Orange You Glad It's Friday?

This is Sepia, our friendly pub local.
They have some comfy seating, a patio out back, board 
games, and local menus in case you want to "order in."  
I'm not exactly a regular (my daughter Lila took this shot 
of her sister and some friends), but sometimes I show up for the 
trivia game on Tuesday—lots of good, clean (very competitive) fun.

[To see more of OYGIF?, visit Maria's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"wheels"

Finally—and after a long delay—NYC's CitiBike
program launched on Memorial Day. Lots of controversy
around it; this spot, for example, used to be a venue
for large public art installations (which I've featured).
And, of course, it's already hard enough to find a parking
spot in the city and these stations have eaten up
quite a few.  Personally, I'm in the "this is a great thing"
camp.  It works in DC, Boston, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Paris,
Barcelona—why not here?  I hope it's a huge success after all.

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

ABC Wednesday—T is for "tortoise"

There were once more than a hundred thousand
of these giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands.
(The Spanish sailors who discovered the islands in
1535 named them for these creatures; the Spanish for
tortoise is galàpago.)  Now there are only about
15,000 of them left, and they are fiercely protected.
This venerable old fellow lives the good life at
the Charles Darwin Research Station.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Guarding the Red Door

I'd love to be able to say that I shot this image,
 but it was taken in Buenos Aires earlier this year
by my daughter Lila, whose "eye" is 10 times better
than mine.  At least she was using my camera.  :~}

[To see more Ruby Tuesday posts, visit Gemma's meme.
To check out Our World, head here.]

Bloom in Blue

I thought this flower was a
little bit Georgia O'Keeffe-ish.
What do you think?

[To see more Blue Monday posts, go here.
To see more Monday macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.
For more May flowers, check out Tina's Picstory.
And you can see flower macros at Nature Footstep/Blo-Ma.]

A Well-Loved Tree

I happened to catch this tree without hordes
of people under it, which doesn't happen often. 
It's one of the most beautiful trees in the garden—
and a favorite spot for photo ops.

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.
And I'm also linking back to 
Straight Out of the Camera Sunday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

This shimmering view from the campanile
of San Marco in Venice takes in the 
Punta della Dogana. The Dogana was once 
Venice's customs house and is now a place 
to enjoy contemporary art.

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

Pretty in Pink

The tree peonies have come and gone, and
they were spectacular from beginning . . . to end.

[To see more Weekend Flowers, visit Tina's Picstory.
For more Pink Saturday posts, visit How Sweet the Sound.]

Thursday Challenge—"weather"

A couple of weeks ago on a mildly overcast
(or so it seemed) day, I started over the 
Brooklyn Bridge on my way home—and by the 
time I was halfway across, the sky looked like this! 
(P.S. -- I did just make it off the bridge and
to shelter before the deluge began.)

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

ABC Wednesday—S is for "swans"

I went down the block from my mom's house
to feed this mama swan and her almost-grown
cygnet. S could also be for "Sandy" and
"storm surge"  (and "sad"), because not long after
I took this picture, the storm struck and the water
rose (and I trust these swans found shelter somewhere).

[To see more ABC shots, go here.]

Tina's Picstory—"interesting"

Well, I thought this was interesting enough
to pull out my camera and snap a picture.
But hardly anyone else in the vicinity
was giving this guy and his well-balanced
friend a second glance.  That's NYC for you.

[To see more interesting things, visit Tina's Picstory.]

Light Show

Snapped these on my way home one evening—
I just liked the way the petals caught the light.

[For more Mandarin Orange, go here; for more
Macro Monday, visit Lisa's Chaos; to see more
photos that catch the light, visit this meme.]

Purple Peony

Yesterday I showed you a fooled-around-with
tree peony, so here's one straight out of the camera.

[It's Shadow Shot Sunday; to see more shadows, go here.
And for more beautiful blooms, visit Today's Flowers.] 

The Weekend in Black and White

The tree peonies were in full,
spectacular bloom last weekend.
I shot lots and lots of pictures, 
some in color and some in b/w—
then had a little fun in Photoshop.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.  To see 
some more closeups, visit i heart macro at Shine the Divine. ]

The Bluebell Wood

It's that time of year, when the
bluebells are in bloom at the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden. They're
pretty sweet on their own ...

and just amazing when you
multiply them by 40,000-plus.

