ABC Wednesday—X is for "Xmas"

I love to walk around my "brownstone
Brooklyn" neighborhood and see
how people have decorated for the holidays.
I like all the white lights on this house
(and even the random leftover pumpkin)!

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

meet the neighbors

The other half of the couple was sitting on the
nest that they built in the hollow of this
sycamore tree.  There are birds nesting here
every year—don't know if they're the
same ones each time though.
Ditto for the ones who raise a family in
the space under my air conditioner
(why I never turn it on!).

[Linking back to Macro Monday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Coming home to Brooklyn—over the

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

For 17 years, this was the longest suspension

bridge in the world (and it's still the

longest in the Americas).

[To see more b/w images, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

life is just a bowl of . . .

yummy Rainier cherries. They're very expensive,
 and available here for a short time only each summer. 
What a beautiful splurge!

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

summer bounty

More goodness from the greenmarket:
I bought two quarts and there
wasn't a single bad berry in the lot—
every one was perfect.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

Thursday Challenge—"summer"

'Tis the season—for fresh summer peas!
(One of the things I didn't care for
when I was a kid, but I've definitely
gotten past that.)
[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"fun"

I know not everyone thinks
this is fun—but I do!
How about you?

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

This is Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch at Grand Army Plaza,
just a block from my house.  It was built to
honor the Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
Some pretty famous folks were involved in the
 design and building of this monument—check it out here.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Overnight sensation

This dogwood tree is right outside my
apartment.  On Saturday morning,
it was covered with tight little buds—but 
when I woke up on Easter Sunday, 
I found this!

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

A couple of weeks ago, I showed a little
snow and said how glad I was
there wasn't more.  As predicted, we did
get something more serious.  It wasn't
quite as bad as this, but high winds made it
a challenge for a small(ish) person
to get across some streets.

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—D is for "democracy"

Last night I joined a few thousand of my
neighbors here in Brooklyn and we
made our voices heard loud and clear;
apparently, we'll be doing this here
on a weekly basis.  God bless an America
where you can still do that.

[To see more ABC pics, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

We haven't gotten much of this so far,
and I can't say I'm sorry.
(We'll probably have a blizzard next week,
just because I said that.)

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

Monday Mellow Yellows

These yellow and orange flowers 
shone through the snow and
added a spot of bright color to my
Brooklyn neighborhood.

[To see more Monday Mellow Yellows, go here.]

cubbies

I recently switched allegiance to a new nail salon.
These little drawers for regulars' personal
polish reminded me of the restaurant Chartier,
in Paris, where some faithful customers
would get to store their own napkin in a cubby
much like these (although, granted, a bit
more elegant—it's Paris, after all).

[Linking back to signs, signs.]

Hot!

These are Gold Bullet habaneros, which
added some bright yellow color to all 
the wonderful Thanksgiving-type veggies
for sale at our local greenmarket
this weekend.

[Linking back to Monday Mellow Yellows and Macro Monday.]

Thursday Challenge—"neat"

Wonderful things at my local greenmarket, 
all lined up neatly at 8 a.m. on
Saturday morning and waiting for the
neighborhood folks to arrive
(and they did, in droves). 

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"flight"

This was the view from Flight 5164,
the last time I returned home 
from a trip down to Virginia.  (And if I'd
been on the other side of the plane
I could have seen my apartment building
just then as we flew over Brooklyn.)

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—Q is for "quandary"

And my quandary is:  How do the people
who live here get in and out?
Most of the brownstones in Brooklyn are
now multiple-family dwellings, but
this one must be a single-family house, because
the only sure way in and out is through 
the doorway under the stoop.

{Here's another quandary—how did my baby bro
get to be so old?  Happy Birthday, Chris!}

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

The Lone Toddler

This is a scary shot if you're familiar with
the big, usually very busy intersection
where it was taken.  On this day, though, they had
closed off Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza
for a few hours to accommodate the runners
of a half-marathon.  This independent
little person just stuck her hands in her pockets
and marched across the street.

[Linking back to Pink Saturday.]

ABC Wednesday—N is for "neighborhood"

I live in "brownstone Brooklyn," but not
in one of these old beauties.  I opted
instead for a prewar apartment building: waaay
more closet space but—unfortunately—no
stoop (I'm a big fan of these imposing stoops).

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]