By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Architecture.
Manhattan, of course, is full of dramatic architecture. But it’s sometimes hard to grasp it all from the inside. You need to stand a bit apart—or even better, sit in a kayak!
Here is some of Manhattan’s architecture that we saw on our paddle just this last weekend (full set of photos is here):
Posted in Architecture, Kayaking, New York City, Photography
Tagged Architecture, Manhattan, New York City, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s photo challenge from The Daily Post is One Shot, Two Ways, and from Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack? it is Architecture.
New York City overwhelms with its architecture, old and new, at ground level and high above. The photographer has to choose whether to capture the details of the architectural landscape or to portray the soaring verticals…
Another “One Shot, Two Ways” post was here.
By Vladimir Brezina
… the ragged rock in the restless waters,
Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;
On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,
In navigable weather it is always a seamark
To lay a course by: but in the sombre season
Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.
T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages
The Dry Salvages is the third of T.S. Eliot‘s Four Quartets, a landmark of 20th-century English poetry. In a prefatory note, Eliot tells us that the Dry Salvages are a group of isolated rocks offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, but in the body of the poem they are never mentioned again by name. Rather, their symbolic reach expands immediately to encompass one of the larger themes of the poem, that of water as the eternal agent of birth and death. It might seem, therefore, that the Dry Salvages are a mythical place.
But they are real, and a couple of days ago we paddled out to see them.
Posted in Kayaking, Literature, Nature
Tagged Four Quartets, Islands, Photography, Poetry, Rock Garden, Sea Kayaking, Seals, T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Sculpture.
Her own examples start with man-made sculptures, but conclude with her “favourite sculptures [that] come from the natural world… sculpted by wind… and water…”
Here is a sculpture that we came across recently that seems poised between the two worlds, being both man-made and sculpted by natural forces, wind, water, and sun…
And in the morning…
On North Captiva Island, Florida, during our kayak trip down the Gulf Coast of Florida in April (see here and here).
And speaking of beach sculptures, check out this one, courtesy of our friends 2 Geeks @ 3 Knots!
Posted in Art, Photography
Tagged Beach, Florida, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Sculpture, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is The Sign Says.
Kayaking out on open water, we meet few signs. But as soon as we come in to land, signs abound. Some of them do their best to be unavoidable. Nevertheless, we sometimes manage to avoid them—
Some years ago, Erik Baard and I paddled down from Manhattan and landed on the beach near the northwestern tip of Sandy Hook. We had a leisurely lunch, took a stroll along the beach, lazed about, and after a couple of hours were ready to paddle back to Manhattan. But just before we launched, we thought that we might, just out of curiosity, find out what those two big signs that stood there, facing away from us, said…
And not far from that spot was another, complementary set of signs that helped complete the image of Sandy Hook, at least in those pre-Hurricane Sandy days…
.
.
.
(Our first interpretation of “The Sign Says” was here.)
Posted in Humor, Kayaking, New York City, Photography
Tagged Kayaking, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Sandy Hook, The Sign Says, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is The Sign Says.
On May 20, 2011, during our multi-day paddle down the Hudson River from Albany to New York City, we landed in the town of Highland for a meal in a riverside restaurant. And we saw this sign, promising Judgment Day for tomorrow. Devastating earthquakes were predicted to usher in the Rapture!
It sure looked like our trip would enter some seriously uncharted waters. Nevertheless, we kept paddling, and made it through May 21 without incident. We later learned that Judgment Day had been postponed until October 21, and then it was abandoned altogether…
P.S. Some people have read the bottom line of this sign as “Ediblefellowship.com”, suggesting quite another set of possibilities…
(A second interpretation of “The Sign Says” is here.)
Posted in Humor, Photography
Tagged Judgment Day, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, The Sign Says, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Johna Till Johnson
This week’s Photo Challenge is Kiss.
What with Couples, and Love, and Valentine’s Day, we’ve had entirely too much romantic stuff lately. So, for something completely different—
.
A few months back, a friend and client invited me to a corporate event.
