A Brooklyn Bachelor

Drift wood

2011-12-08T15:35:00.001-05:00

In Montreal

2011-11-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

A brief trip, and the natural history as always at B&B.

Lightning Rods

2011-11-11T16:08:00.001-05:00

Atop the Brooklyn Historical Society. That building is great from the street to the sky. I never noticed these before today, when I was walking down Clinton St. for a change.

Navy Yard

2011-11-11T15:52:00.001-05:00

Building92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is now open as a museum. This is a detail of the Paymasters Building: during WWII when 70,000 people worked there, payday necessitated pay wagons parked around the 300 acre facility.

Solar/wind powered street lamps, built by a company in the Yard, and old school and still spewing carbon-pumping chimney.

Bike rack honoring the shipbuilding past.

Asteroid Passes

2011-11-08T18:38:00.000-05:00

Meteor shower in the Back 40? No, just some welding sparks.

Fulton St. Sidewalk

2011-11-06T17:06:00.001-05:00

Leftovers

2011-11-03T15:46:00.001-04:00

2011-10-25T09:46:00.000-04:00

The Borough President of Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz, rose to power simply by showing up, at street fairs, house parties, and barbecues, a jovial fellow eager to press the flesh and eat it, too, if it was offered. He seemed harmless enough. The office he's since made his sinecure, Borough President, is basically a cheerleading one, and he does it with gusto, getting all Brooklyn on us by parlaying a stereotype that was old by the 1970s. Again, seemingly harmless, a colorful advertisement of pretend attitude. But Markowitz has really made a name for himself, and enriched his network of charities -- that political euphemism for "money laundering operations" -- by $20 million dollars by playing patty-cake with developers, bankers, and corporate goons, the destroyers of the very borough he claims to cheerlead for. $20 million buys a lot of allies, but there's only one thing to say to Markowitz's dream of being NYC mayor: fuhgeddaboudit!

2011-10-17T20:46:00.001-04:00

Haircut

2011-10-04T16:57:00.000-04:00

2011-10-03T14:13:00.002-04:00

Freshkills Park.

Most Excellent

2011-10-01T09:54:00.000-04:00

100 postcards of Penguin Book covers.

2011-09-28T16:52:00.000-04:00

Ancestral Pueblo pottery shards and obsidian flake, just laying there at Tsankawi.

Santa Fe

2011-09-19T09:56:00.003-04:00

The New Mexico Art Museum. The natural history lowdown is found at B&B.

Tin Ceiling Special Collection

2011-08-25T18:42:00.000-04:00

Whale Watching

2011-08-19T08:23:00.001-04:00

See the actual whale at Backyard and Beyond.

Reality Show

2011-08-15T16:59:00.001-04:00

In the Valley of the Kings

2011-08-07T16:17:00.001-04:00

Greenpoint Sculpture

2011-08-01T12:00:00.001-04:00

2011-07-04T08:19:00.000-04:00

I'm always ready

2011-06-27T21:51:00.000-04:00

After the Mermaid Parade

2011-06-20T10:54:00.001-04:00

Catskills

2011-06-14T09:18:00.002-04:00

All the details at B&B.

Dark and Stormy

2011-05-13T12:25:00.000-04:00

BMA/BBG

2011-05-10T13:11:00.000-04:00

In the sculptural pen between the parking lot of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Botanic Garden.

Clinton Hill House Tour

2011-05-04T20:08:00.000-04:00

Some details:

Miss Beatnik contestants, 1959

2011-04-28T12:20:00.000-04:00

In the land of cemeteries

2011-04-23T13:13:00.001-04:00

The ridge of the Harbor Hill moraine hosts more than a dozen cemeteries along the Brooklyn/Queens border. This is where those stereotypical shots of Manhattan's towers behind hills of gravestones come from.Most of these acres of monuments are not as nearly as relentlessly linear as this one. The regular stones tell you it's National Cemetery.We went specifically to look for Harry Houdini's grave. The great magician and debunker of occult nonsense is buried in Machpelah Cemetery, just beyond the boarded-up gatehouse.
The Society maintains the site, although, as you can see, there was a bit of litter. A cell phone? Somebody hoping he'd call them when he gets out?
Machpelah is a Jewish cemetery, so we came across a few variations of the Kohanim hands, representing the members of the tribe of Aaron the Levite. To this old goy, it also looks like a double Vultan salute.

Natural history of our field trip is over at B&B.

National

2011-04-14T20:36:00.001-04:00

Month

Beard's bear

2011-04-04T09:00:00.001-04:00

William Holbrook Beard's memorial in Green-Wood. Bear sculpture by Dan Ostermiller. Check out the actual mammal I found in the cemetery recently.

Great Gray Worm

2011-04-01T10:58:00.001-04:00

Advances on second, or third, beach homes of the ruling class.

