Wet Day then Fireworks (and a Giveaway!)

So what happened to wanting to do black and white...? Um, I discovered it was difficult. Herewith last week's Wednesday monsoon...

taken from a bus going down the East Side.

What charming distortions the raindrops make!

As they teem down the windowpane.

Lots of bright colored umbrellas as well as the black ones.

How oddly painterly it looks

and what nice colors.

This umbrella is on its last legs

and this one is positively busted.

Luckily the 4th dawned fine, so all the sellers of patriotic stuff

could set up shop on 23rd Street.

Dallas BBQ celebrates everything.

So, up to the roof at 9:25 pm to take hopeless photos.

 Such fleeting joy 

much better enjoyed without trying to capture it.

My friends at Novica, who sell all sorts of lovely crafts and clothing from all over the world, have offered me two $50 gift codes(one for me and one for one of my readers). I'm probably going to get a pretty Indian blouse. So do write a comment and I'll draw a name next Sunday 14th.

Note: US and Canadian people do not have to pay any customs duty. UK customers seem to have to which seems a pity. Em of Dartmoor Ramblings ended up paying too much around Christmas time....

Colorful

Lime bloom almost larger than life.

Since getting back to New York, I've been thinking a lot about black and white photography. Cait O'Connor mentioned Vivian Maier whose amazing work I wasn't familiar with. How grumpy and gloomy so many people look. So now I want to photograph New Yorkers in black and white too. Watch out for my experiments...

But it's June still (well, just about) and the tree pits and the roof offer me orange cosmos and oregano, pansies and blue salvia.

Well, hmm....this character has been loose in the neighborhood for years. It must take him ages to get ready every morning for his performance - his life. Maybe next time I'll ask him his name.

How to make your rice salad more interesting than it really is: add turmeric to the water. Add violas and parsley. 

The same goes for potato salad...

Union Square is ablaze with wildflowers

and snapdragons and blackeyed Susans.

The makers of plastic things like bold colors too

but then so does Gretchen.

Wiener Melange/Last Vienna Post

Enough with my holiday snaps...

I'm now home in New York trying to digest all I saw in Vienna. (I sometimes think I enjoy my vacations more in retrospect.) Now I recognize many of the places in Merisi's splendid posts. So herewith, for my long suffering readers, a few little last glimpses...

The rose garden

reflections in a museum

more of the same.

Some elegant hats

and some suitably ancient writing

 Egon Schiele chocolate (hazelnut flavor). Who knew!

Some delights in an antique shop. Needless to say, I have several billion more photos which I won't bore you with. New York has been stunningly unphotogenic since my return. 

The bliss of hot chocolate

and country flowers.

Architecture/Vienna

Herewith a selection of Viennese buildings that caught my eye. I always imagine what it would be like living in each one.

This near the cathedral has a lovely tiled roof.

My house may well have to be painted yellow which is is a pretty popular color.

This one is rather grand and has gilding.

It might be nice to live in a square.

or a house with warmer tones.

More tiles set with little dormers.

Cobbles and yellow

Not such a tall house and the Austrian flag.

I could go 20th century...

or find an unrestored building in the center of the city. You can tell by the red pipe on the right that restoration on this one has just begun...

MAK/Museum fur angewandt Kunst/Vienna

The Museum for Applied Arts is vast. I only managed about half of it before giving up quite overwhelmed. The opening parts is a bizarre repository of artifacts  - more auction house preview than museum.

Lots of assorted Habsburgs looking variously bemused.

Poor Marie Wilt. Obviously posing for a bust not her favorite occupation.

There they all are (including Ludwig Von B) waiting and waiting.

Lots and lots of Sissy  - who had alarming amounts of hair.

Places to sit...

and lots of a favored shade of green.

The desk of a melancholy camper - and you can't even see the paperweight of the dead sparrow. 

Such pretty china for tea.

A seance of needlepointed chairs...

one of a pair of gilded vases. I could go on. I've decided that there is only so much I can take in at one time. A bit like eating chocolate cake. All too wonderful  - and then there simply isn't room for anything else.