boston bookstore

I love the description under the name of this store. it is a small store that is perfect for book lovers.
their website is pretty cool too-check it out.

boston's public garden

it was 82 degrees last wednesday in boston. everyone in the city seemed completely prepared for the weather-as if they had their sundresses and sandals at the ready.
this is the entrance to the public garden. it is quite beautiful. many of the trees had barely begun to bloom, yet everything looked so alive.

beacon hill

please click on this photo for a much larger clearer view

sorry to have been away so long! busy traveling-so now I must share something other than long island with you-if just for a few days...
one word-picturesque. while walking down an already lovely street, looking for a place to eat breakfast we turned a corner and saw this quaint scene.
so many parts of boston to discover-one more beautiful than the next. what fun to stay inside the city just to explore all of them.

star magnolia

this flower sits on a tree with thousands of other equally beautiful yet unique flowers in front of a library in old westbury where my son attends school. I heard a lot about this tree from my dear boy. when I finally got to see it I could see why! I found its name by searching on the web and I was happy to discover a fellow blogger who wrote a post all about this beautiful flowering tree.

pets in the suburbs

There are a lot of pets in the suburbs of long island. most people have at least one or more than one-or so it seems. you see pets everywhere here. it has become common for people to treat them like family members. some people take them with them wherever they go. I just read in the ny times metropolitan diary that some man was carrying his cup of starbucks in one hand & his rooster under his arm while traveling to work the other day. this one shown in the above photo is our family pet Priscilla. for some reason she is hiding in a closet in the suburbs of long island. after clicking on the above, ny times metropolitan diary, scroll down to the second entry on that page if you want to read more about the rooster...

ben's deli

my darling nieces clued me into Ben's Deli. I had no idea the deli had such a nice restaurant inside. from the outside I just guessed it was like a regular deli where you would take food out.

this is cream of broccoli soup with rye bread. one word - fortifying. I'm big on soup and when I realized this deli was kosher the waitress explained they made the soup with non-dairy creamer. as soon as you sit down, they bring you a bowl of pickles & fresh coleslaw. minutes after we ordered the soup it was sitting in front of us with a basket of sweet smelling rye bread. I craved some butter with it-wondering aloud to my son if they served margarine but I was too timid to ask! next was some potato pancakes that were so thick I thought they may have mistakenly given us chicken cutlets. the apple sauce that accompanied them tasted homemade. I'd go back there in a second.

power to the people

how many times have I passed this and never ever noticed this-at least as far as I remember I haven't! yet here today as I sat waiting for the green light at this very spot as I have done possibly hundreds of times in the past-I look up and there it is. almost robot like in all its glory. maybe it was the sky behind it that forced my recognition. we all know how sky changes everything.
remember arthur C. clarke and his 2001 space oddysey? click on the above robot for a good read.

oyster bay

this is just how the bay looks when it's not quite warm yet in early spring time. situated off of the north shore of long island, if you follow this link you can see by the simple map somewhat more precisely where oyster bay actually is.

Saturday

the leaves are starting to come out on the trees thankfully. it almost felt like spring would never happen. we have had an unbelievable amount of dreary grey weather. yesterday the weather forecast predicted an 80% chance of rain for today. it never did rain and the sun came out. it was beautiful. we had thunderstorms last night. I woke up in the early hours with my Yorkie hiding under the covers right beside me. no rain though!

more forsythia

i'm sorry I am so late with this -but I had to leave you this photo. the forsythia are everywhere being the bright spot of spring.

sunrise at the strip mall

I wonder if strip malls are an american thing. consisting of a group of stores either in a straight line or l shape, they always have a big parking lot built in front of the buildings providing quick accessibility. I took this shot facing the parking lot.
I will probably always be impressed by how the sky impacts its surroundings.
most towns used to have a main street usually named main street. when malls started being built approximately 35 years ago they took the life out of small towns. the mall became the all in one solution where everyone would go to shop, eat and hangout without having to walk around outside or get in & out of their car.
I think the staying power of the strip mall is due to the convenient ease of parking they provide. Most people are tired of the malls but still need a place to shop, eat and hangout but there are few towns left to do so. luckily strip malls have been around since -at least the 20's.

early blooming yellow flowers

the forsythia are blooming everywhere. the one pictured here is just one of a group of massive sprays of the brightest color of the spectrum. I took this photo from my car. I had been passing this for about a week now and I finally decided to just pull over to get the shot. I was lucky because I only had time to get one.

a long island diner

I think the sign says it all in a way-but of course I must add my two cents. long island is home for more diners than I can count. every once in a while I love eating at a diner. I always get the same thing. if it's breakfast or lunch I order eggs over easy with rye toast & home fries with tea and orange juice. if it's lunch or dinner, I will get grilled cheese on rye with tomato and a vanilla milkshake or a chocolate ice cream soda. More interesting things about diners may be found here

one of the pencils

that's what I've been calling them since I was a kid. they can be found along our south shore beaches. this one is in the jones beach traffic circle. if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see a seagull flying just to the right of it.

jones beach

early spring is a great time to go to the beach before it gets crowded. I can get to the beach in about twenty minutes. every time I make the trip when it is off season, I wonder why I don't go more often. beautiful wide open space with lots of big sky is a rare sight on most of long island, so a trip here is always a treat. it is so beautiful it doesn't even matter if it's cloudy!

these trees are everywhere

I think long islanders are so used to seeing them they wind up not even noticing them, but they are all around here. I can see two right outside my back yard and there is one across my street. the one pictured here is at my son's school. it is one of many that are on his school grounds. they are beautiful and native to long island. I know it is a type of pine tree but unfortunately that's about all I know. I tried searching here to no avail.

a beautiful sky changes everything...

this is a typical suburban street here on long island. normally it's not very pretty to look at, except when you get a nice surprise like this one on your way home towards the end of the day.

signage on long island

I never really look at all the signs around me so closely. when I do look, it makes me wonder who they model the people after. I found what wikipedia wrote about it quite fascinating. this is my first "night photo" for LIDP. I took it while driving home tonight.

soho, new york

this is the perfect picture to click on to enlarge for more details

ok, I know this isn't long island, but I was away all day and felt I had to share this with you. hopefully there will be some bits of info that will be good for someone! this is in soho on grand street right off of west broadway in new york. I love the mint colored building in the background. today the sun was illuminating everything making the city look as if it was lit up from within. visiting manhattan on a sunny cool day is always a perfect time for a trip into the city when you are heading in from long island. I took the long island railroad into manhattan with my son. we were lucky we found our favorite seat that is in a little- almost enclosed cubby that sets you apart from all of the other passengers. It is a very private space that makes you feel like you are traveling in first class despite the dirty windows.

long island sketch crawl

this is an artist doing a sketch crawl on long island. every so often artists around the world spend an entire day drawing & then share their drawings at http://www.sketchcrawl.com/ Anthony's can be found here.

click on the photo for more details.