Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 30, 2008

Not very inspired today. I went to the gym in the morning to work out. Then I came home and took a shower and ate lunch. Joel and Adina and I went to Target to get a few items like paper towels and toilet paper, the usual Sunday stuff that we do after we read about the sales in the newspaper. Well, when we were done shopping at Target (which by the way, was on generator power because of a fire nearby, so it was like
"mood" shopping!! When the lights came on everyone was cheering. It was a very funny moment.), anyway, when we were done shopping, we were greeted by a sheets of rain coming down so hard that we couldn't see out the doors. However, my husband has no patience, so he ran out to the car and pulled up in front of Target so we could run and get into the car. It really wasn't that bad because it was a warm rain. THis ia a photo of Joel -- soaking wet and dripping all over the car. THere is one tiny part of his tee-shirt that is dry, you can see it near his underarm! The rest of the photos are of the rain streaming down the windshield and beading up on the window.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 29, 2008

Saturday was a glorious day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temperature was in the low 70s. Adina had to go to a Bar Mitzvah and she was up bright and early doing hair and make up (not that she needs much, but it makes her feels like a lady). I took a bunch of typical photos of Adina, but I loved this one becaus it shows her true nature -- silly, light, fun and kitschy. The retro sunglasses just add a bit a drama to the photo and just look at the color of the sky.



After we dropped her at the temple, which was one of the largest temples that I have ever seen by the way, Joel and I went to Denny's for breakfast. Not the most glamorous of places, but practical for a quick meal of pancakes and coffee. Before we parked, I saw this small lake behind the parking lot and I made Joel stop for a moment so that I could snap a few shots. This image reminded me of the trees along the Potomac near George Washington's estate. The colors are reminiscent of the fall, even though we are no where near that climate or time of year.



And here is Joel, relaxing with the Saturday morning newspaper, me with my cup of coffee. A tiny slice of time that is so precious in our day.



This photo just tickles me. I had to run in to my optometrist so that he could replace a screw in my sunglasses. As I walked out I turned around and saw this scene. It says so much to me, these folks are sitting outside of a typical South Floridian bagel restaurant. These men could be any of our fathers. They are just sitting here either waiting to get into the restaurant, or waiting for their sons or daughters to pull up the car so they wouldn't have to walk too far. One man is busy reading the newspaper, perhaps it is the Community Newspaper that sits in the metal stands outside of this restaurant, or perhaps it is the daily newspaper chock full of sad news about our economy and the war in Iraq. But the funny part is the woman sitting off to the right, just completely ignoring the men and talking on a cell phone, perhaps to her daughter to let her know of their morning antics. This freezes the moment and lets you know what decade you it is. So to me, this photo speaks volumes and that is what I have been trying to achieve. To tell a story with just one snap of light.



A colleague of mine offered me tickets to see a two hour lecture at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Due to everyone's busy schedule, I was the only one able to go. I didn't want to miss it. This is Steven Schwartz, the man who wrote the music and lyrics to Wicked and many other Broadway musicals like Pippin and Godspell, Mass, and many more. He was the college roommate of one of my colleagues. I so enjoyed listening to his explanation of the journey he took in the creation of the music of Wicked. He said that it took three years to create all of the music. I like this photo because he was in the middle of singing the song, "For Good" and you could see how much he loves what he was doing.



As I was leaving the Broward Center, I decided to walk along the New River. This is the scene from the top of the stairs looking east on the river.

























These are the steps that I walked down and then I turned around and took a photo of the Broward Center. This is only one of the two theaters that makes up the Center. It is the larger of the two.














As I continued my walk along the the river I snapped this photo which captures the view along the water as well as the taller buildings of the downtown landscape.



This is a photo of the Museum of Discover and Science. I have spent many hours walking around the exhibits with the girls and Rachel has worked as a volunteer many hours there. I like the shape of the building too. The yellow section of the building used to have a covering until Hurricane Wilma blew it away.



