Look who was in my mailbox!

Cute little guy

Merry Christmas to All

Time standing still

The equinox

when time was once thought to stand still

Listen to the sound of winter in this choral piece

Nox Aurumque by Eric Whitacre.

The text in translation:

NOX AURUMQUE
Gold,Tarnished and dark,Singing of night,Singing of death,Singing itself to sleep.And an angel dreams of sunrise,And war.
Tears of the ages.O shield!O gilded blade!You are too heavy to carry,Too heavy for flight.
Gold,Tarnished and weary,Awaken!Melt from weapon to wing!Let us soar again,High above this wall;Angels reborn and rejoicing with wings madeOf dawn,Of gold,Of dream.
Gold,Singing of wings,Singing of shadows.

Eric Whitacre's blog

First snow Monday night

An accumulation of nearly 1/32nd of an inch

At last

The election was on November 2nd.

Today, December 8th, the 1st Congressional District race is finally decided.
Tim Bishop won!
Opponent conceded

UPDATE: Final results: Bishop won by 592 votes.

In Daddy's boots

Eek! there's a mouse in the ladies room!

A picture I meant to post in October

Maples

Library pet

LIBRARY PET

disguised as the Christmas Police

No light

A nail biter of a race

Our congressional race is still undecided. It is so close! Tim Bishop is ahead by 235 votes now that the absentee ballots have been counted, but a judge must decide on the validity of 2,051 contested votes. Let it be over soon! And let us keep our excellent congressman who fights for the middle class!

UPDATE
As of Thursday afternoon, Dec. 2, Mr. Bishop's lead is 277.
Story

Still some color

Can you imagine, iris in November?

Not sure what these are.
Both pics taken today at church garden.

The quest

A Common Ground Dove, rare in these parts, has been sighted at Captree State Park for a couple of weeks now. I'm off to try to see it today.
(Picture from Wikipedia)

Aamir's testimony in Canadian Senate

On November 15, 2010, my friend Aamir Jamal testified before the Standing Committe on Human Rights of the Canadian Senate on gender issues in the Pashtun region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the subject of his PhD research. It's an hour-long presentation (jump over the first 12 minutes of music); it will give you an excellent view of the women's rights problems of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.

November 15, 2010

Click on "View this Clip"
Select " English Video 150 kbps"

Elderberry jelly

On the way home from Saratoga we stopped at a highway rest stop where local preserves and apples were on sale from tables outdoors. I was charmed by the name Grey Mouse Farm and bought several things. The home made sweet pickle relish is delicious, but I'm saving the jelly for a gift. Maybe.

Saratoga: a few more pictures

The Gideon Putnam's cozy fireplace

Meetings and more meetings.
The orange shirts said
"Working Without a Contract"

The Blue Room

Universal Preservation Hall

One of the art galleries

Commemorating 77th N.Y. Volunteers

In the park

The Adelphi Hotel

Very polite

In Saratoga they have this thing about horses

The keys to the city?

Wonder how he lost his tail!

I guess you call that piebald

Presumably to secure your Range Rover

Even the shirt on your back

Colt trotting in front of the Gideon Putnam Resort

where the NYSUT annual community college

conference was held this past weekend

Odd

Now that the Giants have won the World Series and nobody's thinking about baseball any more I can show this picture of a Yankee fan I saw smack dab in the middle of Brooklyn. Fifty years ago he would have been lynched.

New York Transit Museum, 10-20-10

Many old subway cars are on display in a 1936 IND

station located at the corner of Boerum Place and

Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn Heights

Charles, our very knowledgeable and entertaining guide


Rattan seats

Ad in a car from the 1920s

Charles knew all there was to know about these cars, some of which are still used on special occasions such as excursions to Coney Island (Guess how they used to prevent pilfering of light bulbs -- The bulbs screwed in backwards, thus were useless anywhere else)

A wooden car

1904 paper ticket chopper

Brooklyn, continued: The Esplanade

A short walk from the Heights Cafe

lies the Esplanade, or Promenade

with a great view of lower Manhattan


including the Brooklyn Bridge

and a far-off glimpse of Lady Liberty