New York...The City

 

New York has so much to offer.  Central Park is just one of the many lovely places to spend time and to get some great photo's.  I also like nothing better though than to get out in the neighborhoods and do some street photography and meet the people who live in a fast paced, lively city.  Colorful character's and fast cars. Noise from trucks and horns tease the senses. Music also fills the streets.  Eye candy everywhere you look. People just out living their lives.  It's a much faster pace than what I'm use to.  My time in the City is limited because I love the quiet country side.  New York though, calls me back every few years and when you are in the mist of the frenzy...you are just full of energy.  It's really quite exciting and unique.  So come along and enjoy my guided tour of the upper West Side of New York City...

The doorway above just captured me with the arched roses.  Oh my, if I didn't know I was in New York, I might have thought I was in England.  Lovely gardens, even in small city space's.

 A beautiful city block as we walked to Central Park.  

Tall buildings and rising smoke.  Perhaps a factory complex of some kind.

Music in the park, as we enter from the street.

The sound of this truck all day long...I was always amazed by how they navigated the traffic.  City Life..

I loved this lady, sitting in a very small park, all by herself, enjoying an ice cream cone. There is space for everyone.  There is walking and resting.  There are benches and parks.  Right in the middle of the city.  Each neighborhood provides for it's own people and for all who come to visit.  New York is very much a city of welcome..for all to enjoy.

 Children playing in a park carved out for them in the middle of the neighborhood.

Fancy restaurants and road side wagons...take your pick.

French flair everywhere...My favorites, right in the coffee area of our hotel..Yum

It's a long way down if you live on the top floor..

The energy of the city is obvious on all levels...but so exciting to be part of for a short while. I love just standing on the corner of the street and take a snap of whatever catches my eye and heart.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour of the City of New York.  This is just a sneak preview with so much more to take in..This shot just proves my theory that weather should never be a factor for not enjoying yourself, no matter where you go.  It certainly doesn't bother the people of New York.   It's a hella of a town.

The Old Bike

The Old Bike

by Anonymous

I love it, I love it, and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old bike there?
I've treasured it long as a sainted prize,
And its battered old frame brings the tears to my eyes;
'Tis bound with a thousand bands to my heart,
Though the sprocket's bent and the links are apart.
Would you know the spell? My grandma sat there,
Upon that old saddle, and zipped through the air.
In childhood's hour I lingered near
That old machine, with listening ear,
For grandma's shrieks through the house would ring
If I even happened to touch the thing.
She told me to wait until she dies,
Then I could take it and learn to ride.
And once I caused her to tear her hair,
When I cut the tire of that old wheel there.
'Tis old, 'tis wrecked, but I gaze on it now
With quivering breath and with throbbing brow.
'Twas there she sat—ah, how she could ride,
With grandpa humping along at her side!
Say it is folly, call it a joke,
But the scrap-man can't have even a spoke,
For I love it, I love it, and can not bear
To part with my grandma's old bike there!

How many remember such a fine bike...purchased new and pasted down to how ever many kids were in the family...than saved, for the parts...I had three brothers.  Not a piece was ever wasted...ah, the good old days.

Taken with Fuji X-E2

Dina And Me..Friday's

No my friend Dina does not have a new friend.  I know I've been neglecting here these past few Friday's but that always happens in the summer...She's good with that.  She knows I'm in Maine and next week she will be here with me.  We are going to Boothbay for a few nights to visit the most beautiful Botanical Gardens.. 

I miss Dina when we don't have our regular routine..she is fun to be with and I can rant to her about every thing and she's pretty good at ranting back...so here it is Friday and I'm thinking of her so I thought I would post our last adventure in June. Oh, I've seen her since then but we just went to breakfast.  No adventure that day...but this day was fun..

That is Dina and Julie.  Julie is the manager at our favorite breakfast spot.  The Wenham Tea House.  So civilized there. Tablecloths, real linen.  Fresh flowers.  Tea made with tea leaves..so good, but mostly we love it because its quiet and they have excellent food and the people...oh my, so nice.  We love Julie.  She takes very good care of us.  Somehow though she always seats us in the corner...hmm, I wonder about that. 

Now Julie is on the other side of the camera.  She did a great job for someone who doesn't really do photography but being that she is a creative, not surprising.  Look at how nice the tea shop is decorated, yes, Julie does that as well as take care of us. Dina and I usually pick up a few things here if we need a small but special gift.  Best of all, they sell my photo cards here...bonus.

