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Visual Autumn Splendor

Does it look to you like these two trees are dancing? It did as I drove by them a few days ago.

The juxtaposition of color, as well as the changing trees beind them, caught my eye. So I went back to capture it with the digital camera. I'd seen someone pull over to photograph it a few days prior, and thought this was a good idea, one worthy of duplicating.

Want to see this picture in the original form, full-sized and awash in color and detail? Go here and there it is.

The lack of significant rainfall combined with the sudden change of temperature resulted in a very late Fall Foliage season, yet more brilliant and vibrant a display of colors than ever before, in recent or long memory. Jaw-dropping, breath-taking, stunning visuals are all around here in the New York Metropolitan area. My usual drive in and out of the City is on a wooded parkway. The past few days have been a visual delight.

If anyone reading this wants to provide a short tutorial on how to put a slide show on the blog, I will upload a bunch of shots taken this past weekend, of foliage and various other captured New York scenes and shots. One of those photos is the outside of the best place in New York to get the genuine salty lox and other great smoked fish goodies (plus some of the best chopped liver in NYC!).

Changes Over Time

A document circulates the web and e-mail accounts every September as the new college year approaches. It points out the year of birth of incoming college Freshmen, and what the realities of life have been for that crew of 18-year-olds. My son and I were discussing this last weekend. It applies to him and his sister, both of whom were born after this past Septemberís incoming Freshman class.

We had a computer before either of the kids was born. I played LPs (ìrecordsî) for his sister, but I think not for him. Black and White TV programs were somewhat of an anomaly to them. ìDad, why is this show in gray?î my daughter would ask when weíd watch Saturday night reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Modern time media and connectivity issues are a popular reference in these sort of discussions. But the mind wanders, and on the plane ride home from a visit with the kids last weekend I thought of more such things. My frame of reference here was my own childhood, the realities of then versus contemporary, standard and accepted, or rather, expected, life.

Expressions have faded. One no longer hears use of the term, ìA 2-car family ì One doesnít hear discussion of the fact that neighbors have made a big investment in home entertainment, ìOh, they have a COLOR TV?î Nowadays one doesnít see the antenna being install on the roof, indicating someone got a television set. Now it is the cable installation, or satellites on the roof. And every household has it, not just a select few.

More than one TV in a household was a rarity for many years. Now one sees TV sets in the kitchen, the bathroom, everywhere. Each bedroom seems to have a set.

An abundance of telecom equipment is standard these days. But not too very long ago this could be a question: ìThey have 2 phone lines? Whatever for?î Such questions predate the era of fax lines, DSL, pagers, cell phones, and a bevy of communications devices being held by multiple household members.

Central Air was only for the well-to-do. Central Vacuum was all the rage among those who could afford it.

Green stamps were saved. Fuller Brush men were a standard thing, ringing bells and selling their wares. And not with the dread accompanied by religious types or ruffians with bell-ringing come-ons.

50 or so years ago, weird was Milton Berle, dressed in drag, smoking a cigarette. Times have certainly changed. Today there are those who see no weirdness in Marilyn Manson, Eminim, George W. Bush or Bud Selig.

Take a quick glance at this picture. Quick: name that celebrity!

Who can it be? Does it look to you like a very pale (or should that be, even paler?) Michael Jackson? Maybe Johnny Depp in one of those wash-out make-up jobs, playing a rock star? A very young David Bowie? One of the ìdownstairsî youngíuns from ìUpstairs, Downstairs?î Robert Downey, Jr., out on a bender, dressed in drag?

Nope!

In fact, it is Wynona Ryder, doing her best to effect the Michael Jackson ìhair swoop palefaceî look. Notice you canít tell if her other hand is gloved!

Forget the shoplifting charge. Book her on Identity Theft!