Avian poetry

The backlight was a bit too much, but I loved the ribbons hanging from this abandoned bird nest in Central Park last weekend.

Astronomy Tuesday

NGC 3256 was once two ordinary spiral galaxies; then 500 million years ago, give or take a few million years, they collided.

Image Credit and License: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope

Sunday bird blogging

After a week of so much horror and injustice in the news, I think we could all use a tufted titmouse.

Saturday reflections

I've done this one before, but it's irresistible: reflections of the statue of Atlas and St Patrick's on Fifth Avenue.

Urban poetry

An oh so polite Please shut up from a hotel near the British Museum in London last November. I did wonder what all these alleged production companies were doing on that particular street, which didn't seem all that remarkable.

But as someone who used to live in Greenwich Village and had arguments with more than one film crew who wouldn't let me go where I needed to go, I appreciate the sentiment.

Astronomy Tuesday

Jupiter, of course.

This view of the southern hemisphere taken by the Juno probe shows the complicated pinwheel patterns the apparently permanent storm systems make.

Image Credit: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS; Composition: David Marriott

Sunday bird blogging

Because even common birds are beautiful -- a robin surveying his domain in Central Park.

Mosquitos have always found my blood to be particularly delicious, and yesterday I encountered some vicious specimens, who managed to find the few inches of skin not covered with repellant: my shoulder blades and my left eyelid. I can't open my eye all the way because it's so swollen, so I look like the mug shot of the losing end of a bar fight.

But it's the bites on my back that are driving me crazy because the fiendish bloodsuckers cleverly bit me in places I can't reach to scratch.

Saturday reflections

The Ferragamo store on Fifth Avenue on a bright, almost-summer, day.

Urban poetry

Here's one from last summer: two dogs standing guard while their owners take a break in Roger Williams Park in Providence.

Astronomy Tuesday

This large, shiny walnut is Iapetus, one of Saturn's more than 60 moons. Though it is the third-largest, and was discovered in 1671 by Giovanni Cassini himself, I have to admit having been unaware of its existence until yesterday when I found this picture.

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Welcome to the working week

The building across the street from my office is doing a gut renovation, so you can see all the way through to the street on the far side.

I like the way the reflection of my arm holding the camera frames the window.

Sunday bird blogging

Here's a female house finch, clearly bemused (but not alarmed) by the strange creature with the shiny box making all those clickety sounds.

I had to work until 10 pm Friday night doing an upgrade, and I've promised to make myself “available” beginning at 5 am tomorrow in case there are issues when they come in to work in London. Next Saturday is the first in a series of hikes to prepare for Africa at the end of the summer, so I'll be leaving for the Catskills at 7 am.

Clearly I don't have any choice but to be as lazy as possible today.