[To see more Weekend Flowers, visit Tina's Picstory.]

Thursday Challenge—"trees"

I like to experiment with shooting
directly into the sun.  If I still used film, I would
have wasted plenty of it with this little
exercise—but sometimes (especially if you get up
very early, before the fog burns off) it works.

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

ABC Wednesday—R is for "robbery!"

Somewhere in Boise, Idaho, there's a comfy little
squirrel who lined her nest with purloined
prayer flags from my brother's garden.  And for 
the sake of good karma, we let her get away with it.
(Besides, how cute is that?)

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Tina's Picstory—"beautiful"

There are so many beautiful things in
nature that I didn't even try to choose from
among them.  As for manmade beauty, this is
somewhere very near the top of my list.
I could stare at him for hours (and have!).
[To see more of Tina's Picstory, go here.]

I lied

. . . when I said I was done
posting tulips. But seriously—aren't
these just like sunshine on a stem?

[To see more Monday Mellow Yellows, go here.
To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.
And go here for Catching the Light.]

kind of blue

I picked a little bouquet for all
the moms—Happy Mother's Day!

[It's also Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more, go here.
And for more of Today's Flowers, go here.] 

The Weekend in Black and White

More fun with the iPhone. This is
Grand Army Plaza, in Brooklyn, very near
to where I live.  It used to be one of the most
dangerous intersections in the city (or so I read),
but they've reconfigured and built islands and
created bike paths—and getting across here is
a whole new experience—one I expect to survive.

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

Manhattan Bridge

Haven't been able to go too far afield
for photos lately.  But it's almost always
possible to get a shot or two on the way
home—even if all I have is my iPhone.

[It's Skywatch Friday. To see more, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"wet"

The aqua alta was still in place (but, fortunately,
not any higher) an hour or so later when I ate
on the terrace here at Da Romano, on the island of Burano, 
near Venice.  BTW, it's worth wading through 
high water for their fish risotto. Yum.

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

ABC Wednesday—Q is for "question"

It's true!  Trees do so much for us,
and, really, what do we do for them?
After I saw this sign in the little town of
Mindo, in Ecuador, I felt a bit guilty.  ¿Y tu?

[To see more ABC Wednesday posts, go here.]

Just One More

I know, I know. I'm going to change the name
of this blog to The Tulip is Mine. I think I'm done 
now, but they're so beautiful—and so photogenic!

[To see more Ruby Tuesday posts, go here.
And to see more flower macros, go here.]

The Bold and the Beautiful

A few days ago, I showed you an orange tulip that
stood out in its simplicity.  And it stood out
because it was surrounded by these big, blowsy
blooms.  They do make a statement though, don't they?

[To see more Mandarin Orange, visit lorikart.
To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.  And today,
the featured letter at Tina's Picstory is O, for you-know-what.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

This is one of a pair of pretty cherry trees that
bookend my building.  Last fall we had to
do some major excavating around this one and
spent several thousand dollars to do it in such a way
that we wouldn't lose the tree.  Money well spent, I say!

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

These leaves remind me of the school uniform I had
to wear when I was a kid: a white blouse and a
jumper with a pleated skirt.  However, if I had shown
up with a hem as ragged as the edge of these leaves,
the nuns would have sent me straight home to mend it!

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

Orange You Glad It's Friday?

There are dozens of tulip cultivars
blooming in the botanic garden right now,
some of an orange so vibrant it almost hurts.
This one stood out in its subtlety.

[To see more that's orange, visit Maria's meme.
To see more "weekend flowers," visit Tina's Picstory.]

Thursday Challenge—"nature"

This inventive treehouse, the Brooklyn Botanic
Garden's attempt to turn lemons into lemonade, was
made by Roderick Romero from trees downed by 
Hurricane Sandy.  But Sandy was just the latest; with a 
tornado, the worst snowstorm in 60 years, and two 
hurricanes, in the past few years the BBG has lost more 
than 100 mature trees and shrubs—but they haven't 
lost their healthy respect for Mother Nature.

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

Wordless Wednesday

[Well, not entirely wordless. It's the 1st
of the month, so I've posted to my Paris blog.
To see more Wordless Wednesday posts, go here and here.]