Mariandale

by Posted in Black & White, Buildings/Structures, Machines, Statues Leave a comment
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At Mariandale.

“Situated on 61 wooded acres, The Center at Mariandale is a spiritual retreat center founded on the mission of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, with care of the Earth as its central tenet. The retreat center offers programs and events centered around spirituality and love for Nature and the Earth. They encourage our community and retreatants to find ways to lighten our footprint on the Earth, and to practice land and environmental justice.

It sponsors retreats and programs in numerous areas, including spirituality, contemplative practices, social and environmental justice, interfaith dialogue, the arts, wellness of body, mind, and spirit, and more.
The center also welcomes nonprofit groups and organizations for day or overnight workshops, retreats, and conferences. Our guests enjoy the quiet, serene environment at the center.”

When I first started collecting old film cameras, this was one of the first places I visited to try them out. At that time there were some lovely, old barn-like buildings on the property. There were also a few interesting old, rusting farm implements. Unfortunately, they have now gone. For a couple of pictures taken at the time take a look at the bottom of this post.

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Taken with Sony A77II and Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5 except for the last two, which were taken with a a Krasnogorsk Mechanical Factory (KMZ), Zorki 4 and KMZ 50mm f2 Jupiter 8.

The Gasman Cometh

by Posted in Machines, Music, Things Leave a comment
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I have an appointment tomorrow with Consolidated Edison (Coned) to inspect my gas meter. It seems that New York State Law requires them to do this periodically.

I was sitting reading, a few minutes ago and suddenly a song from my childhood came to mind. It was released in 1956 and was performed by a duo called Flanders and Swann and it’s called “The Gasman Cometh”. These are the lyrics:

T’was on the Monday morning, the gas man came to call,
The gas tap wouldn’t turn, I wasn’t getting gas at all;
He tore out all the skirting boards to try and find the main,
And I had to call a carpenter to put them back again!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on the Tuesday morning, the carpenter came round:
He hammered and he chiseled and he said “Look what I’ve found!
Your joists are full of dry rot, but I’ll put them all to rights!”
Then he nailed right through a cable and out went all the lights!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on a Wednesday morning, the electrician came:
He called me ‘Mr. Sanderson’, which isn’t quite the name;
He couldn’t reach the fuse box without standing on the bin,
And his foot went through a window, so I called the glazier in!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on the Thursday morning, the glazier came along
With his blowtorch, and his putty, and his merry glazier’s song;
He put another pane in, it took no time at all
But I had to get a painter in to come and paint the wall!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on a Friday morning the painter made a start,
With undercoats and overcoats he painted every part,
Every nook and every cranny; but I found when he was gone
He’d painted over the gas tap and I couldn’t turn it on!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

On Saturday and Sunday they do no work at all;
So it was on the Monday morning that the gas man came to call!

Inevitably there’s a video of them performing the song on YouTube. It’s worth watching to hear the performance and to also hear the lengthy and quite amusing introduction.

Taken with a Sony RX100 VII