Tsunami

I woke to blue skies, bright sunshine and high winds.  It was blowing 15 to 25 MPH, gusting to 35.  I drove by the harbor and the tide was exceptionally high.  Then when I got down to my favorite trees by the water I was surprised to see the waves crashing on the rocks.  I don't remember the last time we had waves like this.  A Tsunami, right here in Sea Cliff!  OK, so it's not, but I thought it was beautiful, so here you are.

The Sycamores Like You Have Never Seen Them Before

The usual.  My 2 mile walk.  Camera.  Look for pictures.  I had the 400mm telephoto lens on the camera as I approached these trees from a distance, and thought I would take a look through the long lens.  I know that telephoto lenses seem to compress objects in the image, and that is certainly happening here.  I have never quite seen the trees in this way, and was surprised when I saw this view.  So I shot it so that you could see something new.

How Does FIOS work?

 

Today we had a service call at our house from a technician from Verizon FIOS to install a new ONT - Optical network terminal, which is on the outside of the house, and to remove the old power supply and back up battery in the basement.  The technician was really nice, very professional and really patient with all my questions!  I had a lot of questions about how the FIOS fiber optic system works.  I was amazed to hear that inside the thick black cable that comes into the house from the telephone pole only contains a single, thin, optical fiber!  When he was done and waiting for a call back, he said he wanted to show me something. 

He had a thin white coil of wire and a pair of wire cutters.  He removed the outer sheath, and then the insulation, and there inside was this incredibly thin piece of glass fiber.  He then got a special light source used for testing.  Apparently the optical signal is not in the visible spectrum - our eyes cannot see the "light."  But his special light transmitted red light and when he connected the light to one end of the fiber cable, we could see red light in the single fiber.  I did this shot, and then asked him if he could point the end of the fiber right at me.  Wow!  The result is the first shot in this post.  Amazing!  What a great lesson, and I am so thankful for him taking the time to explain this all to me. Cool, huh?

Galanthus

Oh, look at me, all fancy with my Latin names of flowers!  But you know better - I support Wikipedia because I go there 87 times a day, and they never fail me.  These are Snowdrops, and I am so surprised to see them so early this year.  It has been a really mild winter, so I guess that it is no surprise, but still.  I guess that they are designed to survive the odd snowstorm or two at the end of the season, at least I hope so.  Most species of Galanthus flower in winter, before the vernal equinox,  March 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere.  So I guess they will be all right, and they make me feel really good - Spring is not that far off.

London Terrace

I was walking crosstown through Chelsea to get to a gallery to meet my friends Stan and Ann, and suddenly I saw this huge building.  I was first attracted by the brick towers all along the top of the building. "What the heck are those towers for, and look how many there are!"  I am guessing now that they are water towers.  Wow, this place is big!

So I walked south one block and then I could see the extent of this building!  It is astonishing!  It takes up a whole city block!  And look how tall it is!  So I started photographing it as I walked along.

Here's a view looking back to the East from where I came.  This is unbelievable, and it's all one building.  I saw an awning and discovered that all of this is called "London Terrace."  It is a famous place to live and a number of famous people live here.  Construction began in late 1929, on what was then to be the largest apartment building in the world.  The building contains approximately 1,700 apartments in 14 contiguous buildings between 17 and 19 stories high, Celebrities who live here include: Annie Liebovitz, the photographer, Malcolm Gladwell, author, Chelsea Clinton, Tim Gunn of Project Runway, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Katherine Keener and Diane Kruger, actresses among  others.  Wow!

A Conversation With the Sun

I noticed this house with the light of the setting sun on the front, and the shadows of the tree limbs on the front as well.  It felt as if the house was having a conversation with the setting Sun.  The house almost looks like a different kind of face.  I just think it is an interesting picture because of the light and what the light is doing to the house.

The Feather

“It's not enough to have the feathers.

You must dare to fly!” 

― Cass van Krah

On my walk today I happened to glance down and saw this feather in the grass.  I actually was surprised that I noticed it.  But it was in the perfect place with the sun backlighting it.  So I took a close-up photograph of the feather.  I found it on the grass that is next to the large parking lot at the beach where all the seagulls gather and stand around on the ground.  So I guess it blew into the grass from the seagull gathering.  Finding this single feather got me to thinking about quotes about feathers, and I found this one, at the head of this text.  I like the quote, for obvious reasons.