Getting a Starbucks Fix

I love a good cup of coffee, and I have been known to buy a cup or two of Starbucks coffee over the years.  And every now and again I even spring for a double tall no-foam latte.  Starbucks closed their stores to people coming inside to order about a month or so ago, but they kept their drive up window in operation.  Man oh man...   Cars are sometimes lined up on the street 8 in a line before turning right into the drive up lane which I am showing here.  I think the wait can be 20 minutes or so from where I am standing.  I will go home and brew my own coffee, thank you very much.  I have no patience for waiting in line.  Old people are like that!   :-)

After and Before

This is the house down the street from us that has been under serious reconstruction for a couple of years now.  I guess I mentioned in an earlier blog that I stopped to talk to the owner a couple of times and I had questions about the work and the materials.  One day he invited me in to see it after sheetrock was up and they were working on the kitchen and bathroom.  It looks amazing!  I told him about the first picture I took of it when it looked completely abandoned, and I brought a print down to show him.  He loved the photograph, so I said I would make him a print, which I did.  He said that his wife would love the picture.  What an incredible difference he has made.  This house looked so bad, that I almost thought it couldn't be salvaged!  Please click on each photograph to see it in more detail.

No Dunkin' Donuts, Week 7

So it's week 7 of the No Dunkin' Donuts at Dunkin' Donuts.  So here's wheat we did - we got our coffee and donuts and went to Sea Cliff Beach, where the orange drums were, for a change of pace.  Wait!  What?  The drums are still there with yellow tape across them, so you still can't park!  I guess it is permanent for a while.  So back to our second choice at Tappan Beach.  It was a beautiful sunny day with no wind, and we were glad to see someone sitting on the beach.  Oh good, a different kind of picture.  I wanted a little "something else" in my picture as well, and then I noticed myself reflected in the rear view mirror.  A little something different.

A Family Walk With Umbrellas

I saw this family coming toward me on the sidewalk along the shore, and they were all carrying umbrellas.  The cool thing is that I had my 400mm telephoto lens on the camera, so that I was a long way away from them, and they didn't know I was taking their picture. That was nice since they are not looking at me.  I think they make an interesting group, all carrying umbrellas.

Everyone on Laurel Ave is Wearing Masks!

This is one of those fiberglass horses that we have seen everywhere for years now, that have been painted all kinds of colors.  I remember one at the George Eastman House, which was white on one side and black on the other!  So I don't know their purpose and this one is really moth eaten.  I forget how long it has been in the front yard of this house which is 3 houses down the hill from us.  But it did make me smile when I saw it.  I guess it's a good reminder that we all need to wear masks for the time being.

Oh Man! My Laptop is Shot!

I can't believe this!  My laptop is shot!  It just stopped working and I have no idea why...  :-)  OK the truth is that I have been thinking of doing this "shot" (photograph) for several years now.  It is an old Dell 3700 that gave up the ghost years ago.  I bought it in 1999 I think, and it came with Windows 98 and it served me well for a number of years before it died.  I have kept it just so I could do this photograph, and today I did!  It's funny, right?  I mean, there is a huge hole through the screen - a real hole - you can see green grass through the hole if you enlarge the picture.  Don't even ask how I did this shot.  But I am pleased that it came out perfectly!

One Man, One Umbrella

The usual day for me, with a 2.6 mile walk in light rain in the late afternoon.  When I saw this guy coming at me from a long way away, carrying an umbrella, I had my camera at the ready, as I usually do on these walks, and managed to grab this shot while he was still small in the distance.  This shot was taken with a 400mm lens, so he was a long way away.  I am thrilled that he was not carrying a black umbrella!

Rhododendron!

From Wikipedia: "Rhododendron is a genus of 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family, either evergreen or deciduous, and found mainly in Asia, although it is also widespread throughout the highlands of the Appalachian Mountains of North America."  And, I would like to add, also in our side garden next to our house!  I only had to walk 20 feet down the driveway after leaving the back door to find this gorgeous photograph!  After my picture in the rain yesterday, this just brightened my day seeing these beautiful colors!  I did continue on for my normal 2.6 mile walk after I took this photograph, you will be pleased to know

The Deluge

Yesterday there was a deluge as a thunderstorm passed by to our north.  The rain was coming down in sheets.  I went out on the front porch, and discovered that the drain pipe was blocked, so water was pouring out of the gutter.  So I photographed the water overflowing - you can really only see it against the hickory tree.  I used a slow shutter speed so the water is blurred, instead of being frozen in mid air.  It is still difficult to see it.  What you can see is that in the background is how the trees are obscured because there is so much rain coming down.  In the foreground, in case you are curious, is a Cosanti bell which I bought in Arizona some years ago.

