Smiling Bird Ladies and Man with Umbrella in Times Square

Smiling, feathery women (promoting Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk) on a drizzly NY morning. 

Best Wishes, Love Newark

Near Port Authority, Manhattan

It was impossible to ignore this glowing t-shirt, or the irony of seeing a William Shatner or a prone homeless-looking man (two phenomenon that all the "yes we can"s in the world can't seem to make go away) in the same frame.

As paper books give way to e-books and billboards give way to Google Adwords, the last vestiges of old-fashioned marketing fade away. There are lots of articles and blog posts on the internet about hand-painted billboards. Check out signs in Queens, Raleigh and Portland. This article from Great Britain gives them the fitting name "ghost signs".

"Dad, I'm tired of standing." "Sorry son, but you can't stop. Don't you see the sign?"

Ditmas Park, Brooklyn

The Brooklyn sky, as seen from the garden of The Farm on Adderley, a restaurant on Cortelyou Road.

The houses in Ditmas Park are sooo cool, especially their roofs, including ones with fake Canadian geese grazing on the shingles.

The crumbling cornices reminded me that a home can be a pain to maintain.

What do dahlias and beer have in common? Sycamore Bar & Flowershop, also on Cortelyou Road.

Sign Language

Get more NYC, as long as you don't mind being watched 

(and please don't stand here).

If you can still see the sign that says "If You See Something, Say Something," say something.

Why does this sign cost $39.99?

(Note: "$7,000" is written on this, alas, empty envelope.)

Riverside Park, Manhattan

I was with my son in Riverside Park today and started snapping photos of people passing. It's interesting to see some people are alone, some are obviously traveling together and still others end up in the frame together--the photo forever links them--but they are strangers and perhaps didn't even notice each other's presence. I also used a function on the camera to swap out the color of the sky for the color of the grass and the color of my pink Mexican shopping bag.

King Street, SoHo