Random Pictures Thread

@phinds this one is for you- “Squibb Park Bridge” is one of the most Instagrammed location in NYC.
Thanks Arn. Your excellent pics make me wish I'd spent more time poking around over in Brooklyn.

I spent a lot of time wandering around Manhattan and took hundreds of pics, most not particularly good. I focused a lot on interesting architecture, new and old. Just as one example, I have a whole series of the Hearst building construction since I worked nearby for a couple of years and caught it from the early stages through completion. See hearst building
 
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@Arn213 Would we have seen the Squibb Park Bridge in the movie Elf? Looks familiar to me.

Gotta tell you...we live next to a cornfield, and driving into our small town strikes me as being too urban, but your photos of NYC and the sights come really close to making it tempting to visit The Big Apple!! Chamber of Commerce should put you on staff!!
Earl @Greenacres2 - one of my favorite holiday movies and brings a lot of memories watching it when my kids were younger. I probably have photo’s of the locations her where they shot it in NYC. The bridge you are thinking of is in Central Park- that is the “Pine Bank Arch Bridge” (West 62nd St.). One of the few remaining cast iron bridge in Central Park- 4 or 5 left.

I would love to visit a cornfield and see other parts of the country like historic towns, big or small- love to see what is at your neck of the woods. I wish the members here post more of where they live.

I enjoy showing photo’s of where I am with you all. I try to show some of the better locations and/or more of the historic NY neighborhoods- some off the beaten path and more of the old New York or traces of it before gentrification had its way.

I’ll post things along the way and if there are locations or places you or any members here want to see, I’ll be more than happy to obliged.
 
Thanks Arn. Your excellent pics make me wish I'd spent more time poking around over in Brooklyn.

I spent a lot of time wandering around Manhattan and took hundreds of pics, most not particularly good. I focused a lot on interesting architecture, new and old. Just as one example, I have a whole series of the Hearst building construction since I worked nearby for a couple of years and caught it from the early stages through completion. See hearst building
Yes, I remember that building and I passed by it actually not to long ago when I saw a concert a Jazz concert in Columbus Circle. Very unique building with the base being a different period in style of Architecture and in contrast with the new glass Architecture built on top of it. There is this movement of this type of mix as there is not that many opportunity with all the block/lot in Manhattan being taken, so building up on top of existing low rise building or even mid rise is a thing.
 
Earl @Greenacres2 - one of my favorite holiday movies and brings a lot of memories watching it when my kids were younger. I probably have photo’s of the locations her where they shot it in NYC. The bridge you are thinking of is in Central Park- that is the “Pine Bank Arch Bridge” (West 62nd St.). One of the few remaining cast iron bridge in Central Park- 4 or 5 left.

I would love to visit a cornfield and see other parts of the country like historic towns, big or small- love to see what is at your neck of the woods. I wish the members here post more of where they live.

I enjoy showing photo’s of where I am with you all. I try to show some of the better locations and/or more of the historic NY neighborhoods- some off the beaten path and more of the old New York or traces of it before gentrification had its way.

I’ll post things along the way and if there are locations or places you or any members here want to see, I’ll be more than happy to obliged.
I, for one, thoroughly enjoy your cityscape pics, and encourage you to continue posting. Good for all of us to post a few pics from time to time of our own “local” venues. Chuck
 
I, for one, thoroughly enjoy your cityscape pics, and encourage you to continue posting. Good for all of us to post a few pics from time to time of our own “local” venues. Chuck
Thank you and will do Chuck. I will post some eateries as well- there are tons of restaurant’s, cafe’s, bars, etc.. But the really, really good one’s that establish both superb service, exceptional ambience and excellent food is few and far in between. You can have 10 restaurants in one block and you will be lucky if one of them makes the grade. The competition is that high and all of these restaurant will at times fight for your patronage- they will have a host out and billboard deals in the sidewalks that will try to get your business. It’s a jungle out there. The really better restaurants that aren’t “pushed up” by Instagram or any social medias are very hard to get into, meaning you need reservations months or half a year to get in. There are “hole in the walls” that are bang for your buck. There is this growing trend to that restaurants who aren’t fully establish, meaning they don’t really have a head chef or have grading, thinks they can charge the same as the more establish restaurants. They will charge say $ 59 for a NY strip steak the same price as a more well established restaurant that has better ambience, history and service.

