Oh, Christmas Tree

Debby, Michael and Hayden's tree, a festival of lights!

Hanover Square: Historic Row on the South Side

left to right: Granger Building, 1869 & 1894; Larned Building, 1869; Post-Standard Building, 1880;
(4) Franklin Buildings: 1870, unknown date, 1834, and 1839 resp.; Flagship Securities Building, 1896.

In the same order we see Renaissance Revival, Second Empire, Richardson Romanesque, Second Empire, Federal, Federal, Federal and Neo-Classical, resp., architectural styles.

Wreath at My Hair Salon

NiMo Building, Masterpiece of Art Deco

Christmas Tree in Clinton Square

I love 

that one 

can see 

the tree beneath the veil of wires and lights. The tree: a Norway spruce 

donated by the Deacons family of Cicero. It was cut down in a 

morning and reached Clinton Square that afternoon on a 

flatbed truck. It was 68 feet tall and weighed 

11,000 pounds cut, then trimmed to stand 

55 feet tall. This Syracuse news-

paper article with photo and 

video describes how 

the tree stands 

without guy 

wires.

Fourth Night of Hannukah: Menorah in Clinton Square

NYC: Malcolm X Quotation in Tile by Maren Hassinger, at the 110 St. Subway Station

Thomas Hart Benton: Detail of America Today, New Mural at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Louis C. Tiffany: Detail of Garden Landscape and Fountain at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Bowling Green, NYC: International Mercantile Marine Company

Number One Broadway at the Battery, built 1882, housed steamship company offices and so was decorated with a nautical theme. These ten Venetian mosaic shields of the great port cities of the 1920s are placed between the windows on the second floor.

I'm not in NYC this week. I've been sorting photos and came across these from a trip in the fall.

Heart of the Neighborhood

 Community ceramic mural designed by Marisa Temple with the help of many Westcott neighbors, 

installed in 1999 on Harvard Place near the corner of Westcott St. 

Dog Loves Snow!

Onoñda’géga’ Ohnéganos; Onondaga Water, the Sacred Lake

The Creekwalk ends at Onondaga Lake, long a sacred place for the Onondagas, as it should have been for all of us. It ended up being the most heavily polluted lake in the United States. Efforts to return it to its natural state are slow coming, minuscule and half-hearted. Still, this sign is welcome, situated at the beginning of the lake where bald eagles have been seen during especially cold winters. Today it was raw and cold down there. Still, it is a wonderful place to be.

I could not find the true Onondaga word or words to put a name to the lake here. The best I could locate were the word for the Onondaga people, and the word for water.

Illustrating the Strength of Ice Crystals

Al Fresco

Afternoons Begin to Lengthen After Today!

The rising sun inches southward. The mornings are shorter and shorter in the Northern Hemisphere until, sometime on January 3, the earth’s morning tilt stops and in an instant, as we move onward in our orbit, the sun begins to rise earlier again.

In the meantime, and this is the important thing I hang on to this week, by the clock the afternoon reaches it shortest on December 9, today! After today it’s all gravy, at least in the afternoons. By the middle of January the afternoons are perceptibly longer. Tomorrow the difference is just a few seconds, gradually becoming a minute and by the end of January, 2 minutes every afternoon.

All this is “by the clock”, of course. Check out the Farmer’s Almanac or an astronomical website to see what I mean. http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/syracuse?month=12&year=2014

A sundial gives no clue to this modern phenomenon. The true shortest day is still Winter Solstice, December 21, at exactly 6:03 PM in Syracuse, or something like that depending on where you are latitudinally.

Knowing that things start improving in the afternoons early in December always lifts my mood. Celebrate December 9!

Noah's Ark at Brandywine River Museum

 Critters are made from natural materials: dried flowers, seeds, pods and husks. They are sold as a fund raiser after the holiday season.

Sweet Chalk Cows

Chalk drawing by Stephen at Freedom of Espresso in Liverpool.

Window Paintings!

These bright illustrations caught my eye on West Fayette across from Lipe Art Park.

Rudolph!

Tribute to Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian Freedom Fighter, Poet and Painter

This memorial stands in front of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Tipperary Hill.

Pot, Bench, Snow and Leaves

The pot contains pineapple sage salvia elegans, which only hits top speed as the season closes! The late frost this year gave us an especially happy display.

Celtic Cross at the Foot of Tompkins Street in Tipperary Hill

Peter Coleman, long-time Tipperary Hill businessman and mayor, brought this Celtic cross from Ireland. 

Wharton Esherick Museum

Wharton Esherick's home and studio, a National Historic Landmark for Architecture, are located in Paoli PA near Philadelphis. Link to the museum is here. 

Bathroom tile

Bifurcated spiral staircase between Esherick's studio and living spaces.

Stool seat

Treetop dining area