Maybe Best Ever?

These may be my favorite pictures ever. Of course, that means that no one else will like them. On Saturday, in a fevery haze I shot a few pictures of the new leaves on the ivy growing on the outside of our house. I'm not sure if it is the bright blue background of the plastic-like leaves, but I really liked these right out of the camera.

A Tale of Three Window Boxes

My window boxes all have their own little climates, especially in the front. I filled three of them with pansies. One box, which gets no rain and all sun, is dead. The next, that gets some rain and all sun, is mostly dead, and the last, which gets some sun and lots of rain, is flourishing. The final one, which faces South and gets no rain even in the stormiest of weather, has succulents in it. I think the I will fill two more boxes with succulents so that I don't end up with dead flowers in the front of my apartment.

I don't know how many other window box gardeners in 4th floor Brooklyn apartments are out there but I propose planting pansies as a good way to see what the sun and water conditions are like.

Disappearing Act

Between my greatly expanded work duties and this horrible flu that I have there hasn't been much time for posting, taking pictures, or gardening. Everyone in my office has this sore throat/fever/cough thing and I finally have it too. Actually I probably have had it for a few days but just blamed how I felt on allergies. When developed a fever yesterday I could no longer blame it on the plant sex going on. Given how quickly it has spread around my office I don't feel comfortable visiting my sister in the hospital or my niece who is about 10 days old.

I did manage to take some pictures of the garden this morning. I have only cold tolerant plants in right now and they aren't enjoying the 80F and above weather that we're having. Some water and ice cubes perked up the cauliflower and broccoli but some of the pansies haven't made it.

I'm tempted to go down to the nursery and see what is out but we still have some cold days ahead of us so I don't want to lose all my cold stuff to hot weather and then my hot stuff to cold weather.

Nice Pictures of Alex

Happy Birthday Husband

For your birthday, I resisted getting a cat.

Welcome Alex!

I gone and turned into one of those crazy sappy ladies who cries as the slightest thing. Yesterday my niece Alex was born. It had been a rough few weeks for her mom, my sister in law, so we were all filled with anxiety over the birth. Its hard not to imagine the worst case scenario happening with something goes wrong medically after your father dies from the improbably worst case scenario. I don't mean to make this all about me but I have these incredibly strong emotions, good and bad, these days. On one hand, I'm still reeling from the loss of my father and my friend but on the other there is all this new life around me, all these new babies. I can't help but see renewal after death in the birth of Alex. I'm just a big sappy mess, but in a good way.

Everyone is happy and healthy and I will hopefully get some nice beautiful pictures this afternoon after the Yankee game!

Welcome Jacob and you too Sonny!

I love this picture of Bob and Barb relaxing on the couch with their newest grandchild on their lap and their daughter in law, the new mom, resting peacefully in total comfort. They've been married 39 years and have an incredible story that started in catholic school, toured through the peace corps, and ended up in NJ. We are so lucky to have them as family (good going Josh in winning over Lisa). They just be a lovely, grounded calm to the world whenever you're around them.



This is where fear/love of bunnies comes from. Uncle Kof and Sonny reenact the vicious bunny scene from Monty Python.


Baby Jacob has just learned to smile so it takes a lot of goofing around to get a smile and here his Aunt, Mom, and soon to be uncle try their best. They were soon after rewarded with a big, if confused, smile.


The always adorable and now big boy Sonny- pre chocolate and white sweater incident.

Family Values

My incredibly photogenic sister was confirmed on Saturday night during the Easter service at St. Anthony's Parish in NJ. She's had some health issues (major understatement) in the past few weeks but was determined to keep her date at the Church. I had never been to an Easter Mass at a Catholic Church and was very pleased with the whole experience, long as it was. The service started with a dark church and a single candle and then everyone's candle was lit, filling the whole church with that wonderful warm fuzzy candle light.

The service also include a baptism with the confirmation and everyone at the church seemed so genuinely thrilled to have a few new members to their group. I was a bit sheepish about taking pictures but when the woman behind me pulled out her video camera I started snapping away. I wish I could have shot more especially the faces of the parishioners but it was enough to just get a few of the family.

Congrats Sis, I'm sure you'll call me and tell me how much you hate these pictures but I really like them and that's my perogitive as your obnoxious little sister!

Photo of the Day -101

I got home late Friday night after seeing "The Orestia" with Abby and Julie and needed to snap a quick picture. The seedlings were happy to oblige. They are now a few inches above the top and I needed to remove their lid to give them space. The lettuces and beets are doing well the tomatoes and pepper haven't done anything.

