Cosco at Costco

How does something like this end up alone in a parking lot at Costco? And the brand name - Cosco.

New York's Bravest

Some of New York's Bravest

So thankful for them 

and all that they do.

Mahalo for that!

Pajama Walk

Saw this couple out for an evening perhaps pre-bedtime walk; I figured they wanted to save time with their bed preparation ritual since he was walking in his pajama bottoms (sadly the lightening doesn't show the plaid printed flannel bottoms) and she was wearing her housecoat (as my grandma would say) but I say a robe by any other name......I admired the confidence and apparent who gives a hoot what anyone thinks attitude.

Making Dinner Fun

Making dinner is a lot more fun when someone is coming to enjoy it with you. Even if it's only your grown up son, and you're only making tacos.

Trash and Vespa

walkway

Came home from work to notice the ivy was trimmed off of the stairs; it's the little things that bring us joy.

A relic from my past life...

Rolling Along...

Rabbits

Attended a baby shower and at the hostesses house they had pet (I think they are pets but was given the impression they also end up as dinner "guests") rabbits and most of them were in a  hutch except for these two rabbits who were hanging from a nearby tree. I found that rather odd especially since they also had some birds who weren't in cages in the trees but in a neighboring rabbit hutch....

Fortune Cookie

Have you noticed how fortune cookies don't actually foretell your future anymore? They're more "Thought for the Day" -ish, sort of life lessons to live by. BAH! I want a fortune, a glimpse into my hazy future. I always wonder if the fortune cookie people have become afraid of law suits, therefore going with the safe stuff. So when this fortune arrived one night with our Chinese takeout, I was surprised. Especially since about three weeks later we brought home an amazing Golden Retriever from the humane society.

Even with the misspelling, this fortune is right on target.

stalker

I couldn't stop staring at this woman's legs; was she wearing some fun nylons? didn't seem to be; did she really tattoo polka dots all over her legs? maybe so...I'm surprised she didn't notice the strange woman following her and circling around to get another look at (that would be me) her and I was ever so thankful she didn't see me snap a photo, albeit not the best focused, of her polka dotted legs. 

Never a Kindle

I don't know why this corner of an old library building was saved. It's just this old arch that doesn't go anywhere, isn't connected to anything. It's crumbling and pigeons live in, around, on, and under it.
There's no sign to tell us why it was saved.

With all the books being tossed from libraries all around me, I'm afraid that very soon this crumbling arch will be all that's left of any library.

I still don't own a cell phone, and I hope I never own a kindle.

Multicultural Meeting

A meeting of women dancers of many cultures

Brooklyn Arts Council's "Half the Sky Festival"

in Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)

NYC can be a cool place to be

Double Vision

In order for me to be able to enjoy 2 different medias at the same time I have to alternate my 2 pairs of glasses; can't adjust to bifocals and was glad when the eye doctor discouraged it saying for my work it's best that I just have full lensed (is that even a word?) computer/reading glasses and I agree.

Bowling Lanes Alley

Many, many times I have walked by this alley behind a pawn shop. I have never seen this before. (And judging from the style of clothing this man is wearing, I'm guessing this mural has been here longer than I've been alive.) I'm sure that I only saw it today because I was wearing a big camera around my neck.

stairs

Stairs leading to an old building no longer in use; sort of eerie.

A floral flourish on a flower bed fence

Because in NYC's Upper West Side

it's all about the details.

Red Light in Old Town Pasadena

So glad I had my camera.

waiting

Tossed aside waiting until bedtime cuddling.

Old Door

I came across this old door

laying by the side of the road

Left out for the trash collectors.

It made me sad:

Yes... its days of being a "good door" may be over

But it's still a beautiful

objet d'art.
And oh, the stories it could tell...

Public Access Eating

On my daily walks, I can stop to eat loquats, pick a lemon to use in a marinade for dinner, and gather a bouquet of sweat peas and sunflowers - all growing wild in empty lots or hanging over the boundaries of public access. And if I'm lucky, really lucky, in a few months I'll bring home a couple avocados.

farewell

These 2 young Marines are heading over seas for their first deployment adventure.....

Dog Walker's Prayer

I guess you never know when you might find yourself in need of a good session of prayer. Just in case you might need it, there's a rosary hanging over an empty lot on my hill. After your Hail Marys, please remember to replace it for the next devout dog walker.