Yes, please I personally would like to see more of the outdoors and what is your backyard as well as what is in your community.
 
Nice photos Arn. Too bad they didn't hide that little maintenance yard or whatever it is in the first photo behind some trees or something.
You can see better what this area looks during the day- lot’s mixed used going on. The A framing blue roofing, that is a sports park. They are parks within parks and they have continued maintenance and there is traffic at the lower level and mid level. So they have to have that bigger maintenance yard out of the open in the middle of everything- also it is out there when we get the winter snow.

@phinds, the second photo is the Brooklyn Heights promenade (Verrazano bridge, Statue of Liberty and Ellis island visible) and you must have walked this with your son when he lived in Flatbush……possibly.

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Here is something cool and this is under the Manhattan Bridge “Archway” in DUMBO Brooklyn. I mentioned in previous post that there use to be a street railway due to trade in this area partly because of coffee production. A reproduction of one of the railroad car out of wood (appears to be old northern white pine) that is a beverage/snack shop.

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@phinds, the second photo is the Brooklyn Heights promenade (Verrazano bridge, Statue of Liberty and Ellis island visible) and you must have walked this with your son when he lived in Flatbush……possibly.
Indeed. I got him to take me to that walk a couple of times. Very nice.

I really like the Verrazano Bridge. Oddly enough, until my son moved to Brooklyn, I called it the Veranzano (extra n) even though I had driven over it a few times and must have seen the sign. Since he grew up around my standard attitude of "I'm an engineer, so let's just start off with the assumption that I'm right", he delights in catching me in my frequent mistakes.
 
I would love to visit a cornfield and see other parts of the country like historic towns, big or small- love to see what is at your neck of the woods. I wish the members here post more of where they live.

I'll try and remember in the next day or two to shoot some pictures from around here. Cornfield to the north, bean fields to the south and west and woods to the east.

This time of year, I can only see two other houses, the closest is 1/2 mile away. In winter I can see twice that number.

I do enjoy seeing your NY pics, what man can create is truly amazing. Largest place I lived was Madison WI. Don't mind visiting a big city, but very happy living where I'm at. On a busy day we'll even get double digit numbers of cars driving down our road!
 
@Arn213 and others. Here are some pictures of my neighborhood.

View from back door looking E/NE

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Looking north from the east side of the property.

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What's left of our windmill with one of the pumpkin patches at the base.

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Looking NW from 15 ft or so up on the windmill.

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North from the windmill
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Our view to the south.

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Looking east from the south property line.

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Out on the road looking south.

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Looking north

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View from the SW corner of the property.

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From the road looking east down the drive.

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Looking west down the drive towards the road. PXL_20240822_234627145.PORTRAIT.webp

Our old "chicken house". We've never had chickens, but that is what it was made for 75+ years ago. Used to keep gardening tools, fertilizer and chemicals. I haven't planted sunflowers in more than 5 years, get plenty of volunteers.

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Thank you so much Tim @trc65 for taking the time to show all of us the natural greener pastures and beautiful “Fields of Gold” that you are surrounded with. What a majestic vista, the fields and that open sky seems to stretch out into forever. I can hear the wind blowing, the trees swinging to a fro, the smell of the earth, the feeling of serenity, calmness and be surrounded by all that natural beauty. City people like myself “with all of that” is what we are missing and what we crave in this concrete jungle- to be devoid of sirens, without the constant chatters of the trains from both directions as it meets each other pass the stations, the round-the-clock bumper honking, the hustle and the bustle, the ongoing deadline push, constant distractions, lack of fresh air……….to have ability to pause, slow things down, enjoy the fleeting moment and to have what you have in where you live by taking all of that natural beauty and soaking it all in. It is always greener on the other side. Thank you for sharing those photo’s Tim and letting me indulge in my imagination giving me much needed solitude and therapeutic injection………
 
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A small footnote to your soliloquy Arn. When my great nephew (from Cheyenne, WY) spent the night a couple weeks ago, I meant to offer him the use of a fan for some white noise as he isn't used to the silence out here. Forgot to, and asked him in the morning if it was too quiet for him to sleep. He said "no, I just listened to the crickets..."
 
