Photo of the day: OSCAR THE SQUIRREL MEETS SANTA CLAUS
OSCAR THE SQUIRREL MEETS SANTA CLAUS: The conversation went something like this – – – Hi Santa! What are you doing in Hans’ living room? Well, never mind, here is my list, now pay attention, I want:
~ The super powered ultimate mega N9000 nutcracker, with batteries.
~ A giant bag of mixed nuts, no pistachios please.
~ The newest Scrat squirrel plush toy from “Ice Age”.
~ The acme SSTF – Splendiferous Squirrel Tail Fluffer.
~ A giant jar of peanut butter, the crunchy kind.
~ A limited edition Steinbach Elvis Presley nutcracker.
~ The ND2013, patented Nut Detector 2013.
~ A Sciuridae nest warmer.
~ A fancy bottle of Eau de Planteurs.
~ And . . . a new flat screen TV with DVR for my benefactor and friend Hans.
Go to my December 3rd, 2013 Facebook post and blog post to read the story of my ‘pet’ squirrel Oscar!
Photo of the day: FEED ME! DINNERTIME FOR OSCAR
DINNERTIME FOR OSCAR!: This is ‘Oscar’ my (sort of) pet squirrel. He is named Oscar because he showed up on my 3rd floor windowsill about 5 years ago on the night of The Academy Awards. I have been leaving him a peanut on the windowsill every morning for breakfast ever since then. There is also a water dish (I have blogged about before) on the fire escape for him to drink from.
At sunset yesterday I heard a scratching at my window. Oscar was still hungry. I opened the window just a bit and his whiskery nose poked in and busily sniffed about. ‘There must be peanuts around here somewhere! I know he’s got ’em!’
Well, after four peanuts Oscar was finally well satisfied. He did take a fifth peanut and ‘hid’ it in the fire escape stairs for tomorrow morning.
A funny Oscar anecdote: One summer I had forgotten I had left the window open and I am sitting in my office and all of a sudden hear some crunching. I come into the living room and there was Oscar sitting on a nearby bookcase with a pile of peanut shells all around him. It was the funniest sight! Of course it went so lightning quick I didn’t have a chance to grab my camera then, but today I did. Hmmm, maybe tomorrow it’ll be walnuts 
Photo of the day: THE MEETING OF THE ‘M’ CLUB
MEETING OF THE ‘M’ CLUB: The great painter Edouard Manet said: “There is only one true thing – instantly paint what you see. When you’ve got it, you’ve got it. When you haven’t, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.”
I as a photographer say: “Life is art = Art is life. If you have life in your eyes, you see the art.”
On one of the last warm days last week I came across this endearing scene. It is under the elevated ‘7’ train that heads towards Shea Stadium.
The meeting of ‘The M Club’. Mini Matisse, mini Mondrian, mini Manet and mini Monet.
A local day school teacher brings his little “M’s” to various spots here in Sunnyside Queens to inspire them to paint what they see and feel.
Matisse is in her blue period. Mondrian is being very colorful. Manet is feeling very precise and Monet is just going wild with his expressionism. Who knows what paths lie ahead for these four adorable children, one may be a lawyer, one our next president, one may be a psychiatrist and one may have their paintings hanging in the Museum of Modern Art!
Paint on dear children, paint on . . .
Photo of the day: THE LURE OF CYBER MONDAY
THE LURE OF CYBER MONDAY: I fell asleep watching TV Sunday night and as awoke in the middle of the night, I found an eerie glow coming from my computer in my office as if it was luring me with all the tempting cyber discounts being offered today. “They’re here . . . !”
Photo of the day: ‘ONE OF US’ WAS MURDERED IN SUNNYSIDE
Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer speaks to the gatherered community honoring Lou as bereaved family members listen on.
SUNNYSIDE MURDER: Lou Rispoli and his partner of 31 years Danyal Lawson were married at Queens Borough Hall on July 24, 2011, the first day that same-sex marriages became legal in New York State. On Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 2:05 A.M. he told his partner he was going out to get some milk. At approximately 2:15 A.M., at the corner of 42nd Street & 43rd Ave. Louis Rispoli was assaulted by 3 male white suspects in their early 20’s who brutally bashed his head in with an unknown blunt object . . . five days later Louis died of his injuries. The suspects fled in a grey sports car and have not been caught.
On Saturday November 16, at 4:00 P.M., my mother and I along with our councilman Jimmy Van Brammer and several hundred residents of Woodside and Sunnyside, Queens gathered and marched to protest the senseless violence and to pay tribute to this beloved member of our community. Danyal’s and Louis’ family members were all present to see this outpouring of concern and love.
