Author Archives: Sans Souci

Part 81: Mother-Daughter Journey: The Opera Called “Truth”

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“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest This is the eighty-first part of the series of my mother-daughter journey that began more than two years ago. I haven’t written since my mother’s ninety-seventh birthday in March; things have been relatively quiet. I say relatively, as there is, in fact, something always going on, but the occurrences vary in degree. I might be dealing with outside agencies and making call after call to follow up on an issue. I might be paying bills, tracking finances, delivering the rent and trust check. I … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Flora, Fauna, Farm, Flushing, and a wedding: NY: ifone Fotografy: Part 2

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Streets and People Flushing, Queens (a former place of residence) has become the refuge of thousands of Chinese and other Asians; it is known as the “new China Town.” New York City’s first China Town area is in lower Manhattan, but the new immigrants find Flushing much cleaner and more pleasant. However, an original resident might find it difficult to navigate the signage. Back at the Farm People volunteer their services.   … and visitors feed the animals.   Goats: I’d love one as a lawn mower The farm is a cool place for a wedding. Here is one of … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Flora, Fauna, Farm, Flushing, NY: ifone Fotografy: Part 1

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Flora home garden Lens experimentation The iPhone can zoom into macro mode, but the olloclip system can get to 7x, 10x, 14x, and 21x. I am still feeling my way with the strength of magnification.   Fauna in and on the home front               Flora & Fauna at The Queens Farm Museum, my now-place for fresh eggs and produce      

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Song in My Head: MN Indie Group on WFUV Got Me: Hippo Campus

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Suicide Saturday by Hippo Campus I heard this group of young kids from Minnesota while driving and listening to WFUV, New York’s very cool Indie-oriented station which is a member of National Public Radio. The sound just stuck with me. Everything about. These kids are going places.

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Photography: Making the Most Out of Simplicity

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  I put away the heavy gear years ago and enjoyed a very nice, lightweight Nikon with built-in 18x optical zoom. I still enjoy it; it’s been fine for blogging and other site posts. But something crazy happened: instead of graduating to a big-ass camera with all the accoutrements, I remained satisfied.   When I got an iPhone 5 I began to find something fresh about it being with me all the time, being available and having a zen-like simplicity. Then I got “the 6.” It was a better camera and I began to decode the settings and to learn … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, LIfe: The N. Y. Botanical Garden

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    The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York is honoring the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo from May 16 – November 1,  2015. Please visit this site for a multimedia bio.>>> Frida Kahlo Another article is here But first, a little Mexican food-truck lunch before the art and then the florals. The truck is fittingly called : Casa Azul, or “blue house,” named after Frida’s home and studio. [Food trucks are becoming popular all over the country. The tacos here were wonderful: the choice; fish and beef. And don’t forget the Tamarindo Jarrito soda.] Frida Kahlo was … Continue reading →

Goodbye to Al

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    This past Sunday I attended a memorial service for a lovely friend of the family. He passed peacefully in March and had reached the age of 95. He had a broker pack him up, sell his apartment and he moved to an assisted living facility in Connecticut near his sister. I sens that he sensed the end was near. He was a brilliant, kind and gentle man who was active in the New York State Teachers’ Union. He was a high school teacher and held degrees in business.   You can read more about Al here, as well … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Back to The High Line For The Extension

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  Please refer to this post, written in 2009 when the Highline first opened, for the back-story and photographs: click>>>NYC Photo Journal: The High Line: abandoned rail in the sky becomes a park Click>>>Link to updated map and info The Highline has been lengthened to The Javits Center at 11th Avenue and 34th Street. At 2oth Street there is now an entrance. Once the hike upstairs is made, there are views on both sides: the Hudson River, and the Meatpacking District. (The lower west side of Manhattan) On the weekend it was packed with tourists, but the lovely wild flower … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: A Return to The Brooklyn Museum: Wiley, Basquiat

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  One of my favorite places is The Brooklyn Museum. I caught two current exhibits by black male artists. Kehinde Wiley (Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, at the Brooklyn Museum) Born in 1977, Wiley studied the old master painters; he embedded black hip-hop portraiture into the framework of the old to create the new. The backgrounds, redolent of kitschy wallpaper backgrounds from old Catskill Mountain hotels, the culture of the past is imbibed with that of the present in huge works. Colors are bright, vibrant, somewhat garish. The subjects rarely look directly at the viewer, most are presented three-quarter face, … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: Water, Water Everywhere, or Nowhere

