"near.ing.june"

May is my favorite month but She merely introduces Her older sister, June.

Created from blackberry images taken yesterday - the reflection is a muddy infield puddle and bright young tree leaves seen through the color filter that is the upper windshield of my Subaru.

Puddle is a great word.

Practice soccer field stick.



Baseball field back drop fence, reflected.

Soccer practice for Alex at different location today, another school yard with a mediocre field. Other towns on Long Island have better practice fields. The Bellmore schools focus more on curriculum, etc. Which in the end is good.

Babylon branch commute, LIRR.



West 53rd Street.



West 52nd Street.

I am enjoying the exploration with the BlackBerry camera. Bottom picture is out my colleague's office window. Middle picture again shot from the hip. Top picture composed on morning train. Bits of my day.

Waiting for car service close to ten PM, the light is from the movie trailer posted in a photo on Thursday morning. Light rain continues to envelop Manhattan and it leaves a sidewalk that reflects any night light.

This image has a slight chalky pastel "Moulin Rouge" quality. We are all dancing in the dark, to quote early 80's Springsteen.

On West 53rd Street they are filming "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" for Disney. Someone said Nicolas Cage is in the movie. There are a lot of trailers on the street - some used for equipment, other for make-up, and others must be stars' dressing rooms.

The image above is a reflection off one trailer. A bit of rain this late May morning.



Earlier this morning I took this photo on the subway. I am amazed by the size of some handbags.

"on.fields.at.dusk"

Played a bit with blackberry images...lately I have not had time and am less inspired to make quilts.

Bellmore train platform at 5:30 PM today, train flying west. Fast reaction shot when I noticed the train shooting by. Quite noisy moment.



On Monday we spent party of the afternoon at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a preserve near JFK Airport in Queens. We saw many birds in migration and also many summer residents setting up nests and territories. The picture above is of the wooded area. Most of the preserve is marshes, ponds, and mudflats.

We had great views of glossy ibis, cedar waxwing, yellow warbler, house wren, restart warbler, white eyed vireo, northern waterthrush, veery, brown headed cowbird, American oystercatcher, brandt, willet, red winged blackbird, grey catbird, great egret, snowy egret, great blue heron, tricolored heron, yellow crowned night heron, black crowned night heron and osprey on their nest. Warm lyrical day and no soccer games.

There were hundreds of tree swallows flying and bringing insects back to their young in their nests. Lovely, gnats included at no extra charge.

Sitting in my car during Alex's Saturday dusk time soccer practice, I was looking west past the field to a stand of tress that blocks the Southern State Parkway.

There are a couple of other pictures I took in the car - the exercise was to see how many photos can I take, sitting there not moving, that I could be reasonably satisfied with...



Our 1996 Subaru Legacy station wagon. The car we bought when we moved out of Manhattan when Greg was born. It sits under a tree unused most of the time and right now needs to be car washed, badly.



Why do we Americans buy so many water bottles?

Soccer field tree line through dirty windshield near sunset tonight. Tinted glass.

Wantagh pond, 4 PM.

I left early tonight and jumped on an unfamiliar train and unfortunately the first stop was Wantagh, one town further east of my stop. So I walked home and I tool this parkway overpass bridge that also separates two large ponds. As I walked into the trees, I heard some migrant birds. I stopped and tried to identify them, but it was mostly by song. There was a magnolia warbler there and some warbling vireos, I think. Rustier than I used to be when I birded most weekends.

While enjoying the moment I noticed pond reflections through the trees and I shot this trough a cyclone fence.



Modified image.

E train, 9:10 or so AM.

There are few places where you are as packed, without intimacy> Mine is a "rush hour train, mostly after work, when there are "delays."

I thinking of of doing a series, these were taken this morning on the ten minute train ride, uptown. Not crowded because the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend.

Because of the POOR lighting and train movement the focus is slurred and less "photographic."

I am fighting all of my icons - Weston, Steichen, Adams, Evans, Callahan and so many others all who made the camera focus clearly and not attempt to ape the older art of paint.

Bellmore station train platform.

Taken around five-thirty PM with concrete basked in late May late day light. The "W" is part of a stencil warning riders to "Watch the Gap" - meaning to remember to step into the train.

Portrait of an artist as a young pigeon.

Thanks for your encouraging comments. The blackberry has such a low quality camera - the lens smaller than a pea and I cannot control exposure , etc - still I am enjoying the experimentation.

West 53rd Street, midtown.

Both pics were taken five minutes apart and within five feet of each other. One image is composed while the other was taken from the hip, covertly and instantly. The building in the reflection is 666 Fith Ave.

Soccer practice, Jerusalem Avenue School, Bellmore. The practice field and our Toyota mini van in the parking lot.

I seem to be taking a break from making quilts. I do hope you like the painterly quality that the blackberry camera provides images.

A spring walk.



E Train escalator, Fifth Avenue.



Track 21, Penn Station.

Studies....I am enjoying exploring with my Blackberry, but the color saturation is poor. I have little time lately to visit, create, etc.

My best.

"bring.may.flowers"

I like this one - back to the nursery fence. The floral pattern reminds me of a sofa fabric = bleach aged and galvanized. old fashioned someday.



"bring.may.flowers"

"near.a.tree.line"

BB photo manipulated - detail below and the original shot from a moving train...





I have been listening to the New Riders of the Purple Sage's first album that included Jerry Garcia on peddle steel guitar. It is a lovely collection of country flavored songs, this one below being my favorite.

"on.still.wind"



Fence and shore, aligned. Detail below of small version image. My best as we approach another beautiful Friday.

View from my office's reception area - 23 floors up - and down on the E train platform, Penn Station. Above and below Manhattan.

BB photo of nursery plants through fence on walk home. Below is a detail of the quilt as evolving, not sure how it will turn out....





Sidewalk near the nursery.

Detail of quilted series of BB images - subway floor, fence and blooms, corvette hood ornament, etc.