Anna and Her Sock Monkey Photo Shoot

Anna set up the sock monkey clan in the family room and photographed them. The most cooperative subjects you would wish for. A couple sock monkeys must have been hiding but collecting four grandchildren’s monkeys is the challenging part. Trying to get the real family for a group shot is much more difficulty. I get a kick out of the kids trying out their photography skills. Anna(9) photographed this one with the iPad. Thanks Anna for the guest blog.

20130408-055019.jpg

Longaberger Baskets Home Office Guest Blog

Laura drove past the home office of        longaberger  ( click for building specs)
Longaberger Baskets in Newark Ohio
Thanks for the shot today Laura! (taken March 25th )

I have to go there one of these days soon.

This basket shaped building was listed in the book of Ohio Oddities and you can tour the building but if you have a large group,call first.

20130407-221545.jpg

Black Pussywillow Branches Cast Wall Shadows

When we lived in Germany, we’d get  Pussywillow with fuzzy gray shapes along the branch and hang wooden eggs and rabbit ornaments to make an Easter Tree.

Add MediaI’d never seen Black Pussywillows until Wednesday night at my friend J’s home.  I was to take a photograph over to her and the evening  turned into an impromptu supper.  My crazy part is I went over without the picture I was to take.      J followed me back to my house after we ate and got the photograph to take back to her own home but she didn’t seem to mind.

 A great blog post  about this unusual looking plant is here. The Latin name (Salix gracilistylus ‘Melanostachys’)

 

Black Pussywillow

 I can’t remember the name/type of ceramic vase holding the branches. (Taken with the iPhone)

NYC Transportation

Another gallery from NYC trip over Spring Break.

Remember the 25,000 dollar Pyramid Game Show?  A category is on the card and your partner lists all the things that are in that category.  Things that Have Wheels?  Things that you ride?  Things that help you get around.

Puppeteer, Prometheus, Pizza and Pencils

 

Somewhere I read that alliteration should be avoided.

A rule somewhere.  For writing or blogging but I can’t find the source with the rule about not using it,  so here is the puppeteer on a break.

The kid on the scooter is looking at the puppeteer as if to ask what time is the next show?  Central Park.

Central Park Puppeteer

Prometheus at Rockefeller Center , Bringing Man the Gift of Fire.

Prometheus

 A slice of Pizza on Bleecker Street and Seventh Avenue
IMG_6973

And my friend R alerted me – March 30th is National Pencil Day. The date the patent for the pencil with the eraser on the end was granted in the year 1858.

Thank you Hymen Lipman!

I gathered up what pencils I could find and added the new box of Cedar Pointes I had in my computer bag.  I love to write in pencil on a yellow legal pad.  I’ve never liked mechanical pencils although I know some who swear by them. On March 30th we’re to write with a pencil but that will make blogging a challenge.

Five facts about pencils excerpted from this site

  • A single wooden pencil can write 45,000 words
  • A single wooden pencil or draw a line that is 35 miles long.
  • Pencils can write under water.
    • John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and is said to have used as many as 60 pencils a day. His novel East of Eden took more than 300 pencils to write.
    • Henry David Thoreau penciled Walden Pond. After all, his father was a pencil manufacturer
    • The last time I blogged about pencils was two years ago New Years when Anna sharpened every pencil in the house

IMG_6989

Imagine, Standing with Van Gogh, St. Patrick’s Scaffolded, Mercury, Ribbons for Peace, Patience

We walked through Strawberry Fields and saw the Imagine mosaic.  A man sat on a bench playing the guitar.  We wondered why he wasn’t strumming a Beatles tune.  We walked over the to the Frick Collection and saw the Piero della Francesca in America , no photography allowed.

IMG_6185

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art

you could stand around all day and take photos of people being photographed with Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait.

IMG_6084

IMG_6086

The scaffolding on St.Patrick’s Cathedral will be in place for three to four years.

IMG_6307

IMG_6328

Lit a candle in St. Patrick’s.

IMG_6335

Mercury at Rockefeller Center

IMG_6559

Prayers for Peace. I read the sign and took the photo.  After I crossed the street I realized just how many ribbons there were on the fence surrounding the church.

IMG_6564

IMG_6503

We walked down Fifth Avenue from 72nd St to 10th St

Mary and I stood at Washington Square in the late afternoon sun for long shadows.

IMG_6710 (1)