Deerfield North

I spent the weekend In Bucks County, Pennsylvania for Father’s Day. Bucks County is a place in which I can count on most things and people to be in place as they were since I was a kid there and its landmarks can sometimes depict that stagnancy. And this sign is a prime example of that. I can still always be a kid, or a teenager when I go ‘home’

A few months back, in order to break in a new camera, I decided to document the Deerfield North sign. I have always loved its aesthetic charm, and the fact that it has been there since 1976. To me, the sign is representative of how time stands still there in more ways than one.

Deerfield North, a typical suburban division of Richboro and its welcome is this blocky, stone wall with a wooden sign with the title of our development etched into it, and unbelievably held up pretty well considering the weather in Pa. It has never been updated or replaced in all these years, and just a few months I finally decided to document this sign before the township awoke up one day to say, Wow, that sign is going into another decade and it wrecks of 1970.

Well, as time has it, two weeks ago the sign was uprooted by a drunk driver and has since been replaced with a modern sign. I didn’t notice this until I passed it this weekend with my Mother and was horrified to see in it’s place a ‘modern’ at least by Richboro standards, a brand new thin metal frame with the words Deerfield North in cursive on frail base, and so unappealing. It made me so sad to see, but so relieved that I took a piece of that memory with me before its fall to modernity.

images on the inside

Deerfield North

I spent the weekend In Bucks County, Pennsylvania for Father’s Day. Bucks County is a place in which I can count on most things and people to be in place as they were since I was a kid there and its landmarks can sometimes depict that stagnancy. And this sign is a prime example of that. I can still always be a kid, or a teenager when I go ‘home’

A few months back, in order to break in a new camera, I decided to document the Deerfield North sign. I have always loved its aesthetic charm, and the fact that it has been there since 1976. To me, the sign is representative of how time stands still there in more ways than one.

Deerfield North, a typical suburban division of Richboro and its welcome is this blocky, stone wall with a wooden sign with the title of our development etched into it, and unbelievably held up pretty well considering the weather in Pa. It has never been updated or replaced in all these years, and just a few months I finally decided to document this sign before the township awoke up one day to say, Wow, that sign is going into another decade and it wrecks of 1970.

Well, as time has it, two weeks ago the sign was uprooted by a drunk driver and has since been replaced with a modern sign. I didn’t notice this until I passed it this weekend with my Mother and was horrified to see in it’s place a ‘modern’ at least by Richboro standards, a brand new thin metal frame with the words Deerfield North in cursive on frail base, and so unappealing. It made me so sad to see, but so relieved that I took a piece of that memory with me before its fall to modernity.

images on the inside

Coo Coo for Coa Coa Puffs

Party Saturday night was hostile, and odd. The people were wasted and therefore hurting one another with their words, and presumptions, accusations, and opinions, after a few consoled the others by analyzing and answering the questions as to why what was being said. This was a party hosted by a woman who completed her PHD in psychology, all of the guests there were her peers in the program. Man, I wonder if that is how loose my psychiatrist gets when out! And they seem so damn docile!

A West Side Story

I awoke Saturday morning with a horrible restlessness bordering on depression. I knew exactly what is it was, Change. I yearned for a new scenery, a purpose to life outside of the cement and routine of a 9-5 job. I was feeling stuck. I have been living in New York, Carroll Gardens, to be exact for 6 years. Prior to that I was living in San Francisco, also for 6 years, seeing the trend here? And to validate that feeling I was invited to; not 1, not 2 but 3 “Going Away” parties that same night. Man, was I reeling with jealousy but also, I couldn’t help but take it as a sign. If you ask me where I want to go and why, I will be flaky and answer, somewhere Latin, so I can fulfill my dream to speak fluent Spanish and to be in a place that is not New York. Another minute I may say that I want to live somewhere in Colorado or Maine or Vermont, any place I can hike and bike around daily. In any case, I yearned for the great out doors and nature that can compel me to have a great outlook on life and the world that surrounds me. I went to 2 of the 3 parties, both were in my neighborhood, just to make feel even more ‘stuck’. Both these hosts to were embarking on a new adventure; one, a 6 month residency, in India, the other, a year residency in Asia, and I wasn’t even getting out of Brooklyn that night! Pass one more pot cookie please, I need to go away at least mentally.

