Above left: The darkened Empire State Building (a 4-second exposure). Right: Moonrise over the Williamsburg Bridge. The lights on the bridge are from vehicles (a 2-second exposure). The other lights are from Brooklyn and Queens, though they had no regular power. I took the photos from the roof, 20 stories up.

We were planning on going to the Mets game with Ron & Susanna, but instead got to see the Big Dipper from our balcony for the first time (always before it was too light to see stars). Susanna and I ran down the candlelit stairway for water and beer from the bodega across the street. Then climbed up the 19 flights and spent the evening among candles, flashlights and a tiny radio, marveling at the darkened skyline and cussing out the bright Verizon sign.

Later we found out that a neighbor, Thelma, couldn't make the stairs and slept on the stoop. People brought her water, and the security guard kept an eye out for her. Another neighbor, Henrietta, who is about 92, climbed 16 flights and was doing fine the next morning.

Yard Art

Roses and a tree of heaven grow out of the semi-buried body of a '67 Firebird at T&J Auto Repair on Delancey Street by the Williamsburg Bridge on the Lower East Side of New York. The interior is the compost heap.

Tony, the proprietor, is the gardener.

Bubbe carts on parade

A couple of the many uses for the shopping cart.

Daschund holder in Central Park, left, and a picnic table on the 4th of July in East River Park, below.

When nature comes calling

A homing pigeon got lost (who knew that homing pigeons could get lost?), and found our balcony in May. When I went to chase her away, thinking she was just an ordinary pigeon, she wouldn't leave. When I went inside, she marched up and down the windowsill tapping on the glass. She must have recognized a fellow no-sense-of-direction sufferer. Or someone with an Internet connection who could find her home (if you can get the ankle bracelet numbers, you can find a homing pigeon's owner). Angel came from Maspeth, Long Island, to fetch her.

De Duva
Then one day in June, a dove landed in an empty basket hanging from a shelf. She built a nest from twigs, wire and a paper clip. Then she started laying eggs.