One World Trade Center

I went to the World Trade Center today to meet two friends and to tour the 9/11 Memorial.  I took the E train to the World Trade Center stop and when I came up to the street, this is what I saw!  It stopped me in my tracks!  I have seen One World Trade Center while it was under construction, but never finished.  And now the outside is done, and the antenna is on top, topping it out to 1776 feet.  It is so impressive how the mirrored glass surfaces reflect the clouds and the sky. I think that's what stopped me - that the surface of the building matched the sky.

Clouds

I went to MacDonalds for an ice cream cone late in the day the other day - it's a ritual, once a week.  I parked my car and happened to look up when I was getting out, and I couldn't believe my eyes.  These clouds were just astounding!  They were moving some, so I started shooting, and stood there for a while trying different compositions, both horizontal and vertical.  This is my favorite.  Some people might see things in this photograph.  I just see amazing shapes, but hey, have fun with it.

Ripping The Insides Out

They ripped off part of the front of the building of the power plant a couple of weeks ago.  But they put up concrete Jersey barriers and poles and chain link fence, and then to add insult to injury, they put up a green plastic material to screen the work from people on the street!  So I climbed up on the Jersey barrier and fortunately they had put small openings in the fabric to let the air through.  So I pulled on one of the fabric openings and there was just enough room that when I put my lens through the chainlink fence, there was a small hole in the fabric!  Whew!  Anyhow, I managed to get this shot.  I wish I had seen this hall when the plant was running.  I think that maybe this was the location of the first generators when the plant opened in 1919.   Little by little my favorite plant is coming down. 

Two Tandem Kitties

The kitties are so funny.  Sometimes - most times - they are friends.  But sometimes they use their paws to bat each other.  And most times they find separate places to sleep and take their naps.  It was so amazing to see them today lying next to each other to nap.  They rarely do that - most times they are in separate parts of the house.  Sometimes they are on the same couch.  But today was really unusual.  What caught me was from where I was sitting, their faces were in tandem, and I thought that was so cute.  The trick was to get the camera without them moving.  I was able to do that, and you get to see this.

What Sam Knows!

I was parked in front of the hardware store this afternoon, and this truck was stopped in traffic.  I grabbed my camera, and when it got closer, I got one shot.  I LOVE the dog looking out the window!  So, since I know nothing about cars and trucks, I emailed my friend Sam, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of these things.  I asked, "What truck is this?"  Here is his answer: 

“You are looking at a Chevrolet pickup, 1955-1958, but unusual in that it is the 3100 series.  Like the Fords, there were three load ratings, roughly equivalent between the two brands. The Chevy 3100 series was like the F-350s- big, brutish. The Chevy 2100 series was like the F-250 series, and there was a lowest series like the F-150.  This particular truck has been modified by at least the following: Aluminum radiator and expansion tank visible through grill opening.  Chrome bumpers- seldom found on the 3500 series, common to lower ones.  All-around disc brakes with wheels and hub caps (not wheel covers) reminiscent of 1966-1969 Chevrolet "SS" designs, as on the Impalas and Caprices. The vehicle rides on radial Goodrich T/A tires, unknown in 1955.  Side dump exhausts- probably sounds wonderful under "load." My guess is that there is a more modern "crate engine" (bought fully ready to fire up from the factory).  For this car, it is probably what's called a "502" engine.  There are also analogous versions of the Ford engines available- the most recent are the Coyote motor (the newer version 302 cubic inch (5.0 L) found on 2013 and later Mustangs, and also the 351C (5.7 liter) of Crown Victoria Police Interceptor fame.  Other than that, I didn't notice much.  Nice, nice find. Sam.”

I told you he would know! Be sure and click on this, to see all the details on the truck.

The Beauty of Foxes

The group went to the University of Minnesota to see the observatory and antique telescope there.  After our tour was over, I went over to the Bell Museum of Natural History, on the campus. It is a wonderful museum, and one of the staff members told me that the dioramas in the museum were painted by the artist who painted the dioramas at the the Museum of Natural History in New York.  In any case, the dioramas are just beautiful!  I was really taken by the stunning beauty of these two foxes.  They are just gorgeous!  I guess I didn't know that, never haven seen foxes in the wild before.  And then in a nearby diorama, there was this River Otter.  Is he cute or what!

Moonrise, Northern Boulevard

I was driving east along Northern Boulevard, on the way to my astronomy club meeting, and saw this magnificent astronomical scene - moonrise.  It was particularly stunning because the moon was rising directly over the highway.  It took maybe four seconds to pull the car over and stop.  I needed a tripod because the exposure was too long for being hand-held.  Want to know the secret to this photograph?  OK.  So in the main exposure of the scene, the moon is so bright that the moon was just a bright white circle.  So I switched to manual exposure, and underexposed the scene in another photo, which then showed detail in the surface of the moon.  Then I used Photoshop to carefully combine both images.  When I worked for the newspaper, this kind of work was forbidden.  But I don't work for the newspaper any more.  I can do whatever I want!