A New Day

No pictures from me this time...just a little note of celebration.

(photo by Annie Leibovitz)

...this country will reclaim it's promise. And out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.
-Barack Obama

Banksy

Saw Banksy's The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill last thursday before the final presidential debate and had to return this weekend for my picture pages.

Here kitty kitty, coat


Vanity, thy name is Rabbit!


What came first? the chicken or the chicken nugget.

Har. Har.

OHNY: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Oh OHNY, how I love thee. This year, I went on a tour of the future Brooklyn Bridge Park. Below are pics of the National Cold Storage building, to be demolished and replaced with a hotel, I think.






Pier 1

Waterfalls and sunset

More pictures from the Guv's island day.

Olafur Eliasson's waterfalls. I really wanted to like it since I'm a fan of some of his work but ultimately, they were underwhelming. Still, I got some interesting pics...




What really amazed me was the crazy sunset that day. Below are pictures taken in Battery Park.


I've always wondered about the guys (and it's always guys) who fish in the waters around NYC, the fish have got to have at least 5 eyes and 2 tails. Perhaps it's just catch and release?

Governor's Island

On perhaps the last perfect day of the year, I headed to Governor's Island for a little look-see last weekend. Wonderful, fabulous day...

The view of Manhattan




The "library" though it really doesn't look like much of one...


Abandoned pool. Governor's Island really had almost everything you might want in a place to live: proximity to civilization, beautiful houses, a fortress...






The view of brooklyn, red hook to be exact.

Red Hook/Brooklyn

KenTile

On my way to/from Lowe's for some insulation and plants...


The pictures below are from the Smith/9th St subway platform.

And now for something different...

A chandelier covered in a black plastic bag. I thought it was pretty.

Good Eats

Down in Atlanta, we went to my mother's favorite all-you-can-eat joint...for her small size, she can really pack it in. I like it because they serve the weirdest things.

Clockwise from the upper left: beef intestine, pig ear, raw crab kimchi, frog leg, chicken foot, some fish that I can't remember, sea snail thing, raw oyster. It was my first chicken foot (semi-euphemistically called a phoenix finger by the restaurant) and it tasted...like chicken. A little disappointing, really.

Last time

I went down to Atlanta a few weeks ago to see my parents and the house they just moved into. We spent the entire week working on it, installing hardwood floors, moving furniture, etc. At one point, we visited the house I grew up in for the final time...


My parent's bedroom with the shadow of a dresser that wasn't moved for 24 years.


I remember always wondering who made these hand prints in the concrete.


Old collectibles, discarded.


My mother walking through the empty house.

Another year older...

and not a bit wiser.

From my roof, you get a pretty good view of the fireworks...roof parties are big in south slope. Check out the plane in the upper right corner, I've been taking a series of pictures of the planes at night as they fly over. I'll post them soon.




There's also loads of fireworks that people were setting off from backyards or roofs. One group from a block away or so must have spent thousands on fireworks.

Cell Phone Pictures

Work is replacing my treo with a blackberry sans camera, so I've downloaded all the pictures that have been kicking around before they take it away. Here are a few...

Some great paper graffiti






A bank vault in the ExtraSpace Storage facility on Flatbush.

The view from home

I had to merge two shots together since I don't have a wide angle lens on my camera...but what a beautiful evening this was. Click on the picture for a better view...

MoMA POV

In the courtyard

Back again, back again...finally

The last move (hopefully in a long while). I've moved back to Park Slope to my new homesweethome. Glad to be putting down a few roots and live like an adult, somewhat.

The view from my front terrace.

A belated farewell to Washington Heights

I'm behind on everything, it seems. I left WH about 2 weeks ago...but only got internet a few days ago so I'm sorta excused.

The George Washington Bridge on different days...





close up of wall

Eminent Domain

Went down to Atlanta again about 3 weeks ago. This time, I visited more houses on the street slated for destruction. My parents have to move out by the end of April and the house they have lived in for almost 25 years will be destroyed shortly after.

Most of the houses are already empty.






The bottom of the mural reads, "Christmas '97. With Love. Mrs Bean." This is the house where we found some old pornos and various other paraphernalia. Funny what people leave behind...


It's only been a few months that these houses have been abandoned and already nature is beginning to take over. I love that.




Windows are clearly the favorite item for scavengers to take. I'm glad that people are doing this...at least some parts of the houses will be put to good use.








I know I'll be horribly sad when the house is destoyed. Most of my childhood memories (both good and bad) are from that house. The one thing that comforts me is that some of the trees on the property will be saved. One day I'll be able to go back and visit the trees that sort of grew up with me.