Concordia Durano Gorre 1923-2013



My mother-in-law Concordia Durano Gorre passed away peaceful in her sleep on April 6, 2013 – just short of her 90th birthday. Here she is with my father-in-law Vicente Gorre who I never met. He passed away at an unnaturally young age in 1978. I love this picture, which of course I didn’t take. It seems to have been taken by the Robles Agency in Cebu City, Philippines.

Mama was an amazing person. She didn’t talk a lot, but the area we had most in common was cooking. I love to cook and I’m not too bad. However, compared to her I’m a rank amateur. She taught me a lot.

She always seemed a little sad to me – probably because she had lost her much loved husband very early. But she was tough and got on with her life.

RIP Mama.

New Lens – Minolta 45mm f2


Overgrown bleachers

I’d read some reviews of this lens saying it was well made; very sharp and quite inexpensive. So I decided to get one. My first attempt was to buy one with a body attached – in this case a Minolta SCII (essentially a slightly downgraded Minolta SRT-201). I didn’t mind having the body. My neighbor had given me a couple of SRTs, formerly belonging to her uncle, that had been lying around for ages. I quite liked them but unfortunately neither of them worked (although some of the lenses that came with them worked very well): on one the shutter was frozen and on the other the rewind know was missing. Regrettably I know nothing about repairing these old cameras (wish I did). So I bought the SRT SCII and the lens. After a while I got a message from the seller saying that they’d made a mistake. They listed two of these in there inventory and there should only have been one – and that had already been sold. They refunded my money. So then I looked for a good buy on the lens only (maybe I’ll get the SRT some other time) and found one for $25. It was mailed promptly by the seller but took an age to arrive – I guess the US post office is slow around Christmas. Finally it arrived. It’s in great shape. As usual while walking the dog around Briarcliff Manor I took some pictures (see below). I like the lens a lot. It’s small and feels solid and produces great results. Great Value!


Platform Tennis Court


Goal Netting


To wit, to woo!


A wave from Santa


Inside the Maya Riviera

I’m dreaming of a White Christmas



We ended up with a white Christmas after all – just.

About a week before we had about a foot of snow and I was convinced that there would be a white Christmas. Then the temperatures went up into the high 60s/low 70s and it all melted. No white Christmas in the offing. Then, on Christmas Eve, we had another snowfall. I believe the actual definition of a white Christmas is that there must be an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day – and that was just about what we got.



I spent the day cooking. Spicy garlic shrimp; roast duck marinated in five spice powder and stuffed with oranges, garlic and ginger; mashed potatoes; sauteed asparagus; homemade apple pie and rye bread. I got a certain satisfaction that I had made everything except the wine we had to accompany the meal: Ladoix premier from Bourgogyne.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Foggy scenes through a train window


Tappan Zee Bridge

I was returning from New York city on the train to Cold Spring on an extremely foggy day. I loved the shapes emerging from the from the fog so I took a few pictures. They have a lot of problems: missed focus; motion blur; reflections etc. This was quite “experimental” for me. Still they’re rather different from my normal pictures and there’s something that I like about them. Another positive was that I at least tried. All too often I would have looked out of the window, decided that there were no picture taking opportunities and then turned back to my book.

Or maybe they’re just lousy pictures?


Wood pilings


Tree lined shore


Pilings and shoreline


Bridge to nowhere


Henry Hudson bridge