No Dunkin' Donuts, Week 6

I must apologize for a sub-standard blog post today.  I had thought of a different picture to take at the beach.  Kathy and I would get out of the car, and pose with our masks on holding our coffee and tea.  We get to the beach and the wind is blowing 25 MPH!  And the wind was from the south and so it was picking up sand from the beach and blowing it right at us!  No outside picture today!  So in desperation I just did a shot of our drinks in their holder.  That's hardly a photograph.  Just so you know I am telling the truth, I am showing you the photograph below.  Notice how the line between the sand on the beach and the water is indistinct?  That's because you are looking at all the sand being blown toward us.  I will try better next week, I promise.

The Joys of Bleeding hearts

I didn't get very far on my walk down Laurel Avenue before I found this picture.  Once again, it was in the garden of a neighbor who I know.  This is one of my favorite flowers, and on a gray day, this was a welcome burst of color.  What an amazing and beautiful flower this is!  I will not trouble you with the Latin name of this flower, but I will say that this is related to the poppy family, native to Siberia, northern china, Korea and Japan.  And yet it can grow in a small garden in Sea Cliff. Get this - other common names include lyre flower, heart flower, and my favorite, lady-in-a-bath!

Strange Landscape

I have photographed this pond, Scudder's, and I have photographed those trees in the distance as well, a number of times in all seasons.  The other day as I went by I noticed that they put a brand new galvanized trash receptacle right in the middle of the railing - right in the middle of my photograph!  So I decided to take a photograph of the not so perfect scene.  Why?  Because I am a big fan of a photographer named Mark Klett, who lives in Arizona.  I took several week-long photographic workshops with him.  He does wonderful photographs of the southwest landscape, but sometimes with a twist.  One of his photographs is of a creosote bush and rocks and the title says something about "Creosote bush with Tripod."  So then you look for the tripod and after some study of the photograph, there is a silver tripod behind the bush!  So this is my poor imitation of the kind of photograph that Mark would do, with something incongruous in a landscape photo.

The Colors!

I absentmindedly looked out of the bedroom window this morning and was stunned to see all these colors!  The bright green moss caught my eye first.  And then the Japanese maple was a color that I had not seen before - not only were the leaves a light green but the buds added a reddish tint to the tree as well.  I was amazed.  The colors are more saturation than normal because of the light rain that was falling this morning.

Feeding the Swans

This is unusual.  There are always swans along the shore where I walk, and I don't think I have ever seen anyone feeding them, however.  And that's a good thing.  People tend to feed ducks and swans and other waterfowl with leftover bread, and that's a really bad thing.  This man had something other than bread, but he was down by the water and I was on the walkway up above, so I don't know what he was actually feeding them.  Swans eat aquatic vegetation, which their long necks equip them to take from underwater. They take the mollusks which cling to the vegetation and also eat small fish, frogs and worms. Swans normally find enough food in the wild without supplementary feeding. It is only in freezing weather that extra food can be helpful.  Many people like feeding bread to swans, but when it's fed in large quantities, it can cause dietary problems, and is no substitute for the proper diet that the birds themselves will seek out. Grain, such as wheat, and vegetable matter, especially lettuce and potatoes, can be fed to swans. Food should be thrown into the water to avoid encouraging the birds onto the bank.  So now you know what swans eat!  Another public service announcement from my blog!

