Day 215 of 365

Waiting in Hoboken

Meryl Streep nowhere to be found, however.

Day 160 of 365

Tracks over 10th Ave.

[I still haven't caught up on blogging my daily photos since coming back from vacation, but they're all in the Flickr set. I'll catch up soon enough, but I just couldn't wait until I had to post this one.]

[The backlog is released and 18 days of photos have been posted, beginning with Day 142. Start there and head back here!]

Ever since I first read about the decommissioned railroad tracks built over 10th Avenue and the West Side, I've been intrigued. And once they announced that the old trestle would become the High Line Park, I've eagerly anticipated my first trip up there.

This one particular overpass has caught my eye since 2006, when I first started working in Chelsea Market. I'm standing on the east side of 10th Avenue, just north of the Market, looking west across the avenue to where the tracks used to duck into the building before emerging out the north side and continuing up to 34th St.

Many of the old entryways have been built over, like the one in this photo, so it's only bits and pieces of the rail line's past that remain. The rest is left to the imagination.

Day 159 of 365

The High Line is overhead

New signs for the new park! Taken on 10th Ave.

Day 157 of 365

Uneeda Bakers

Chelsea Market in Manhattan is the former home to NABISCO, which baked Oreo cookies and Uneeda Biscuits in the complex. Most of the building has been made over for the retail space on the first floor and the offices above (with some historical displays on the first-floor corridor of shops and bakeries), but this is one of the few unique holdovers from its industrial past.

Day 151 of 365

Constitutional morning

Heading home, I plotted two waypoints to check two more lighthouses off my list: Maine's Cape Neddick, also known as Nubble, and Portsmouth Harbor in New Hampshire. Portsmouth's is located at the harbor entrance, on land that's now part of the Coast Guard station and also an historic fort, Fort Constitution. This was the last photo I took at the fort and the last photo I took on vacation. With the clouds giving the sky some texture, I went with the black-and-white look.

Day 111 of 365

Big door and little brother

Diane Arbus lived in the carriage house, through the small door, at 131 1/2 Charles St.

When I am traveling,
hurrying hundreds of miles
in trains or by car,
I pass houses
where we once lived.
-- "Return I," Elisabeth Stevens

"S.U.M. building," Paterson, January 2009

S.U.M. building and falls on a winter day

The Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures building and the Great Falls in Paterson are at the heart of America's manufacturing history. The site -- finally -- is nearing national park status, an overdue designation. Paterson bears striking similarity to Lowell, Mass., which has long had national park status.

The black and white choice gives it a much more rugged, historical feel, considering this site's place in history.

Day 82 of 365

Jefferson Market Courthouse

Exited the PATH at 9th St. again today and was greeted at street level with the late light of afternoon. Across the street, the Jefferson Market Library (nee Courthouse) captured the rays, enhancing the deep, rich, red brick. It made for a great contrast against the deepening blue sky.

It has a fascinating history. More stories and photos.

Day 20 of 365: Inauguration Day

Taking the oath

President and First Lady

President Barack Obama

Truly a new day

Clifton on change day

A glorious new day in America. Change is good and it can only get better from here.

"Berlin Wall, 53rd St., Manhattan," December 2008

Berlin Wall, 53rd St.

When it stood until 1990, the Berlin Wall stood to disconnect one side of the city from the other. And now, the wall itself has been disconnected and scattered about the world. I first saw a section -- just one panel, or maybe two -- at the local Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, N.J., and spent a couple of bucks on a small chunk of it. It's in a tiny Ziploc bag somewhere, probably a box either in my parents' house or somewhere in ours.

"Three Darlings," New Jersey, September 2005

Exploring Edgewater Cemetery

Forgive me for being morbid during this season of cheer, but in looking for an image of three of anything, this one stuck with me. Plus, I'm excited to have hundreds of new photos uploaded now that I've gone through so many images recovered from my crashed hard drive.

I took these one afternoon when my wife and I explored the tiny Edgewater Cemetery behind our apartment. Despite talk of regular return visits and a hope of researching the history of some of the names, I never did either. I can't even tell you the name on the grave marker on the right -- I'm only assuming he or she is part of the Darling clan -- that's Daniel on the left and James in the middle. (Though there are only two Darlings listed at FindAGrave.com, I'm not sure the inscription on this third stone is legible even in person.)

I guess for a holiday theme, you could think of them as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.