My Favorite Sculpture

I have been coming to the Nassau County Museum of Art for years now.  The museum was established in 1969 and I was there a number of times to do photographs for the paper.  I don't remember when I first saw this sculpture.  It is titled "Girl on a Bicycle, 1965" and it is by the sculptor Bruno Lucchesi.  He is a sculptor who was born in Italy, and moved to New York City in 1958.  I am not sure why I find this so powerful and so beautiful, but I stop and look at it and photograph it every time I come to this museum.

 

A Cottage in the Woods

While wandering the grounds of the Nassau County Museum of Art, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of this cottage through the woods.  It looks like a fairytale cottage.  I did some research and it is called the Jerusha Dewey Cottage on the grounds of the museum.  It was built by William Cullen Bryant in 1862,  for Jerusha Dewey and her brother on his property.  It is in the Gothic Revival style.  What is amazing is that because a subsequent owner needed more room, the entire cottage was raised on stilts and a new first floor was built under the original structure in 1900!  Did I mention I took this with my new camera?

And Now The Pressure is On...

So here is one of my first interesting photographs with the new Sony a7iii camera.  The pressure is on to do some great photographs with it.  I was playing around with the camera at home taking some shots here and there and beginning to learn the camera.  Then I decided to go over to the Nassau County Museum of Art, and see an exhibit in the mansion and then wander around the grounds, all the time taking photographs.  It was great shooting real photographs instead of just playing around, and taking a photograph every 5 minutes or so made me more familiar with how to use this really complex camera.  It was a nice day of photography, and here is one of the photographs I took.  How is this photograph different from how it would look if taken with my other cameras?  No different at all.  The Sony camera shines when photographing in really dim light and when shooting the night sky.  Stay tuned...

 

My New Sony a7iii Arrives!

The waiting paid off and FedEx arrived soon after I took that photograph of me sitting on the porch, much to my relief.  When you are a six-year old kid like I am, it is painful waiting for a new toy to arrive!  So here is a portrait of me with my new camera.  The hand underneath the camera is not positioned the way it would be if I were shooting normally.  That hand is holding a wireless release for my Canon camera that shot this photo, so that's why my hand looks weird.

So here you can see my new camera in all its glory!  It looks, of course, like all the other digital full-frame cameras.  There are differences which would be noticed by people who own Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras of course, but in general they all look alike.  So now that the secret is out, keep your eye on this spot to see what kinds of photographs I can do with this wonderful new camera!

 

What is This Man Waiting For?

What is This Man Waiting For?  He is waiting for admission to the rarified atmosphere of the elite group of photographers who are using the Sony a7iii mirrorless cameras!  My cameras for the last 20 years have been Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras and the new, new thing is called "mirrorless" cameras.  In the DSLR's there is a mirror that reflects the image from the lens to the focusing screen, and then flips out of the way when you take a picture.  The mirrorless cameras take the image from the lens on the sensor, and then that image is sent to an electronic display inside the viewfinder.  The other thing about these Sony cameras is their sensors - they are very sensitive sensors and so these cameras are perfect for night sky photography.

 

Sanding Plaster

Onward and upward with sanding plaster.  I have done three coats of joint compound for some areas.  The problem is that while I am doing a second or third coat on areas where I have dug out cracks, I happen to look nearby and see another crack or more loose paint, which I need to scrape out, and then fill with joint compound.  So I am getting there, little by little.

 

What a Difference a Camera Makes

I was interested in doing some photographs with a camera that Stan uses.  He uses Nikon cameras and also Sony cameras.  I wanted to see what it was like to shoot wth one of his Sony cameras, a Sony a7iii, which is a different kind of camera, called a "mirrorless" camera.  The view through the viewfinder is quite different because it is an electronic viewfinder.  Anyhow, I used the camera in Vermont for a while and when I got home I took some photographs around the yard.  I liked this image of our ferns.  So because I was curious, I took my Canon T7i camera which I use almost every day, and did a similar photograph a few minutes later.  Look how different the representation of the scene is!  Of course, I can add yellow to the photograph with my camera, and get an image that is closer to the image I took with the Sony camera.  But still...

