Month: August 2009

This store is at the corner of West 4th and Bank, and they have gorgeous things, but I can’t afford them, and I know I can’t afford this serving plate which probably costs a million dollars but man do I love it.

A closer look after this shot, in case this view doesn’t capture its beauty.

Isn’t it stunning?? Don’t you want it now too??

And you guys said it would happen, but the cats have gotten almost blase about the birds.

Not completely uninterested, in fact I wish I could have gotten a picture of Finney and a dove literally nose to nose staring at each other from either side of the screen the other day. The dove was doing the “baroo” head tilt, and Finney was relatively calmly watching. By relatively I mean no tail action.

But here is Finney sleeping, for God’s sake, while there is frantic bird action going on right behind him.

Meanwhile, I can’t believe how hard it is to sell books. I’m doing everything I can think of, but my book is not breaking any selling records, alas. Some books catch on, and some … don’t. I’ve got a few things coming up that might make a difference, one I can’t wait to talk about, but man. I’m exhausted.

Oh, I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but I sent my proposal for my next book to my agent and she wants me to try again. It’s salvageable she thinks, thank God, it could be worse, but I still have to gear up to go back in there and try again.

I promise to take picture of other things besides birds when I go out today.

I’ve posted about this on every single one of my blogs! I’m going to be on the Ed Norris Show this morning at 9:05, 105.7 in Baltimore, talking about psychics and crime solving. You can listen to it here, just click on Listen Live at the top right (thank you to Weston DeWalt).

I met Norris researching Restless Sleep, he was the first commanding officer of the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad. That’s him on left. He looks so different from when I talked to him. It’s funny, but I love being on the radio, it’s a lot of fun, but when I think of people actually listening to me I feel a little sick. I’m going to be talking about psychics and crime solving, so last night I re-read my chapter about psychics trying to help find a missing boy (it’s amazing how quickly you forget what you wrote) and spent some time researching psychics and crime solving in general.

Usually I get up at 6:30, but whenever I can work up the energy to get up sooner I never regret it. Just before pre-dawn is the best time of day. Almost magical. I just love the feel. I took this picture of the bird feeder the other morning when I got up earlier. It was so early I beat the birds! This is something I never see anymore, an unattended feeder that has seed in it.

I miss Polaroids. I think my first was a Swinger. “Meet the Swinger, Polaroid Swinger.” If you’re in my age-range you know the song. The memories are the borderline painful kind, they’re so good it hurts, and for the billionth time: why can’t there be time machines??

This is me biking on an island called Ile d’Yeu, off the western coast of France. I’m on the right. This was shot with my SX-70, one of my favorite polaroid cameras ever. I’m not sure of the year, but it was sometime in the early 1980’s. (More below.)

After climbing the stairs to the top of Notre Dame. God did I love Paris. (More below.)

When I taught at NYU, (early 1990’s) at the beginning of every semester I had my students take pictures of each other using my polaroid camera. By then I was using a Spectra. I did this because it was a nice ice breaker for them, and also because I can’t remember names (I had them write their names on their pictures).

After they’d take the picture they would always shake them. This was such a universal gesture it was in OutKast’s song Hey Ya, “shake it, shake it like a Polaroid Picture.” But when I asked them why they were shaking the pictures they never knew why.

For those of you who didn’t know why you shook your polaroid pictures, it used to be when the picture came out you had to wipe them down with a fixer. We shook them to make them dry faster. I loved that people continued to shake them longer after there was any need.

This is me and my mom in my apartment on 11th Street after I got home from Paris (which she and my step-father paid for). While I was gone she decorated my apartment for me as a surprise. I had recently separated from my husband and had moved into my own apartment with almost no furniture. Look at all the flowers. I learned about the joy of filling a place with flowers from her. Look at the red phone! And ashtrays! I’m an ex-smoker. (More below.)

What an awful haircut. What was I thinking? I still have the coffee table, and the vase, and that rug although it’s really seen better days, and that cow painting, which was painted by my former mother-in-law (who I adored) Jean Zaleski.