The very next day, this feeling of happiness and joy and utter pride and appreciation washed over me, and extinguished my self-imposed rut from just hours before. See, I purchased a new laptop the day before. It only took me three years of complaining how I needed to be technologically mobile, but too cheap to throw down the cash on such an imposing implement of technology. I despise most electronics, and hence my gradual craw into the 21st century. Yes, I was the last one to own an ipod, and when my employer enforced a Blackberry upon me, and I thought I would die. In any case, I had to buy an external hard drive from J&R, so I used that as an excuse to hop on my bike, head over the Brooklyn bridge and towards Battery Park up the West side high way along the water. It restored my love for New York again. I didn't need to leave New York, I just needed to leave Brooklyn and be a tourist. I’m all about being a tourist in my own city. It's like being on vacation everyday and they do not annoy me because I am sharing in their newness and pleasure, but I also own the pride of residing in my city. The water did wonders for my spirit, as did the rest of the greenery, flora and architecture I was unaware of.

Along the route I saw the gas station that my brother and I turn right at to get to the Holland Tunnel when heading home to Pennsylvania when visit our folks. It was closed down, the 2nd one that day. The first was one in Brooklyn went I went to get air in my tire. I have connections to most things here, and this is one of them, I didn't realize the connection until I saw it was closed down.

A West Side Story

I awoke Saturday morning with a horrible restlessness bordering on depression. I knew exactly what is it was, Change. I yearned for a new scenery, a purpose to life outside of the cement and routine of a 9-5 job. I was feeling stuck. I have been living in New York, Carroll Gardens, to be exact for 6 years. Prior to that I was living in San Francisco, also for 6 years, seeing the trend here? And to validate that feeling I was invited to; not 1, not 2 but 3 “Going Away” parties that same night. Man, was I reeling with jealousy but also, I couldn’t help but take it as a sign. If you ask me where I want to go and why, I will be flaky and answer, somewhere Latin, so I can fulfill my dream to speak fluent Spanish and to be in a place that is not New York. Another minute I may say that I want to live somewhere in Colorado or Maine or Vermont, any place I can hike and bike around daily. In any case, I yearned for the great out doors and nature that can compel me to have a great outlook on life and the world that surrounds me. I went to 2 of the 3 parties, both were in my neighborhood, just to make feel even more ‘stuck’. Both these hosts to were embarking on a new adventure; one, a 6 month residency, in India, the other, a year residency in Asia, and I wasn’t even getting out of Brooklyn that night! Pass one more pot cookie please, I need to go away at least mentally.

The very next day, this feeling of happiness and joy and utter pride and appreciation washed over me, and extinguished my self-imposed rut from just hours before. See, I purchased a new laptop the day before. It only took me three years of complaining how I needed to be technologically mobile, but too cheap to throw down the cash on such an imposing implement of technology. I despise most electronics, and hence my gradual craw into the 21st century. Yes, I was the last one to own an ipod, and when my employer enforced a Blackberry upon me, and I thought I would die. In any case, I had to buy an external hard drive from J&R, so I used that as an excuse to hop on my bike, head over the Brooklyn bridge and towards Battery Park up the West side high way along the water. It restored my love for New York again. I didn't need to leave New York, I just needed to leave Brooklyn and be a tourist. I’m all about being a tourist in my own city. It's like being on vacation everyday and they do not annoy me because I am sharing in their newness and pleasure, but I also own the pride of residing in my city. The water did wonders for my spirit, as did the rest of the greenery, flora and architecture I was unaware of.

Along the route I saw the gas station that my brother and I turn right at to get to the Holland Tunnel when heading home to Pennsylvania when visit our folks. It was closed down, the 2nd one that day. The first was one in Brooklyn went I went to get air in my tire. I have connections to most things here, and this is one of them, I didn't realize the connection until I saw it was closed down.

Memorial Day at the Met

Why do most people go to the Met? To see a particular exhibit of course, or perhaps explore their romantic side and view the old steadies. Myself, I go for the best roof action in NYC.

I will go to the roof to grab an over priced martini and sit among the tourists as I look over the landscape of Central park, and all the ‘dripping wet rich’ apartment buildings. It is my escape. The art up there merely serves as my backdrop for outdoor drinking. The installation is quite nice to view, and no, I’m not a total ignoramus. I very much wanted to see this exhibit months in advance, and I did enjoy it. It was an installation of stainless steel branches, titled, Maelstro, by American artist, Roxy Paine.

I took a few snap shots of the long, silver, shiny branches, while overhearing an ignoramus ask, I wonder how they got this up here? I guess he didn’t know that A.) Um, all of the pieces were very visually welded together, and B.) There is thing called d a forklift, and c) A fairly feasible thing to imagine as it is being placed on an open roof. I needed to leave, all the European and country accents and comments were reminding me of why I don’t venture out to the city during weekends and holidays. I headed inside, back down to the exit.

