"Edie's, Little Silver," New Jersey, October 2010

Edie's, Little Silver, originally uploaded by DC Products.

I love this little luncheonette in my hometown. It's a nice little slice of suburbia. I wrote more about it here.

"Fiery sky," New Jersey, November 2007

View from Clifton

So often, I find myself walking to the train station in the late afternoon or evening just as the sky is putting on a hell of a light show.

Day 354 of 365

Now that's a wreath!

We're getting down to the final days of the year. I took this shot on my way into work to begin my final week of 2009, a lovely, abbreviated three-day week (Sunday-Tuesday). It was my first day in the city after the snowstorm, and while I missed all the whited-out streets and the Times Square snowball fight, I still found some not-usually-seen shots like this.

Day 344 of 365

Happy Holidays to ALL

We always get a kick out of the two-line community events sign at Boro Hall in my hometown of Little Silver. The top line, if it has anything, is usually something topical, such as the current "Happy Holidays." The second line is used to inform residents what can be put out curbside for collection/recycling this week. Yet without punctuation, my family always gets a kick out of reading it literally:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS NEWSPAPERS[,] CARDBOARD [AND] LEAVES[!]

That's how we see it, anyway.

Maybe I'll make this a Christmas card. Might have to go back in the evening, when the tree is lit. I bet there'd be enough light from the street to see the letters on the sign.

Day 340 of 365

Peace at Christmas

The hope that has slumbered for 2,000 years,
the promise that silenced 1,000 fears.
A faith that can hobble an ocean of tears, the peace of Christmas Day.

-- Bob Beers, "The Peace Carol"

Day 323 of 365

Like the '80s

Forgot my camera as I rushed out of the house to catch the train into the city, so I had to come up with something using the camera on my phone. This resulting shot reminds me of old color photos of the seedier New York of the late 70s and 80s.

Day 318 of 365

Signs of the Strip District

Just one view I saw as I waited outside one of the stores for the rest of the gang to finish shopping.

Day 315 of 365

Signature neon

Sign in a window at Christian Louboutin's store on Greenwich St.

"Rocky Mountain stop," Colorado, May 2006

Stop for views

There's always that dichotomy in a visit to a national park -- at least those grand, expansive Western national parks that were established to preserve the vast wilderness. How much of the park are you truly experiencing if you don't get too far from the car?

When my former college roommate and I went out West on a weeklong road trip to mark our 30th birthdays, we devised a grand loop that began and ended in Denver and went as far north and west as Yellowstone and Idaho and as far east as Billings and Cheyenne and that little southwestern corner of Nebraska.

After spending the first two nights in Boulder, we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park on our way north into Wyoming. We stopped at parking areas and vistas, spent a little time walking along the ridges and gazing into the valleys, but we didn't truly leave the car behind and traipse down a mountain path to truly get a feel for the place, the way we did on a college trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

On the one hand, I would've preferred to spend more time -- more quiet time -- in the Rocky Mountain NP, but on the other, we wouldn't have been able to do and see as much as we did if we'd allotted more time for any of our stops. We would've had to cut something out of Boulder, Rocky Mountain NP, Jackson Hole (and the Tetons and Yellowstone), Little Bighorn National Monument, Cheyenne or our last night in Denver. As it was, we didn't get to actually enter Teton NP or detour to Devil's Tower (I definitely have to get back to that one).

But in the end, I think I'd rather spend a little time at more places on the first visit and come back a second time to experience a place more fully. And then someday, when I'm independently wealthy or comfortably retired, I'll simply be able to do whatever, wherever, whenever, for however long I'd like.

Or so I can dream...

Day 290 of 365

Everywhere there's signs

Shot this after I left Foley's next door. The Dempsey's neon is great, and all these other signs made for quite a wordy photo. Not quite 1,000, though.

Day 289 of 365

One Poochini, please

I love going to Shake Shack on cool days -- short line, but the burger's just as good. This guy knows what I'm talking about.

Day 283 of 365

Opposite sign

Just across the street and a block north of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, naturally.

Day 280 of 365

Everything must go

This little repair shop is on a busy suburban corner, but whenever I'm stopped at the red light on my way to Target, I find myself imagining that it's been there for half a century, older than any of its neighbors. I think of it having sat at this spot since Kingsland St. and Passaic Ave. were dusty dirty roads or rudimentary asphalt ribbons cutting through the countryside.

Day 259 of 365

Don't eat anything

I'll hold them to it!

Day 258 of 365

Big piggy bank

As autumn draws closer, the sun sinks lower by the time I'm heading into work, so the photos opportunities are getting better.

Day 255 of 365

Signs above the street

I'd taken a shot of this colorful billboard a few weeks ago, from an angle further back on 30th St., only to have my camera and computer screw up the transfer. While not the same, this one worked out OK, too.

Day 251 of 365

Park here

Some of the other stalls at the Clifton train station were occupied by bikes, but this one looks like it's been vacant for some time.

Day 244 of 365

Journal Square's namesake

Was killing some time in Jersey City's Journal Square while waiting for some friends to get off the PATH and so I looked around and contemplated the section's namesake. Then I thought of Herald Square and its defunct namesake and Times Square, whose paper has moved to the west and no longer actually sites on the square (which isn't a square at all, but still ...).

Day 243 of 365

Stop, light

It's September. The days are growing shorter, so when I head to work in the afternoons now, the light is more golden and causes the buildings and other objects to cast longer shadows. While walking the High Line to work, I caught the sun illuminating this signpost in the Meatpacking District.

Day 236 of 365

Empire from Hudson