What? This is a Photograph?

 

Yes, it is a photograph.  It is not a great photograph.  It is merely a record of my progress in the work we are doing in the dining room.  I had been looking at green walls covered by white joint compound for way too many days.  Patching the many cracks in this particular wall, and taping the joint where the two walls meet, took a lot more time than the simple filling minor holes and cracks takes.  Usually two or three coats of joint compound fixes everything, but some of these areas required five coats.  So the wall has been painted with a gray primer, and it feels so good to see only one color, and a very smooth wall.  Making things look better is good for the soul! 

The Search

So it is Tuesday and you know where we had breakfast today!  Near the end of our stay at the beach, we saw this Police boat slowly going north and south in the harbor, then it would stop, they would look around and then continue moving.  Suddenly we heard the sound of a helicopter down low, and a Police helicopter joined the boat.  It was circling the water in several places, also moving north and south in the harbor.  At one point the helicopter went into a hover really down low.  So I did some photographs when the boat and the helo were right near us.  After maybe half an hour, the helo got some altitude and headed back in the direction of the airport.  I called a friend at the paper, and he did some checking and there were no reports of anything from the police department.  So what was all of this?

 

Uh-Oh, What's Going On?

Going down the street the other day on my walk I spotted this triangle in the street, over to one side.  I knew immediately what it was.  A surveying team has passed through here and they set up their equipment and to mark where they took their readings, they drive a nail into the street with a bit of orange plastic under the head of the nail, and then they spray an orange triangle around it, so it can be easily found later on.  Now the question is, WHAT are they surveying?  Well, the street, obviously, but for what reason?  Are they going to repave the street, or install a sewer line or do something else?  Stay tuned, and I will report back.

 

The Angel in the Garden

This is my garden angel.  I bought her at a garden shop one day when Kathy was shopping for flowers.  I really liked the look of her and thought she would add to the interest in the garden, which for me, she has.  I have photographed her a number of times.  The other day I saw her in the empty garden with the shadows of trees on the wall behind her.  I thought the shadows looked ominous, and because of that I thought it would make a picture.

 

It's Coming Along Nicely...

Well, this looks much better than the first photograph I posted of this work.  Look how much we have done.  Kathy does all the wallpaper stripping, and then I come in and use joint compound and paper drywall joint tape to cover the large cracks in the plaster, and all the digs in the plaster from removing the wallpaper.  Looks like there are more patches in the wall, than the unpatched areas.  Oh, the mask?  That's because as part of the work I need to sand some of the plaster when it dries.  Better wear a mask for that!   But, this will be beautiful when it is painted!  Stay tuned.

 

Almost a Full Moon

I was waiting for the Moon to rise tonight, because I had a really cool plan for a photograph of the Moon rising over Sea Cliff, taken from across the harbor.  Turns out I ran out of time, and was not able to drive over to Port Washington to do the photograph.  Maybe next month if it is clear.  So when I saw the moon well up in the sky, I thought I would do a photograph closer to home.  This is the Moon rising one day before full moon.  You can see, if you enlarge this image that the lower left part of the Moon does not have a distinct edge.  Tomorrow, the Moon's edge will be sharp all around.

A Strange Landscape

This is another photograph from along my walk.  It was taken a while ago, but I never posted it.  It is a mostly empty lot with some equipment installed for the gas generating station across the street.  But it is mainly empty.  There are trees at the far end of the lot, and then there is the harbor.  In the harbor is a huge crane mounted on a barge. Which you can see over the trees.  All of that, I think makes for a strange landscape.  Oh, and I used my camera converted to infrared to shoot this, and that's why all the leaves on the trees are white.  Even stranger still.

 

Being Silly

This is a photograph from the archives that I just stumbled across.  It is of Liz and me just being silly.  I have no memory of how this came about.  We were sitting in the little back room years ago - I recognize the spot, but have no idea what led up to this.  I don't know if we were looking at a mirror or something, but we did this, and Kathy must have taken the picture.  What I love about this is that I always thought it was important to be silly with Liz and Amy.  Silly is an important part of life, as is just playing sometimes.  I think it is important for children to know their parents can be silly sometimes.

 

The Gift That Keeps Giving...

