The Lincoln Square Business Improvement District kicks off the holiday season with a tree lighting by Lincoln Center, musical entertainment and tasty treats. 

What? Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Sqaure

Where? Broadway from the Time Warner Center @59th Street up to 68th Street

When? Monday, November 30th, 2009 — Tree lighting at 5:30p, Festivities throughout the evening

How to I get there? By subway 1, A, C, B, D to 59th Street/Columbus Circle or 1 to 66th Street. By bus: 104, 5, 7 or Crosstown 66.

What else should I know? A tree lighting will kick off festivities at 5:30p at 63rd St and Broadway in Dante Park.  There will be entertainment in stores throughout the neighborhood, food tastings ($1-$5) in canopies at the Time Warner Center and on Broadway between 63rd and 66th Street and discounts if you are in the mood to shop.

A traditional red phone box is recycled into the country’s smallest lending library – with 100 books…. From BBC News. Full story

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Vacation video numero CINCO from 12 please come back to the other! hope this helps to put everyone in the holiday region of spirit! this is one of my good friend emily Elbert, check them out and subscribe to their videos =] she deserves it! youtube.com-aj oh, and watch in high quality, much better =] (7 more to go!) honors for the first day =] # 8 – Most Discussed (Today) – Music # 88 – Most Discussed (This Week) – Music # 20 – Most Viewed (Today) – Music – Germany # 9 – Most Viewed (Today …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbgQQBOFlYo&hl=en

Tags : daily big sale Sale More for sell All Holidays Gifts

Raymond, OH ~ Late November usually means a little snow in our area and the “T” family and I were hoping we WOULD have snow for our photo session together.  They wanted to get the four wheeler and snowmobile out, plus take the horse out in the snow.  But, Mother Nature had a different idea in mind.  It was sunny and 50+ degrees the morning of our shoot.  We shed our coats, got some great photos, but promised to try and get together later in the season for some snowy shots. 

Their property made a perfect background for the session.  We used the pastures, pond and even the hay loft as props.  Here are some shots of our day:

Big thanks to the “T” family plus Sampson, the horse, and Gunner, the dog, for making this session fun!!  Can’t wait to see you after a big blanket of snow hits our county!

Colored by moonlight
Her hair glows, reflects the light
Is it cold out there?

This reminded me of a painting that I need to do someday

This year the boys and I made it twice to pick apples out at our favorite apple orchard, Autumn Hills, in Groton. This time we went as family, Walter, who hadn’t been there since last November when we went with my mom. After picking a HUGE amount of apples (about 22 lbs), we headed back home. Once home, I made an apple crisp of big tart green Mustus, small crimson red white-centered Cortlands, and sweet crunchy Spencers (a cross btw a Mac and Red Delicious).

Here’s my recipe for an almost never-fail apple crisp:

My apple crisp (combo of mutsus, spencers, and cortlands)

Filling:

• About 8 cups of sliced peeled apples (leave peels on if you like)
• 2/3 cup of white sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
• Juice of 1 lemon

Topping:

• 1 cup of quick oats
• 1 cups of flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup(1 stick) of melted butter
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl, mix all filling ingredients together well. Place in 8 x 8 square buttered pan.  Combine topping ingredients until moist and crumbly (add more melted butter if too dry). Lightly press topping onto apples so they are mostly or completely covered. Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before attempting to eat. Best eaten with french vanilla ice cream.

Inside the foyer of the indoor aviary at the National Zoo, in Washington D.C., looking out through the etched glass of leaves to the trees outside adorned in fall color.
© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Picture Day. We woke up extra early today to go to the Fort Worth Stockyards to take some family pictures for our Christmas card. Chelsea did really well until it got too cold for her and Mallory was full of silly smiles. After we were done taking pictures, we walked around a little bit and spotted some livestock, including this huge Texas Longhorn. It was bigger than a horse and so interesting to look it with its 6 foot span horns.

Thankful. When Gramps is here, he likes projects so we put him to work. We are thankful that he likes to help us. On this visit, he helped us trim our too tall bushes out front, change the bulbs and clean our light fixtures out front, put up our outside Christmas decorations, fix our built-in laundry hamper in the master bathroom, plus several other things that were on our list.

