Fourth of July document

a new shoot from the orchid


the sunset


and of course, the requisite blurry fireworks shot

Bronx zoo

Uh um...so I've been remiss. No real explanation other than I've been busy and not taking pictures for some reason. However, I went to the Bronx zoo and came away with a few decent pictures...

Dokdo island shenanigans

After not knowing what this picture from a 2006 post meant, I finally have an answer.

Thanks to the NY Times.

uh, cutting your fingers off and stabbing yourself seems just a tiny teeny little bit extreme to me. wow.

One day we will part...

Pipilotti Rist at the MoMA. I love Pipilotti, she makes me so happy. Her Ever is Over All video is hands down my favorite piece of video art.

Below are pictures from her latest installation, Pour Your Body Out.




Near home there's this wonderful piece of "knitting graffiti" which makes me so happy whenever I walk by it on my way to/from the subway station. It's been a little spot of orange sunshine this winter.




And finally, some wonderful street art.

A little Banksy love

In Red Hook

Everything left behind

It's been a long time since I've updated this. I've been feeling overwhelmed with all that's going on. Happily with a vacation day today, I'm slowly catching up with everything I've been meaning to do.

Below are pictures of what's left of my childhood home in Atlanta.



How strange to see everything gone. It was remarkably difficult to remember where the actual house was. Everything looked smaller and horribly inconsequential.

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.