I have taken so many photographs of Scudder's Pond, but because of the light and the time of year and the wind and the temperatures, no two photographs are ever alike, fortunately.  I did this photo on my walk the other day, and what struck me was the delicacy of this scene and the muted colors.  It was overcast so the light was soft.  If the setting sun had illuminated this, the colors would be a saturated yellow color from the sun and the contrast would be greater.  So I like this different version, and having no wind to speak of meant the water was almost a perfect mirror.

 

Winning The Snow Contest!

                                       

So we have an informal competition with our neighbor Judy, to see who has the last snow of the year in their yard.  She called the other day to say that she had won.  This is the snow in her front yard, and we had none.  It was a killer to lose the competition.  So today we decided to change the outcome of the contest.  I decided to get a show shovel and take Judy's snow and bring it to our yard!  Kathy documented our subterfuge!

                                       

                                       

                 

                

                

So after supper I called Judy and said that I was originally mistaken about losing the contest, and in fact we won because we still have snow in the side yard and she doesn't.  She said, "You know, I looked over there this afternoon, and there was snow, and I could swear that yesterday there was none!"  So I explained what we did earlier, and we laughed and laughed over all that!  Laughter is the best medicine, right?

Is This Modern Art?

Is this modern art?  Nope!  We are stripping wallpaper from the dining room.  Underneath is the original green paint that was on the walls when we bought the house in 1970.  The white is the paint that covers areas that had been repaired with joint compound.  When we had the kitchen redone years ago, the carpenters made a mistake and broke through this wall from the kitchen, so we had to strip it of wallpaper, fix the damage, and then put this wallpaper up.  Now this wallpaper is coming down and we will paint these walls.  But this is a nice accidental work of art, don't you think?

Interesting Clouds

This is a very subtle photograph, but interesting because of it's subtlety.  I noticed these clouds on a recent walk along the harbor.  I have no idea what kind of clouds these are, but fortunately I have a friend named George, and he was a meteorologist for his first career.  He will know what these are, which is great.  He gave a talk for the astronomy club I belong to in New York City all about the different kinds of clouds, and is was absolutely fascinating!  I really love that this photograph is simple, and the colors are muted.  A nice change of pace for me.

What Moms Do...

Look closely.  This mom has one child on her back, and one hanging in a harness on the front!  My story may be better than the photograph!  I was driving to the store this afternoon and approached this mom from the back.  I noticed her carrying a child on her back, and then as I passed her, saw the other child on the front!  I was amazed!  But then I realized that this is what moms do!  I kept driving for maybe 150 feet, and then stopped at a red light.  I noticed the woman was walking toward me on the sidewalk, so I quickly got out my camera while sitting at the red light.  I set the camera, focused it, pointed it toward the window and waited.  Would the mom get to me before the light changed?  I kept staring at the red light and at the rear view mirror holding my breath.  Then suddenly she was outside the car window!  Click click, I looked up, the light had changed to green, and I slowly drove away!  Whew!

 

"Second Hand News"

I don't think I saw this sculpture until my second visit to the oral surgeon, who removed an infected molar some weeks ago.  She was wonderful and by the next day there was no pain.  I had to go back for a check up and I think I noticed it then.  But it wasn't until my third visit that I really saw this sculpture.  What a cool sculpture!  Two men in suits reading a newspaper!  A newspaper, such an important part of my life for 43 years!  The artist is Seward Johnson, and the sculpture is titled "Second Hand News."  And here is the cool thing - There was an exhibit of his sculptures at Old Westbury Gardens back in 2017.  If you look in the upper left hand corner of the page there is a white box with a magnifying glass, enter "seward,"  hit "return" and it will take you to two posts showing his sculptures!

 

What Day Was This?

 

What's this sitting on the stove?  Wait, what day was this?  It's St. Patrick's Day!  So Kathy had to make Irish Soda Bread, because she is Irish, and that's the law!   :-)  What more can I say.  It was absolutely delicious!  Of course it was.  Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone.

Dunkin' Donuts Tuesday

So you know this is Tuesday and this is the day we get coffee and donuts to go from Dunkin'.  After we got the goodies Kathy realized that there was not enough time to go to our beach for breakfast - she had made an appointment for a haircut.  So we parked behind a CVS and had our breakfast in this scenic spot, and then she walked to the hair salon in the distance.  Not quite the scenic view we are accustomed to, but the donuts and coffee were delicious!

