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Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

BIRDS of a Different Feather – All Together in the Park

Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna, Only in New York, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2012| 1 Comment »

Today is the last day of my photo week, however not the end of my photo posts!  It’s just been a great week for me as Murray has been sending me shots every other day or so.  So even though I did feature a magnificent owl yesterday, today is devoted to birds of a different feather altogether.  Nice play on words don’tcha think?

A Young Red Tail Hawk

A Young Red Tail Hawk

A Slate Junco Sitting Pretty

A Slate Junco Sitting Pretty

Mallard Triplets

Mallard Triplets

Cardinal Triplets

Cardinal Triplets

Hey how did you get in the picture?

Hey how did you get in the picture?

Blue Jays Are Known Thieves!

Blue Jays Are Known Thieves!

He's Really A Beauty!

He’s Really A Beauty!

HE

HE

SHE

SHE

All photos by Murray Head

Some people think New York is an ugly city, dirty and without beauty.  They are SO wrong- There’s so much beauty in The City, it’s all around us.  Central Park alone is replete with beautiful flowers and wildlife;  The birds are wonderful, the ponds full of turtles, frogs and visited by egrets and herons alike.  If outside art is not your thing, we have amazing museums and art galleries filled with every genre and period of art and sculpture.  AND of course not to brag too much, MANY of the most famous artists original work hangs here.  

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Yellow Is The Color Of My True Love’s …

Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I said this was a photo week and it does seem to be shaping up that way!  Look at these bursts of color and then tell me, is it true that the color yellow is uplifting and illuminating?  In world of color psychology, the color yellow denotes intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful and yet also associated with criticism, impatience and cowardice.

What do you feel when you see these photos?

Gorgeous tree is a glowing yellow against the cornflower blue sky

This IS a burst of color!

Peek A Boo – Whoooo

Just a touch of yellow!

Yellow is the center of this world.

Shakin’ Up The Yellow

Yellow Berries

Bee coated in pollen and oh so yellow!

All photos courtesy of Murray Head

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Berry Nice

Posted in Fab Fotos, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna, tagged , , , , , , , on October 6, 2012| 4 Comments »

Did you ever wonder how birds get their names?  I mean a Bluebird is obvious and a Blue Jay makes sense, but what about a Cardinal?  Do you think it was named after the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church and did the color Cardinal Red come before or after the bird? Ahhhh but I digress.

The title of the blog is Berry Nice so wouldn’t you think it should have something to do with berries?  In fact it does and also about some birds with a very unusual name.  Cedar Waxwings!  Really now, what does that conjure up?  Cedar trees, wings of wax?  Well I have some really cute photos of a bunch of immature Cedar Waxwings feasting on some red berries in Central Park.  Murray was there to capture them and in addition, he wrote this little poem!

A tree grows on a slope north-west of Cedar Hill…
whose berries were ripe for the pickin’.
as a flock of juvenile Cedar Waxwings discovered.
in they flew, out they flew, and now those berries are missin’.

Cedar waxwing

This looks like a berry nice place

berry, central park, cedar waxwing

I’ve got myself a nice juicy one!

red berries, cedar waxwing

I’d bend over backwards for a berry!

red berries, cedar waxwing, central park

Not quite ripe but I think it will be fine anyway.

berry

Humphhh at least, they left at least ONE berry for me!

All photos courtesy of Murray Head

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Birds Of A Feather Flock Together in Central Park

Posted in Fab Fotos, Obscure Origins of Common and Not So Common Phrases, Only in New York, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The origin of this proverb dates back to the mid-16th Century.  In 1545 Martin Turner used a version of this phrase in his papist satire, The Rescuing of Romish Fox; “Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.”   

In nature, birds of the same species often do flock and fly together.  Ornithologists explain  this behavior as a “safety”  in numbers tactic to reduce their risk of predation.

Well the only person shooting these birds is Murray and he’s using a lens, not a gun.  See for yourself this marvelous flock of birds.

Central Park

American Goldfinch

Murray Head, Central Park

Hermit Thrush

Murray Head, Central Park

Cedar Waxwing

Murray Head, Central Park

American Redstaart (femaile)

Murray Head, Central Park

Black and White Warbler

Murray Head, Central Park

Red Tailed Hawk

All photos courtesy of Murray Head

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It’s National Wine Day – No Whining Please

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , , on May 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This image shows a red wine glass.

Could be Chianti, or a Bordeaux or a Pinot Noir Mmmmm

Today’s the day to celebrate the grape! Nectar of the gods, fruit of the vine, delightful, delectable and divine is WINE.

I grew up in an Italian household so drinking red wine with meals was de riguer and when I was married the first time, we drank red table wine every night with our dinner.  It’s funny to think back on that now as it seems it was truly another lifetime ago….

Here’s what Punchbowl has to say about today:

National Wine Day

Today is National Wine Day! Wine has been an important part of human history and culture for thousands of years. Regardless of whether you prefer red, white, pinot, or cabernet, everyone can appreciate today’s celebration. Spread the news about this unique occasion with a free Wine Day eCard!

Archaeologists in Speyer, Germany discovered the oldest bottle of wine in existence while excavating two Roman stone sarcophaguses in 1867. The bottle dates back to at least 325 AD! It is now on display at the History Museum of the Pfalz in Germany.

