This Magnificent Bridge!

I showed you my photograph of Manhattan from the Throgs Neck Bridge, which I took while stopped in traffic on the bridge.  So I have a confession here.  I love the new Tappan Zee Bridge which is named after a former governor of New York State, Mario Cuomo.  I actually got to photograph him once, before he was governor.  Anyhow this is a stunning bridge and deserves to be photographed when I cross it.  So before I cross the bridge I set the camera on manual focus and put it on the seat next to me.  If I see a shot I like, I pick up the camera and rest it on the top of the steering wheel and I keep watching the road and snap the shutter.  Easy Peasy.

 

The Ferns are Coming Up

I love when the first ferns come up out of the ground with their fiddle heads which then unroll.  These plants are so delicate and I never tire of photographing them.  The main fern bank is in front of the house, but some ferns have migrated under the famous Japanese maple tree.  I tried photographing these ferns with my normal camera in color, but I was not impressed with what I was able to get, so I got the camera converted to infrared and I knew these ferns would stand out against the background.  I love the sort of ominous black branches coming in from the top of the frame.

 

What a Mess!

I could also title this blog post "Fun With Plaster!"  We needed to re-do our upstairs bathroom.  We re-did the bathroom maybe 5 years after we bought the house, and I put down a new plywood floor and a new vinyl floor covering, and ripped out the lathe and plaster walls and replaced them with sheetrock, after re-doing all the plumbing and electrical wiring.  I used cement board around the bathtub and then I tiled the wall after installing new fixtures in the bath.  We wallpapered the walls with a beautiful dark green wallpaper with a nice pattern on it.  I also put new sheetrock over the lathe and plaster ceiling.  Over the years, I am guessing that it was the moisture in the bathroom that caused little cracks to form in the ceiling.  The edges of the cracks rose up above the level of the sheetrock, like tiny mountain ranges.  So I had to begin the process by sanding the entire ceiling to make it flat again.  Then I primed it and then did a finish coat so the ceiling looks brand new.  Man what a messy job.  I even bought myself this fashionable Tyvek coverall to keep a lot of the plaster dust off me.  Kathy stripped the old wallpaper off and I will be painting the walls when we are done.  I will be sure and post a photo of the finished bathroom.  Stay tuned.

Doctor Jessica Li !!!

I have talked about and posted photographs of Jessica a number of times on the blog.  The short version is that when she was a high school student and 14 years of age, she showed up at one of our ASLI meetings and said she wanted to join and that she wanted to build a telescope!  So after High School she went to Stony Brook University and graduated with three majors, including engineering and astronomy.  Then she worked at Brookhaven National Labs for a few years and then headed off to the University of Arizona to work on her PhD.  Today I received a post card from her that she had defended her PhD thesis and is now officially Doctor Jessica Li.  Man oh man!  How cool is that!  This photograph was taken at an observing session at the Vanderbilt in 2015.

She came home with her husband to visit their parents back in 2022 and stopped in one afternoon and it was really nice to catch up with what she has been up to. The FIREBall-2 ultraviolet balloon telescope for one thing!

And then in 2023 she came home again, and arranged to give a talk at ASLI where it all began, 15 years ago!  Because she was speaking she invited two of her High School teachers to attend.  Richard, on the left was her physics teacher, and Linda, on the right was her science teacher.   It has been amazing and a joy for me to follow along with her journey!  And what a joy to hear that she is now a PhD!

 

Whitestone Bridge and Manhattan

OK, DON'T PANIC!  I have always wanted to take this photograph, which is a view of the Whitestone Bridge with Manhattan behind it,  as seen from the lead up to the Throgs Neck Bridge.  This is impossible to do while driving of course, but on this day, with perfect conditions for the photograph, while I was on the approach to the bridge, I happened to be in the right lane and traffic stopped!  I was driving alone and my camera was on the rider's seat.  So I quickly grabbed it and shot through the closed window!  How lucky I was to get this!  I see this sight every time I head back to Long Island over the bridge, but it is impossible to photograph it.  Until yesterday.

 

Telescope Heaven!

Today was the first day of the Northeast Astronomy Forum, held at Rockland Community College.  I have been going to this event for more than 20 years, and perhaps 30 years.  It is a monster event for those of us interested in astronomy - I believe it is the largest event like this in the United States.  You can find anything and everything related to astronomy here, including telescopes!  BE SURE AND CLICK ON THIS IMAGE AND IT WILL OPEN UP TO FULL SCREEN.

This is one vendor's booth, as seen from the balcony overlooking the field house. I mean, look at all the stuff!

Here a couple has to run the gauntlet of at least a dozen refracting telescopes.  Not an easy thing to do at this event!

This is the Celestron telescope display.  Look at the size of some of these telescopes!

This is a display of classic Unitron telescopes, which were the kind of telescopes every amateur dreamed of opening back in the 1950's.

 

Hostas!

For some reason this year, I have been fascinated with the Hostas that grow in the garden next to the house.  There were tiny buds coming out of the ground, and suddenly they exploded up from the dirt!  I could not believe how quickly they gained height!  So I have taken pictures when they were small and then when they were taller.  When I was taking the taller photos from ground level looking up, I suddenly looked  down into the leaves and saw this beautiful image, with the water drops all over the leaves!  Maybe later on I will show you the short and tall versions of the plants but this is far more beautiful.  Be sure and click on this to see how beautiful it is!