We had a nice Thanksgiving meal today too, and the girls could eat every single bit of — thanks to Gran who was careful to use soy butter and no dairy. We had a turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry salsa, and brocolli. We are thankful for all of Gran’s help too!

“Si votre journal disparaissait qu’est ce qui prendrait sa place ?”. Adrian Holovaty a fondé EveryBlock après avoir quitté le Washingtonpost. Il considère les blogs locaux comme une source d’information. Il a crée un service permettant de géolocaliser et de consulter les informations issues des blogs et de sources offcielles proches de vous. Ce type d’initiatives se multiplient. EveryBlock, Outside.in, Placeblogger et Patch sont des sites hyperlocaux. Avec la disparition des éditions papier de journaux comme Rocky Mountain News ou The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, la problématique devient cruciale pour les média traditionnels.

Les média locaux sont au milieu du gué, même si des organisations comme la Knight Foundation pensent qu’il est crucial qu’une presse de proximité survive.

Le paradoxe bien sur est qu’en fractionnant le lectorat ces services ont des difficultés à trouver des annonceurs. De l’autre côté les lecteurs sont de plus en plus attirés par ces médias de quartier et désertent les points presse.

Cependant Peter Krasilovsky,  directeur au Kelsey Group, estime que le marché publicitaire local va doubler d’içi 2013.

Everyblock a été crée pour répondre à cette équation. Financé à hauteur de $1.1 million par la Knight Foundation, il est présent sur 11 villes américaine, incluant New York, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.

Tout ce qui touche à la vie locale intéresse Everyblock qui se décline en version Iphone ou web, qui pense qu’il se passe tellement de choses dans une ville qu’il y a de la place pour tout le monde, le papier et le web.

Le New York Times ne s’y est pas trompé en nouant un partenariat avec Everyblock pour la région de New York.

Faute de se remettre en question  et d’occuper ce créneau les journaux risquent d’affronter une concurrence de plus en plus rude.

D’après un article du New York Times :  ‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers”

Paris2003

Foto // Sven Kirschenbauer

Ab sofort wird mitgebloggt.

Hier werden in Zukunft in regelmässigen Abständen Eindrücke, welche euch das Leben und Handeln , RUND UM das Agnesviertel, sowie das was bei rumkommt, präsentiert.Nach einigen Anläufen ist es jetzt doch gelungen eine Plattform zu erstellen, die dem vielfältigen Treiben in der kölner Nordstadt eine Bühne geben soll. Wir freuen uns auf  EINE FANTASTISCHE ZEIT.

What would Thanksgiving be without the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.  Whether you watch it on TV in the comfort of your living room or you make the trek to see it in person, the holiday wouldn’t be the same without it.  This year, the parade will be traveling a different route moving from Broadway to 7th Avenue.  Be sure to get there early to get a prime spot. 

What? Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

Where?  The parade starts on W 77 St and travels on Central Park West to 59 St/Columbus Circle.  It then continues along Central Park South, 7 Av, 42 St and 6 Av to 34 St-Herald Square.

When? Thursday, November 26, 2009– The parade starts at 9am on 77th Street and Central Park West.  Spectators arrive as early as 6:30am.

How do I get there?   The best was to get to the parade is underground on the subway.  The MTA provides a complete rundown on subways that provide access to the best viewing and service changes for uptown and crosstown buses.

What else should I know? The Macy’s folks suggest that the best viewing is from 61st and 72nd Street along Central Park West.  Expect to join large crowded to view this NYC institution.

The little monkey wearing her Curious George hoodie at the zoo:

ooooh

The penguins are so close I can almost touch them!

After an obligatory visit to a few random animals, we then spent the majority of our zoo time with our favorites…. THE MONKEYS!

"Primate panorama" Here we come!

Curious Acadia wearing a Curious George hoodie

Peeking in

She was excited about nearly every exhibit, regardless of whether or not animals were present...

That's one huge orangutan!

This year, someone brought to my attention the difference between gratitude and appreciation. I had to really ponder the difference and I came to the conclusion that their contention that it is better to appreciate something than be grateful for it makes good sense. I’ll begin with the definition of the two words.