The Thinnest of Crescent Moons

We were headed out for ice cream, at MacDonalds, of course, and I saw this crescent moon setting in a light blue sky.  I didn't have my telephoto lens with me, so I had to wait until we returned home to grab the long lens, and a tripod, to make this photograph.  There is something sublime about seeing such a thin crescent moon in the sky.  I wish I could have photographed it earlier against the light blue twilight sky.  The moon has an "age" every month.  The age is in days, starting from "new moon" when the moon is very near the sun, and so you can't see it at all.  This moon is 2.3 days old, so the weather needs to be clear so that we can see such a thin moon.

 

Ready For Planting

For frequent readers of the blog you will recognize this beach.  It is the location of  the "No Dunkin' Donuts" posts for most of last year.  For winter the beach had drift fences on it.  We were surprised last week to find the fences gone, and  these rows of raised sand.  Apparently they are getting the beach ready for summer by leveling it off with a backhoe loader.  It looks as if they have prepared the beach for planting!  I am guessing that this week they will have gone over the whole beach with a power rake making it completely smooth.  Time will tell, and I will report back

 

Maybe Enough For A Snowman?

I never said that I was "NEVER" going to show you snow again.  I said I wasn't going to show it to you for a while...   :-)   We have the last snow in our yard of anyone on our street!  We actually live in a kind of small valley, and so there is a ridge behind the houses across the street that the northeast winds bringing snow have to blow over, and having done that they dump it on our side of the street.  I am serious.  The lawns of the neighbors across the street have had had NO snow for a couple of weeks now, no joke! I think I am going to do what our elderly neighbor did all the time years ago - I am going to call the village and complain!   :-)  That's what old people do, right?

 

American Vernacular

On our field trip out to Mattituck yesterday we drove by this building on the way out, and as it flashed by my window, I made a note of stopping to photograph it on the way back.  I am not sure what it was that caught my eye, and I still don't know.  It was in a cluster of other barns, but this one alone got my attention.  Stan and I are always talking about "American Vernacular" things that we both see and photograph for each other.  So I thought I should look it up.  Here is some of what Wikipedia says about "vernacular:"  "Vernacular photography is the creation of photographs that take everyday life and common things as subjects.  Though the more commonly known definition of the word "vernacular" is a quality of being indigenous or native, the use of the word in relation to art and architecture refers more to being, concerned with ordinary domestic and functional buildings rather than the essentially monumental.  There you go, another free lesson from your favorite blog!

 

Thank Heavens!

Today I got my first vaccine shot!  Wow!  I can't quite believe it happened - it has been such a trial trying to get an appointment.  I owe Kathy for that - she found a bunch of appointments at CVS.  The only thing was my appointment was in Mattituck, on the north shore of Long Island, a 140 mile round trip!  But I was happy to do it, to finally get my shot.  We made a day trip of it and it was fun driving out on the North Fork.  First trip anywhere in a year!  Here's what's funny about this shot - when I sat down with the woman who was preparing the shot, I said "Would you mind if I did a picture with my cell phone of just my shoulder and the needle?"  She paused and thought and then said: "Well...  I guess if you really want to do that, it would be OK."  Kathy gets her first shot tomorrow, but we won't have to drive nearly as far.  Oh, I didn't feel a thing!

 

An Astronomy Lesson

So here is the "Big Dipper" over a bare tree in winter.  The Big Dipper is not a constellation, it is actually and "asterism."  An asterism is a popularly-known pattern or group of stars that can be seen in the night sky.  The name of the constellation is actually called "Ursa Major" or the Great Bear.  This constellation has a lot more stars in it and is much larger than just the big dipper.  The Great Bear has front legs, and hind legs, and a head.  This is the most recognizable constellation in the sky.  Orion, which you saw last night is the second most recognizable one.  You are welcome for this free astronomy  lesson.  Aren't you glad you stopped by?