Princess Grace

Why does this make me laugh to see Grace with her arms folded!   :-)   This is even funnier - I titled the picture "Grace with arms folded."  Those aren't ARMS, they are her front legs...   :-)    So sad that I have come to this, not knowing the difference between arms and legs!  I decided to call this blog "Princess Grace" because that's what we call her around here, and I was young enough to remember when Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III, of Monaco and became "Princess Grace."  Don't you love all the random information you can learn here...   :-)

LOVE

So this is a nice sentiment, perfect for the times we live in!  There is a small park in Glen Cove, next to the fire department in the next town over.  This sculpture has been there for a long time, and each letter was painted a different color.  The original Robert Indiana sculpture involves having the "LO" on top of the "VE," and all the letters were red, with a green and blue background.  I can't remember the previous colors of each of the letters.  When I drove by the other day, I saw that this had been completely repainted a beautiful purple, with pink edges on each letter, and someone had planted Tulips!  What a beautiful change to this sculpture, and what an uplifting thing to see.

No Dunkin' Donuts, Week 5

I was having trouble coming up with something different for this week's Dunkin' Donuts post.  I came up with showing all the stuff on the dashboard, including our COVID masks and my coffee, and the coffee carrier and my little cup of half and half that they give me when I buy coffee.  They know how fussy I am about how much half and half I like in my coffee.  It HAS to be the perfect shade of tan!  Anyhow I got this photo for today.  I have no idea what I am going to do next week!  I seem to be out of ideas.

The Deluge

We had some wild weather this morning and most of today.  It was raining cats and dogs and the winds were howling!  The winds were 30 to 40 MPH and gusts were up to 60 MPH.  At times it was pouring.  I decided, however that I really needed to buy bagels for breakfast, so I set out in the car to go to the bagel store.  I thought I should try and take a photograph that showed the rain.  So this is a more impressionistic image, which I got by focusing on the rain on the car windshield, rather than focusing on the distance.  I did all this, by the way, by setting my camera before I left my driveway.  And there were no other cars on the road, so my process was completely safe!   :-)

A Happy Easter!

We had a happy Easter today!  Jon's wife Lauren suggested that all the Connecticut relatives have a Zoom with each other and Kathy and I.  Jen was the one who set it all up and made it happen.  We all had a wonderful visit for over an hour.  In other circumstances, Kathy and I would have driven to Connecticut to see everyone in person, but our virtual gathering was the next best thing to being there. Next, we did Facetime with Vincent and Jo Anne in Rochester, but it was on Kathy's phone and so there is no screen grab of our conversation.

A few hours later, it was time to do a Zoom with Liz and Sarah and Amy and Gus.  We were surprised to see Gus' new look.  It was fun to see and talk with everyone on the west coast.  It made for a nice ending of our Easter day.  Thank heavens for technology.

A Neighbor's Good News!

On the way to the harbor and my walk I went by this scene just two streets down Laurel Avenue.  It was so much fun to see the joy with which these people were celebrating the birth of a baby!  Any sign of joy and hope is a wonderful thing in the times we are living in.

The Angry Sea

OK, so technically this is not the sea.  It is Hempstead Harbor, which is part of Long Island Sound.  But it sure looks angry, doesn't it?  And the sky adds to that.  The sky is so beautiful in its darkness.  I photographed this on my walk today and it was some walk.  The winds were 30 MPH gusting to 42 MPH out of the north.  It was easy walking south to the power plant, but man, on the way back home, I was walking right into the wind.  It took twice the effort to get back home!

What a Difference a Day Makes

What a difference indeed.  This morning it was pouring rain for about a half an hour.  I looked out the same bedroom window I took yesterday's photograph from, and loved how the rain turned all the colors pastel.  It was just beautiful to see the distant bare trees nearly disappearing in the rain.  And I thought how different the scene was from yesterday.

A Brief Sense of Normal

When I woke this morning, I looked out the bedroom window and saw our neighbor's beautiful Magnolia tree.  I thought it would make a beautiful picture, but the skies were overcast, and the picture was kind of dull.  Several hours later I noticed that the sun had come out and so I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs and took this photograph, which is much prettier because the sun was out.  Oh wait!  What is that in the foreground?  It's Kathy, working in the side garden cleaning it up, for spring planting.  She said that for a brief period today she felt that things were almost normal again.

No Dunkin' Donuts, Week 4

So there would be no surprises, this morning on the way to Dunkin' Donuts, we drove down by the Sea Cliff beach to see if the orange drums were gone.  The whole road was repaved, which was why the drums were there, but the orange drums were STILL there!  What?   So we went to Dunkin' and then to Tappan Beach.  This is where we parked, and it is actually a better view of the water than our first parking place.  We have decided to have our coffee and donuts here from now on.  You may wonder about the surgical mask on the dashboard.  That's an interesting story...