This is a pavilion along the Riverwalk. It is used as a stage for concerts and as a centerpiece of many festivals and private occasions.



When I walk on Riverwalk, I always visit my mother's brick. This is the saying that my mother always said when when she was talking to my girls on the telephone before she would say goodbye. So we made sure that it was on this brick so that we could always see it.



And the day went on and on without a cloud and more and more sunshine. And I really wasn't hot walking along the river.



This street could be anywhere in America but the shadows of the palm trees gives you a clue that it is a location in a warm climate, possibly tropical or sub-tropical but still you aren't really sure where this is. These apartments were recently built in the downtown area. I think it would be a nice place to live if I were single, right in the heart of all of the excitement of the business, arts, restaurant and bar district.



In the middle of downtown, there is an oasis along the New River. There are many trees, bushes and flowers growing along the linear path along the water.



I almost had a job today! As I was walking, there was a wedding party gathering along the New River. They were all in a tizzy because their photographer didn't show up. They offered me $100 to take photos. I knew that they weren't really serious, but I did think about it for a minute! The photographer did show up a few minutes later! These tables were set up and ready for the wedding party. I would have liked to have a party like this one.



Despite popular belief, South Florida does actually have some history! This is the King-Cromartie house. Ivy Cromartie married Frank Stranahan and they lived in a house on the New River which was a trading post with where the Seminoles came to trade their furs and beads.



These railroad tracks are very important to South Florida and also carries a lot of history with them. Built by Henry Flagler, the Florida East Coast Railroad connected the northern states and supplies all the way south to Key West. It was an important step in the development of South FLorida. I liked this photo because the bridge is up and all is quiet in downtown as I was headed back to my car.



These are the light signals for the railroad. Many people ignore these lights when they are flasing and it puts them in terrible danger. You also don't realize how large they are until you look at them like this.



This is one of the newer buildings in downtown. They are building these residential buildings with retail on the first level. This looked very new and clean and bright against the deep blue of the sky.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 28, 2008

Today was the my last day at work because I am on vacation until April 7 with the girls on Spring Break. All week I felt like things were getting thrown at me before I leave. However, today was ghostly quiet and I was left alone, a huge difference from yesterday's emotional day. As the day winded down, I was walking past my colleague's office and I realized that I just had to share this. Poor Jim, he is a total intellectual, very, very smart, very book smart, very academic. He could be a professor. He saves every little piece of paper and notebook. He has been with us about ten years and his office has always looked like this. My director used to tell him that his raise would depend on him cleaning up his office. Well she just basically gave up trying. However, Jim knows where everything is. He can immediately put his hand on a piece of paper from a meeting that took place in 2001. It is weird, but amazing.



In order to hide some of the mess, we wrapped his window with Romero Britto artwork that is currently on the outside of 21 buses in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport! Hey, that is what creative and artistic people do with a problem, they make it into art!



After work we met Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Howie for dinner at a local pizza place and on the way home stopped for custard at this place called Ritters. It reminded me the 1950s because there were so many families there and everyone was outside and there was a clown doing face painting. This is Adina contemplating her custard. She was trying to pawn off her whipped cream on anyone (she is not a fan of whipped cream).














And here is the proof that you are NEVER too old to feel like a kid when eating an ice cream cone!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 25, 2007

I was not having a very good day. I was quite emotional and everything that was going on in the day was annoying me and pissing me off. Perhaps there is something in the moon and planets where Mercury is in retrograde and makes everyone a raving lunatic, but by noon I needed a break. So I went out to the plaza outside of our building, plopped down on a cement bench that was in the sun and I threw off my shoes and warmed up in the strong sun. Then I called my best friend, Susan, and we chatted for about a half hour. It was a wonderful, guilty pleaure in the middle of the work week and in the middle of the day. I felt so much calmer after that and then went to get myself a sandwich at Subway. However, while I was on the phone I snapped this photo of the empty pool in front of our building. They have a sign up that says that they have drained the pools due to the drought. But due to some rain, there was a little bit of water that the pigeon was trying to wash himself in.