So of course, always after breakfast, we hit the shops.  Sometimes we don't want anyone to know we are out shopping AGAIN, so we go in disguise.  Do you think anyone would find this strange, maybe, but not from us.  Actually we like consignment stores and this is what we found on this day.  We played around a bit, yes another store where everyone knows our name..so of course, they were happy to take a snap.. her and I laugh at ourselves.  She's the best kind of friend.  With us it's always, whatever.  We are old enough now to just go out and have fun and not worry about what others think of us. We talk to everyone who comes our way, we laugh at ourselves and we do exactly whatever we want on our Friday adventures...everyone needs a good friend like that.  Like anything else though, it takes years to grow such a beautiful friendship.  A lot of give and take..and lot of tears and laughter and life experiences.  In the end, like any great connection, it is all about caring.  We care about one another...so for Dina and I.  I hope we have many more years to raise hell and to raise a few eyebrows when we are out there on the loose on Fridays. Life simply wouldn't be very colorful without her.

July was a difficult month for me...I am glad to see it take a hike. I will also be glad to share the month of August with Dina.  I know she understands me and will life my spirits.  So wherever she is today I bet when it came time for breakfast she was thinking about me...just like I was thinking of her today..

Each friend represents a world in us,

a world possibly not born until they arrive,

and it is only by this  meeting

that a new world is born.

-Anais Nin

All Friday Photo's are taken with the I-Phone 6 plus...

Beauty Blooms On A Rainy Day

When we woke up on the morning of our photo tour I was a bit disappointed that it was overcast and at times raining.  I'm happy to say I am not one to let the weather really get me down though.  So off we went with zip lock bags for our camera's and raincoats.  The hotel offered us an umbrella because of course we had left ours home...but like everything else in life, if your willing to adapt, you will find out that sometimes a not so good start turns into a wonderful adventure...and so it was for us this morning...would we not have spent so much time in the Gardens, we would not have seen so many beautiful flowers and for sure we would not have practiced photographing raindrops. What we would have done was hurry on to the major events.  So in the end the rain was a gift and later the  sun came out but before that happened we spent some time with Shakespeare and his flowers, and it was all so wonderful.

This is one of the many roads that wind around the gardens.  I loved the fence and as we walked by, a peek of light came through..but it didn't last...also this fence, was lined with roses.

Such a delicate beauty...just full of little raindrops..

Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, these are a few of my favorite things...

From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace
It's the voice of every man

See the beauty within yourself..dont' let anyone rain on your parade.

Without even being in bloom, I fell in love with the delicateness of this flower...soft and lovely and so very Victorian..

Don't fence me in...

Moving out of the garden into the sunshine. The trees gathered me in.  So much goodness in nature thoughout the park, it was like being lost in Pooh's world...

The end of a most beautiful day..so it started out with the rain and ended up with the sun shinning and wonderful shadows...flowers blooming, raindrops on roses and giant trees...Nature.  Never let the weather determine your day.  You decide and from where I stand or walk..a bit of rain makes the world lush and very colorful...you can't stand in the forest waiting for the sun to come to you, you just have to get out there and find it for yourself...Central Park is beautiful in any kind of weather...I would love to go in the winter...

Central Park...Part 1

I love travel, I love taking photo's and I don't mind at all editing, although it does take a bit of time.  What seems to happen to me though, is for some reason, I don't get my work up in a timely manner.  I question why lots of times.  I wonder if I don't trust myself or my work.  I wonder why I don't have a better work ethic for scheduling projects and post.  Am I afraid it's not good enough or I should have made a better choice of subject of perhaps used a different edit in Light Room...but after enough time has gone by and I start loving some of what I did, I get to it.  So today I start to share our New York Photo Tour adventure...in Central Park...and then I'll move on to a little bit of the city...

We had a lovely hotel, close to Central Park, west entrance.  It was an easy walk on Saturday afternoon to meet up with our guide.  It was an easy walk but it was raining...but then we never let the weather dampen our spirits...rain or shine we go..the above photo makes a good point...you can see the rain drops and the murky background of the city but you can also see the beauty and sparkling color of that lovely little bird. He set the tone..and we followed.

Central park is quite large...and because of the rain we stayed within a small area while we were on the tour...later, when the sun came out, we went further on our own...so much to do and see.  Another trip will be in our future...I love that New Yorkers are never bothered by weather either...it is a walking city.  Often people walk through the park to get to the other side...we walked from the west side, where we were staying, to hook up on the 5th ave. side to meet our guide...there is always something to see and shot while walking..a quick shot and the camera back under my rain coat...

There are many of these little tunnels through-out the park also...fortuanately for us, this was at the very beginning of our tour so we spent a bit of time in here shooting the scenes...color, light, composition, texture, all were discussed and critiqued..and then there was the music... 

This man, so much talent, so much beauty...and patience with us.  Let us up close and posed for all of us. Kindness is everyhere if your willing to receive it..

Big tip for him...well deserved and appreciated.

The hands and the horn...

Out of the tunnel and into the light...moving on...until next time..  I promise the wait won't be as long as it was this.