Not your typical corporate event: It was a “Battle of the Bands”, in which employee-musicians competed in front of a crowd of hundreds of other employees and business partners.
Knowing my friend is a huge fan of the rock group KISS, I volunteered to come dressed in full KISS attire.
Okay, actually I didn’t volunteer. My business partner volunteered me, as in, “I’m sure Johna would love to dress up!”
Hmm… I’d love to, but… As the president and CEO of an up-and-coming technology research firm, did I really want to show up in front of clients and other professionals dressed like a rock star? Isn’t there something about, you know, having an image to uphold?
Upon further consideration, it took me about a nanosecond to agree with the idea. (After all, if I were diehard about maintaining a professional image, I wouldn’t be sporting a Billy Idol ‘do.)
Much longer, though, were the preparations.
First: Which member should I emulate? I was only dimly aware of the individual band members. My friend the KISS connoisseur advised that although Gene Simmons is better known, Ace Frehley’ Paul Stanley’s makeup is easier to do. (Note: As alert readers have noted, it was actually Paul Stanley’s makeup we emulated. I was confused by listening to “New York Groove” while writing this….)
Paul it was!
Then there were the logistics. Prior to the Battle of the Bands, there was an actual formal(ish) event during which we technology folks were to get briefed on the company’s products and services. The CEO would be attending. Did I want to show up at this event in KISS makeup?
In the end, I decided against that plan of action. Instead, after the event, my friend and I swiftly changed into KISS gear and did our makeup, rocking out to the sound of “New York Groove”.
The results? I think we were a rocking pair of Pauls! And my friend accessorized with a blow-up guitar…
By sheer coincidence, some time before Vlad had taken a photo of a Gene Simmons lookalike at the Hallowe’en festivities on the Upper East Side. He didn’t recognize the costume, though: I had to provide some additional context.
After all, by then I was an expert in KISS!
________________________________________________________
Great minds think alike!: To Mother Earth, with Love
Posted in Life, Music, Photography
Tagged Band, Kiss, Music, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Rock, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
Once upon a time, I used to visit quite often a certain place that has lately been in the news.
Here it is in January.
And in May.
And in July…
Where is it?
I’ll give you a hint:
__________________________________________________
Update February 9, 2013: This is Bosworth Field, about 15 miles west of Leicester, England. On August 22, 1485, this happened here:
In the Battle of Bosworth, the final battle of the Wars of the Roses, King Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England, was killed, and Henry VII, the first king of the Tudor dynasty, came to the throne.
Richard’s skeleton has now been discovered buried under a car park in Leicester.
Tagged Battle, Bosworth Field, England, History, King, Landscape, Photography, Richard III
By Johna Till Johnson
Freshly Pressed on the WordPress.com home page!
You probably knew this, but January 28th is the 140th birthday of the French writer Colette.
Colette, in costume…
Okay, you probably didn’t know that. You might not even remember who Colette is, though chances are, you’re familiar with at least one of her works.
And you’re probably wondering why you should care about her birthday, or her.
Let me take a step back. This year, Vlad and I have adopted a new tradition: We’ve selected a pantheon of personal heroes, and heroines—people whose spirits and lives matter to us—and are making a conscious effort to celebrate their birthdays.
Colette’s is the first, but there will be plenty of others.
So why did we select her?
Posted in Biography, Culture, Life, Literature, Society
Tagged Biography, Colette, French Writers, Literature
By Vladimir Brezina
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges
Richard Hoad and Paul Moore
Bloomsbury Publishing
London, 2012
.
From the description of the book on Amazon:
“The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges” profiles 50 of the most extreme marathons, triathlons, bike rides, adventure races, climbs, open-water swims and other iconic endurance events from around the world. Breathtaking full-color photographs and insider commentary from top athletes will thrill endurance athletes, extreme sports addicts, and outdoor adventurers of all stripes.
Posted in Book Reviews, Sports, Travel
Tagged Adventure, Book Review, Canoeing, Cycling, Endurance Races, Ironman, Kayaking, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, Marathon, Photography, Running, Sailing, Sports, Swimming, Triathlon
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
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Wind Against Current 