Robert Guskind Memorial Video

During Robert Guskind's memorial service they played this remarkable video produced by Blue Barn Pictures, Inc. and Directed by Stephen Duke. I had never met Bob in person but exchanged emails as I shot for Gowanus Lounge. I never expected to meet him in person, a weird quirk of the professional blogging relationship, but I'm not sure what I would have expected. Bob, electronically, was a great cheerleader, gushing compliments and support. In this video, he comes off as incredibly intelligent, knowledgable, and politcally savvy. I probably would have pushed harder to meet him in person if I had known more about him.

Here is a link to Flatbush Gardener's site who credited Gowanus Lounge

Pansies + Sunset

Quick Garden Update

My seeds have turned to seedlings and I have lettuce and beets coming up in their dirt pods. The broccoli and cauliflower (I can't tell the difference) are doing well and the pansies and herbs are holding on.

I put everything in pretty early so its been slow going but nothing has really died.

Photo of the Day - Day 97

Cherry Blossoms

I'm pretty behind in my postings but here are a few choice shots from our Sunday visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It is just the start of Cherry Blossom season and one lone tree was in bloom. And here it is.

Photoblogging in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Blogfest is coming up and Adrian Kinloch, aka Brit in Brooklyn, has a call for photographs. You can see his post here.

I'd really like to enter some pictures but I have to pick some and I have to figure out how to zip them. Is this the type of zipping I did when I was in undergrad? Is it something else? These are the times where I feel like a luddite. I have them often but this one kind of stings because I have a feeling that this is a repurposing of the phrase "zipping" for a new process that looks nothing like the zipdrive and zipdisks that I have stored somewhere in my parents' basement.

Regardless of my technical ineptitude, here are a few that I'm considering. All of these are taken in 2009 and none of them have been edited. Most of these are repeated from previous posts. You may also notice that none of them are using the macro. My teacher in photo class loved my macro shots and dismissed my others so I'm pretty sick of macros, depth of field, and shots of my house plants. While they're lovely, I'm a bit sick of them.

I also figured out how to enlarge the photo and put them on a black background to highlight the photography. Unfortunately the quality of the image on this site is pretty bad but it'll do.


Prospect Park - April 2009


Shooting South from 10th and 7th- March 2009


Coney Island Boardwalk - January 2009


Coney Island Polar Bear Club + High School Video Shoot - January 2009


Park at the Base of the Verrazano Bridge - February 2009


Shooting North on 7th Ave


Coffee Cup at the Gowanus Canal


Shooting West on 10th Street at Night in the Snow


Writing in the Snow


Sunset

Mini Dirt Manicure

While I'm a science person I don't apply my science knowledge or habits to my gardening. I don't think about soil, I don't read regions, and I don't do much more than buy what looks pretty and seems interesting. This year when I replanted my window boxes I simply left a lot of the roots and plant matter in the boxes, mixed them up, added some new soil and food, and planted. I'm sure there is a science to growing the best food out there and lots of research on revitalizing spent soil but I'm really not, right now, that into turning my hobby into a research project.

This year I decided to try and start some seeds from scratch. It is kind of a gamble considering that I kill any indoor plant, but figured it wouldn't hurt. I bought some seed packs and little soil plug from the local hardware store, added water and a few seeds, and placed the whole thing on my office window sill. We'll see how it goes but I won't feel too invested if they don't do well, I do have a black houseplant thumb.

I'm currently looking for a little more real estate. We have been scolded for our fire escape pots so I've lost a relatively large amount of space. I'm tempted to start something on the roof but don't want to hurt the roof lining or have to rely on going up and down the rickety ladder.

Bob Guskind's Memorial

We just returned from Bob Guskind's memorial service. I had never met bob in person and only started shooting pictures for him around last Christmas. I really only knew him from his work and his direction to me for the website.

His memorial service was an wonderful testament to his life and all that he gave to his friends and work. One the the speakers, his good friend since college, said that people die how they live, and I think Bob, based upon what people said at his memorial service, lived one hell of a life.

Another woman said that Bob was the most interesting person she had never met. While she had communicated with Bob she had never met him in person but he had obviously made a big impact on her. What an interesting time where we can work with someone, be inspired by their passion, skill, and dedication, but attend a memorial service where few people had ever seen him in person?
Here is my photo set from the service

Photo of the Day - Day 91

I happen to wake up right as the sun is rising and have been treated to some beautiful Brooklyn scenery. I shot this out my office window on Monday and really love it. The sun highlights the geometry of these buildings and I love the contrast between the blocky brick building and the round tops of the row houses.

While I have learned a tremendous amount about photography in my ICP class, this one came out of the camera pretty darn perfect.