Faithful

2011-03-30T14:50:00.000-04:00

In Green-Wood.

2011-03-28T10:57:00.001-04:00

The rich are different from you and I.Yes, they make it harder to turn on the lights in the crapper.

Fashion

2011-03-22T22:05:00.001-04:00

The shaggy fringe is coming back.

Mill Basin Style

2011-03-11T17:04:00.002-05:00

(pic from NYTimes)

This is the home, or temporary crash pad, of State Senator Carl Kruger, just indicted for a fist-full of rot. It's owned by a family named Turano, two brothers and their mother, who host the Senator when he's not swimming in boodle in Albany. The relationships, personal and financial, among this menagerie are the source of some curiosity now. The place is formerly the home of Anthony Casso, the Luchese crime family boss. The reason I care is that Kruger's district includes Four Sparrow Marsh, and the toad evidently wanted his piece of the ruinous action.

2011-03-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

The view

2011-03-01T12:15:00.000-05:00

Details.

2011-02-13T16:06:00.002-05:00

As always, most of my blogging efforts are now found at Backyard and Beyond.

City Bank Farmers Trust Bldg.

2011-02-05T14:06:00.000-05:00

Cross & Cross's 20 Exchange Place from Brooklyn.

Coney Island in Winter

2011-02-05T12:18:00.001-05:00

2011-02-05T12:14:00.000-05:00

2011-01-27T08:12:00.000-05:00

2011-01-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

2011-01-12T08:19:00.001-05:00

2011-01-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

Pickled red onions.

2011-01-07T22:38:00.000-05:00

Deer, rabbit

2011-01-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

As ever, more at B&B.

Homage

2010-12-15T11:37:00.000-05:00

To Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray.

Quick mud

2010-12-11T09:45:00.000-05:00

My boot started to sink so I made a quick about-face.

Natural History Walking Tour

2010-11-18T11:32:00.005-05:00

Robin nest in Prospect Park this spring.

I'm offering a natural history tour of Prospect Park at the The Nation's on-line fundraising auction. (I was going to make a joke about putting up my Little Red Book for the auction, but I see that someone else actually has put a copy of it up.) Bids are being taken until 12/10/10. More about it at Backyard & Beyond.

Green-Wood Monuments

2010-11-09T11:25:00.000-05:00

This one, hiding under a bush, is clearly unofficial. I wonder what the story is here?

More Green-Wood goodness.

The polls are open

2010-11-02T06:00:00.002-04:00

Timeless... unfortunately. While the Democrats -- the moderate wing of the ruling Corporation Party -- present us with little to vote for, the Republicans present us with everything to vote against.

Chicken in Bondage

2010-10-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

Dead Letter

2010-10-22T10:50:00.000-04:00

Self portrait via the MTA

2010-10-21T21:44:00.000-04:00

Gang Activity

2010-10-11T09:37:00.000-04:00

The little girl in the stroller is afraid, very afraid, as hardcore young capitalist thugs strut down Henry Street.

Early morning shot

2010-10-07T17:34:00.000-04:00

Rev. Lowry amid the blowdowns of our last tornado. Since cleaned up, this usually neglected triangle at Atlantic and Washington had almost everyone of its London Plain trees de-limbed.

V. Good

2010-10-05T09:35:00.000-04:00

Flourless chocolate cake.

Dancing on the tip of a tower

2010-09-30T17:27:00.000-04:00

What dolls.

Strange gate, plus eyes

2010-09-28T14:11:00.000-04:00

Sunset over Clinton Hill

2010-08-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

A handful of chimney swifts flitted through.

Who is watching the watchers?

2010-08-15T15:55:00.001-04:00

Self-portrait off the front of a Moviematic 3-in-1 Camera, made in the late 1930s by General Movematic Camera, Inc. of NY, NY. This 16mm silent movie/still/movie book (flipbook) camera cost $17.50 in its heyday. "Every move a picture."

This just in

2010-08-12T12:26:00.001-04:00

I am now blogging at Huffington Post. My first blog is about the history of farming in Brooklyn. Drop by for a visit.

Sunset

2010-08-08T20:01:00.001-04:00

Along Van Brunt Street, Red Hook.

Keep cool

2010-07-29T10:48:00.000-04:00

Iceland.

City of Foul Water

2010-07-28T07:53:00.000-04:00

The view from the bridge, the Union Street draw bridge. This is Gowanus Canal scum froth. At least it isn't Technicolor.

City of Water

2010-07-26T17:09:00.002-04:00

Erie Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal, Hoboken.
Lower Manhattan from Kill van Kull.
Robinns Reef Lighthouse, with Bayonne Golf Club in background.
The new Willets Avenue bridge yesterday in Bayonne. Today, it was moved up the East River, heading towards its new home over the Harlem River.
U Thant Island, formerly Man O' War Reef, also known as Belmont Island, birthplace of cormorants and black-backed gulls, in the East River.

