooting and realized what was going to make this photograph, was to have other people visible at the exact same time. So then I was looking at both the up escalator on the right and at the opening showing the floor below, on the left.  I was rapidly shooting but saw both the small pedestrian on the lower left and the passenger on the up escalator on the upper right!  Click!  Got it!

 

An Interesting Juxtaposition

Do you see any interesting juxtapositions in this photograph?  This is one of the galleries of the Marcel Duchamp exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art.  I stopped and was looking around this corner of the gallery and I saw something that I couldn't believe, and it was about the shadow of one of the objects in the gallery, on the wall over near the guard!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.  It was funny I thought, that the shadow was there and the guard would have no reason to be aware of the shadow's presence!  You can see the object hanging up at the top of the photograph that is creating the shadow on the wall next to the guard.  Just happenstance that the shadow would be where the guard chose to stand.

 

Marcel Duchamp at MoMA

About 20 years ago Liz read a biography of Marcel Duchamp.  When she came to visit us a few days ago, she happened to look for what exhibits were at MoMA.  She was stunned to see that the Marcel Duchamp exhibit was on, and so we both took the train to the city for the day and we spent a wonderful time together at MoMA.  She asked me to take this photograph of her to have as a mememto.  It was an amazing exhibit. There has not been a large exhibit like this since 1973.

I have been doing a lot of selfies recently, haven't I?  But I did want to do one of us at MoMA.  We took this photo in front of the large display that shows what exhibits are on display at this time. What a great father/daughter day we had, just hanging out!

 

Sea Cliff Yard Sale

Every spring Sea Cliff has a village wide yard sale.  Residents sign up and pay to have their homes put on a map that shows where the sales are.  So Liz thought it would be fun to go around and and just see what was for sale.  But it would take a long time to get from place to place, so we decided to cruise around on bikes to cover a lot of ground.  So this is one of the yards that had so much more stuff than any other houses!

So here we are on our bikes.  Notice the Stetson hat Liz has on?  She bought that at the first house we stopped at!  She saw it, and tried it on and it fit perfectly! So then she asked the price and the guy said "Five dollars!"  That's a bargain!  The guy said that the hat belonged to his grandfather!  So it is in good hands from now on.

 

Dunkin' Donuts at the Beach. Again!

This is almost a familiar view of Hempstead Harbor.  We discovered a bench under a tree that I had photographed so many times and thought it would be a better place to have our coffee and donuts, because on a sunny day, we would be in the shade of the big tree, instead of sitting in the car.  So today, with Liz, we went to Dunkin' and got coffee and donuts and tried out our new spot to sit and have coffee!

I didn't have a tripod with me so I took this photograph of Liz and Kathy sitting on our new favorite bench with their tea and coffee.  The donuts are long gone!

 

A Beautiful Sight in the Evening Sky

There is a beautiful and absolutely spectacular sight in the western sky after sunset each night lately.  To the left in this photograph, is the planet Jupiter, and then down and to the right is the brilliant planet Venus!  I was so surprised to see, as well, two fainter stars up and to the right in this photograph, that were only visible after I took this photograph.  They are the stars of the constellation Gemini.  In the center of the photo is Pollux and to the right is Castor.  Try and view this scene each night for the next week - each night Venus is getting closer to Jupiter!  It is such a spectacular sight and looks so much better when you are viewing it with your eyes.  Please check it out!

 

"This Looks Good..."

When I was photographing the newly engaged couple the other day, a short while later this woman walked out to the end of this little piece of land where often fishermen sit and fish and proceeded to try several different photographs of herself.  I couldn't help myself of course and did this photograph.  What got me wondering was what her background looked like.  She is holding her phone so high up that I am thinking that she will not be getting the horizon behind her, she will only get the water of the harborm - so a very plain background.  I wonder how weird it would have been if I went up to her and asked to see her shot because I was curious how it looked.  It is really difficult so many times, to watch another photographer and to try and imagine what their photograph will look like.

 

Purple Flowers

The other day I spoke of dropping my car off for an inspection in Glen Head, and then walking home. When the car was done I walked the two miles back to the garage.  I photographed on both walks and this photograph of flowers is a favorite.  I love the purple flowers in this photograph and so spent some time trying to get a nice photograph of them and the other plants around them.  Fortunately, I have faithful readers who will know what flowers these are. Thank you in advance!

 

The Sublime Sycamore Trees

I never tire of looking at these beautiful trees - the Sycamore trees that line Shore Road in Sea Cliff!  Their tops and foliage have been pruned over the years to all be about the same size because they are so close to one another.  The patterns on their trunks are fascinating to see - some are sort of a Rorschach test to see if you can find faces or other figures in their bark. And to see these almost identical trees lined up like fence posts is just so beautiful.  I have never tired of looking for different views of them over the years.

 

The Rose

Last year Kathy bought two new Rose bushes by mail order.  For you gardeners, I am sorry that I don't know where she bought them.  I helped her plant them and they have done well.  What a difference in the blossoms last year and this year!  So we were sitting eating dinner and suddenly I jumped up from my place, grabbed my SONY a7 camera from the shelf and ran out to the garden!  I shot three different blossoms in about 30 seconds then ran back in the house, put the camera down and resumed eating my dinner!  I apologized for abandoning my dinner, but I think it was worth it!

 

Flowers Are Where You Find Them

I was making my two mile walk back from dropping my car off at the shop for a NYS Inspection, and as always, I carry my camera and look for photographs.  I saw these wild Roses, I think they are, on a fence surrounding a whole collection of marine equipment.  I composed carefully to leave out the chain link fence and I think I have a nice composition.  But then after getting that shot it occurred to me to back up just a bit and show you where the roses actually are!

They are less than a foot from the sign announcing the marine facility!  Then I thought it would interesting for you to see where they actually are.  In the first photograph, you might think they were in someone's garden!

 

A Maple Tree in the Ivy

I went out to get the paper this morning and happened to glance to the right going down the driveway and saw this tiny Maple tree growing out of the ivy.  It was the contrast of the small and the large and the bright green and the dark green that made the tree stand out for me.  As I look at this now, I realize that one mistake that I made was that I never backed away just a bit and got more ivy and a smaller tree.  That might have improved this photograph just a bit.  Or maybe this is just fine.  Actually I should be able to do it again tomorrow morning and see if it looks better with more ivy around the maple.