Lantern Revealed

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I’ve posted before about the stone lanterns that are scattered around the village of Briarcliff Manor. I believe there are about six of them in the village (For more information see: The Story of the Stone Lanterns on the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society website).

This lantern (#5 on the website) was placed by Walter Law (the founder of Briarcliff Manor) at his daughter Edith Law Bröckelmann’s property named “Little Mount Vernon,” across from the entrance to the Law Manor on Scarborough Road, where it remains, in its original location. The “Little Mount Vernon” mansion was built by W. W. Law for his daughter, Edith who returned to Briarcliff Manor from China in 1902 as the widow of Fritz Bröckelmann, who we believe was responsible for sending the lanterns from China.

I’ve lived in Briarcliff Manor for about 26 years, and my house is only a short walk from this lantern. I’ve passed it many times and didn’t see it until about a year ago. It was behind some bushes, and you couldn’t see it from the road. You had to virtually crawl under the bushes to get a view of it. That’s now changed. The present owners have been doing some landscaping and I’m pleased to say, as you can see from the picture, the lantern is now clearly visible from the road where passers-by can see it. I don’t know who owns the property nowadays, but I’d like to thank them for making this piece of Briarcliff History visible to all.

Taken with a Sony RX10 IV.

Is it worth taking the same old boring fall pictures again.

by Posted in Landscapes, Thoughts, Woodland Leave a comment
Foggy morning

Every year for some time now I’ve been taking pictures of the fall foliage (see above and below). While they’re pretty, colorful, and in a few cases quite spectacular they’re all starting to look pretty much the same.

So, unless I can come up with some clever idea of how to come up with something different, I’m not going to bother this year.

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Spur beach at sunset

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SONY DSC

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Taken with a variety of different cameras and lenses.

Self Portait

by Posted in Black & White, People, Portrait, Thoughts Leave a comment
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I like black and white photography. In many ways I see things in black and white. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a time before color photography became important. Most of the photographs and movies I saw when I was young were in black and white. Yes, I know that color moviews had been available for quite some time, but the ones I seem to remember were all black and white.

Of all places, this was taken in the men’s room in the building where I work with the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society. The day before I’d been watching a YouTube video about high-contrast black and white photography. As I was leaving the men’s room, bright light streamed in through a high window and fell on my face. It occurred to me that if I could get the exposure right, I might get something interesting.

Many might think that I carry a camera with me wherever I go. But that wouldn’t be true. I don’t usually carry one with me to the men’s room. However, I did have one in a bag, downstairs where I work so I went down to get it.

This is the result. I quite like it.

Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.

Hallowe’en’s coming

by Posted in Events, People, Things Leave a comment
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After my lunch at Susuru (See: A Ramen restaurant in Tarrytown) I walked through Tarrytown and into Sleepy Hollow, where the Hallowe’en preparations were well underway.

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Of course, Hallowe’en is a big deal around here because of the connection between the village and Washington Irving’s short story: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, which is set there. Although since “Legend” was written in 1820 much has changed, many of the locations mentioned in the story can still be found.

If you haven’t read “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, or would like to read it again I can heartily recommend: The Historically Annotated Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which contains the full text of the story along with annotations by Sleepy Hollow’s Village Historian, Henry Steiner.

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Taken with a Kodak P880

A Ramen restaurant in Tarrytown

by Posted in Buildings/Structures, Food and Drink, People Leave a comment
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While searching for something else on the Internet I bumped into a listing for this Ramen restaurant in nearby Tarrytown. I’m very fond of Ramen so off I went to try it.

It’s called to Susuru Ramen. It’s quite small and when I walked in it was completely full. I was lucky to get a seat at the counter. Moreover, all the people were Asian, suggesting that the food would be good, even if the ambience was not all you might like it to be. The prices were quite reasonable.

I ordered the Tongkotsu Ramen, which were, indeed, very good.

I’ll definitely be going again!

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