October mosaic

Another month done! This was more difficult than September I think.

October 31: Godzilla

There's just something kind of sad about toys tossed out with the garbage like this. I feel like I should have rescued them.

October 30: spider!

In anticipation of Halloween tomorrow.

October 29: flame

October 28: nap

Nothing better than a snooze in the sunshine.

October 27: drops

Buckets o' rain have been falling on us since yesterday. I noticed these tiny flowers near my front steps and went inside to grab my close-up lens.

(Yes, I am a big fan of tiny flowers.)

And I have a runner-up for today too!

October 26: drips

Mural on Thompson St near Spring.

And just for kicks, a funny runner-up pic for today. :)

October 25: sprout

Apparently when a pumpkin gets realllllllly big, it sprouts a tree!

October 24: nightlight

Daylight hours are contracting, and my work hours are expanding. I haven't been outside during daylight in the past 3 days.

October 23: symmetry

Lying on the couch this evening, I was struck by the symmetry of the curves of my feet (slightly blurry photo notwithstanding).

October 22: bud

I brought my hibiscus plants inside a few weeks ago. Apparently I didn't need to, since it's still in the 70s here, but oh well.

I used a close-up lens for this one. Think I'll be playing with it some more over the next few days.

October 21: veins

Another sidewalk find.

I originally intended to use a different picture for today, but Sean said this one caught his eye, so I'm going with it.

October 20: impression

One never knows what one will see on the sidewalks of New York.

October 19: den

Zoe has claimed the space under our new dining table as an auxiliary den.

October 18: hand

Odd sculpture in Charlotte.

Charlotte NC

I was in Charlotte this week attending a conference for work. I spent the vast majority of my time in the convention center, in my hotel room, or walking between the two places. But I did manage to take some photos while I was there.

Shockingly, our departure flight was delayed. Here's the plane pulling up the gate about 90 minutes after we were supposed to have left.



The next morning, I noticed the different shades of the sunrise were reflected in the rows of windows on one of the buildings across from my hotel. I'm disappointed that my photo came out blurry, but it's still pretty. :(



While maneuvering behind the curtains to take that picture, I found these random shoes in the corner. Ew! They looked like they'd been there for about a dozen years.



Yikes, glad I don't have this job.



I hate Canadian geese. These two wouldn't get out of my way, so I decided to take their photo.



The sunset that night was amazing. (Also see my Project365 photo.)





Later that evening we went to a reception at the Carolina Panthers stadium.





Downtown Charlotte. One of those buildings looks like it's leaning to the left!





My hotel was across the street from a complex of government buildings, including the courthouse. Who knew jails had lobbies?!



There's no place like home. :)

October 17: crooked

I love how the light fixture above the door of this beautiful brick church building is crooked.

October 16: geometry

Looking out my hotel room window into the windows of the government building across the street.

October 15: orange

Yup, another sunset! At least this one's not in Brooklyn though. It's Charlotte, NC. (More pics of the sunset and of Charlotte here.)

October 14: S

I know the 'S' on the bike seat stands for Schwinn, but it reminded me of a favorite joke of my friends Jason and Janelle. I believe this joke convinced Janelle that Jason was the man for her. When Jason told it, the joke took much longer than this and somehow was much funnier.

Anyway, here's the short version: (read the last line aloud for full effect)

There was once a snail who was sick and tired of his reputation for being so slow. He decided to get some fast wheels to make up for it. He went to a dealer bought a brand new car, and told the dealer he wanted a big red 'S' painted on each side of it.

The dealer asked, "Why 'S'?"

The snail replied, "'S' stands for snail. I want everybody who sees me roaring past to know who's driving."

Well, the dealer didn't want to lose the unique opportunity to sell a car to a snail, so he agreed to have the car painted for a small fee.

The snail got his new car and spent the rest of his days roaring happily down the highway at top speed. And whenever anyone would see him zooming by, they'd say "Wow! Look at that S-car go!"

Ba-dum-chhhhh!

October 13: damn

Remember this guy? Well, I guess we know what happens "next time" now, don't we? What a jerk. Close-up of the sign here, and another version of the sign here. Needless to say, we don't walk the dogs on that side of the street. So I guess the terrorist won. :(

October 12: bones

I kind of like graffiti sometimes.

October 11: feets

These are two of Zoe's feet. You can see a few of her whiskers in this one too. Bonus!

I also have a runner-up pic for today: the second in my series of dead pigeon photos. Double bonus!

October 10: sunset

I know, I know, another sunset. But it's so pretty, I can't help myself.

October 9: politics

Kinda funny, kinda creepy defacement of a subway poster ad.

Adventures with lemons

We visited Italy some time ago and stayed with friends of my parents, who served us some delicious homemade limoncello as a digestif. On the same trip, we visited Slovenia and bought a lovely set of limoncello glasses, which I have been dying to put to use! So I figured it was time to try making some limoncello myself.

I am generally following this recipe I found online.

You start with a bunch of lemons! I used 16. (The recipe calls for 15 but evidently I miscounted at the store.) Scrub them with a brush under hot water to remove any dirt, wax, etc. Then rinse well and pat dry.





Then you zest the lemons, removing only the bright yellow part of the peel (not the white pith underneath), and place the zest in a large glass jar with a bottle of 100-proof vodka. I learned that it takes a long time and a lot of effort to zest 16 lemons.



Then you close the jar tightly, place it somewhere cool and dark, and basically leave it alone for awhile (10-40 days) before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. I stashed the jar on the top shelf of our closet and will check on it in a few weeks.

So now I am left with 16 unpeeled lemons. I love the pattern that the zester leaves behind on the lemon.



What do you do when life hands you 16 naked lemons? Yup, you make lemonade! So I squeezed the juice out of all 16 lemons. This also takes a substantial amount of time and effort. I ended up with 3 CUPS of lemon juice!



I strained it through coffee filters to remove the pulp etc (this took way longer than I was expecting because the filters kept getting clogged). Then I used about half of it to make some lemonade (super yummy) and poured the rest into an old glass bottle that used to have syrup in it (I cleaned it thoroughly first) to use later for cooking. (Hopefully it keeps well.)



All in all, quite an adventure for my day off. Plus, my whole apartment smells like fresh lemons. Can't beat that!

Happiness is...

...cute shoes, and a place to keep them!



Bought a new cubby for my shoes yesterday and put it together today. Happy shoes!

October 8: patriotism

This might be the most ragged flag I've ever seen. And I have no idea why it is not flying at the top of the staff. You might think it's for Columbus Day, but it was also flying this way yesterday evening. We have the NYC Parks department to thank for this one. Very sad.

October 7: flowers

These teeny-tiny pink flowers are peeking over from our neighbor's front yard.

October 6: rays

This guy was enjoying the last of the summer sun on the train platform this afternoon. Eighty-degree weather in October. We'd better enjoy it -- the deep freeze is surely coming.

October 5: leaden

Unlike the golden Manhattan I posted a couple of days ago, this is a kind of post-apocalyptic version. I took this pic from my office building this morning as the fog was still burning off.

October 4: #25

Did you know that streetlights have ID numbers? This one is #25.

Chop chop

I got my hair cut tonight! So far I'm digging it. If I look tired in these pics, that's because I am.