Saturday, June 3, 2017

Enjoy your Saturday

The Rose Garden in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has just re opened. If you live in New York, it's a great place to spend part of your Saturday.



Friday, June 2, 2017

Have a great weekend

iPhone image


Return to Erice

Whenever a new arrivals to Sicily visits me,  I always take them to Erice, a wonderful medieval hilltop village that offers spectacular views. For example one can see the Egadi Islands of Favignana, Levanto and Marettimo alond with Trapani and the sea salt flats considered by experts to produce the best  sea salt in the world. I fully agree. Naturally Erice has many streets full of crowds, restaurants and gift shops. The real pleasure is visiting the many side streets that are tranquil and peaceful. The modern state of the art cable car that one can take to avoid motor traffic  is a marriage of modern engeneering and Italian creativity. This is definitively a must see place. And if you do go you must visit the Caffè del convento to really taste a true cannolo that is a life changing experience. Happy trails.




Thursday, June 1, 2017

Giverny, France...la cuisine

Monet's garden in Giverny is perhaps the most beautiful garden in the world. Not as stately as le Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris and not as classsical as Villa D'Este in Rome, it is nevertheless a botanical jewel. I will post some flower images in the near future. But what also fascinated me was Monet's kitchen. These are some representative images. 




Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Archival slide scan

Shot in Torre Molinas Spain long ago with a Nikon FTn. a 35mm f2.8 Nikkor lens and on the then new Kodachrome 25 that had just replaced the legendary Kodachrome II. The ISO. then called ASA. was a mere 25. Taking a picture required some skills then. Now of course cameras shoot practically in the dark and since it costs nothing to shoot a great number of photos are taken and the so called best are archived. Nevertheless, this ease has merely improved the level of mediocrity. Everybody is a photographer and an artist these days. Good for them.


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Il Castello di Venere

iPhone image

Il Castello di Venere or the Castle of Venus in Erice is a wonderful old structure that was recently restored. On our last visit there, on the beginning of May we found it enveloped in a deep fog  that created a magical effect. I believe that just one image suffices in this post.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Little shool house

This wanderful building in northern New Jersey was once a great site to visit because on weekends volunteer would open it and allow people to visit and enjoy. A few years ago, it was handed over to the Federal Governmen and it  never opened again. A pity.





Fall splendor