Waterfalls

2010-07-21T11:26:00.001-04:00

"Foss" is Icelandic for waterfall, and the country is full of them. These are some of the most spectacular. Note that you can walk right up the roaring water at most of these. No fences, rails, etc.

Godafoss, the most historical. The pagan idols were thrown here after Christianity butted in.
Dettifoss, the most powerful falls in Europe. (You can open this up to see the people on the left for scale.)
Skogafoss, the edge of the former shoreline.
Double-falling Gullfoss, on the Golden Circle. (Again, open to see people for scale.)
Style-monger at Dettifoss on a photoshoot of some kind (note weird animal figure in arms); a touch of Reykjavik style in the wild.

More Ice

2010-07-20T09:40:00.002-04:00

Jokulsarlon, a glacier lagoon, with pieces of Breidamerkujokull calving off, Iceland.

Dirty Ice

2010-07-16T09:00:00.004-04:00

The business end of a glacier, Skaftafellsjokull, one of the tongues of mighty Vatnajokull, the largest ice-sheet in Europe. Vatna covers up about 1/10 of all Iceland.

Icelandic semiotics

2010-07-13T19:36:00.001-04:00

An overly sweet mustard for that extremely popular Icelandic foodstuff, the hotdog.
Don't step in the bubbling mud pots, idiot.
A better word than "WC."
And inside: right for low-flow flush, left for power flush. Both barrels for the runtur flush.
You are now leaving the hamlet; you can speed up. But if you hit a sheep, you pay for it.

More Icelandic landscapes and birds on the nature blog.

A green, well-lighted land

2010-07-12T16:35:00.002-04:00

I am reviewing my pictures from Iceland.

This is a view of Snaefellsjokull, on the western end of the Snaefellsness Peninsula, taken from the farm inn Langaholt, at Gardar. That's actually a golf course in the foreground. They were teeing off at 9:45 p.m.

Over there

2010-06-20T11:58:00.004-04:00

Most of me is to be found over at Backyard and Beyond these days.

Figment Festival

2010-06-14T09:02:00.000-04:00

Fragments of Figment, this past weekend on Governor's Island.

Island hen

2010-06-08T15:15:00.000-04:00

Um, you gonna eat all that?

New Hampshire

2010-06-04T08:07:00.000-04:00

Classic details

2010-06-03T18:20:00.000-04:00

Twice I mistook this Morris Minor 1000 for a VW bug because their trunks are so similar.

Memento mori

2010-06-01T17:01:00.000-04:00

In the Bradford, MA, Burial Ground, established in 1665, although none of the stones date back that far. Most of the slates are mid 1700s.

2010-06-01T17:00:00.001-04:00

2010-06-01T16:59:00.000-04:00

Flags

2010-05-25T19:03:00.000-04:00

Halo, part III

2010-05-21T06:59:00.000-04:00

The magic circles continue, although this one is decidedly more secular.

Halo, part II

2010-05-19T06:57:00.000-04:00

Rosa rugosa, the beach rose.

Bag 'em

2010-05-18T08:14:00.000-04:00

Surveys tell us that the fans of the Tea Party are better educated than the average, but this is a classic case where education doesn’t equal intelligence. Their history, for instance, is confused as hell. Anyone, for instance, who thinks Obama is a leftist is an idiot. What I find most interesting is that members of this libertarian mob are more than happy with their own government handouts, like Social Security, Medicare, Veterans benefits, the mortgage write-off, but want to fuck everyone else. Like the prick quoted in the New Yorker who said he was sick and tired of the government taking his money and giving it to the undeserving. His paycheck comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (Maybe we should bring back loyalty oaths?) Or the Tea party demonstrator in Apartheidzona interviewed this morning on NPR: she runs a white water rafting expedition business in the Grand Canyon, a national park.

Halo

2010-05-17T15:57:00.001-04:00

Chipper

2010-05-14T09:34:00.000-04:00

More chipmunk here, if you need it.

Morning Glory

2010-05-12T08:26:00.000-04:00

For a gray day.

Actually, we don't want it fixed

2010-05-10T12:35:00.000-04:00

Somebody removed the metal plate from this street thing recently because every car that goes over it, and that's most cars going down our one way street, makes a god-awful KA-CHUNK --front and back tire --that I can hear in the back of the building in summer when the windows are open. It was a much worse sound for the front-facing residents, on both sides of the street.

Weary angel

2010-05-09T09:18:00.000-04:00

Green-Wood

2010-05-08T13:11:00.000-04:00

Shot through my binoculars.

More kiwis

2010-05-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

Drawn by Mr. Charles Darwin.

Flightless

2010-05-05T13:33:00.002-04:00

Kiwi mosaic at AMNH-inspired subway stop at 81st/CPW.

