Welcome to the working week

A mail carrier on West 43rd Street in New York.

I like the way the shadows of the bare trees complement the shapes of the screens on the windows. The January light may not last long, but it has a softness that I love to catch in photos.

Sunday bird blogging

This pretty goldfinch in Albany is the last of the California bird blogging shots.

I am guessing that we are in for quite a few shots of house sparrows over the next couple of months.

Geometries

Let's have a geometry lesson today -- a late 50's/early 60's office tower in Midtown.

Sunday bird blogging

I am reliably informed that this is a California gull, which is appropriate since this was in California, on the beach in Half Moon Bay. Otherwise I wouldn't have a clue -- gulls are a mystery to me.

It's a marvelous night for a moondance

The lights through the blue windows in the previous picture reminded me of this, a photo of the waning moon last November.

It was completely serendipitous. I was taking pictures of the sunset so the camera was in my hand and the moon just happened to be there, and I was surprised by how much detail I got without really trying or using my good telephoto lens.

I like to imagine that the bright spots towards the top of this picture were lights starting to come on, twilight in the cities of the moon.

Because the sky is blue it make me cry

Saturday reflections.

This building in lower Manhattan is really just a lot of square windows reflecting various tones of light and sky, but I love the blues.

Welcome to the working week

A storefront in Mosta, Malta, last April. I like the cheerful look on the proprietor's face -- not the usual reaction to being photographed by me. And the crucifix with the candles is a nice touch.

I will try to look that happy as I head off to the office this morning.

Martin Luther King Day

A memorial to Martin Luther King in Storkyrkan, the cathedral in Stockholm. I'm not sure why the Swedes were inspired to create a memorial, but I like it much more than the grandiose new memorial in Washington, which looks as though it was left over from The Lord of the Rings - one of the dead kings of Gondor who didn't make it to the final cut.

Mother Nature is retaliating for my snarkiness about phony winters last week with a string of days that are clear and sunny but bitterly, bitterly cold, so my birdwatching plans for this morning have been shelved in favor of lots and lots of hot tea and a book under the blankets.

Collection: Streetlights

More from the collection: a Gaudi design in Barcelona, top left; on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, top right; and on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, bottom right.

Sunday bird blogging

A white-crowned sparrow, the western Gambel's variety, in Half Moon Bay.

Saturday reflections

Another downtown shot from the week before Christmas -- reflections and holiday lights in the lobby of the building at 17 State Street.

Welcome to the working week

A man from the Central Park Conservancy cleaning up on New Year's Day.

Just as we get back into the rhythm of the working week after the holidays, it's promptly interrupted by yet another three day weekend for Martin Luther King's birthday. (Not that I'm complaining.)

It just adds to the sense of time out of joint, this odd season, this phony winter. Except for two bitterly cold days last week, and of course the blizzard in October, it's been unseasonably warm, and you could almost think it's early spring. Except for the darkness, and the deep dead browns everywhere, and the calendar, which continues to insist that this is indeed January.

Sunday bird blogging

A blue jay in Central Park, looking quite vivid in the washed out yellow greens of winter.

Saturday reflections

My favorite of the reflection shots from the construction around the 9/11 Memorial.

Thin Ice

This sign seemed very funny on New Year's Day, when the temperatures were in the fifties. Now we're facing another day where the highs won't break the freezing mark, and there might actually be ice finally forming on the lake.

Winter trees

The silvery light of a January morning on a tree in Central Park. There's something about the nakedness of winter trees that forces you to really look at them, without the gaudy distraction of all that greenery.

Below, a reflection from the lake on New Year's Day, looking like an impressionist painting.

Sunday bird blogging

A goldfinch and a house finch sharing a branch in a show of the kind of harmony that we always hope for and seldom find in our new years. May 2012 be a lovely exception for all of us!