GRATITUDE: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful: He expressed his gratitude to everyone on the staff.

APPRECIATION:
1. gratitude; thankful recognition: They showed their appreciation by giving him a gold watch.
2. the act of estimating the qualities of things and giving them their proper value.
3. clear perception or recognition, esp. of aesthetic quality: a course in art appreciation.
4. an increase or rise in the value of property, goods, etc.
5. critical notice; evaluation; opinion, as of a situation, person, etc.
6. a critique or written evaluation, esp. when favorable.

As you can see, appreciation = gratitude. However, there is one slight distinction that my friend pointed out to me. Gratitude entails giving power to something other than and outside of yourself, while Appreciation is an action requiring recognition by the self, making it something that comes from within.

I wanted to debate this with my friend but, after thinking about it, I understood the difference and have realigned my thinking and my verbalization of my thankfulness in accordance. So, instead of saying, “I am grateful” for something or someone, now, I say, “I appreciate” something or someone. It keeps the power of creativity in my heart rather than sending or placing that creativity somewhere outside of myself.

For two years, I was a member of http://www.gogratitude.com/ and I developed a heightened consciousness of the power of being thankful. Many sites beckon us to recognize the power of gratitude and appreciation. You have to wonder why they list both activities instead of just one – gratitutde. Clearly, there is a difference between the two. It’s just a matter of knowing the difference. As my friend showed me, gratitude goes outside of you, while appreciation comes from within and keeps the eye on the ball of self-creation. In other words, when I am appreciating something, I am keeping ME in the equation. When I am grateful for something, I’m going outside of ME.

Since each of us is the CREATOR of our own World, it is appreciation that keeps us responsive to all stimuli.

Here’s a poem I wrote before understanding this difference.

I AM Grateful for Life to learn lessons
My soul yearns to experience
I AM Grateful for Love that leads me in Divine Spirit
I AM Grateful for Joy of a new day
I AM Grateful for eyes to see beauty
I AM Grateful for ears to hear birds
I AM Grateful for Others who follow and lead
I AM Grateful for Work and Strength
I AM Grateful for Knowledge
I AM Grateful for a seeking Heart
I AM Grateful for Rage. It makes me think
It makes me act, react and ponder
I AM Grateful for technology that lets me say
I AM the Grateful Goddess!

Grateful Goddess Joan

HERE’S THE SAME SENTIMENT, substituting “AM Grateful for” with “Appreciate”

I Appreciate Life to learn lessons
My soul yearns to experience
I Appreciate Love that leads me in Divine Spirit
I Appreciate Joy of a new day
I Appreciate eyes to see beauty
I Appreciate ears to hear birds
I Appreciate Others who follow and lead
I Appreciate Work and Strength
I Appreciate Knowledge
I Appreciate a seeking Heart
I Appreciate Rage. It makes me think
It makes me act, react and ponder
I Appreciate technology that lets me say
I AM the Appreciative Goddess!

Watch this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DhHXoIC0iU

In Mexico, the outside doesn’t stay there. In New York, the outside is pretty much like the inside—manmade. Unless you go to Central Park. But that’s manmade, too. And very well-behaved. We do get the odd mosquito, and a fly or two may invade our apartments. Even, on occasion, a tiny spider. Roaches don’t count. They’re inside creatures. So, really, are rats and mice. Central Park has plenty of those, too.

Mexico is different. Even a gringo-ridden town like San Miguel. The other night a friend was leaving, about to go through the doorway from the courtyard to the yard. There’s a light there, and he said, casually, flicking his head toward the upper-right corner of the door frame, “Is that a black widow? Looks like it.” I hadn’t noticed. There were a pair of them, and they’d already covered the corner with a 3-D web. They scurried for cover as we scrutinized them. I couldn’t see the belly, but the body shape fit. “I’ll ask the gardener to kill them,” I said. The next day, I swept off the visible web and what looked like a piece of yellow pollen, small and round, maybe an egg pouch. The spiders were hiding inside the door frame, where there’s a space—it’s old.

