Picture of the Day: Matchbox Tractor

I didn’t take this one…I think either Will our (probably) our friend Tex took it last fall. But glamour shots of old toys sums up what often happens at our house when people come to visit.

 

Picture of the Day: Squirrel Wednesday

Here’s the photo Will alluded to last Wednesday, of a little guy on the main campus of UNC Chapel Hill who found an entire unwrapped huge oatmeal cookie from Starbucks. He dragged it to this sunny spot, tore off the plastic and munched away for several minutes. We debated whether he’d manage to eat the whole thing, but he gave up about a third of the way through.

 

Picture of the Day: Eggplants

About this time last year I went to Los Angeles to visit with an old college friend. I’d never been there before, so he made sure we hit most of the usual tourist spots. But, as many of you know, I love my food, so a major highlight of my trip (on the morning of my departure, actually) was Sunday morning at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market. We picked up coffee and some tasty Korean pancakes for breakfast, and then I amused a lot of the vendors by taking glamour shots of their produce.

 

Picture of the Day: Paris

In March 2008 we traveled to/around France a bit. We spent most of our time daytripping around Burgundy, but we ended with a quick visit with a friend of Will’s in Paris. We were very short on time, so Nate graciously took us on an extensive walking tour of the city at night. The weather was blustery (to the point of blowing trees down) and rainy, so the streets were nearly deserted, and the air had a weird glow from the city lights reflecting off the low clouds. I’ve always been fond of this picture I snapped of a church along our walk, but I failed to make note of which church it is. Is there anyone out there with a superior knowledge of Paris who can identify it?

 

Picture of the Day: Hot Dogs, 4th of July

Last July 4th I headed out to Coney Island with my friend Christina to witness the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. We got there a couple of hours ahead of time, but the crowds were already out of control. Shorty that I am, I couldn’t really see what was going on, so I had to relive the event through the photos I shot by holding my camera above my head and blindly aiming and pressing the shutter. The little red-headed Japanese guy in the middle is Takeru Kobayashi, a world-famous speed eater (only 130 lbs!) who nonetheless lost for the second year in a row. I won’t make it out there this year to watch the contest, as I’m gearing up to visit people in Princeton, but I’m still rooting for him.

 

Picture of the Day: Hassan II Mosque

More Morocco…on our trip in May we spent most of our time in Marrakesh, but we bracketed that visit with a couple of days in Casablanca (our point of entry/exit), something I don’t recommend. It’s a big city, but doesn’t really have much to see or do, and seemed very socially conservative and slightly hostile. Anyway. The Hassan II mosque is the main landmark in town and, I must admit, is lovely and physically almost overwhelming (it’s supposedly the tallest religious structure in the world). It sits right at the edge of the water and is a breezy and peaceful place to hang out in an otherwise dirty, noisy city.

 

Picture of the Day: Squirrel Wednesday

A few years back we took a quick road trip down to Carrboro, North Carolina, so Will could get some songs mastered. This guy was gracing the door of an adjacent studio.

 

Picture of the Day: Freaky-Ass Babies

About this time last year we spent the afternoon out on Governor’s Island, an uninhabited former Coast Guard base, to check out the art installations and hear a friend read from his new novel, which is set largely on Governor’s Island. Will snapped a bunch of shots of these crazy cast-concrete babies. Would not want these critters in or anywhere near my house.

 

Picture of the Day: Bushwick

This is a couple of blocks away from my first apartment in Brooklyn. It was kind of a crappy neighborhood, but did offer unexpected visual treats like this.

 

Picture of the Day: Iceland

We spent some time driving around Iceland in August 2006. This shot is from early evening as we were driving along a very empty seaside road. We pulled over and hiked up a little ridge, then turned back to enjoy this view of the ocean.