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  It was a rough, water-logged-basement-Winter. Ice water was permeating the basement floor in several spots near a window. I spent many days during periods of freeze-thaw, throwing towels on the carpet, removing them, and putting them, soaked with ice water, into the dryer. Only to repeat the scenario time after time. Endlessly. When Spring came and it was warm enough, it was time to act. The foundation had to be waterproofed, a massive job, but another Winter like this could not be tolerated, whatever the cost. The work was done outside, nothing inside was disturbed, despite my expecting the … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: 5. Color Pop in the Back Yard: It’s About Time

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The Krauter Vesuvius Plum does not bear fruit, but beautiful blooms. It was consolation when the very old apple tree in the back yard died. Pink is pink. Gotta have it. This is just the beginning. After the tree fills up with beautiful blooms, they will drop and make way for red leaves.     Waiting to be planted: violas. Alas, it is too cold.   Inside, the violets bloom and the orchids, wait to be let out.        In time, it all changes     The flowers leave like pink falling snow, and red leaves take their … Continue reading →

Today We Remember. We Never Forget. Never Again.

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  Today is an important anniversary; it was seventy years ago on this day, 4/29/15, that the Dachau Concentration Camp was liberated. The photo above is of Gershon Press, who you might call a cousin. The photo was taken after the war in a DP, Displaced Persons’ Camp; he is still wearing part of the camp uniform. Taken from the photo archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Gershon Press poses after the war in his concentration camp uniform. Shirley Press is the daughter of Gershon Press. Gershon Press was born in 1921 (though official documents listed his birth … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: 4. April, and It’s Still Cold…Except For The Jazz

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Will Winter never end? Three cultural events in four days: Twice at Carnegie Hall and an evening of jazz at Flushing Town Hall. More; an afternoon at The Museum of the Moving Image, a viewing of “The Woman in Gold.” (highly recommended as well as a trip to The Neue Galerie to see the original Klimt portrait.)   Flushing Town Hall, NEA Jazz Masters, Jimmy Heath and orchestra        

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NYC Photo Journal: 2. Theater to Orchids

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  Here I am again in Tissue-Box City. There is “something going around” and it got me. Started with one innocent sneeze while at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and it went beyond, onward, upward, downward. But the good news is I am trying to catch up on some editing. I have so many photos to edit and it is always a job. In addition I am taking some on-line studies in iPhone photography and digital imaging. Spending a lot of time looking and trying to  process and apply the information. And, the news is that the iPhone has become a … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: 1. March Continues: B&W vs. Color (Indoor/Outdoor)

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It was the never-ending Winter. Outside was blue-cold, yet remained black and white. Very little color peeked through the blasts of white and ice. I dare you to find your car.    Meanwhile, back in the house, there was Spring, and lots of it. I’ll show you, Winter.  

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Part 80: A Special Day

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Today is my mother’s 97th birthday. I never expected her to live this long or to be so intact. It is amazing. She has survived numerous bouts with pneumonia over the years, has battled life-long food allergies and has out-lived every member of her family. Her requests: the latest crossword puzzles Women’s Health Newsletter   It’s been a long, lousy Winter. Let’s hope that Spring renews us all, and that the days continue to be kind to my mom.   This blog is part of a series. The next installment is here: Part 81: Mother-Daughter Journey: The Opera Called “Truth” … Continue reading →

Facebook is George Costanza’s Curse: World’s Collide

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You’ve heard me talk about the Seinfeld episode where George bemoans the crashing of his worlds; how I identify with that. In fact, colliding worlds kept me up last night. Facebook offers the perfect entré to colliding worlds; all you have to do is look up people from your past. Sometimes you find them and sometimes you don’t. If you do, you might find remarkable things, or not so remarkable things. So-and-so became a __________ fill in the blank. You never expected so-and-so to become a doctor; why, he was such a slow wit! And how did SHE become a … Continue reading →

Quantum Leaps … I Can Only Be In Six Places At The Same Time

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Something to think about … parallel lives. A too big topic for the mind. The review of the play I had seen recently, about this subject is here. Parallel worlds exist and interact with our world, say physicists New theory explains many of the bizarre observations made in quantum mechanics. http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/parallel-worlds-exist-and-interact-with-our-world-say#ixzz3PwezxnVX           Next, think about this … ask your aunt Sadie to smile for the camera. The aunt Sadie who left this world a number of years ago. Could happen. New quantum camera capable of snapping photos of ‘ghosts’ Spooky quantum cameras can capture images from … Continue reading →

A Poem For Snow

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    SNOW DAY by Billy Collins Today we woke up to a revolution of snow, its white flag waving over everything, the landscape vanished, not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness, and beyond these windows the government buildings smothered, schools and libraries buried, the post office lost under the noiseless drift, the paths of trains softly blocked, the world fallen under this falling. In a while, I will put on some boots and step out like someone walking in water, and the dog will porpoise through the drifts, and I will shake a laden branch sending a cold … Continue reading →