 

A Night Under the Stars

We finally managed to have an astronomy club observing session tonight, out on the grounds of the planetarium!  We have tried to have these sessions for months, to no avail, because of weather.  Our last session was last December.  These observing sessions are different because of Covid, of course.  Everyone brings their own telescopes and you set up away from other members, and you don't share telescopes.  Everyone wears a mask but, you are within talking distance of each other and you can walk about the observing field, socially distanced, and see what others are looking at and, chat with them.  There is a sense that we are all out under the stars together, sharing a common interest, and there is a nice sense of community.  I did a few photographs of the night sky - this is the constellation of Orion setting in the West seen with a beautiful barren tree in the foreground.  All seems right in the world after a night like this.

 

Some More Abstract Art

Here is another piece of my "Abstract Expressionist" art.  Found this at the bottom of our street.  It is frozen water in the gutter, with air bubbles entrained in the ice.   I am not sure where the orange color comes from - perhaps some rust in the water which ran down the street.  I really do love this photograph - the design and the shapes and the colors.

 

Feeding Seagulls

I thought I would try and some up with something different, for a change.  So I saw a huge flock of seagulls in the parking lot at the beach, and I had a long lens on the camera, so I zoomed in on this man feeding seagulls from the back of his car.  This is sort of OK, but it could be better.  He had ben feeding the birds for a while and was just about out of food, so I didn't have much time to shoot.  So I wish this was better, but it IS different.  I think it looks better if you click on it to see it in more detail.

 

I Guess You Turn Left Here?

I have mentioned before that there was a construction project going on, on Shore Road for 4 or 5 months.  They were doing "horizontal boring" where they dig a hole in the street and then maybe 1200 feet away, dig another hole, and then angle a drill down into the first hole, and the drill goes down about 8 feet, and then straightens out and bores a horizontal hole until it gets to the second hole, 1600 feet away!  It is an astounding process, and I was fascinated to watch it for months on end.  I will do a blog post about it one day.  Well, now the project is done but the plastic orange barrels are still in the street, taking up one lane and there is a lighted arrow to let people know they have to move over.  I like that late in the day, the only thing that really shows is the arrow.  I just think it's a strange scene.

 

Notice: There is no Snow in This Picture!

I thought that the disclaimer in the title was important after all the photographs I have been posting with snow in them.  So I went for one of my three-mile walks down along the harbor, and I saw this gnarly tree at the back of Scudder's pond.  It is such an unusual tree, and not beautiful at all.  Usually I would rather photograph beautiful trees because of their shapes and design.  But I will take the odd tree every now and then just for a change, and here it is.

 

Sarah and Liz Dolls

Welcome to the grand debut of some of Kathy's dolls!  She has been making dolls for six months now, starting out with dolls for Vivian.  I can't remember how many dolls she has made in total, but a LOT of dolls!  I have waited to introduce her dolls to all of you because she waited to ship a whole box of them to California and I didn't want to ruin the surprise.  Now Amy has all of the dolls for Vivian, and so Kathy decided to make a Sarah doll and a Liz doll!  These two dolls have arrived and Sarah and Liz are thrilled!  Kathy is amazing in her sewing, and the clothes that these dolls are wearing look just like the clothes that Sarah and Liz wear!  I will be showing more of Kathy's handiwork in more blog posts to come. Aren't these awesome?

 

Lavender in the Snow

Are you tired of snow pictures?  I am tired of snow pictures.  This is the last one, I promise.  It is Lavender in the small garden next to the driveway.  I just like the swooping forms of the stalks against the snow.  It's not as strong a graphic form as I would like, but I was desperate.  Nearly all the snow is gone, so I will be posting photographs of other subjects.  Hooray!

 

Oh No! Not THAT Tree Again!

Late this afternoon I went out for a few things at the pharmacy and some packing tape at Staples.  I looked down the driveway before getting in the car, and saw my favorite tree illuminated by the late afternoon setting sun.  I don't believe that I have photographed my magic tree in this kind of light before.  I couldn't resist.  Sorry.

 

A Sad Anniversary

I was in the bagel store again this morning, and the news came on the large flat screen TV up on the wall behind the counter.  One of the first items was that today was the one year anniversary of the first confirmed Covid case in New York!  Wow.  It has been a whole year.  And who could possibly have guessed when the first case was announced here in New York, that it would be the beginning of a death toll that would climb to 500,000 people across the United States, so far.  A sad anniversary indeed.