san fran 01.2013

Last month I took a quick trip to San Francisco for work.  
We had a few moments to take in some of the sights.  
As seen through my i-phone....

sea lions at the Fisherman's Warf

San Francisco has the largest Chinatown outside of Asia!

sweet window display at Swiss chocolate shop Teuscher

Palace of Fine Arts Theatre

Ghirardelli Square

Capitol Building lit up in the 49ers colors - I was there right before the Superbowl

Trendspotting

May I suggest you take a ride on the World Famous Cable Car!

San Francisco was experiencing an "arctic freeze" when I was visiting....boy was it chilly!

Delicious eats & festive decor at The Stinking Rose...a garlic lovers dream!

hello fleet week

the Intrepid is permanently docked in NYC



This past Memorial Day Weekend my husband Tom and I decided to venture into the city for a day.  As we drove down the West Side Highway we remembered (and saw) that it was Fleet Week.  We decided to park and walk on over to the Hudson River and check it out.  Fleet Week is an annual event and being able to see and actually board some the ships was an incredible experience.  Many of the service men and women were also on hand to talk, meet, and receive thanks from the thousands of visitors.  It was indeed a rare opportunity.

entering the USS WASP



looking down to my right as entering, this ship is huge!

on the flight deck looking up

planes land here!

one of the planes on board with the city skyline

Tom checking things out

note the "give 'em hell" logo

peering off the ship with the city skyline

To all our service men and women...

Thank you for your continued sacrifices, dedication, and service.

spring flower i-phone photo dump

I have been a little off my blogging game lately.  I am still here, just busy and occupied with a million other life happenings...kind of let my blog slip.  With all this beautiful (and very early) warm spring weather we having here in NY, I decided to share with you some of the boomings in my yard.  After last summer's "freak" hurricane and then the devastating snow storm that surprised us here Halloween week...our trees and plantings sure took a hit.  It is however now a breath of fresh air to see all of the new growths, buds, and flowers each day as we take walks around the yard with our dog Mel to explore.  These are from Mel's and my walk yesterday...enjoy this latest i-phone photo dump!

yellow daffs = :)

Our magnolia was hit hard by the storms...but it still blooms strong

These were potted hyacinths I was given and planted in the ground after bloom...

they come back year after year!

weeping cherry makes me smile

worms eye view through the forsythia

Even the stumps in my yard have "growth"...love interesting fungi!

What's growing & blooming around you?

the challenge

I shared this photo with Tom for his 1st photo...It 's a family portrait 9/25/11

There are many challenges in everyday life.  One I find I come across more often than not is the constant struggle to create art in my everyday life.  I consider myself a working artist, however most days I feel I work more than I make personal art.  Last year I did give myself the "challenge" of entering and completing The Sketchbook Project.  I had a great time participating and welcomed the challenge...however I have to be honest and admit, a little part of me has been missing my sketchbook.  I will definitely have to go visit it now that the books have returned to the Brooklyn Art Library's permanent collection.  While on vacation last week, my husband Tom was showing me one of  the latest i Phone apps he had downloaded called Photo365.  We are both photographers, he is as a professional photographer and I have a degree in photography where it has now become a favorite hobby more than a profession, but never the less, we are both usually snapping away with some kind of camera, and many times, it is with our i Phones.  So there we were looking at our i Phone photos of the day and decided, wouldn't it be a great challenge to do Photo365 together!  We decided to make the official "start" date our 7 year anniversary, and then go for a year and see what we each come up with.  I even added it to our "shared" calendar so each day at noon an alarm goes off  on our i Phones to remind us to take our daily photo.  Last night Tom told me it is much harder to "do this" now that we are no longer on vacation...I do agree.  However I feel that makes it even more of a challenge.  Maybe some days will not have a photo, and that is ok too. What I see is most important is to at least try to find some time where you can look, feel or find some inspiration to help create art for yourself, then the rest can all fall into place.  Sometimes just making the commitment is the challenge in itself.

This is my 1st photo...9/25/11

Katie, over at Adventures of an Art Teacher talks about setting goals in art as well and about the Project 365 in 2010.  I "googled" Project 365 and found that there are many photographers and Flickr sites out there where photographers have been taking daily photos and recording them, some better than others.  I think it is often a great idea for recording a pregnancy, aging of your children, progress of a garden,  or even the growth of animals. I am definitely looking forward to Tom's and mine.  