The other day I was in our grocery store checking out, and so busy putting my groceries in my bags, I realized I hadn't said "hello" to the clerk at the register.  I looked up and said "I'm sorry, I was so busy bagging that I forgot to say 'Hello.'  I'm sorry.  How are you?"  He was wearing a surgical mask and he said "I'm doing great because of this," and he pointed to his surgical mask.  Clearly he felt safer wearing one.  I said "I'm sorry I don't have a mask on - I couldn't find a way to buy one, but my wife and I are working on making our own."  With that, he said to another employee: "Carlo, can you go get two masks for this customer, please?"  With that the employee returned with a plastic bag of masks, and said "Please take two."  I was stunned and I thanked the cashier profusely, over and over.  What a wonderful act of kindness!  And so today, at Dunkin', I wore my mask to make the cashiers feel more comfortable and then later I wore my mask back to the grocery store.   Here I am wearing my mask in the car just for the photograph!

Margo Lundell, 1941 - 2020

This is Margo Lundell and her son Eric.  She was Kathy's dearest friend, and lived in Manhattan.  Kathy and Margo both met while going to Fordham University in Manhattan, when both were studying for their Masters in Social Work.  That was in 1997 and they became great friends.  Margo worked for Simon & Schuster where she wrote and edited the Little Golden Books series for children, before she trained as a social worker.  Kathy would invite her out here on weekends, and the two of them would sit on the front porch and talk all afternoon long.  It was wonderful for them because they could discuss their cases and help each other.  I can still hear her laughing on the front porch!  She just loved coming out here for a respite.  Kathy would go visit her in Manhattan and they would spend the day together doing what best friends do. She passed away today at NYU, a victim of the Coronavirus.

A Gift From Next Door!

Once again, to our great joy, some gifts appeared mysteriously on our front doorstep!  I think the elves from the house next door have been hard at work making these lovely gifts.

Here is a closer version of everything.  There is a fresh white flower that smells wonderful, and a little raccoon, I think it is, and some really nice drawings, a pink scarf and a note that says: "I hope we see each other soon."  What better gifts than these could there be!  I always send a thank you card, and it is always a photograph of one or more of our cats, which apparently the children love to see.  What wonderful neighbors!  What a great lesson for all of us, especially in difficult times.

A Conversation With Social Distancing

So this is an interesting story, and it is also part of another story which I will be posting eventually.  This is Jordan, and he and his wife are from California and they are both visiting the new neighbors from next door, who have moved from California.  I met his wife before Coronavirus and she knew I was a photographer, because I had sent cards with pictures of our cats to the children next door.  Anyhow, she said that Jordan and I should talk, but the lockdown got in the way.  So they have decided to head back home, and so she suggested that Jordan and I meet, with the proper amount of social distance and have a conversation.  It was wonderful!  We had so much to talk about.  He does a lot of portraits for movies and network shows in California and he is really a great photographer.  So at least we got to meet before they head off.  Jordan said that they will be back, probably in a couple of months, and maybe then we can sit down for coffee and conversation again.

My Solitary Walk

It was an interesting walk for me today.  It was drizzling most of the day, so I wore a rain jacket and hat and set out on my usual route along the harbor.  To my surprise, there was no one else on the sidewalk.  It was a pleasant change for me, to be able to walk along without having to dodge other walkers.  I didn't mind being the only one out there - it was pleasant being the solitary walker.

No Social Distancing in this House!

Social distancing in this house?  Not so much!  We have tried to tell the cats about social distance, but they just don't seem to get it!  What are you going to do?  It is so interesting to me that so many times the cats, when lying down, love to do it while in contact with another cat.  It wasn't that long ago that I showed you two cats curled up in a chair.  Endlessly fascinating, these pets of ours.

Joy

In these trying times, I have never seen so many people and families enjoying the beach and sandbars and tidepools.  I have a whole bunch of photographs of people walking and playing, but I like this the best, a father and two of his children.  Gives me a sense of joy to see people and families making good use of the time that so many people have on their hands.