It Seemed Like a Simple Thing..

So today Kathy said that she wanted to move the bureaus out from the wall in our bedroom, so she could vacuum behind them.  OK, that's almost easy.  Take out the drawers, carry them to the next room, and then move the bureaus.  Then we looked at the walls and realized that the whole room needed to be painted!  Anyhow, I got right to work and started chipping away at loose plaster and areas of the walls that had cracks in it.  The cracks are there because you are looking at the chimney which was used by the oil burner exhaust.  We have always had problems with the wall cracking because the oil burner would be used all winter which expanded the chimney bricks, and then in the summer with the oil burner off, the bricks contract.  So that's why the cracks in the plaster in this old house!

 

Commemorating a Life

On Saturday, August 21, there was a wonderful gathering of friends, family, and work colleagues at Scudder Beach, in Northport, to commemorate the life and passing of Clifford M. Gardiner.  Some people read poems, others recounted what a wonderful friend Cliff was to them , and others the help that Cliff had been in their lives.  There was music and songs by Sandy and Steve Edwards.  It was a very moving experience for all of us to be together, to celebrate the life of such a gentle, talented and loving friend.  Cliff was the best art director I ever worked with!   First at Newsday working on the Sunday Magazine, and then when he went to Parents' Magazine as Director of Design, where I did freelance assignments for him for about 10 years.  That collaboration and work with Cliff was some of the most rewarding work I did in my career.

 

Breakfast at the Beach

                                       

Our friends told us that there is a small cafe at Sea Cliff Beach and that they are serving breakfast and lunch, so we decided to try it out.  It was an overcast day so bright sunlight was not a problem for Vivian being out in the sun.

                                        

Kathy got to take Vivian around and introduce her to some friends we know, who were also at the beach.  Kathy was in her glory as a new "Nana" for Vivian's introduction to friends.

                                        

This photograph was taken only moments after yesterday's photograph of Amy walking toward the water with Vivian.  I thought that photograph was so special that I wanted to run that one alone.  But after they got to the water, Amy had Vivian stepping to the waters of Hempstead Harbor for the first time.

                    

How happy do Amy and Vivian look after spending time in the water at the beach where Amy grew up!

 

Amy and Vivian at the Beach

Amy and Vivian are back home in Los Angeles, but I have some photographs from their trip here that I haven't posted yet.  This is one of them.  We went to Sea Cliff beach for breakfast one day, and after eating, Amy took Viv and walked down toward the water.  I followed behind her with my camera.  I saw this photograph and grabbed a couple of frames.  I can't tell you why this particular image of the two of them, looking at the water somehow struck me powerfully.  Maybe it is memories of Amy at a much younger time when we would go to this beach, I just don't know.  But it is a special photograph.

 

Returning Home

Amy is just amazing!  This morning we got up at 5:30 AM and drove to JFK for Amy and Vivian's flight home.  Amy has, after much research and thought, got this traveling with a baby down to a science!  And she is not traveling light, not by a long shot.  Two suitcases, a baby seat that goes into a stroller, some smaller bags for carry on with food and toys to occupy Vivian, and a chest carrier for Viv.  It was so impressive to see her get everything organized before we left for the airport.  Wonder of wonders, Viv slept for 2 1/2 hours on the flight and so they both had a great trip.  We miss them both already.

 

Caution, Vivian at Play!

When Vivian is playing she can be a whirlwind!  She has been playing in the back room and there were newspapers ready to take out to the garage for recycling.  So many of them are on the floor with other toys scattered everywhere.  You walk in there and you know Vivian has been at work!

 

Watching Vivian!

Amy doesn't go anywhere when Vivian is in her crib, without her baby monitor.  These electronic devices have become so sophisticated.  I happened to wander through the kitchen when Kathy and Amy were preparing a meal, and I saw the monitor among some food on the counter.  There were fresh tomatoes from Larry Gordon's garden, and a store-bought banana , and one of Vivian's spoons that she eats with, and in the middle of it all, Vivian on TV.  These devices give such peace of mind!