To celebrate National Wine Day, find out if there are any events going on at your local winery or plan your very own wine tasting party for you and your friends!

However, if wine is not your thing, other reasons to celebrate today include, National Brown-Bag-It Day, National Tap Dance Day and International Geek Pride Day.   So if you’re going to the office today, bring your lunch, tap dance down the hall and give your IT guy a hug!

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How Old Is The Lead In Your Pencil?

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , , on May 8, 2012| 6 Comments »

Deutsch: Bleistiftspitze English: Pencil tip

Deutsch: Bleistiftspitze English: Pencil tip (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Did you ever see an old pencil?  Well of course you did… you could tell it was old because it had advertising on it and and the phone number was DIamond 436-6871.  Diamond?? Yes kids, telephone exchanges used to be designated by words.  Usually just the first two letters or sometimes three letters of the word.  Growing up, my exchange was DIamond, my husband’s was    TEmpleton .

You can also tell when a pencil is old because it’s more than likely round and a color other than yellow.  And then of course the eraser is a dead giveaway.  Atrophied, hard as a rock, blackened and totally unusable.

BUT the pencil….!!! If it’s dull all you have to do is sharpen it and it will write just like it was a newbie fresh out of a box.  And it doesn’t matter whether the pencil is a vintage No. 2 Farber or a stub of an old giveaway.  Once sharpened, you can write with this pencil today, tomorrow, a year from now, 25 years from now and it always writes the same way.  It doesn’t deteriorate with old age.  It doesn’t wrinkle, sag, lose its sight and hearing or for that matter, its hair, its arteries don’t harden although its head does!

It will write in cursive, block print or anything in between you scribble.

Think about it….wouldn’t you like to age like a pencil?

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Raptor Rapture

Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, tagged , , , , , , on October 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

That’s right, you read it correctly!  Magnificent birds belong to the  Raptor classification and we are lucky enough to see some of them up close and personal.  Murray attended the RaptorFest in NYC which is produced by Hawk Creek Wildlife Inc.  Urbanites get to see all sorts of fascinating winged creatures.  And so do we, thanks Murray!

owl

A very intense owl

Is he smiling at the crowd?

vulture, hawk,

I don’t know what it is, do you?

owl, raptor

Barn Owl

vulture

Big Foot

Perigrine Falcon

King Vulture

In flight

Spread your wings

All photos courtesy of Murray Head

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10 Signs Summer Is over

Posted in BY THE WAY, Thursday's Top Ten, tagged , , , , , , , on September 3, 2011| 3 Comments »

Basket of petunias

Petunias in full bloom

                            THURSDAY’S TOP TEN

Summer is waning just like the new moon!  Oh and you can tell; there are signs everywhere! How depressing! I sometimes think I want to live in “An Endless Summer”.

Labor Day weekend is here, the traditional end of the summer vacation and just like robins are the harbingers of Spring, there are many signs summer is ending!

  1. My petunias are getting really straggly and have much fewer blooms.
  2. The newspaper inserts are full of BACK TO SCHOOL  sales.
  3. I needed a shawl the other night when walking on the boardwalk.
  4. The air conditioners haven’t been on for the last two weeks.
  5. All the stores have Halloween costumes and candy on display.
  6. The older teenagers in town have disappeared – gone off to college.
  7. The hydrangeas have faded and the lariope grass is in full bloom with its purple flowers.
  8. The Swimsuit Station is having a 50% markdown sale.
  9. Neighbors have started putting mums on their porches.
  10. Home Depot has snow blowers and leaf blowers out in front.

So what have you noticed that tells you one season is ending and another is beginning.  Would love to post them next year.

 

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Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words-Thursday’s Top 10

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Last week, I published 10 A words and am thinking I’ll just cruise through the alphabet.  So stick around and check back, hopefully I’ll get back to keeping this list thing going for Thursdays.  Pretty funny since it’s now 12:29am Sunday morning.

  1. Baggywrinkle  – a frayed out rope used on ship rigging to prevent chafing.
  2. Barmecide – a false benefactor.
  3. Backberand – a thief caught with the goods.
  4. Bauchle –  an old shoe or one with worn heels.
  5. Bandoline – a smelly hair goo made from boiled quince pips.
  6. Bedswerver – an unfaithful spouse.
  7. Billingsgate –   coarse or abusive talk.
  8. Bonnyclabber – coagulated, sour milk.
  9. Bradyyarthria – slow talking.
  10. Breastsummer – a beam or girder set over an opening, as a doorway

Unusual? Definitely, Obscure? Of course, Preposterous? Ay-yeh

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Come FLY With Me!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 16, 2011| 2 Comments »

macro photography, Murray Head

Smiling Right Back At Ya!

macro photography, Murray Head,

Layin' Low

Murray Head, fly

"You talkin' to me"?

Photos courtesy of Murray Head

Have you EVER seen such amazing photographs of a fly?  These macro shots of insects are so revealing and intimate and I am in awe of all their little parts – NOW IF they would just stay outside and not come into my house, I would really appreciate it and not be inclined to swat one of these little living creatures.

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