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PROGRAMMING NOTE from the Author and Archivist


So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.

The last few years have been busy and … challenging:

- 2015 Happened.
- 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.)
- 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally.
- 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)

- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...

- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?


I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.


So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.


Stay safe everyone. Stay well.

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Friday, February 24, 2017

Photos of the Day: Fragile Hope

 First REAL signs of spring: Friday morning at work.
SNOWDROPS!
Granted, it was about 70 degrees. In February. IN NEW YORK!

~ photos by iPhone

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Photo of the Day: Train TV

Morning commute. Quiet Car. Train TV, set to snooze. Necessary morning nap/meditation.

~ photo by iPhone, with some filters.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Photo of the Day: Sunset

Tonight's sunset was brief and fiery - and something to behold.

~ photo by iPhone, enhanced by filters.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Photo of the Day: Knocking on Knickerbocker


as of a visit Monday, February 20, 2017

Vestiges of the 'olde' New York can still glimpsed in the corners and shadows if you only look or know where to look. Hints: ends of platforms, tucked up out of sight, and/or disguised as the years have 'progressed' by. Where once a door may have opened to a glamorous hotel, now commuters jockey for a spot to cram on a subway shuttle and try to ignore the rats frolicking in the trash on the tracks feet below.

 ~ photo by iPhone, some slight filters

Knickerbocker Hotel entrance as covered by The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/nyregion/behind-subway-entrance-to-hotel-knickerbocker-neither-arias-nor-opulence.html?_r=0

Monday, February 20, 2017

Photo of the Day: Waiting

Visiting some old haunts, visiting old friends, visiting the same spot

At The Juilliard School, February 20, 2017

~ photo by iPhone, no filter

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Auntie Nettie's Merchandise 2017 - Taking Heart cont'd

Sometimes it is okay to take a unfinished project that was started for a loved one, made with love, to show your love, and then use it to spread some love.

After three years as a UFO, it was time to unravel it and let it go. 🏳 of defeat. I surrender!


(Sorry baby niece who is no longer a baby niece.)


💞
💕
💝


~ photo by iPhone, some filters

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Attic Adventurs: 2017

It started Tuesday night, with the sound of fire trucks outside the window. It continued for hours, late into the night.

WHY? WHY?! Jackhammering. At 10:30 pm. Outside the window. Strange septic aroma. Pickaxes. Backhoes. An excavator. Flashing lights. Emergency vehicles. Union dudes.
Sleep was going to be challenging. 


Wednesday night. Note on the elevator. No cooking gas that night.

Tonight. Note on the elevator that gas/electric utilities needed to be in Attic on Friday and upcoming Monday - and OH THEN...

THEN the super and his wife presented me with this box and made me sign for it while they said - there will be notes under alllllllllllllllllll of the tenants' doors.
 

Long story short, I will not be cooking with gas for possibly 4-6 weeks. So. Yeah. Or using the dryers in the building.

Hello landlord-provided shiny new kinda hot plate? Where the hell am I plugging you in in the Attic of no kitchen counters?


(Honestly I am relieved. Was beginning to think the smell was a neighbor who... hadn't been seen for a while and was possibly a 'former neighbor'.)


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Vanquishing Age: One Pin at a Time

I actually have two Dammit Dolls, but this little lady is now my 'Dammit, how did I get so old?' Doll. Crafted by my 'outlaw' ma-in-law Cheryl, mom to sis-in-law Kelli , and she's been sitting around waiting for the right age/demographic to be appropriate for use. Can't wait for the time to come to pass her around the family. (Ahem... sisters and sisterfriends) That is, if I don't beat the sh*... stuffing out of her first.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Life is like a box of chocolates - or two


MINE. ALL MINE.

I do not share well with others. Just check my report cards.
Full disclosure: these are not holiday related chocolates. Don't let the timing, red box or cupid confuse you. These weren't technically Galentine's Day chocolates either, despite giver and date of intended celebration. Yes, given by a gal, a friend, and the date was for 2/13 but different celebration altogether. 


I am trying hard NOT to eat them all in one sitting or afternoon.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Photo of the Day: Bumped Off

The day after the war - er, storm, you start to catalog the injuries to your soldiers.

Someone didn't fend off Old Man Winter, left pieces behind on the field of battle.

~ photo by iPhone.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Photo of the Day: Initiative on Ice

Shot this morning, February 9, 2017

Me this morning: Yeah, I am not leaving the Attic anytime soon.

Me looking out at the end of the day to see evidence of clear skies, a jogger running down the middle of the road, and all the folks who have to clear their cards out by tomorrow's alternate side street cleaning. Better start shoveling.

~ photo by iPhone

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Photo of the Day: Calm before the Storm

Sunset tonight. Evidence that the days ARE getting longer. 
There was at least one bit of blue before the next storm and socked in series of gray days.

~ photo by iPhone

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Photo of the Day: Snowmen

Hartsdale Train Station, as viewed from the train, February 1, 2017

Sometimes in transit, when you look up from your phone at just the right time, you see public art as it is meant to be discovered. This installation at the MetroNorth Hartsdale Train Station is located between the north and south-bound tracks, as part of a system-wide public art works project.

~ photo by iPhone, some filters.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Photo of the Day: Holy Places

Looking for the light? Looking for sanctuary? Look for the library. Look for the librarians.

Katonah Village Library at dusk, with the planets in alignment with perfect light.
Libraries can be holy places.
 

~ photo by iPhone, NO filters.