Has anyone else started a new and interesting challenge? 

i am 1,199,164,176 seconds old...and counting

My husband and I had brunch at the Bedford Post, in Bedford, NY.

I started the meal with a delicious cappuccino and warm cinnamon bun!

Last weekend was my birthday.  I had a great day spending it with my family.  Late in the afternoon it started to rain and storm pretty bad...however this weekend we are hunkering down in preparation for hurricane Irene to hit the East Coast, so I suppose last weekend's storm is not looking so awful after all.  These photos captured my latest birthday as seen through my i-phone....

We took our dog Mel for a hike at Mountain Lakes Park in North Salem, NY

On our hike I stumbled upon a red toadstool with white spots!  

I have never seen a real mushroom like this in person.

I really loved the vibrant red of these mushrooms too!

Seeing acorn caps scattered around reminded me I better get started on ornament making soon....

the craft sales and holidays will be here before you know it!

Mountain Lakes has a great sandy beach area where Mel took a little dip!  Here I caught him mid-shake!

After a family dinner with my husband, parents, sister and her family...we ATE CAKE!

I love cake...all kinds of sweets really!  

This year my sister made a "funfetti" cake and iced it with a swirly pattern that resembled tye dye.  

Very fun and festive, not to mention delicious!

My niece Casidy and Mel watching the festivities. 

 Her birthday is 5 days later so we actually celebrated together and shared birthday wishes.

Till next year...

 ♥

walkway over the hudson

The other day my husband and I took a stroll along the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park which links the City of Poughkeepsie (Dutchess County, NY) with the Town of Lloyd (Ulster County, NY).   Before the walkway became the world's longest elevated pedestrian bridge...it was known as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge.  In 1974 it was crippled by a fire and fell into disrepair.  In October 2009, the bridge re-opened as the Walkway State Park after a two year construction effort.

maps to take as you start across!

When we got there we were happy to see there was plenty of free parking.  Walkway Ambassadors and volunteers were also available with maps and to offer visitors information.  There were even places to buy a snack if you wanted to take a break after your walk across!  Oh....and leashed dogs are welcome!

Tom & Mel ready to go!

along the way pictures are posted showing the transformation from rail to trail

looking out over the Hudson River

Mid-Hudson Bridge

flag at the center of the walkway....we turned back here on this chilly spring day :)

Oh, and I took these photos again with my current favorite i-phone app....Hipstamatic!  It was a fairly grey day, so the camera/lense I was using actually really helped give my pictures a little extra pop!  Such a fun app to play with!  

spring green

I'll be honest with you, spring is not my favorite season.  I enjoy it because it takes us out of the bitter cold of winter, but in New York, it is all too often a very damp and chilly season in itself.  Right now, it is particularly rainy...those April showers just keep on giving and giving.  Late this afternoon there was a break in the showers and I took a nice walk around my yard.  I do love seeing all the new growth that is popping up and discovering all the flowers I forgot were even there.  I had my i-phone in my pocket so I took some shots with the app I am most recently obsessed with, Hipstamatic.  You can see some photos from my trip to DC that I took with the app last month by checking out the post spring sculpture series.  The walk really made me appreciate all the rain...without it the flowers would not have had a chance to poke up out of the ground, the trees wouldn't be blooming and everything around me would not be that lush, spring green.  I couldn't help but smile as I took these photos, so I decided to share them with you so you could hopefully have a smile too :)

looking up at the lilac tree...the smell is incredible

bleeding hearts

dogwood bloom...the tree is near the end of blooming but is still one of my favorites

our fern garden

peonies...look close and you can see the ants helping the blossom open

lilly of the valley...smell is just so sweet

my husband's bamboo...started with one clump, now has spread along the wall

stairs to a cottage covered with moss and grasses

Seeing these stairs reminded me of a book I had just read to classes when I was substitute teaching in the library.  The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown, is about how flowers and a garden can survive in an old, rundown city.  The author was inspired by the High Line, which is an abandoned, above ground railway in NYC that has since been turned into a public garden and park.  The children loved hearing the book and we had a great discussion after about how nature can grow and take over abandoned buildings, sidewalks, stonewalls, etc.  The students even have a community garden at their school that used to be an old tennis court...how appropriate!  Oh, and if you ever get a chance to visit NYC... put the High Line on your list of places to visit, it is a must see for sure!

What do you have growing and blooming in your yard?