I draw the line at black widows, but otherwise my arachnid tolerance has increased remarkably here. Spiders come into the house. So do scorpions, beetles of all kinds, lizards, caterpillars, the odd grasshopper, other bugs and the occasional bird. The other day, I was sitting on the couch, reading. The screen door was slightly ajar.  A house wren flew in and headed straight for the big window over the couch, where it attempted to beat its brains out—or, at least, to break its bill—against the glass. Here was a living example of the dangers of birds and glass—except in this case the bird was trying to fly through to the actual outside, as opposed to being fooled by a reflection.

I finally caught the wren with the aid of my trusty critter-catcher, a clean yogurt container. I held the bird in my hand, feeling its heart beat. I took it outside and set it onto the horizontal section of an ancient Mesquite tree that leans out of the terraced garden on one side of the courtyard, is propped by an iron pole with a cradle, and then angles its way up and across the courtyard.

The wren keeled forward to rest on its lower mandible; its beak was wide open, but its eyes were shut. I could see that its heart was beating. I stood next to it, and it opened the eye on my side. So I moved back, out of range. Gradually it raised its head and almost shut its beak. I could see, from the doorway where I stood with binoculars, a piece of dirt or wood in the space between the mandibles.

Finally it stood erect, eyes open, and looked around. Its beak was closed. It took a step, then scampered up the sloping trunk. I was filled with joy and relief. I hope it was the same wren I saw and heard a couple of days later, grazing on the Mesquite, pulling caterpillars and bugs out of the chinks in the bark and devouring them. It was scolding away as it grazed, but obviously oblivious to me.

The wren, I suppose, could have happened in suburbia USA, but not so much the scorpions. I don’t like scorpions, but I don’t always kill them. Something about this place makes me less prone to kill small intruders. The scorpions are not huge—all the ones I’ve found in the house so far have been only about 3-4 inches long, a shiny bronze in color. A little evil-looking, in truth.

When I first came down here, last February, I found a succession of them—fortunately, always right out in the open, and mostly in the bathroom. The first one was on the window screen one night when I went to close the curtain. I went downstairs, got a yogurt container (I save them—they beat Tupperware for all-purpose food storage, and they’re free) and managed to get the scorpion to drop into it by nudging it with the lid. I slapped the lid on, went outside, across the yard, down the stairs to the door that opens onto the callejon, and down the block to the vacant lot that serves as an estacionamento and occasional stone quarry. I shook the scorpion out into a pile of rocks near one wall—well away from my person—and went home to bed.

After that, I found two or three more in fairly quick succession—one on top of a pile of towels, one on the bathroom door frame. Those I killed, although I don’t really like stepping on them. One I partially squashed and then, coward that I am, got it into the yogurt container I now keep in the batheroom. I put the lid on and took it out to the rubbish bin in the corner of the courtyard. When the gardener looked inside a couple of days later, it was dead.

On the morning of the June day on which I was flying to New York for a month, I watched from bed as the cat stretched languidly up to a dark shape in the corner of the wall next to the door from the outside stair landing (it has a space under it that a mouse could probably stroll through). I didn’t want the cat to kill and eat the scorpion, so I killed it instead, dropping it to the floor and stepping on it (one reason I always wear flip-flops in the house). After I’d disposed of it, I saw the cat licking the floor where I’d killed it. I reflected that the cat had very likely killed and eaten scorpions before. Maybe the stinger isn’t so poisonous when ingested.

The cat belongs to my friend and landlady, Sue, who lives in the main house on the property (she also employs the gardener). When Sue’s away I feed the cat, and she includes me on her daily rounds even when Sue’s home, dropping by for a little water or milk and sometimes a quick cuddle. She has the run of the grounds and all the buildings, and turns up on my roof or anywhere. She stalks, kills and sometimes eats anything she finds. Once I watched her lurking in the Oleander bed. A lizard started up the wall of Sue’s water tank, about 15 feet away. The cat was across the yard in a flash, the lizard in its mouth

At first I tried to rescue the lizards, but a/ there is really no place to put them in the sun that the cat can’t get to, and b/ even if she didn’t get to them I’d invariably find them the next day, dead. So now I generally let nature take its course. We’ve had an invasion of caterpillars in the last couple of weeks. I’ve taken a number outside and released them in the yard. Tonight, the cat came in for dinner and, on her way across the floor, stopped to eat a couple of new arrivals. Lagniappe.

