Saturday reflections

Summer sun on Fifth Avenue, as captured by a revolving door in one of the high-end stores.

There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be

New York on a pleasant summer day is so splendid that it makes me wonder why I feel such a need to be Somewhere Else as often as I do. These pictures were taken earlier in the week, around Columbus Circle/57th Street, on one such day. They're darkened a little for dramatic effect as it was bright and sunny but not too hot, the kind of day when you could just walk forever.

Then yesterday I went out in mid-afternoon as an alternative to punching someone after a non-stop series of crises and found gray skies and such thick humidity that my hair was dripping after only a few blocks and the air-conditioned office started to look a lot more attractive. And at least the weather had the happy effect of leaving me too limp to to punch anyone, including myself.

So I'm glad to be getting out of town for a few days. I'm leaving for Denver early tomorrow.

Urban poetry

I love the fleurs de lys on these garbage bins behind a railing on West 43rd Street. All it needs is a couple of candles and it could be the tomb of some medieval bishop in the side chapel of an old cathedral.

Astronomy Tuesday

This wonderful image of the Milky Way was captured here on Earth (near the Paranal Observatory in Chile, to be a little more specific), with the assistance of a tripod and a crystal ball.

When I despair of humanity, which is sadly often these days, it's nice to get reminders like this of our infinite creativity and capacity to appreciate beauty.

Image Credit and Copyright: Juan Carlos Munoz

Sunday bird blogging

What is this exotic creature perched above Strawberry Fields in Central Park?

Alas, not so exotic -- I got excited when I saw the spots and flash of color out of the corner of my eye, but that white ring around the eye is the giveaway. This is a juvenile robin, young enough to wear the spots of his thrushy cousins, but old enough to have his red breast color starting to come in.

Saturday reflections

This is Atlas again, in a much more whimsical mood, with those mighty legs topping a jaunty straw hat.

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.

Saturday reflections

This one is a little different -- an ornate church and a sleek modern tower reflected in glossy stone on Fifth Avenue. It's not actually in black and white, but it might as well be.