Si, S.I.

2010-05-03T18:09:00.001-04:00

The towering two-story columns, topiary, and steep stoop: quintessential contemporary Staten Island. There are some nice houses there, of course, but the last quarter of the 20th century and beyond sure has produced some ugly.

The things you find while searching for warblers

2010-05-02T16:05:00.000-04:00

Metal Fatigue

2010-04-30T14:47:00.001-04:00

After some 26 years, the church key/bottle opener I purchased in Telford, England, has broken. I was dumbfounded. The damn thing has been in my pocket, on my key chain for all these years, and now it is no more. It was the other night, while I was flipping the cap of a bottle of Bass Ale. That was appropriate, at least. How many beer bottles has this opened? I shudder to think.

The church key celebrated The Iron Bridge, a cast iron bridge (“erected in 1779”) that was a landmark of the Industrial Revolution. I'm glad the metal used for the bridge has stood up longer.

They were selling them out of a barrel that day.

Picnic Prison

2010-04-29T15:45:00.000-04:00

That lamp-post is a birding landmark in Prospect Park. The slope behind, Lookout Hill/part of Harbor Hill Moraine, catches north-bound migrants at the break of day. Luckily, few people picnic at dawn...

The other side of the lake

2010-04-28T13:19:00.002-04:00

The far side of Prospect Park Lake is a little weird.

We have our ritual offerings, the making of nice fruit salad. Clearly not the work of locavores.

And here is this sort of trap door, vaguely coffin shaped, that has been bolted to the tree.
I guess somebody does not want the woodland spirits within to wander.

Flower power

2010-04-27T07:24:00.000-04:00

Marigold in the Back 40.

Glory, glory!

2010-04-25T06:57:00.000-04:00

Transplanted a morning glory that I purchased on Tuesday at the Borough Hall farmer's market. It had one bloom on it at that time. That promptly fell off. Saturday morning, though, there were three new blooms. Glory.

Have you heard

2010-04-21T14:42:00.003-04:00

I have been watching the most extraordinary documentary at the Film Forum. It’s called Have You Heard from Johannesburg, and tells the story of the world struggle against apartheid. It’s epic, seven and half hours long, made up of individual segments; the Film Forum is showing them grouped together in three parts. Don’t be intimidated by the time. I found that the hours passed by like lightening, if I may expropriate Klan-fan Woodrow Wilson's comment about Birth of a Nation: as history written in lightning.

The first three hours made me cry several times: here were the massacres at Sharpeville and Soweto, and the execution of Stephen Biko; the imprisonment and/or exile of the ANC and PAC; the multiracial effort inside South Africa and out to put paid to the racist state. Old campaigners (each episode is in memory of champions no longer with us) tell the tale, in sometimes surprising places (for ignorant me, anyway). Holland, for instance, with its historical ties to the Afrikaners; Sweden, where Olof Palme was one of the earliest Western leaders to condemn apartheid. I was particularly impressed with Oliver Tambo, whom I knew next to nothing about.

The next part, also three hours long, passed in a blink of the eye. The first part of this detailed the efforts of Dennis Brutus to ban South Africa’s participation in the Olympics and other sporting events, and then concentrates on the ferocious protests against the all-white SA rugby team’s tours of Britain, Australia, and New Zealand in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the latter two places, the recognition of national racism against Aboriginal and Maori populations enriched struggles for justice at home as well.

The fifth episode detailed efforts in the US, during the Reagan years, when Randall Robinson and TransAfrica worked the streets in front of the SA embassy in DC and colleges/universities and municipal entities felt the power of the people for divestment. Over all is this is that malignant little cretin so sainted by the right, Ronald Reagan, doing his best to prolong the abomination of apartheid. Desmond Tutu delivers a nice bitch slap to the destructive old fool: Reagan told him the US had to support SA because they were on our side in WWII. Actually, as Tutu notes, SA's Nationalist Party, the makers of apartheid, were admirers of the Nazis; a particularly obscene moment in one of the earlier episodes shows SA Prime Minister Vorster -- a fan of Hitler who wanted to keep his country out of that war -- in Israel, laying a wreath at Yad Vashem (Israel was happy to ignore the UN’s weapons-to-SA ban).

Reagan could only muster 21 Senators to sustain his veto on the Congressional sanctions bill. The likes of Jesse Helms, who so long stained the halls of Congress, stood by Ronny, as did Bob Dole (ah, the precious "ideas" of the party of no). Thus ended Reagan’s policy of “constructive engagement” with SA, which translated as more cattle prods for the police state.

I was young and excitable in those days, but I still burn with the fires today, contrary to the supposed belief that one is supposed to grow more reactionary with age. Anyway, how well I remember the South African exchange student who spent a year in my high school. Of English ancestry, she didn't seem to know that there were black people in her homeland.