Ginger

Ginger came over tonight! Don't worry, she brought her human too, our good friend and teacher, Joan. The group of us played games and watched a movie while Ginger took a nap on the floor. This is Ginger between naps.

Homewood!!!!

I can not help myself! Tonight marks the completion of my 30th Season as a David "Coach" Jones / Homewood High School Football Fan! How awesome has it been? BEYOND DESCRIPTION AWESOME! GO HOMEWOOD!!

Grey Gardens

This house makes me think of Grey Gardens (even though I know it does not look like that house) but since DANE talks about it all the time and I see it everywhere...I saw this and...Grey Gardens!

Red!

We are so bad. Neither of us had a photo to post yesterday. That's ok, brand new pictures are here. We haven't seen any sun in a few days here, but there's still a bit of color left in the flora. The leaves on this Japanese maple tree seem to glow against the studio in the background.

Puzzle

The house is full of puzzles. I found this puzzle of the house itself tonight and started working on it on the coffee table. Compare to our very first post on this blog!

Place to Sit

I saw this great "tree house" in the Hollywood section of Homewood and thought...now that looks like the best place EVER to spend a crisp fall afternoon! What do you think?

Pumpinks

Random fun sparked at the house and everyone carved pumpkins. This is the wolf I carved.

Into the Woods

This small runoff tributary was lovely the way it curved around. Kind of peaceful don't you think?

Joyce

Today I went into the city. It was rainy again, but that somehow never seems to stop me. I went to see Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet perform Orbo Novo. Cedar Lake premiered Orbo Novo over the summer at Jacob's Pillow. The Joyce Theatre is one of New York's most popular venues for dance.

Take that NYC

Things have finally cooled off and we are getting some color! I love the great REDS, Oranges and Golds we get this time of year. Welcome back Iphone to the blog for a day!

Atumnal Explosion

This is the weekend. This is when any remaining deciduous greenery finally turned into its appropriate yellow or red or brown. This is on a backroad in a valley on the way to Middletown.

Street Scene

Today we finished two drops in the studio for an upcoming high school production of Guys n Dolls. We made a sewer scene, and this one. This drop is 48 feet wide and 21 feet tall. In order to capture the entire drop in the picture I put the lens of my camera up to a diminishing glass. Kind of like a reverse magnifying glass. In the lower left corner you can see Brian holding up the diminishing glass for me.

Looking Up

I have been wanting so many things to start "looking up" in my life I thought a picture looking straight up would be a good "view of the day"! Hope you enjoy and things in your life are looking up!

Friday Special

Just in case you were curious, this was the entree I made at the house on Tuesday. Its based on the "Friday Special" at Taziki's in Birmingham. Nancy's idea was to use shrimp instead of chicken. For those of you who know; yes, the sauce tasted right on. It was a major hit at the Cobalt house.

St. Paul's

Proof of sunlight in Birmingham! It was a wonderful, beautiful day and I got to spend two hours during the middle of the day out in the heart of downtown with my former boss at Morgan Stanley. We had a great time catching up over a delicious meal at Cafe DuPont and seeing all the "Birmingham Crooks" out and about at lunch time. On the way out of the Morgan Stanley office I noticed an unusual and lovely view of St. Paul's from the top of the parking deck and took this picture.

Desert

My turn to cook again. Dinner was just a detail, but the banana pudding I made for desert is where it counts.

The River

Back to the Cahaba River in early fall in Alabama. Take note of the muddy water! Have I mentioned how much it has rained here lately? Luckily today was a sunny beautiful not to hot, not to cold kind of day, I am wishing for many more.

Locally grown

I discovered this the other day in Livingston Manor, but I already know what it is. When I traveled to Cobalt Studios for the first time for my interview, Rachel Keebler, the founder and head teacher at Cobalt took me here to help her paint this on the side of a building. At that stage, This picture was nothing more than a blank wall of bricks. I helped Rachel transfer the image from a perforated sheet of paper onto the wall using charcoal (a technique called "pouncing.") This was my first view of the finished product.

Social

Walking down the street in Birmingham its amazing what views you will find. This is an old Birmingham "hot spot" that was once a great "meat and three" and is now closed.

Cascade

About two miles from the house to the south is Mountain Lake. The stream that runs off of the lake trails between back yards through the settlement of Smallwood. This area of the stream can be seen from the road. Today was a wonderful day to find this.

Mudding & Martini's

I just love the front of this old Jeep! It has been custom fit with many parts (very few still Jeep) to make it the mud slinging, hill climbing beast that it is. It also takes a very nice picture. I had a wonderful day on a big piece of land that boarders the Cahaba River riding around and enjoying the outdoors with friends. They were sure this city girl would not be able to handle the country but little did they know this set of city boots can handle it and loves it! My friends were especially delighted by the Martini's (Lemon and Cosmo) that I brought along for the ride.

Two funny quotes from the day, "You can take the city girl to the country but she is going to bring Martini's!"

Laura to her husband Chris, "Why do we not have seat belts and you do and we are smashed back here with the cooler?" Chris in response, "You guys are holding the cooler in place - priorities Laura, priorities!"

More to come of the beauty of the land but I thought I would share some of the fun first!

Covered Bridge

I took a drive a little further up into the Catskills today. This is the covered bridge over the creek outside of Livingston Manor.

Center Piece

Tonight attended the Gala for the Sullivan County Community College. It was a fun time. They had a live band and dance floor, silent auction, open bar, and great food. Scenery was provided by Cobalt Studios. This was the center piece for the tables. These little balls are weird and squishy. They come in their package dry and expand with water, then contract once dry again to be used. They are lit from a small light inside the jar.

