muguet des bois

In Paris on May 1, you'll find bouquets
of lily of the valley for sale everywhere.
It's one day when anyone can harvest these
fragrant little flowers from their garden and
sell them on the street without a vendor's license.
(These were from my mom's garden, which was
hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.  I'm going
to miss these beautiful blooms!)

[To see more April flowers, visit Tina's Picstory.
And to see more flower macros, go here.]

Tulip Time

In the space of a week or two, the tulip beds at the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden have gone from pretty
much empty to lots and lots of . . . this!
'Rembrandt' is just one of many, many cultivars
that seem to have sprouted up overnight.

To see more Mellow Yellows, go here.
To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

They're still hard at work on the big renovation
of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Guess they'll be
working up above the walkway, because they've
built this "tunnel" over part of it.  I've heard
that the walk (and bike-) way will remain open
throughout the reno and, as someone who crosses
the bridge on foot twice a day, I'd just like to say thanks!

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

I shot this wonderfully spiky tulip in both
full (hot pink) color and black and white.
The biggest difference?  In the color photo,
what you see is . . . the color.  But in
monochrome, you notice everything else.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.] 

Skywatch Friday

My daughter Katie caught this one
from a moving car as we were headed
up into the high Andes in Ecuador last fall.

[To see more Skywatch, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"transportation"

"We were very tired, we were very merry—
we had gone back and forth all night on the ferry."
—Edna St. Vincent Millay

I think the best mode of transportation in NYC
is your own two feet.  That said, you'd have
a hard time walking from Manhattan to Staten
Island.  Fortunately, we have these swell ferries 
that still run all night—and are still free.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—O is for "orthodox"

I live about a mile from the Brooklyn
neighborhood of Crown Heights, which I'm
sure is where this ultra-Orthodox gentleman
and his wife and (four) daughters live.  I don't know
as much as I should about my neighbors in the 
nearby Hasidic community, but I do know 
that his fantastic fur hat is called a shtreimel, made 
typically of Russian sable, stone marten, or gray fox; 
it is often a gift to the groom from his bride's father 
and can cost anywhere from $1,000 to more than $5,000!

[To see more ABC Wednesday, go here.]

Tina's Picstory—"bottom up"

I was told that medieval cathedrals were
decorated to edify and instruct the illiterate
faithful.  In that case, they could "read"
a lot just on Notre Dame's façade alone—
as here above the center door, known as
the Portal of the Last Judgment.

[To see more of Tina's Picstory, go here.]

Monday Mellow Yellows

  This scaffolding was obscuring a
store that was having its grand opening,
but they managed to use that scaffold
to their best advantage.  These
balloons definitely got my attention!

[To see more Monday Mellow Yellows, go here.]

In bloom

I looove the flowering trees that burst into
bloom at this time of year. They don't
flower for very long, but while they do . . .
for me, it's a life-affirming sight to see.

To see more blooms, visit Today's Flowers.
And to see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

If (or let's say when) I'm lucky enough to get back 
to Venice and rent an apartment there, I'm going to 
head to the Rialto fish market, buy a big bag of 
these, and cook up some coquilles St. Jacques.
(Well, that may be a bit ambitious for me, but every
time I go to this fabulous market, I do want to buy these.)

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

harbor sunset

The bright orange Staten Island Ferry gliding past the
Ellis Island Immigration Museum is no match
for this brilliant sunset.  Both Ellis Island and Liberty
Island have been closed since Hurricane Sandy wreaked
havoc here six months ago.  No word on when the museum will
reopen, but the target date for the two islands is July 4.

[Orange You Glad It's Friday? If so, visit Maria's meme.
And to see more Skywatch shots, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"reflection"

I took this photo of Basilica San Marco
through a funky window from inside the
Doge's Palace, in Venice. It was only when
I got it up on my computer that I noticed the
little reflection of . . . the Doge's Palace!

[To see more reflections, visit
the Thursday Photo Challenge.]

ABC Wednesday—N is for "NOT afraid of heights"

Like yesterday's photo, this one
is also not for acrophobics.

To put those guys in perspective,
I took these shots from my
24th-floor office and they're
even higher up than that.

[To see more interpretations of
the letter N, visit ABC Wednesday.]