 

An Interesting Building, in a Strange Way

I was on the abandoned factory side of the river when I spotted this building.  I think it got my attention because it is almost perfectly square.  That seemed unusual to me, but perhaps it is common.  I guess when they decided to build this, a square was the easiest to build, and the most efficient use of space. It is so ordinary as well, with not a touch of architectural decoration in an attempt to make the building more attractive.  Of course, and this is huge, I am looking at the back of it!  Perhaps it is more attractive from the front.  Remind me to shoot the front of this building when I go to Stellafane next year, to see if it is more attractive!

 

Falls, in the Black River

I love this photograph because it is not obvious, exactly, what we are looking at.  It is a giant boulder in the middle of the Black River, with river water thundering over it.  This is downstream from the factory I showed you yesterday.  In the upper left corner you can see the regular pattern of water going over a concrete dam.  To the left of this photo, out of the frame is a Low Impact Hydropower plant where water runs down a long pipe which is descending alongside the river, then the water runs through a small hydroelectric turbine, generating electricity.  The rocks on which the dam was built are really uneven, and this one is just a part of the rocky riverbed that sticks up higher than the surrounding rock.

 

The Abandoned Factory

                               

I decided to drive through the town of Springfield to show Stan what the town looked like.  The shortest route from RT 91 to Stellafane does not go through town.  I thought I would also show him this abandoned factory - you know how much I love to photograph old buildings.  The area from Springfield, Vermont down to Hartford, Connecticut which ran along the Connecticut river, was known as "Precision Valley."  In the 1850s, the waterpower of the Connecticut River enabled these precision machines to operate and produce consumer goods. In the 20th Century, the machine tool industry in Vermont became a huge sector of our economy.  I have been coming to Stellafane for 32 years now, and I think this building has been empty for a good deal of that time.

I thought that the broken window was the most dramatic photograph so I started this post with that image.  This gives you an idea of the building and the landscape.  I love that a woman was walking up the hill and so I waited for her to be turning the corner so that she was silhouetted against the road.

It is difficult most times, to take a single photograph that will give you the best sense of a subject.  And that was certainly the case here.

As you can see here there is more than a single building at this site.

Fortunately, with all the broken windows I could get a photograph of the inside of the lower floor of the building.  This is a photograph of a huge metal lathe, which is not a surprise because manufacturing requires  heavy duty tools like this.  In the distance, on the right is a huge drill press.

In looking at this view of the buildings, from across the river, you can see that the complex is made up of 5 separate buildings stuck together.  In the far left side of this photo, there is a black square visible under the last building.  I believe that water entered the building somewhere near the center of this photograph, flowed through a turbine and exited down near the black square. The turbine was connected to a belt drive.  Originally in these old buildings, the belt was connected to an overhead drive shaft, and from that shaft were other belts which connected to the manufacturing machinery.  With so many belts connected to machines which were running you had to be REALLY careful about where your hands and arms were!  These were not the days of OSHA where all the belts and shafts needed guards to protect workers.

A Memorial

You will have to click on this image to enlarge it enough to read the inscription in the rock.  I stop at the Vermont Welcome Center every time I go to Vermont, and I walk the grounds, but I don't remember seeing this before.  It is a 9/11 memorial.  The inscription on the bottom of the rock says: "A living memorial garden to honor the victims of 9-11-2001."  You can more easily read the main inscription: "Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature."  -- John Muir.  What a wonderful thought and what a simple and beautiful memorial.

 

A Face in the Crowd

This is the silliest picture!  We stopped at the Vermont Welcome Center and you have seen two separate photographs from there so far.  But the FIRST thing I saw this year as I rounded the corner to explore behind the building, were these vents on the side of the main building.  I believe they are air intakes and exhausts for a gas furnace or two.  We have something like this outside our house after we had a high efficiency gas furnace installed.  The second I saw these pipes, I started looking for a photo.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Perhaps I should have titled it "Here's looking at you, kid."  Hope you think this is funny as well!

