Thursday, July 3, 2025

Artist at Work


Years ago Kathy bought a little decorative birdhouse at Michaels.  She painted it a bit and then it was just around hear.  A year ago when Vivian was here she wanted to paint it, and she did.  On this trip she asked if she could paint it again, and Kathy said yes.  So Vivian picked out the colors and painted the birdhouse and really enjoyed doing it. It was fun watching her at work because she was really concentrating on what she was doing.


So this is the finished birdhouse, and I have to tell you, I really love the color scheme.  It is just not what anyone would expect but there are some subtle color variations between all the blue and the purple!  Vivian is clearly an artist!






 

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Amy's Birthday!


Yesterday was Amy's birthday!  So nice that she could celebrate it here in Sea Cliff with Vivian and both of us!  So here is the funny part. You know that Kathy loves to bake.  So she could have made Amy kind of cake in the world. But she knows better.  I think it is hysterical, but Amy's favorite cake is an Entenmann's yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I had forgotten about that, but we bought the cake in a store and there you see it with the candles celebrtating Amy's age...  Three!  Kathy said that she only had three candles left in the box!  So the cake was really delicious.  The four of us ate almost all of it in one sitting! 

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Sweet Dreams


Amy was downstairs having coffee and as I went by the bedroom where she and Vivian were sleeping I caught a quick glimpse of this!  So I grabbed the nearest camera upstairs which was my Canon 6D and used the 105mm lens to take 4 frames of Vivian sleeping.  So precious, made my heart melt.  After I took the photographs I did ask Amy if it would be OK to use this for the blog and she said it would be fine.
 

Monday, June 30, 2025

Here's a Story!


 Amy and Vivian are here!  Oh happy day!  The is the moment they were getting in the car at JFK when we picked them up.  It was a madhouse, with cars 4 lanes deep!  To add to the fun, I had to park while Amy installed the booster seat for Vivian and had to lock it down with the seatbelt.  But here's the best part...  They waited at baggage claim for their suitcase, and the booster chair which they brought with them.  The suitcase arrived, but not the chair.  So she went to the baggage claim office and the woman apologized that here seat was not on the flight, but would follow on another flight.  Amy said "But what do I do - my daughter can't ride in a car without her seat?"  "Oh, we will lend you a booster chair, and then have yours delivered to you tomorrow."  And Amy said, "and will they pick up this seat?"  "No," the woman said.  "You can keep this one."  And then she brought out a sealed cardboard box and gave it to Amy.  A brand new booster seat!  Wow!  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am so impressed with the airline, jetBlue for thinking of what to do in a situation when a seat does not arrive with the passengers.  Man, that is awesome customer service!  That's why jetBlue is "our" airline and the one we fly with whenever we can!

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Bumble Bees in the Lavender


I was walking out to the car when I noticed that the lavender  in the garden by the driveway was buzzing with bees.  I was amazed at how many were in amongst the blossoms.  So I got my camera and close up lens and started photographing.  I was as close as 6 inches to the bees but they didn't seem to be bothered by my presence, which was good.  I didn't think I would be stung by them because I wasn't doing anything threatening.  Well, I WAS six inches away, but they were busy.  I shot 71 frames and they were moving so quickly that the majority of them were not in focus or the bee was flying away by the time I pressed the shutter release.  I discovered that these bees are "Two-spotted bumble bees."  And from Wikipedia "Bumble bees typically only sting when defending their nest or when captured.  Bumble bees are different from honeybees.  They do collect pollen, but they make very little honey from it.  And they live in much smaller colonies.

 

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Baseball Kid


We went to a memorial service today at a funeral home for a friend of someone that Kathy knows.  When we arrived at the funeral home there was a large pergola over the entrance.  Underneath the outer edge of it was this small statue of a boy with a baseball hat and bat.  It is the cutest statue ever!  I took note of it and when the service was over I came back out and did a number of photos of the statue with my cellphone.  I just love this silhouette version.  I never bothered to ask when we were inside, why this statue was there.  But seeing it made me feel good. So I guess that's why the funeral home put it there.

 

Friday, June 27, 2025

Bill Moyers 1934 - 2025


Bill Moyers died yesterday.  I first met him in 1967 when he became the Publisher of Newsday.  I was coming out of the building and he was walking up to the front door.  Everyone knew he was coming of course.  I just thought I would say "Hi" as we passed each other.  Instead he stopped and put out his hand and said "Hi I'm Bill Moyers."  He was a gentleman and I was so touched by that, that he would introduce himself to me.  He left Newsday in 1970, just before the sale of the paper to the Los Angeles Times.  He continued to live in Garden City and I had occasion to photograph him for a story in Newsday some years later, after he started working at PBS. This is my portrait of him at the time and when he saw it published he asked if he could buy a number of prints to use as is official portrait, which Newsday arranged.  At some point I asked him if he would sign a print for me and he said ""Of course" and I sent this print to him.  When it came back to me after a while, it was stained with coffee down in the corner!  I had to laugh, because this is something I might have done!  He inscription on the print says: "To Ken - who has the eye of an artist and sees the best in a lot of us - from his friend Bill Moyers."  Along with it was this hand written note, below...  wow...