Picture of the Day Big Catch-Up: March 26 - April 5

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted a Picture of the Day update to the blog. I've been uploading them to Flickr more often and efficiently, and there are also quite a few interesting Leftovers, so be sure to check there occasionally. In any case, here we go with the ones from the last week or so. I messed up while uploading them, so they're chronologically backwards, but oh well. Just pretend you're watching Memento. Enjoy!

April 5th: I just took this about 5 minutes ago in the kitchen, realizing it was 11:00 PM and I still had no Picture of the Day. Eventually, I'll run out of crap in my kitchen to take pictures of, but that day's not come yet. When it does, I'll find things in the bathroom. I hear the bidet looks sublime when bathed in the unique, frantic light of 11:45 PM.

April 4th: Today was my sister-in-law Toni's birthday. This is a bag that Angela gave her her present in.

April 3rd: My father-in-law Honorio watering the posts in the fence he and I put up in the morning. The fence-posts are ca�a india, a type of cane used often in fences. Honorio looks angry, but I think he just didn't know I was taking a picture. He's actually very jovial guy, in any case.

April 2nd: I didn't have much time for pictures because I was painting this day, but this one came out OK, I guess. I like how the flash created a sort of eerie blue glow on the plant.

April 1st: This is a wall in the Formerly Crappy Casita. At one point, it used to be a complete picture that someone drew of "Toro," the guy who laid the ceramic tiles in our house. But when we made some modifications to the Crappy Casita, some of the planks got moved around, and the drawing was scattered.
And I have no idea why the person wrote "cheese" next to Toro's head, but he also spelled "ceramic" --as in ceramic tile-- wrong, I believe.

March 31st: There's nothing quite as iconic as a girl and her frog. This is Hannah, Paola and Juan's daughter. We went to their house for a delicious dinner. She was subject of a Picture of the Day a few months ago, but at least this time she (barely) stopped moving for a moment to allow me to get a sharper picture. Very cute girl, though!

March 30th: I know that I had a similar picture to this one as a leftover on March 21st, but I really liked the way it looked, so I recreated it with a bit more sexiness this time. And MAN, that coffee looks freaking delicious right now!

March 29th: A delicious mango I had after lunch. I know I had a mango picture up the other day, but when they're this delicious and photogenic, I can't resist. Plus, there's something aesthetically appealing about making a piece of fruit unnaturally conform to geometric patterns.

March 28th: Part of a traditionally-painted Costa Rican yoke.

March 27th: A plantain on a chair. You got a problem with that?
I was taking pictures of the entryway at Angela's folks' house, but this turned out to look more interesting.

March 26th: I had to paint the top rail on our gate. It took a LOT longer than it should have. Lousy greasy, acrobatic painting.

So, that's it for now. Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!

Northam Burrows

Today was the first sunny day we've had in ages and I decided not to waste it. Also we need a distraction to get us away from the chocolate. So to help us wear off some of the calories we had already eaten we came here to Northam Burrows.

It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and can be reached by driving through the tiny villlage of Northam between Bideford and Westward Ho! There is normally a small charge for entering but today there was no one there. We drove down the narrow track with expanses of grassland stretched out to either side of us. Normally this is filled with sheep but there weren't that many in evidence today. Then, once near the pebble ridge we found somewhere to park.

There was a strong wind today that sent rather large wavelets blowing towards us on the pond behind the pebble ridge that I'm sure should have been the car park. No good for skimming pebbles on, although we got a few to bounce.

We took the path towards the Visitor Centre, which was open but which we didn't go in. There are toilets there, for those of you who plan your trips around such things (I had younger children too not so long ago). The path follows along beside the golf course then leads down to the beach. We stopped here and collected pebbles but there is much more walking to do through the dunes for those who wish to stretch thier legs further. The wind got to us today though, that and the fact that daughter no.2 felt it entirely appropriate to come out in a mini-skirt and not much else. I refrained from saying 'I told you so,' when she said she was cold.

City Island: A Bronx Boat Building Village

When I was spending a lot of time in City Island, there were a handful of people who would often  compare this Bronx neighborhood to Cape Cod or some other New England coastal region. Immediately, my internal BS Detector would start flashing Code Red. It was obvious to me that the person stating this had never been to Chatham, Stonington, or whatever town they were comparing it to. Rather than start a drunken argument, I would usually try to make nice-nice by continuing to mind my own business and eat my halibut. 

The release of the movie City Island, has my detector flashing once again. I have not seen the film, but my Google Alert box is flooded with reviews that describe the island as a "quaint New England fishing village". Some even give the impression that it is located in the middle of Long Island Sound, with a fishing armada supplying the seafood restaurants  dotting it's shore.

Like most of Long Island Sound, City Island had it's share of oystering and lobstering. It's real claim to fame however, was shipbuilding. Numerous yards lined the eastern side of the island that built, outfitted, and repaired large yachts. Eight of these boats went on to win the  America's Cup. That is an impressive legacy, and the City Island Nautical Museum does an excellent job at presenting it. 

As for the New England comparisons? The island has some narrow streets with a few colonial and victorian homes, but so do lots of towns. Through careful editing, filmmakers can portray it as a much quainter place than it is. I think Tom Andersen put it best when he said:  "It doesn't (look like a little fishing village). It looks like the Bronx waterfront".