 

The Old Hay Rake

I took a bazillion photographs on the trip to Stellafane, so now I am going to get back to posting them, at least until Amy and Lady Vivian return from Montauk in a few days!  So this is the Vermont Welcome Center and they have old farm equipment located around the grounds.  I believe my grandfather Spencer had something similar to this hay rake.  I remember as a child, on visits to the farm in Guilford, Connecticut, I would see my grandfather hitch a hay rake to a team of two horses and first cut the hay in the field, and then use this machine to rake it into rows.  Then he and my father and uncle would use pitchforks to put the hay on a hay wagon then drive it into the barn, and then use the rakes to put the hay into the hay mow.  Man, that was serious work!  Later my grandfather bought a tractor, and then they would rake the cut hay into rows, and they would hire someone with a hay baler to make hay bales.  So wonderful they have this equipment on display.

 

Off To Montauk

So after two days of visiting, Amy and Vivian are off to Montauk, maybe Amy's favorite place on earth!  She has spent so many years in a cottage called "Captain Dusty's" and she loves it out there.  But her friends no longer have that rental so she is going to visit her friends Andy and Carolyn at their house, and some other friends of all of them, will be coming out from New York.  So they are out where the cool sea breezes come off the ocean, and there is a swimming pool at their house as well, so how much fun will that be, to be in Montauk!  She deserves the vacation!

 

Vivian Trying to Sleep

Poor Vivian - she has had such a difficult time being able to sleep since she got here.  It is probably the change in time zones, but you wouldn't believe what she has had to face!  This afternoon she took a nap, and then after half an hour, our fire alarm up on the landing went off!  We think it is smoke from the wildfires - I mean no one is burning a wood stove at this time a year. Where else could the smoke come from?  So that was the end of her nap.  When it was time to go to bed Amy put her in the portable crib and all was well for about 15 fifteen minutes.  Then there was a loud crash of thunder!  Amy has a baby monitor, and we could hear Vivian crying.  Oh no.  So Amy waited about 10 minutes, then went and brought Vivian downstairs. Vivian had been crying for a while and her face was red.  But sitting on Amy's lap she slowly calmed down and after a while,  Amy took her back upstairs to her crib, and so far everything is quiet...  Please hold your breath and hope that it goes well for the rest of the night!

 

Lady Vivian and her Mom Come Home!

We drove to Kennedy Airport this afternoon to pick up Amy and Vivian after their flight from Los Angeles.  I grabbed this candid shot as Amy left the terminal with all of her baggage.  Kathy went to help her with one of her bags.  What I love about this is what it takes to travel as a young mom with a baby.  Yikes!  Stroller, car seat, two luggage bags and all kinds of smaller bags with baby stuff!  Certainly not a simple thing to take a trip by airplane.  The good news was, that Vivian was a great traveler and was quiet, and enjoyed her first airplane trip!

Amy and Vivian in our living room as Vivian plays with a basket full of toys that Kathy bought to keep Vivian occupied while staying with her grandparents.  You might be interested to know that the basket in the foreground was hand made by my sister Joan.  You see her faithfully leaving comments on the blog almost every day.

And here is Miss Vivian herself!  Look at how much older she looks, and how she looks so different from when she was just an infant.

 

A New Puppy!

We stayed in a new, for us, bed and breakfast in Vermont, along with a couple of other astronomy club members.  It was a wonderful place to stay, and on the last day, the woman on the left, Jan, and her daughter Sacha brought in Sacha's new Corgi puppy to introduce him to us during breakfast!  This is Poppy and he is eight weeks old!  Both Jan and Sacha own Corgis now, and clearly they are happy to have another one in the family!  You can tell by their smiles what a joy it is to have a new puppy.  He is cuter than a button and everyone wanted to hold him.