FDNY to the rescue

I used a zoom to take this shot from the 32nd
floor of a building where I used to work.  It was
constructed in such a way that you can pretty much
hang over the street, with nothing between you and 8th Ave.
but the floor-to-ceiling glass.  Some of the employees
wouldn't get within 10 feet of those windows and some couldn't 
stay away. You can probably guess which camp I was in.

[To see more "from above," visit Tina's Picstory.]

'Tis (finally) the season!

Yesterday I showed you one of the first
tulips to bloom in the botanic garden. This
is the other one; it's called 'Early Harvest'.
Pretty soon there will be dozens of cultivars
to enjoy—and I'm really looking forward to that.

[To see more Mandarin Orange, visit lorikart.
To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.]

This is 'The First'

That's the moniker of this aptly named tulip,
one of two that were the first to bloom
in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden this year—and
Mother Nature's spring flower show begins!

[To see more of Today's Flowers, go here.
To see more Sunday Shadows, go here.]
 

The Weekend in Black and White

Walking across the bridge after work is not that easy;
as the days get warmer the crowds get bigger.
But early in the morning, it's mostly just the
usual group of "commuters" and runners.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

My fave NYC view—of lower Manhattan from the 
Brooklyn Promenade—finally has a tower where the
two we still miss used to be.  It's not finished yet, but 
it's right on schedule and it's already a big presence.

(When that spire is finished, it will
make this the tallest building
in the Western Hemisphere.)

[To see more Skywatch, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"pink"

In a couple of weeks, I could have shown you the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden's famous cherry trees.
Meanwhile, these were blooming there indoors even
while snow was still on the ground.  They're
Calliandra surinamensis, aka Surinam powder puffs.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—M is for "moss"

Here's another shot from the Hacienda Cusin, in
San Pablo del Lago, Ecuador—which I've shown here
and here. Like all gardens, theirs are a work in progress,
but look like they've been here as is for centuries.

[To see more posts that feature the
letter M, visit the ABC Wednesday meme.]

Tina's picstory—"sun"

The sun was setting on the Piankatank River down
in Virginia.  The fishermen had left the dock
and the geese were coming in to sleep on the
beach.  And I was on vacation and enjoying
a glass of wine with this beautiful view.
Life can be very sweet.

[To see more "sun" shots, visit Tina's Picstory.]

Who called the cops?

I saw these bugs while strolling in Père Lachaise cemetery
with my friend Marylène, who told me that they're called
"gendarmes."  I thought it was because they look like they're
wearing a uniform, but it's actually because you never see one all
by itself—they travel in groups, just like the Paris police!

[To see more Mandarin Orange posts, visit lorikart's meme.
To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.] 

Photo op

Last weekend my sister-in-law and I went to play
with some baby goats at a farm out on the north fork
of Long Island. The kids were adorable, the
 grown-ups were very willing to pose for us—
and the cheese wasn't baaaaad either!

[It's Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more shadows, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Across the street from the UN is "The King," of the
Olmec civilization of Mexico, considered the
"mother culture" of Mesoamerica because of its
achievements in science, mathematics, astronomy,
architecture—and sculpture. This statue is a
replica; the original dates to 1200–900 B.C.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Orange You Glad It's Friday

I captured this camera-shy ghost crab
on pristine Espumilla Beach at James Bay,
Isla Santiago, in the Galapagos. The beach is studded
with little holes and he's scurrying to
reach the safety of one of them . . .

. . . and so are all of his friends!

[To see more things that are orange, go here.]

A host of golden daffodils

Today's Thursday Photo Challenge is "spring."

I know the season's here for sure when the
daffodils start "spring"ing up everywhere.
These are in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but
shortly after 9/11, the Netherlands sent a crew
of people here with thousands of bulbs,
which they planted in every green space they could 
find, all over the city. They still bloom every spring.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—L is for "lychee"

I can get these powerful little fruits in
NYC's Chinatown.  They're high in
antioxidants and kind of fun 
to eat (at least I think so).  
And you can use them to make this.

[To see more posts that feature the letter L, go here.]

Notre Dame at Night

All lit up like this, against the dark sky—
it takes my breath away every single time!

[To see more posts that feature the
letter N, visit Tina's Picstory.]

Is it art?

" . . . I take my painting and put it
next to a God-made object like a tree
or a flower.  If it clashes, it is not art."
                                        —Paul Cézanne

[To see more Mandarin Orange posts, go here.
To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.]