Drinking in the rain

pine cones

Here we are weeks away from summer and in my living room still sits a basket full of winter pine cones.

Mystery Squash

What's this? Some kind of squash? I don't know exactly, but it's growing in my garden. I didn't plant it, or the three types of tomatoes growing up next to it. But I plan on eating it. And the tomatoes. Insta-garden!

Accidental Photo: Shoes on Subway

Because I use the camera in my phone,

I sometimes take "Accidental Photos"

(The ones you didn't even realize you'd taken

because your finger was on the button.)

Here's one from the subway:

NYC early summer footwear fashion.

These Shoes

These shoes are made for walking . . . or not.

Staple seamstress

This artist at the Lummis Day Festival today was creating outfits from tablecloths and curtain fabrics armed only with a pair of scissors and a stapler and did some mean Edward Scissorhands moves within around 5 minutes for the ready to wear looks; fascinating!

Ice Cream Truck

Cool?  

Creepy?

Both?

Franklyn's Paints

An artist acquaintance of mine died recently, unexpectedly, and I was asked to take what I could use from his art supplies.

Franklyn was an intense man with glasses and unruly curly hair. "Oh, hello Jeanie," he would say and stop to talk for a few moments, listening closely, considering everything. He sometimes used words I didn't know. One time, I interrupted him to ask him what a particular word meant. He could have decided that I wasn't much worth stopping to talk to, since I couldn't even keep up with his vocabulary. But instead he seemed genuinely impressed that I took the time to ask. I didn't diminish, but instead he made me feel better, and bigger, and stronger. I'm sure he didn't even notice, but I did.

Scissors

Trim?

Turquoise

One of the numerous vendors located on Olvera Street. The rows of turquoise fascinated me.

Coaster

Handwriting on the Wall

Each year my mother made her own very special Christmas cards - crocheted snowflakes, little felt banners proclaiming "Joy" or "Love," tiny handmade wreaths of yarn or fabric scraps. I have a few of them still. But the thing I really love is the part that should have been thrown away - the card she attached that has "Merry Christmas" stamped on the front and her handwriting inside.  I keep it pinned to the wall in my studio.

Sweet Tooth

I came home to find these on the kitchen butcher block; my husband told me he went to the store and thought maybe I could make one of these.....

Making the Rounds

Message

While passing an office in the building where I work, I saw this message on a rock sitting on top of a file cabinet and remembered how a while back I posted the same message that I noticed on a garden flag; I'm taking it as an omen; Enjoy Life.

Drivers Wanted

Saw this on a school bus today

Maybe a new career?

No Secret Message

Today, the secret message was on the ground, so I figured it was fair game. Alas, Jason was correct - just a graduation prop.

Head Board

Although I sleep under this daily I forget to really notice my own bed's head board; the smooth swirly strong metal that has provided some much needed aid at times when it was difficult to get out of bed on my own. Sometimes you find gratitude in the small even inanimate things.

Horseshoe crab in the train tunnel

This morning, I was surprised to find

a dead horseshoe crab

laying in an underground tunnel at the train station

in Douglaston, Queens.

Someone must have tried to bring the poor crab home

and then realized it had died

The tunnel smelled the beach at low tide.

Sad.  

Secret Message

A little piece of note paper, rolled and tied with a ribbon . . . .  Why is it there? Who is it for? What does it say?

I want it. I want that secret message. I want to be a part of it.

I left it there.

Blocks

I first noticed this stack of blocks on my bed and thought how cute that my grandson had built it there and then I took a photo of it and then really noticed how badly I let things pile up on my dresser in the back ground; yikes!

Looking Up

I spent part of my Mermorial Day laying in a hammock, looking up.

Milk bottles

I noticed these bottles piling up on my sink; time for someone to return them.

NYPD

We had to go to the NYPD Precinct #34 station house today

to pick up a copy of an accident report.

(It hadn't been filed, yet.)

The place was pretty hardcore. 

Too hardcore for me.

Downtown Reflections

One building reflected in another.

Garbage Can with Measles

They might have thought they were making the garbage can

look cute

when they painted it with polka dots.

I think it just makes it look like 

it has measles.

Break Through

What came first? The tree or the fence? The strength of nature amazes me.