Happy Birthday Liz!

Today is Liz' birthday! When she was little, she would say her birthday was on "March Thirty-Thirst," which of course, tickled us to no end! Anyhow, she is in New York for nearly a week, and so we got to go in to the city and hang out with her for a few hours, and then go to dinner at a restaurant downtown. Someone at a nearby table had a dessert delivered to their table with a sparkler in it, and everyone applauded. So naturally I had to let the owner know about Liz, and she got a sparkler too. A sparkling end to an absolutely lovely day!

Guitar Man

I was at Grand Central Terminal today, and while walking along, saw this gentleman ahead of me. He stuck out from the crowd first, because of his Stetson, and then, because he had a guitar over his shoulder. This was a remarkable sight to me, even in New York City. I got out my camera, and began following him, shooting as I went along. Fortunately, he stopped to talk with other musicians that were apparently walking with him in a group. It was then, when he was stopped, that I got my best shot. My guess is that they play as a group in either the train station, or in the subway system.

The Unexpected Image

On the way go get bagels this morning I stopped to photograph something near this spot that I saw while driving. I took the "expected" photograph, and then saw a wider view with my original subject in it. When that was done, I happened to notice these occasional waves on an otherwise calm harbor. I watched several of them roll on to the shore, and then realized that the WAVES were the picture! There was something about how slowly they came to the shore - that, and the gentle S-curve of its shape filled me with a peaceful feeling. What a lovely surprise on a Sunday morning.

Earth Hour, 2009

I got an email from Jo Anne, my sister-in law, reminding me that tonight at 8:30 was Earth Hour. So I thought I would do before and after photographs showing what a difference it would make to turn all the lights off in the house.  The lights you do see in the "after" photo are a computer monitor in the back room, and the TV set in the living room.  Wow, we were burning up a lot of wattage! Yikes! And we take electricity for granted.

Nightmare!!!

No, it's not doing the income tax that is the nightmare.  It is Turbo Tax!  I installed the program last week, did all the updates, and I have been entering data for three days.  Today without asking, it downloaded and starting installing even more updates!  On March 27???  Most people have filed by now.  So I watched as the updates progressed - there must have been 10 of them.  When they were done and I restarted, I asked it to take me back where I was, and it took me to the beginning!  Page 1!  ARE YOUR KIDDING ME???  I called tech support, terrified that all my data painstakingly entered was gone, but it wasn't, and after half an hour of painfully clicking through pages I had already done, while my pulse rate was 150, I was back in business!  Yikes!  What a stupid thing to do - to "push" an update, rather than ask me.  Stupid program!

Front Door Angel

This is our front door angel.  She has been hanging here on the porch for a few years, right by the doorbell.  I only looked REALLY closely today, because of the raking light of the sun, which made the shadow of her hair on the porch shingles really stand out.  That, and the late afternoon light made her far more dramatic in appearance than she usually is.

After Edward Hopper

I drove by this scene the other night, but for some reason didn't stop.  Maybe it was too cold...  Anyhow, I passed it again tonight, and decided I needed to shoot this.  It is one of the main avenues in Sea Cliff.  The first shots I did had a very strange color because of the mercury vapor lights.  I made some adjustments and the picture went from a reddish color to greenish, and both of those colors were distracting to the essence of the photo.  So I converted it to black & white and it improved the image one hundred percent!  I am a huge fan of the painter Edward Hopper, and I think this scene has qualities that are similar to some of his paintings.