by cg on December 31, 2009
We ended this year as we started it, in a cathedral. The year’s beginning found us at Grace Cathedral, calling for blessings and grace for the yet-to-be-inaugurated President, and tonight found us in the world’s largest Gothic cathedral, St. John the Divine, for a peace service sung by, among others, Judy Collins and NYC Opera diva Lauren Flanagan.
Like many Episcopal New Year’s services, the evening ended with a candle lighting, each one of us in the giant space having been given a slender taper as we entered. The flame spread, candle by candle, from the front of the darkened church, and soon, literally, a thousand lights (maybe more) burned as we sung “This little light of mine.” Then it was off for a take-out dinner, followed by fireworks (and the Midnight Run- we were observers not participants) in Central Park…
by cg on December 30, 2009
So, true, there was no post day before yesterday, on the 28th. It was one of those things: I thought blog, back in Menlo Park, was going to post something. Linda and I spent the evening in fine New York style, and, thus, no post was forthcoming from moi.
Blog, miffed that it hadn’t been invited on the New York trip, decided I could darn well post. Net result: no post. Clearly a failure to communicate by two figures who are supposed to be all about communication.
Anyway, walking these winter NewYork streets reminds me how much I love the light here at this time of year, especially on clear days like the ones we’ve had lately. The sunlight is clear, thin and low, casting wonderful shadows on sparkling sidewalks. So maybe blog is right and I should take the lead and, at least, publish my pix. Except, of course, when I want the night off…
by cg on December 29, 2009
We walked down Fifth Avenue last night, from 78th to 48th with a short dogleg through Rockefeller Center then over to Eighth. This is my first trip to New York since I’ve been hemiplegic, and I was determined to navigate the bumpy sidewalks and endless curbs and crowds of the city of my birth.
Tonight was an especially good test, since Fifth Avenue was mobbed pretty much from the Apple Store on 59th down to 48th. Save for one episode of an exuberant Japanese teenager in high-heeled boots tripping me as, heedless of the crowd, she jumped excitedly backward, I navigated a serious mob scene just fine.
Linda and I viewed the tree, erect and lit, for the first time together. John was a small boy the last time we were in New York together, a few days before the tree went up, as it happened. Tonight, Linda wept happy tears – we have many fond memories of New York from our younger days.
Then it was off to La Masseria, a better-than-the-usual theatre district restaurant, before seeing the terrific Fela! at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre. It was all so perfectly Noo Yawk… thank you Heidi for the rehab work…
by cg on December 28, 2009
by cg on December 27, 2009
It has been a long time since Linda and I were in New York together, and we couldn’t be happier about the first day of a 7-day stay in the Big Apple. Yesterday’s cold rain gave way to a brilliant blue sky and a gorgeous, crisp New York day.
Today’s goal was a walk around the reservoir in Central Park, an idea that we shared with many natives, as well as throngs of tourists. Business travellers both, in our youth, Linda and I cherished the jog around the reservoir (usually from The Algonquin on 44th near 6th). A few times we managed to land in NY together, including once on Thanksgiving Day, when we ran at dawn up the middle of a deserted 5th Avenue to the park.
We were not sure we’d ever circumnavigate the reservoir together again, but we did it today, in fine style on a glorious day. Sunset was marvelous, too, as we set out for a very nice dinner at Dovetail. About as happy as we’ve been in the last three years…
by cg on December 24, 2009
To all who care, a very merry Christmas! We just finished a feast of crab and home-made soup with Son John, daughter-in-law Julie and granddaughter Grace and will be headed over to their Oakland digs tomorrow morning. Blog, btw, has the night off… and Christmas day, too…
by cg on December 23, 2009
So the blog showed up tonight, an evening it turns out, when there were many invitations to holiday parties, some of which I’m told, may have involved a guest list of two and, perhaps, as a chaperone, a bottle of bubbly.
So there was blog, tapping its digital cyberfoot as I teetered in, just back from a holiday dinner with friends Kevin and Pamela McKean and their daughter Kyle in San Francisco (along with John, Julie and Grace), in a reprise of what was once a minor holiday tradition that paired originally-from-East Coast McKeans with only-children Hubbard-Gulker clan – two otherwise-orphan broods.
“You got art?” huffed the blog, using newsroom talk to demand if I had a picture to go with my tale. “I did, but Linda hijacked it,” I replied, and blog, rolling its Google eyes, hastily banged together this post while chatting in hushed tones on the Android phone that was the big (early) Christmas present. Needless to say, blog beat a hasty retreat, leaving me to feel like the bad guy…
by cg on December 22, 2009
At least the blog was here when I got home from chemo at UCSF before heading over to an appointment at Stanford late this afternoon. Now, no blog in sight – checked World HQ, the Black Ops Center, but nada. Nuthin’. No blog.
After the church episode, I was hoping things might be getting better. But we’re beginning to have our doubts.
I’m not even going to try calling the usual suspects… long day, too weary. Think we’ll just be very cool next time blog rears head around here… Clearly, Matthew and I are going to have to get to the bottom of this bar attraction…
by cg on December 21, 2009
Last Friday we were covering an InMenlo feature when the iPhone announced a new text message: “Fire Chief just called. Check email.” Sure enough, email contained a set of tricky directions to get to Menlo Park FD’s Bayfront drill site where they were demonstrating holiday fire hazards, including everybody’s favorite, the exploding Christmas tree .
It took me back to the old days, when a huge, heavy walkie-talkie in my Domke bag would bark similar information, were I the closest photographer to a breaking news event. Now, as then, I wrapped up the feature shoot expeditiously and headed to the news assignment (though we arrived a few minutes too late, and were scooped by another photog).
For much of my career, I also worked nearly every day in a studio, with one or another big (or bigger) format cameras. Today I needed to do a little production work for the nascent community of Taizé followers at our church. So I converted our kitchen into a studio for the occasion. Where once thousand-dollar Balcar strobes stood, there were two-home made daylight CFL lights, that cost about $20 in fixtures and white spray paint at the local hardware store.
Not a Hasselblad, but a Nikon D-90 (semi-serious) camera topped the (inexpensive) tripod. Nevertheless, by cranking the D90 down to its lowest ISO, and taking care of detail like optimum f-stop, carefully squaring up camera and subject, et al., we wound up with an eminently usable image, low cost notwithstanding.
It really felt like old times… and it’s such a joy to be back behind a camera. God, I love photography… and wondering how many hemiplegic photojournalists there are…