Yes, of course I took in some of the art inside, on the way through towards the exit. And this caught my eye, not the art work itself, the room, the light and how the collection was so immaculately laid out, sort of my Aunt Mary’s humble collection in Northeast Philly apartment.
Ah, art is in the eye of the beholder that is trying frantically to find the way out of the elaborate institution. I had to seize my primary quest to ease my thirst for art, which was to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the Guggenheim. (I highly recommend it, but I'm biased, he is one of my favorite wonders.)

This was my day to walk and take part in MY city; I relinquished and was one with the tourists. After all that art and dry martini, I was starved, needless to say I was so absorbed in art viewing I missed the bbq back in Brooklyn. So I succumbed to my ache for a hot dog, and low and behold I had one, and why, because it’s New York. Oh and it being Memorial day, rules went out the window I had to get a chocolate cone with jimmies, yes, Philly folks call sprinkles, jimmies.

Art viewing art.

Memorial Day at the Met

Why do most people go to the Met? To see a particular exhibit of course, or perhaps explore their romantic side and view the old steadies. Myself, I go for the best roof action in NYC.

I will go to the roof to grab an over priced martini and sit among the tourists as I look over the landscape of Central park, and all the ‘dripping wet rich’ apartment buildings. It is my escape. The art up there merely serves as my backdrop for outdoor drinking. The installation is quite nice to view, and no, I’m not a total ignoramus. I very much wanted to see this exhibit months in advance, and I did enjoy it. It was an installation of stainless steel branches, titled, Maelstro, by American artist, Roxy Paine.

I took a few snap shots of the long, silver, shiny branches, while overhearing an ignoramus ask, I wonder how they got this up here? I guess he didn’t know that A.) Um, all of the pieces were very visually welded together, and B.) There is thing called d a forklift, and c) A fairly feasible thing to imagine as it is being placed on an open roof. I needed to leave, all the European and country accents and comments were reminding me of why I don’t venture out to the city during weekends and holidays. I headed inside, back down to the exit.

Yes, of course I took in some of the art inside, on the way through towards the exit. And this caught my eye, not the art work itself, the room, the light and how the collection was so immaculately laid out, sort of my Aunt Mary’s humble collection in Northeast Philly apartment.
Ah, art is in the eye of the beholder that is trying frantically to find the way out of the elaborate institution. I had to seize my primary quest to ease my thirst for art, which was to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the Guggenheim. (I highly recommend it, but I'm biased, he is one of my favorite wonders.)

This was my day to walk and take part in MY city; I relinquished and was one with the tourists. After all that art and dry martini, I was starved, needless to say I was so absorbed in art viewing I missed the bbq back in Brooklyn. So I succumbed to my ache for a hot dog, and low and behold I had one, and why, because it’s New York. Oh and it being Memorial day, rules went out the window I had to get a chocolate cone with jimmies, yes, Philly folks call sprinkles, jimmies.

Art viewing art.

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison You Tube Video
Today, like every Saturday, I was cleaning up my apartment while listening to NPR’s 360. Tuning in to the man being interviewed, I stopped and listened closer. This man, was so animated and this was just through the radio! He was blunt and honest, irate and enjoyable; such a pleasure to listen to, but most of all, this guy was funny! Reason why? As the wise words of Homer once said, “It’s funny cuz it’s true’. I grabbed the name of the interviewee of Kurt Anderson towards the break of the show, and he introduced his guest, as Harlan Ellison. I immediately put down my broom, hoped on the Internet and goggled him and this is the video I came upon. It couldn’t define his character any better, or demonstrate why I feel in love with this character, he is H-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s! Let the video speak for itself. This is for all you talented artists out there! Enjoy. And if you too, become an immediate fan of his, you are in luck. This piece is part of a movie on DVD, titled, Dreams with sharp teeth. You can download the 11 minute interview. The lesson here: Be yourself, be frank, and f*&ck Warner Brothers.

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison You Tube Video
Today, like every Saturday, I was cleaning up my apartment while listening to NPR’s 360. Tuning in to the man being interviewed, I stopped and listened closer. This man, was so animated and this was just through the radio! He was blunt and honest, irate and enjoyable; such a pleasure to listen to, but most of all, this guy was funny! Reason why? As the wise words of Homer once said, “It’s funny cuz it’s true’. I grabbed the name of the interviewee of Kurt Anderson towards the break of the show, and he introduced his guest, as Harlan Ellison. I immediately put down my broom, hoped on the Internet and goggled him and this is the video I came upon. It couldn’t define his character any better, or demonstrate why I feel in love with this character, he is H-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s! Let the video speak for itself. This is for all you talented artists out there! Enjoy. And if you too, become an immediate fan of his, you are in luck. This piece is part of a movie on DVD, titled, Dreams with sharp teeth. You can download the 11 minute interview. The lesson here: Be yourself, be frank, and f*&ck Warner Brothers.