I draw the line at butterflies and birds, though. Once the cat brought a bird into the house. I was up here in the 2^nd floor loft office that overlooks the living room, so I saw her come in. When she has prey, she gives a peculiar low howl, very different from her usual squeaky miaow. I rushed down the stairs and rescued the bird. It was small and gray, and its wings were so askew I feared one was broken. I picked it up and smoothed its wings. I could find nothing that looked like a serious injury. I put it in a paper bag, as I’d learned to do in Central Park from my friend Deb Allen, a birder and professional bird photographer who is as knowledgeable about birds as anyone I’ve ever met. She always carries a paper bag with her in case she happens on a bird that needs rescuing. Once she snatched a Robin from the jaws of a large bullfrog in the Ramble.

The bird was obviously a fledgling, but such a mess I couldn’t quite tell what it was, perhaps a dove. I put it on top of a bureau in the 3^rd-floor bedroom. The bag permits it to breathe but calms it. I clipped the opening shut with a clothes pin. After a few hours, the bird was cheeping. I opened the bag slightly and saw that it was indeed an Inca Dove. It had come to itself enough to assume its proper shape. I carried the bag out to the balcony-terrace, thinking to leave the bag open on the floor, but something made me look up to see the cat peering from the roof. I took the bag back inside.

A couple of hours later the bag was rustling. I stupidly opened it up and the dove flew out and crashed into the wall. I rescued it again, carried it out to the wide balcony railing, and set it down. The cat was nowhere to be seen. After a few seconds, it took off. Again, relief.

The cat is, yes, a killer. I have no doubt that she could make her own way as a feral cat if she had to. Yet she also likes to drop suddenly to the ground, floor, bed or couch and roll over on her back to have her tummy rubbed. In the mornings she likes to get under the covers. Thus the dual nature of us all.

I can’t blame the cat for being a cat. When she brings her prey into the house, she’s part of the outside coming in. When she wants to sleep warmly on a chilly morning, she allies herself with the manmade inside. She has the best of both worlds, and passes back and forth between them with ease. Whereas I, and most other people, venture into the outside with care, with proper equipment, with sunblock and water and hat. Even in New York City, entirely manmade, we dress to protect ourselves from the weather and whatever lies underfoot. If we, too, are killers, we disguise our natures. We’re civilized.

I had some time alone with Seth on a sunny day and we spent a good chunk of it in the backyard. I wanted to get some of the kitchen garden cleaned out and while doing so, found a few hidden clumps of dried garlic chives.  I usually try to clip the flowers off so they don’t go to seed as these things spread something fierce. However, through laziness and the cover of the tarragon and tomato plants a few clumps escaped my attentions. Seth thought they needed a vase, so I obliged and pulled out one of my favorite vases made by Rebecca and let him go to town. He carefully selected and cut to size each stem.  Sometimes he got a little carried away cutting down the stems, but that was part of the learning process and I had no attachment at the time to those flowers. Now, however, I think it makes for the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece.

these photos by jonathan levitt remind me of everything.

Model:  Claire Unabia-James & Kayla Berley

Hair and make-up:  Kayla Barley

Photo:  akiackee

Sometimes we just need to let go and get in touch with our inner children, they are crying out for you to get loose and live.  Soul-reclaiming process is gradual and you have to let them go, to live…

I had the pleasure of photographing a couple of cuties over the weekend and man, their Mom’s got style.  I mean serious style!  I knew she was on the ball, but she had the kids dressed like something straight out of a Gap ad!  Luckily the weather held, although it was pretty chilly for the little tykes (and their photographer!!).  They were super troopers though and lasted way longer than I thought they would!

I hope you enjoy your sneak peak!!  I sure enjoyed learning some hockey moves, Beaver songs, about Fancy Nancy and all the other cool stuff that’s out there!

I wonder if they make these boots in adult size?  Seriously. Cute.

And this hat!  Oh this hat!  We had literally packed the kids up into the car when Mom realized she forgot it…so we dragged the poor girl back out for a rapid fire succession of shots! 

I’m so glad we did!

Shona