Shadow and Light

I am really into this building! I would love to make it my home / dance studio / creative office space! When I say this place has potential, I mean it! I need to find out who owns it! I wanted to give everyone in B'ham a picture of some sunlight making shadows since that is so hard to find in Birmingham right now...sunshine...where are you?

P.S. It finally chilled off a little here in Alabama and the Fall Clothes can come out!

Dear Alabama

Dear Alabama,
I miss being able to wear shorts all the way through October. I miss warm winters and eating outside on bright days. I miss Sunday afternoons at Vulcan in January. I miss watching everyone get excited about snow and seeing 2-foot tall snowmen all over Homewood. And I miss that it all melts and the sun comes out in the early afternoon. I can't wait to visit you. I could really go for a weekend at the beach right now. Wish I was there.

Love,
Tony

P.S. Tell Nancy she can still come visit. I promise its not as cold as it looks.

Helix

I thought this one deserved a little black and white treatment. This is the lamp that sits on my desk. It came with the room.

Musical Stairway

You think you know what your going to take a picture of today and then you walk by Charlemange Records in 5 Points with the door wide open and the lights on. Even better than my first idea!

Modern Puppy Art?

Pacino modeling in one of my favorite chairs. To bad it was so dark in the room that the photo turned out a little weird...but still good I think. ISO at 1600 never works to well but I had to get this little fella "workin it"!

Its big, its heavy, its wood.

We have two wood burning stoves in the house. Today we went outside and began stacking piles under the awning or in the wood shed. This is one row I stacked today in the shed.

In the kitchen, again.

No, it was not my night to cook again. I was only the assistant tonight. I helped create these four pizzas (including all the way down to making the dough from flour and yeast.) Here is the work before they went into the oven. Left to right: BBQ chicken, pepperoni, veggie, and Hawaiian.

Urban Waterfall

It's raining in Birmingham...but everything else feels the same. (a little altered Counting Crows)

Featured due to another rainy day... an "Urban Waterfall" across the street from the BJCC. Every time it rains water pours off this building and I always find "Urban" waterfalls like this one interesting.

View From Above

On Saturday I went with some of my friends on a little hike to the top of a hill just south of Liberty. Besides the view, I thought this road peeking out in the trees was especially scenic.

A Sun Day

Old train tracks grown over - this was a sunny day and I need another one. Tired of so many things, especially this silent prison. Once I speak up its going to be a really loud prison. Which is better? Neither.

Pots and Pans

This one very literally hits close to home. It was my night to cook tonight. (I made teriyaki noodles with grilled chicken.) I looked up into the collection of pots and pans over the stove and noticed the particular copper bottom of this pot. This pot was made by Revere Ware and manufactured in Clinton, Illinois, my own hometown. Revere pots made in Clinton have become rather valuable collectors items over time. I'm pretty sure at some point both of my parents worked there as well.

Inside Out

Just down the road from my office, under the highway and you can find this lovely room. It looks like it was an old factory or shipping center of some type. I found it very enchanting! More from this location soon.

River View

This is another photo from my venture out to Skinner Falls on the Delaware. I just love this little cabin on the Pennsylvania side.

Rain Puddles and Train Tracks

This day was in one word "tired" but I did have ten minutes to myself where I stumbled upon a great place to take pictures. I will end up posting almost everything today at some point but the winner this day was the old train tracks with the sky reflected in the puddle. A blue sky in a puddle...just think about how poetic that really is.

Foliage week

This is a section of a painting I did today. I learned a new technique to help create a texture on the trunk of a tree using a cloth rag. This is the result.

Taking one from V

Taking an idea from Virginia at BirminghamAlabamaDailyPhoto I would like for everyone to guess where this is!

Today

Just the view out of my window today at lunch.

Saturday in the Park

This is another photo from the City. After the rain, the sun came out for a while, which was great because I decided to walk through Central Park. The ornate brown stone steps lead the way to Bethedsa Fountain.

Lake

I did not take this today ( I know sorry) but I did take it with my Iphone! Way to go Iphone!

Crossing

Today I ventured out with some friends to Skinner's Falls. Its not really a falls, its just a rapids area on the Delaware River. This bridge crosses into Pennsylvania at Milanville.

Night Fall

Double post today since I have been a slacker this weekend. This was around six thirty Saturday night. Photo taken on Alabama Ballet's front porch! Wow...my life is all dance, theatre and football according to my photos!

Who are the Patriots?

We are the Patriots. Well actually Friday night both teams were "Patriots" but the Homewood Patriots came out victorious in one of the most exciting finishes to a football game I have ever seen! It was a blessing. My view of the world on Friday nights in the Fall always includes these people. Here we are up close and personal with the defense "in the huddle" Friday night! Go Homewood!

Clouds

I felt like this one had to be in black and white. I was at a house warming party in Brooklyn last night and took today to photograph a few things while I was in the city. The Empire State Building's spire disappears into the clouds during the afternoon's rain.

The Floor

I climbed up one story, then two stories, then down one more on several different ladders to take this photo. This is the MainStage floor at Birmingham Children's Theatre from the second light cove about 40 feet in the air! Trust me, I worked for this one! Thanks Alex for taking me up there and keeping laughing while I risked my life to take this photo!

Before and After

This is my view at the top of the stairs on Monday, and then again earlier this afternoon. The walls in the top picture are what they looked like when I moved in. This week, myself and the other Cobalt students were led by a commercial painter from the City who helped us restore walls on the second floor. This was part of the area I worked on. I'm very pleased with the results, considering that's my room on the left.
(The drapery over the stairway was painted on a canvas last spring by Stephanie Stover, a recently graduated student of Cobalt. It hangs in its original place.)