The rest of my day proofed to be equally as emotionally challenging. I can usually handle the pressure of overlapping deadlines and over-reactive employees, but not today. On the trolley on the way home I started to think about what had changed in my life. When I went to the doctor on Monday to have my thyroid checked, I had forgotten that he had changed the dosagae of my medicine which actually affects my hormones. So I am positive that is why I was an emotional wreck today. So Joel set up a massage for me at the hotel. I had Rachel drop me off there when I got home from the trolley. After the glorious massage, I got myself a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte (also at the hotel) or whatever that is called and I was sipping it as I was sitting in the car waiting for Adina to get her little butt in the car so that we could drive her to a sleep over party at her friend's house (it is the beginning of Spring Break). I looked so relaxed in the side view mirror that I decided to snap this photo of myself. Plus you can see my poor broken finger all wrapped up in the splint! It is doing much better.



My tea and my bare feet on the dashboard. I am such a flower child still!!


























Miss Adina finally joined us and here she is all ready to party with her girlfriends. This was a homemade birthday card that she was showing me.



And so the day ended with Joel and me in bed at 10:57 p.m. watching the last few minutes of Celebrity Apprentice (sorry, I got hooked and wanted to see who would win). Rachel had taken her two girlfriends, Pearl and Taylor, to the Panther Ice Hockey game and they had just come in, plopped down on the floor of our bedroom and I just had to document that moment. Then it was off to sleep.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 26, 2008

I started the day with my free cup of coffee at the Museum of Art. It is becoming a habit to go and get a cup of coffee and chat for a few minutes with the cafe manager! He has placed a bunch of these red umbrellas in front of the museum and a beautiful stainless steel cart and they serve strong Italian coffee. When they get all of their equipment in, they will have espresso and baked items and, of course, then they will be charging. But for now they just just provide it for free! They have a few tables and chairs out as well so you can sit and feel like you are in a European cafe having breakfast while you watch the morning traffic wiz by.







In the afternoon I was waiting for the trolley and decided to try practicing focusing on a car and then following it with my body to freeze the motion while everything else looked like it was moving. I read the article that my friend sent to me in a comment a few days ago. I had my shutter speed at 30 and a tried it for about 10 minutes with about 50 shots. One of my trolley buddies was trying to ask me questions about photography while I was trying to shot this. Only one or two came out close to what I was aiming for. But I had fun trying!



When I came home I grabbed the camera and went for a walk by myself. I lool for out of the ordinary things to shoot and today I saw this interesting bird across the lake either drying his wings or balancing himself against the wind that was blowing at a good pace. His beak was a brilliant orange but I couldn't zoom in any closer. This reminded me of that movie, "Wax On, Wax Off."



As I was focusing on this Buddha, a neighbor was washing his car. I was trying to be polite and explain to him that there are water restrictions due to a drought and he isn't supposed to be washing his car. He had no clue. How sad is it that people go about their business and do not even know that this state is in a crisis?? The water levels at Lake Okeechobee are so dangerously low that we can only water lawns or wash our cars specific days of the week. Somehow I kept my cool.



Here I go again finding the beautiful little flowers with brilliant colors. This is a tiny flower that actually are colorful leaves of the Bouganvillia tree. It is the yellow center that is the actual flower.





I snapped this because I loved the way the tree was growing out of another tree. I think it is a grape leave tree and these suckers are so strong they can grow anywhere. You usually see them along the edge of I-95. The sun hadn't started to set quite yet so there was still very sharp shadows everywhere. I liked the contrast of the shadow of the leaves along the trunk of tree.



I saw this rock out in front of someone's house. I didn't take the photo right away because there was a young man walking into his house and I didn't want him to think that I was trying to snoop around their house or take their photos. So I walked down the block until he was well inside of the house and then I back tracked and snapped this photo.




