Scribbles and Photos

Marking a day of Thanksgiving for all that I have with a gift to: UNHCR The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is focused on helping and supporting refugees -- including the Syrian refugees that have been the topic of much debate here in the United States.  It's a small gesture this gift of mine to this organization that does so much for so many. The photo is a quick snap of the Prayers for Peace Ribbon Project , an initiative of the Marble Collegiate Church on 5th avenue in Manhattan.  Started in 2006, the different colored ribbons have different meanings.  The blue ribbons represent the congregation's prayers for the tens of thousands of civilians around the world who have been affected by conflict and war.   The green ribbons represent their prayers for peace. I hope we achieve world peace in my lifetime.  That would be something to be thankful for -- a world free of conflict and a world where there are no refugees.  ...

The Series Mother of Exiles Frightened Expedition Street Art I've been drinking Watermelon

The Series Mother of Exiles Frightened Expedition Street Art

Sometimes, you have to get out of the park (Central Park that is) and on to the streets of NYC.  Last Saturday, I did just that -- starting my walk in Little Italy and ending up just north of Washington Square Park.  I was hoping to see some new street art and also working on getting my steps in (AKA feeding my Fitbit).  There are two organized street art projects in this area (three if you count the Bowery Houston Wall) -- the Little Italy Street Art (LISA) project and the Centre-fuge Public Art Project . LISA is a bit like a scavenger hunt in terms of finding the art and since I did not venture far off of Mulberry Street, I likely missed a lot.  The art here has a feeling of permanence -- at least the major pieces by street art giants such as Ron Eaton and Tristan Eaton.  It's kind of like visiting Starry Night (van Gogh) at MoMA -- you just expect to find these murals intact.  LISA has expanded out beyond the confines of Little Italy and so ...

Liberty artist = Tristan Eaton The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame, "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

It's four years later and I still don't know if I want to be buried in a cemetery ( Final Resting Spots ) -- even though I find them irresistible to visit and, on occasion, photograph.  As evidenced by these photos from my 2015 wanderings. Nevis (March 2015) Denver, CO (May 2015) Southington, CT (November 2015)

Something about a blanket of ginkgo leaves that makes my heart do a little back flip. The Series #1:   Bedazzled #2:   Orange Pop #3:   Very Wet #4:   Triangle #5:   Co-existing #6:   Right angle #7:   Leaf Compositions (Dry) #8:   Waiting for the Wind

In the category of facts I just learned from a quick perusal of the Central Park website , the pedestrian pathway here is the only intentional straight pathway in the park.   The American Elms that grace this section of the park had a few less leaves than in Literary Walk (Central Park) .  Still gorgeous in my humble opinion.

Seems like tall thin condominium towers are all the rage in midtown these days.  One57 (reflected above and behind the Essex House below) and 432 Park (on the left below) are the first of the super tall needles that are changing the face of midtown.  As shadows begin to creep across the southern end of Central Park, I am missing Jackie Kennedy Onassis who worked so hard to protect the park from just such a fate.   My favorite factoid from a May 2014 article by Paul Goldberger in Vanity Fair ( Too Rich, Too Thin, Too Tall? ) is that an early buyer at One57 was a Chinese mother who brought a "modest" (my quotes not Paul's) unit for her two-year-old daughter for $6.5 million.  Modest? Like the Time Warner building, these towers will be mostly occupied by the super rich -- people that jet from Shanghai to New York City as if they were taking a taxi from mid-town to the east village.  Don't get your hopes up that the building will stop with t...

Whatever did we do before we had cell phones? The Series Expedition TWA Flight Center Exit (Expedition TWA Flight Center) Kids and Architecture (Expedition TWA Flight Center) Fashion Shoot (Expedition TWA Flight Center) Bygone Era (Expedition TWA Flight Center) Ambassador Lunge (Expedition TWA Flight Center)

Details matter. The Series #1:   Bedazzled #2:   Orange Pop #3:   Very Wet #4:   Triangle #5:   Co-existing #6:   Right angle #7:   Leaf Compositions (Dry)

Last year at around this time, I posted a series of photos of wet leaves.  I think this year's theme will be dry leaves (unless it rains that is and then all bets are off because I've got a weather sealed lens to go with my weather sealed camera -- take that weather). The Series: #1:   Bedazzled #2:   Orange Pop #3:   Very Wet #4:   Triangle #5:   Co-existing #6:   Right angle