Crimestoppers will pay up to $22,000 for information leading to the arrest & indictment and the NYPD will pay $10,000 for the arrest & conviction of the persons responsible for this crime. Please call Crimestoppers at 1(800)577-TIPS.
DANYAL WALKING HOME WITH HIS LOVED ONES AFTER THE RALLY
Photo of the day: RECORD EARLY SNOWFALL IN NEW YORK CITY
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY CR_P WHAT A NIGHT!: As if hurricane Sandy wasn’t enough, New York received 4 inches of snow, it’s the heaviest early snowfall in November ever last night. I walked just four blocks in my neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens and witnessed four trees come crashing down. The trees still have their leaves and the very wet snowfall created too much of a weight burden that they can bear. We have such a dense canopy, I decided it was safer to head home than to continue taking pictures. It was a silent night, but a bit of an un-holy night.
(The white ‘dots’ in the photo, is the reflection of my camera’s flash on the snowflakes.)
Photo of the day: TWO GENERATIONS VOTED! WE DID IT!
TWO GENERATIONS CHANGE THE COURSE OF AMERICA: My mom Ursula Von Rittern 86, and Hans Von Rittern (me, almost) 57 stood in line for two hours in the cold to exercise our right to have our voices heard. We voted! This morning we can breathe a sigh of relief. Because of all your kind words of support yesterday, I thought I would post a (self taken) close-up of the two of us on line. Ursula was overwhelmed at yesterday’s response and was gleeful and humbled that she got so many ‘likes’. “You made me famous” she giggled. We thank you all! XOXO
My 86 year old mother stood in line proudly and voted!
This is 86 year old Ursula Von Rittern, my mother. She immigrated to this country from war torn Germany after WWII and settled in NYC. She has voted with an absentee ballot for the past ten years so she doesn’t have to stand in the long lines. “This year I am voting in person dammit, no matter how long I have to stand in the cold, this is too critically important!” So – we did! GO MOM!
Note the black folding chair in one hand and her cane in the other, she came prepared!
Photo of the day: NEW YORK HALLOWEEN 2012
NEW YORK HALLOWEEN 2012: In a Photoshop world, we might have created the eerie surreal spooky landscape of New York City for great effect. It need not be done, this is real. Some say life must go on, others say in a place of devastation – to celebrate Halloween is sacrilegious. The world’s largest (3 million people) Halloween parade in Manhattan has been canceled for the first time in it’s 39 years. There are many neighborhoods where there are no houses, if there are houses – no sidewalks. If there are homes – no stores open to buy candy. If you are safe – the streets are currently not at night. With New York at it’s longest standstill in it’s entire history – you decide. Happy Halloween ~ in spirit.
Devastation in my New York neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens
Many of our street are impassible. Giant 85 year old trees barricade the lovely streets. Worries of fire engine and ambulance access grows as Tuesday comes to an end.
Photo of the day: A NARROW BRUSH WITH DEADLY HURRICANE SANDY
WOMAN NARROWLY ESCAPES DEATH: She had meant to cut down that old dead tree in the front yard. But the expense was so great. It was on her ‘to-do’ list. Last night the old tree saved her life. A huge mighty 85 year old elm tree crashed toward her house and is merely resting on the entranceway, barricading her door shut, because the old dead tree acted as a shield and saved her from being crushed in her home.
47th Street in Sunnyside, Queens.
Photo of the day: FRIED EGG OR PURPLE WIG – IT’S ALL THE SAME
FRIED EGG OR A PURPLE WIG – IT’S ALL THE SAME: (From Bette Midler’s 1977 “Live At Last” album)
“I was walking down 42nd street one day, I wasn’t workin’42nd street I was walkin 42nd street. And this amazing thing happened to me. It was July it was about 98 degrees. It was hot, hot for New York You know and I was walking east and this humungous person was coming west. And she had this big blue house dress on peppered all over with little white daisies. She was almost bald but sitting on top of her head, forehead you know on her forehead was this fried egg. Which I thought was really unusual. Because in New York City the ladies with the fried eggs on their heads don’t generally come out until September or October you know. Here was this lady this demented lady with a little fried egg on her head in the middle of July. God what a sight and ever, ever since I saw that lady not one day goes by that I don’t think of her and I say to myself “Oh God, don’t let me wake up tomorrow and want to put a fried egg on my head. Oh God. “Then I say real fast I say ” Oh God, If by chance I should wind up with a fried egg on my head”;cause sometimes you can’t help those things you know, you can’t. I say to myself “don’t let anybody notice.”And then I say real fast after that “if they do notice that I’m carrying something that, that’s not quite right and they want to talk about it, let ’em talk about it but don’t let ’em talk so I can hear I don’t want to hear it.” Cause the truth about fried eggs, you can call it a fried egg, you can call it anything you like, but everybody gets one, some people wear ’em on the outside, some people they wear ’em on the inside.”