And this photo was taken while Joel and I were on the way to pick up Adina at Hebrew School. We were at a red light and I was looking up at the power grid and liked the way this looked. I took out all of the color and it really just looks like an abstract sculpture you might see at the MOMA.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 25, 2008

In the morning, Samantha, my colleague, and I walked over to the Museum of Art to get a cup of coffee. They are giving out free cups of coffee until the end of this week to promote their new cafe. It is very good coffee and we have have been going there for two weeks. I think that they have hooked a lot of people! I also had to shoot a few photos of our display about the Arts License Plate (you can sort of see the display in the background. However, While the museum officials weren't looking, I snapped this shot of the sculpture of three dogs. I just love this artwork. Also in the wall you can see a black and white photo which describes the concept car exhibit that is at the museum right now. The cars are really amazing!



When I walked into the house, the first thing that Newton did was run past me into the laundry room and dove into this laundry basket. It was like he was deliberately being cute so that I would take his photo!



As Joel was preparing dinner, Rachel was helping Adina with her Math homework -- something that wouldn't even attempt to do since I know how bad I am at Math! Don't they look like the perfect children? Well this moment only lasted about 10 minutes and then the yelling, screaming and tears stared and continued after dinner also. Rachel lost her patience because Adina wasn't really paying attention. It was percentages. I felt bad for both of them, but I decided to let them work it out. I only got angry once!



My comfy living room chair has become the perch where my cats take turns sleeping. It is one of the higher points in the living room and I guess they enjoy the feeling of looking down on everything else. That is why I chose this low angle to make the chair look even higher than it really is.



And the last cat shot of the evening is an overhead one of Grace as she chows down on her dinner. Notice how she has a rubber ball in her food. Honestly , I didn't put that there. Grace playes with these balls and brings them to her food dish. Sometimes I find three or four of them in the food. I think it is funny! Cats are so very entertaining to me. Better than TV sometimes!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 24, 2008

Today was a typical Monday. It was a very gray day but I don't mind because I know that the hot days of summer will soon be upon us. I was able to get lots of things done at work because it was fairly quiet, but sometimes I like when there are a lot of things going on because I get wound up in the excitement and then the adreniline takes over. But other than that, it was not an extraordinary day and I didn't feel like taking a walk after work. So I looked around the house for things to shoot. Here is Grace snoozing on my Mom's chair from the Far Rockaway living room. Mom would definitely NOT approve of the cat on the furniture.



Adina always tells me that she only has a little bit of homework. Well it is now 10 p.m. as I am writing this and she is STILL doing her homework. I really believe that she is distracted by everything. But she somehow gets it all done.



I liked this photo because you can see the 60s mobile thing that is hanging in front of her door and that is IN focus and Adina is in the background doing homework . . . not in focus.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - March 23, 2008

Happy Easter!

Adina was a sleepy girl cuddling in bed with us when, lo and behold, the Easter Cow came and visited! Huh? Well, she did get a lovely Easter basket which was still next to her bed. But she came in to see what the Easter bunny brought me! I have to say that I was thrilled with my assortment of dark chocolates from South America! Yum!



In Rachel's room the early morning sun gave the Easter goodies a warm and cozy feel. That was the last time Rachel saw the stuffed duck! Newton came in and grabbed it and was hiding it all over the house.



This was both Adina's and my baskets and you can see my delicious box of chocolates poking out of the basket.



After a long day of finishing the house cleaning and laundry and then bill paying . . . we had 15 people over for dinner and dessert and fun talk. This photo is of Aunt Marilyn helping me in the kitchen. My finger still hurts and it is hard to do normal things around the house. She spent a lot of time and I really appreciated the help because there were a lot of plates!!
























In the aftermath of the company, Newton and I were in the kitchen. I was really just going to get a class of water and go to bed, but he looked so cute checking out all of the clean plates and mugs. It is amazing how he can tip toe through all of these breakable items and not disturb anything.