2013 begins in its glorious, revolutionary, everydayness

 

Starlings roost in Von King Park, Bed-Stuy's best little oasis.

Looking up the stairs towards the office at the Park Slope Food Coop, and coming back down again through a veritable maze of offerings for massage therapy, hand made furniture, music lessons, pet-sitting services, and cat adoptions. I do love this place.

This unusual lamp was put on the street after the woman who owned it died. I ran into her son who explained that it reminded him too much of his mother and made his entire family sad, so they had to put it out.

My housemate put a large mirror in the hallway, positioned so that as soon as I open my bedroom door, I am confronted with myself, flaws 'n all. I've decided to accept self as is. And below, our shoes and our visitors' shoes.

Ran across this biker's club on Franklin Ave. in the neighborhood that skirts Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. I tried to snap a shot into the club, but the scene was rowdy - lots of music, laughing and some yelling - so I failed to get the shot I wanted. Had to move on before some of the rowdy bikers came out and asked me what the hell I was doing.

Yes, I went into Dunkin' Donuts on Franklin Ave. near Fulton Street, late at night, "to find some comfort there," as Simon and Garfunkle would say. But I found this kind of decent mural instead. Workers of all stripes having their morning coffee, donuts presumably stashed in the lunch pail.

Further down the street (going north) was a building site and this is their portable toilet. Forbidding.

Further north on Franklin Ave, I took two shots of renovations in progress at a street level shop through the plate glass window. The scene exudes optimism in the face of the current economy, considering that these optimists must be using a small load of borrowed cash for starting up.

The neatest pile of paper recycling I've ever witnessed, waiting for the next day's pickup.

New York, Inside and Out (plus one photo from Upstate in Rhinecliff)

The cell phone is allowing me to take pictures without being noticed, so I notice even more than I did before. Everything is subject. The subway platform, above, and the supermarket below, where the workers are wheeling out the old refrigeration unit because the new ones have been installed. I suppose that's a good day at work, if you work there - something new and different to do. The old unit was completely filthy, by the way. Did they never clean it? Even once?

Looking into Katz's Deli on Houston Street, Lower East Side.

Park Place, Brooklyn, in the early evening hours.

The table is set at Chavella's for a little outdoor dining on Classon St., Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
The next two photos were taken from the Express Line (15 items or less) at the Park Slope Food Co-op on Union Street. I think taking these photos and putting them online might be enough reason for them to suspend my membership, but I hope not. That place has a lot of rules but I love it just the same.

On the platform of the No. 4 Train, Yankee Stadium stop, in the Bronx.
And the two below taken from the Q-Train window as it rolls over the Manhattan Bridge at sunset. The cell phone camera completely abstracts certain types of image, which I like.

Pizza parlor on Houston Street, above, and a Metropolitan Transit Authority sign for subway users on the F-Train from Williamsburg.

Looking out on the morning sun...

On the Chinatown Bus from NYC to Baltimore.
And in Baltimore, a bed awaits.

The view from the platform at the Rhinecliff, New York, Amtrak station - the mighty Hudson River.

Unidentified Red Objects.

Only the flag stands still at Grand Central Station.