From the gallery: MARGE SIMPSON’S BEAUTY SALON
THE SIMPSON’S BEAUTY SALON: Ever wonder where Marge Simpson gets her blue up-do hair done? Well I found the place! Apparently when Marge is in New York she goes to “Hair We Are” at 45-15 Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside, Queens. Their window designer ‘Lawrence’ may not have realized that their mascot painted in their window has a very strong resemblance to the residents of Homer & Marge Simpson’s Springfield 🙂
UPDATE: July 20, 2014 – The above hair salon has closed and been replaced with a new hair salon with much better decor 🙂
From the gallery: THE WATER HOG
THE WATER HOG: This was the scene outside my window the other afternoon. A frustrated little sparrow kept waiting his turn for a sip of water, but this fat pigeon wouldn’t move out of the water dish. I have this dish set up so that the birds and squirrels always have some crucial water to drink. In the summer months I have to refill it twice a day. Most birds come for their morning and afternoon drink and socialize on my fire escape. My local squirrel (dubbed Oscar) receives an unsalted peanut every day. So we were a happy little bunch till this fat pigeon showed up the other day. He/she apparently thinks it is their personal sitz bath. This poor little sparrow kept coming back again and again, hopping around the dish to just get that one little sip while the pigeon contently contemplated life with it’s eyes closed, resting in the water dish.
Can you just imagine the conversation?:
“Ah, hey bud, you about finished in there?”
“Hey bud?!”
“You’re not going to fart in there on anything like that are you? I mean you’re just sitting there, right? No pooping either right?”
“Hey! It’s our water dish too and my other sparrow friends are gonna come in a minute and, and, and – well, we’ll come and stare at your rude self!”
“Hey, you even listening?”
“Gee! Peep, peep!”
Nothing, the pigeon just keeps it’s eyes closed till sundown when it finally stretched it’s wings, waddled over to the edge of the fire escape and flew off to his condo somewhere nearby. Another day in Sunnyside, Queens, 3rd floor.
Photo of the day: GUMBY
GUMBY!: Black leather vest in a heat wave, black work-out gloves, greased down black hair, pierced ears, gun tattoo, torpedoes tattoo, voodoo tattoo, skull tattoo, chains, black harem-like pants over black leggings and . . .
a Gumby bag – of course!
(Grand Central 7 train subway station, 11:30pm.)
Photo of the day: MOSTLY MOZART
MOSTLY MOZART: I am walking through the common walkways of Sunnyside Gardens and I come across this cat sitting in the middle of the walkway. He is incessantly meowing. Non-stop. Coming out of the windows of the house to the right is a lovely afternoon classical music concert, broadcast by WQXR. I am concerned that the cat is meowing so much. Out comes my neighbor from his house:
Me: I think your cat is hungry.
Neighbor: Oh no, he is just singing along to the music
Me: Oh really?
Neighbor: Yes, he loves these afternoon concerts.
Me: What kind of music does he like best?
Neighbor: Mostly Mozart.
Photo of the day: THE OLD ROCKERS
THE OLD ROCKERS: Old rockers never die they just get played out.
There is so much going on here. I am passing by a disco concert on 46th Street/Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside, Queens yesterday, and I see these two faded rockers sitting in the front. She grabbed my attention first. In the glaring heat, she is wearing all black. The earrings are gold inverted crosses. Her t-shirt is the best – it has a big metallic gold chain (from the hood) printed on it. The sunglasses are pitch black Dolce Gabbana. But . . . she can’t keep awake to the blaring sounds of “Disco Inferno”.
Her husband (?) is wearing the 2012 equivalent of a 1970’s leisure suit: a brown colored jogging suit. Any color is permissible in jogging suits, but brown = leisure suit. On the shoulders of his jacket are hanger impressions from the jacket having hung in the closet too long. He has a long pony tail that has many shades of color no longer on his head.
He loving ‘Disco Inferno’, nudges her enthusiastically, she just nods off . . .
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 