Well, technically yes, but all that corn is yellow corn which used for livestock, ethanol, corn syrup, etc. I grow my own sweet corn.
 
Well, technically yes, but all that corn is yellow corn which used for livestock, ethanol, corn syrup, etc. I grow my own sweet corn.
We were hoping to stop in this summer but things did not pan out. Some day I'll write a song about the rolling fog of a white dirt road. Only thing missing from perfect is a pond and a trout stream from your pictures. Loved the views.
 
A small footnote to your soliloquy Arn. When my great nephew (from Cheyenne, WY) spent the night a couple weeks ago, I meant to offer him the use of a fan for some white noise as he isn't used to the silence out here. Forgot to, and asked him in the morning if it was too quiet for him to sleep. He said "no, I just listened to the crickets..."
I would welcome the sound of crickets and for the time to go slow. If silence gets the best of me, I will just take out my acoustic and play what comes to mind and be inspired by what is around me……..strange thing is a change of environment your mind set triggers set of imagination and inspiration because you are someplace fresh and new- like having a clean slate to be able to write instrumentals, songs or what have you. Just like painting. That is why some folks or famous writers, poets , musicians come to the urban jungle here to write about profound subjects as it is different where they came from and it triggers fresh ideas because they are in a new scenery or change of scenery. It is like the story of Vincent Van Gogh when he spent several years (27 months?) in the south of France from Arles and Saint Remy de Provence to be inspired to paint new things because the light and color hits the fields in a different manner compare to where he lived. He painted about 350 or so and some of his important contributions (some folks call it masterpieces) great works were born from being there: “Bedroom in Arles, Starry Night over the Rhone, Vase with 12 Sunflowers, Van Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear”……to name a few.

The nighttime sky must be something else and as well as sundown. I do remember you posting the sky when it erupted to a “nebula” type in several occasions- hard not to miss and it was sublime. Post photo’s when fall comes around and the leaves starts to change color and the terrain where you are must me symphonic of colors- I can also imagine when the snow in the winter covers all what you have and becomes a “winter wonderland”.

How far is the nearest city?

Do you miss not being surrounded by some kind of water? Don’t know if you are south or north of IL, but man you are surrounded by some great states and one of the finger lakes. Don’t give li’l Mikey your coordinates as your wood stash might be safe, but some of the goodies in your garden and the delicious stuff that you make might not be:sarcastic:
 
@Mr. Peet no trout streams, but several cricks nearby that flow year round. There are two ponds on neighbors land within a half mile so we benefit from hearing their bullfrogs at night.

@Arn213 we are in West Central IL and live about 10 miles SW of Galesburg as the crow flies. As you can drive, it's a 25 minute trip into Galesburg (33,000 pop) to do our shopping (Walmart, Menards, Lowe's) and are lucky to have a couple good regional grocery stores within a 30 minute drive. Galesburg also has a good regional hospital with major health care facilities/specialists in Peoria.

Only a hour drive east to Peoria or North to the Quad Cities to get benefits of larger metro areas.

@DLJeffs we aren't exactly in the Mississippi River bottom, but we are only 30 miles from it's banks. Most of the soils in are area are nice black silt loams over a clay subsoil and have some of the highest production potential in the country.
 
A beautiful and comfortable day today in NYC. Early this afternoon at Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park. You should be able to see the 2 prominent NYC skyscraper's in each photo- looking south to the right is the World Trade Center and if you look north/uptown 5th Ave., The Empire State Building is visible. One of the main feature of the Arch outside of the statues is the coffered ceiling with decorative rosettes. This is out of marble and designed by notable Architect Stanford White in 1891 to commemorate George Washington’s 1789 inauguration.

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