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Blackout
day from the Lower East Side —
Below left: Williamsburg Bridge walkway (the red cage) and incoming
traffic lane (closed to vehicles for the evening) filled with
people walking after the lights went off and subways and stoplights
quit working. Below right: Sunset over a powerless Lower Manhattan—except
for the Verizon sign, which came on as usual (meanwhile Verizon
screwed up phone and 911 service reportedly because of a shortage
of generators). |

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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. |
From
lighter days — |
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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. |
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Co-workers
on Ludlow St., Lower East Side. |
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Together
— and not together — in Union Square. |
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The
chef at El Portal, a tiny Mexican Restaurant with delicious
food and drinks on Elizabeth St. |
Jeter
fan and baby going to Yankees game in a storm. Rain out. |
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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. |

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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. |
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She
jumped in my lap and nibbled my fingers. Homing pigeons don't
eat any old thing the way their cousins, the flying rats, do.
They only eat seeds. All we had were sesame seeds, and she liked
them fine. |

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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.
Two
doves take turns sitting on the nest. When I go out, they
hold perfectly still, like a subway passenger near a very
large and menacing-looking rider. |
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