I remember how disappointed I was when I first saw the movie, Mystic Pizza. Sure, it was fun checking out a young Julia Roberts, and seeing parts of Mystic on the big screen. But I was really turned-off by how the film portrayed the town as some ethnic theme park, where the girls married young; the boys all went fishing; and everybody ate Lobstah.  Hardly very accurate.

Eventually I will make it to the theatre to see City Island. But if Andy Garcia's neighbor is a tuna fisherman, and the house has a widow's walk, I'm heading for the exit.

City Island Nautical Museum: (highly recommended museum)

Google Search: City Island Quaint New England Fishing Village

This Sphere: It Might Possibly Be Worth Going To City Island

Historic Pelham: Early Years Of City Island

New York Times: Movies Filmed On City Island

SOUNDBOUNDER: Pelham Cemetery, City Island

Map

photo credit: City Island Nautical Museum

Walk on Tuesday 6 April

Please note new start time for walk: 2.30pm. We meet at the lake-side parking on the Motreff-Carhaix road: this is 3kms north of the bourg of Motreff (direction Carhaix). If you are coming from Carhaix, Motreff is signed south off the old inner ring-road (near Cash Affaires). Continue ahead over the Nantes-Brest canal at Pont Daoulas and the meeting point is a few kms further, on the same road. The walk is only about 6kms long but sections will certainly be very muddy after recent wet weather, so waterproof footwear essential. Let's hope for a bit of sunshine on the day!

Outdoors As Essential Part Of Any Weight Loss Plan

Article Directories are valid resources to find interesting advises and stories about the personal experiences of the persons that had just tested them. We often underestimate different outdoor activities in our life. I liked the article Norwegians go to forest as usual as us go to Square on weekends describing enviable love of the citizens of the North Europe's countries to their nature. I personally could notice it when I was in Finland, where the persons go in the forests to run or to walk (they have special paths with huts etc there). For those who passes the life near computer or in an office, for all us stressed from the life in the cities nature is the best way to forget our depressions observing birds and flowers, fishing or picking mushrooms.



An other article continues the theme with observation that Exercise are essential ingredient in any weight loss plan. We do not want understand this simple thing -we need to have harmonious relationships with nature to have good health and as consequence normal weight. The good God did not create computers and cities when He gave birth to this world. And this is the main reason why we need nature. It's our home, and we have to stay in touch with it. Sometimes our "stay in touch" means "destroy". It's enough to see the places where we had picnics. I think, we have to do everything possible to change our habits to live this world alive to our children and that our children do not destroy it too.

Holmes Street, Mystic

New Ways To Lose

....I see new ways to lose, I never knew existed before.

Casey Stengel

Orient Beach State Park consists of 363 acres at the far end of Long Island's North Fork. Located slightly west of the Orient-New London ferry terminal, it is a narrow peninsula surrounded by oyster ponds and Gardiner's Bay. According to the park website, there is "45,000 feet of frontage on Gardiner's Bay and a rare maritime forest with red cedar, black-jack oak trees and prickly-pear cactus."

On a late afternoon last October,  I paid a short visit to this park for the first time in nearly a decade. I had about an hour to kill before I was scheduled to take the ferry back across the Sound, and hopefully, be home in time to watch the baseball playoff games that evening.

With spring now arriving, baseball isn't the only thing back in the news. There have been rumblings out of Albany that the state of New York will close up to 55 state parks and historic sites in an attempt to save money. Sadly, Orient Beach is one of the state parks listed to be closed. I postponed writing about this, believing it was just one of those bad ideas that would disappear in a week or two. Today, the first day of April, there is still a  possibility that this could occur. No April Fools joke about it!

Maybe it is just a sign of me getting older, but we seem to be in a decade of mixed messages and double-speak. We are told to save our money by going shopping; to use mass transit while services are cut; and at a time when Staycation has become a buzzword, local parks and public sites are scheduled to close.

Connecticut has not been immune from these bad ideas either. Money from the Long Island Sound License Plate Program was  grabbed by Hartford, and parks with surpluses, such as Harkness State Park have had their dollars transferred to the state's general fund. Meanwhile, park fees and fishing licenses have doubled in some cases.

The current economic crisis has brought on a lot of references to the Great Depression. I find it ironic that many of these parks were created in the 1930's. Today, we treat them as an unnecessary luxury, while we hand over billions of dollars to subsidize baseball stadiums. As much as I love the game of baseball, our fiscal priorities appear completely backwards. Sacrifices need to be made, but they shouldn't all be so lopsided. I may love to hear the sound of Play Ball!, but not at the expense of A Day In The Park.



Field Of Schemes:  Taxpayer Subsidized Sports Stadiums

New York Times: State Proposes Closing 55 Parks & Sites

Steve Fagin: Hijacking CT Park Fees; A Sharp Stick In The Eye

North Fork Vue: Fans Of Orient State Park

Newsday: NY Audubon: Don't Be Shortsighted About Parks

Saratogian: Senate Dems Say Parks Will Stay Open

Yonkers Tribune: $2 Billion Taxpayer Dollars Go To Yankees

From The North Fork: Orient Photos



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