Foggy Day on the Staten Island Ferry

Starting out early in the morning, the Brooklyn street has a cinematic aura.

Getting onto the Staten Island Ferry, a quick look out at the pier below and the sea beyond.

A little tug boat that seems to be heading straight for the ferry, and below, three photos of Manhattan as we pull away from the landing.

 

 

Once on SI, the fog continues as MTA buses pull in at the St. George Ferry Building to pick up passengers.

On the way back to Manhattan, an incoming ferry passes us. The fog has lifted.

The lower tip of Manhattan Island with the new WTC under construction on the right. Who said it had to be even taller the the towers it replaces?

Unable to resist.

Disembarking -- next time I'll get a better shot, but the colors alone are worth it.

Inside the terminal and on my way to the R-Train, Whitehall Station. Oh - and the ferry is free.

Bed-Stuy, the G-Train, and other 'nothers

A bus shelter with information about the relationship of the police to the community they are entrusted to serve.
The view, below, from the bus shelter, is of the police surveillance tower that's been installed at this corner (Gates and Marcy Aves., Bed-Stuy) for weeks.

Half-way down the block from the police surveillance tower, in front of the Louis Armstrong  housing projects, is a memorial to a lost child. The bible on the ground is opened to Deuteronomy -- the ten commandments. Thou shalt not.
And on another corner there's an older mural dedicated to a host of fallen comrades painted on the side of a corner deli.

The shopping basket of the homeless person who is sitting at the other end of the bench in the subway station, while I was waiting for the A train.
The homeless man was sleeping with one eye open and when I turned my head I realized he had his eye on the policeman, below, who was standing on the stairs nearby.

Once on the train, everyone was treated to daring acrobatics. My camera isn't fast enough to capture the performance, but you get the idea.... 

Then uptown, a display at Brooks Brothers invokes a boring, ordered, vanilla existence. But what's behind the velvet curtain?

Finally made it home again, only to find the Fire Department in front of the house.

It makes a colorful flickering flick.

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.

(1) Staircase non-sequitors, (2) a trip to Staten Island, and (3) Woodhull Hospital and environs

 

 

Two sets of stairs: one at the Asia Society, Upper East Side, and one at Chavela's excellent restaurant, Crown Heights, Bklyn

 

At the College of Staten Island CUNY, waiting for the shuttle to the Staten Island Ferry. Waited half and hour in freezing weather, and it's snowing. Then a flock of geese begin to circle overhead. A reward, indeed.

The scene on the Staten Island Ferry

. . . and the gangplank is lowered at the South Street Seaport, Manhattan

. . . the newly cleaned tiles at the subway station at Whitehall Street, which had been completely flooded during Hurricane Sandy

The water line on the upper level, just below street level, is still visible as escalator repairs and tile cleanup continue.

The R-Station on my way to Hoyt-Schermerhorn to catch the A and then the G: what the subway looks like without its signature tiles

Flooding at Hoyt-Schermorhorn, on the unused platform across from the Brooklyn-bound platform.

 

. . . and lemon-lime cream pie with graham cracker crust and a large marzipan strawberry on top awaits me at home.

A quick visit to Woodhull Hospital, Bushwick reveals an artwork installed on the ceiling of Corridor 2B, and a Kwanzaa display, below, situated near the Community Needle Drop-Off point.

Woodhull's massive, prison-like exterior

Fat Albert's, across the street from Woodhull, and the inside of the B15 bus for the ride home up Marcus Garvey Ave.