 

The Amateur Telescope Maker

The Stellafane Convention is about telescope making.  The main event is on Saturday morning when people who have built telescopes display them on the main telescope field.  There is a judging for those who want to be judged, but for many, their main purpose is to display their handiwork for others to see.  I saw this young woman named Stefania and her telescope and asked her about it. It is her first telescope, and I commented on the fact that the telescope tube was segmented - it is an octagon - and that construction was wonderful and that I knew it took a lot more work to do it this way.  I mentioned that it required a lot of skill to get the bevels correct on each strip of wood, she said "Yes - the angles that I cut were 22 1/2 degrees!"   Wow!  Here is a young woman who is skilled at woodworking!  She was given an award, along with 3 other people, for displaying their very first telescope!  It is so heartening to see younger people building telescopes, and as the father of two daughters I applaud seeing a young woman who is so adept at woodworking.  

This is an overall view of the field where everyone was displaying their telescopes.  On the left is an historical telescope build on the Stellafane property back in the 1930's by members of the Springfield Telescope Makers.  Next year is the 80th anniversary of the Stellafane Convention!

 

The Summer Milky Way

The summer Milky Way is a joy to behold under the dark skies of Stellafane, in Vermont!  You see the clouds of stars starting just above the horizon, and going straight up at this time of night.  Within the Milky Way, are clumps of stars, and voids where black clouds of dust obscure the stars in the background.  With a telescope and a low-power eyepiece you begin at the horizon and slowly cruise up through the stars.  This is the best time of year to experience the majestic beauty of our galaxy.

 

Welcome to Vermont

 

Stan and I left Sea Cliff at bout 10 AM this morning and headed to Vermont for the Stellafane convention.  The traffic was light and so it made for a good trip.  We always stop at the Vermont Welcome Center, as you know from other years.  The building is a spectacular barn-like design, and it is filled with interesting exhibitions.  This trip I wandered around the outside because as we drove in I saw this hillside covered with white wildflowers.  Someone help me here, please.  Can you tell me what flowers these are?  Here is a detail photograph of some of the flowers.  Thank you!

I Was 13 Years Old at the Time

I went to top off the tank at the gas station down in Glen Cove, and when I pulled in from the street I saw this truck!  Oh man, what a beautiful truck!  And the color is astounding, right?  Does the color take you back?  I filled up, then parked my car, hoping that the truck would still be there, and it was.  I asked the owner if I could photograph it, and he said "sure."  Then I asked him about it, an he said that it is a 1955 Chevrolet 3100 pickup truck.  He said that it was perfectly restored, with everything original.  I am not a "motor head" but the beauty of this truck stopped me in my tracks.

Later I did the math, and calculated that I was 13 years old at the time.  I do remember both a 1955 Chevrolet and a 1955 Ford that came in this color, and I was really taken by both of those cars, but I have no memory of seeing a pickup truck.  What a classic!

 

The Tiny Fence

 

Our new neighbors completely cleaned off the front bank between the street and their house.  What was interesting was that all the ferns came back.  They are now starting to plant is in some different spots on the hill.  I was intrigued by this beautiful little fence made from twigs, right next to the driveway!  It is so beautiful!  It stands out because of the mulch contained within it.  I have no idea what is planted within the fenced off area, but you know me - I will be watching this carefully and report back when I see what emerges.

I Am Being Regarded Suspiciously

I forget where I was, probably outside.  I came in through the back door, camera in hand, and Grace was lying on the cushion of Kathy's computer chair.  The light was interesting and I loved how Grace was stretched out in a regal pose.  The only thing is, it appears that she is regarding me suspiciously!  Who knows why.  I pet her all the time, particularly when she is sleeping on the end of the bed at night and she enjoys that.  Hey, she is a cat so who knows what she is thinking.

 

The Rising Last Quarter Moon

                               

We observed until about 1:00 AM, and then three of us sat down and shared some conversation and a pot of tea before heading home.  I happened to stand up and look to the east and was stunned to see an orange last quarter moon rising.  Because we were sitting down between two cars, no one had noticed it!  I said to the other two, "Look. the Moon is rising!"  And we all immediately headed for our cars to grab our cameras, and scattered across the landscape to look for the best view or the most interesting foreground.  So this is my version, and I like it a lot.  This image for me is frosting on the cake for a night of observing.