Were they swans?

Hmmm...maybe those birds you saw last Friday were swans, not crows or geese. One seems to have landed on this chair beside a dumpster.

The Eternal Flame(s)

Here is a shot of The Eternal Flame that you can read about here and here. In this photo I took three days ago, you see the tip of the tower reflected in a puddle created by recently melted snow. The days since there have been very spring-like...no surprise; it's officially spring today! Hurrah! Where's the color??

This post is part of Newtown Daily Photo's Reflection Weekend.

SKYWATCH- Birds in flight

Not an original title, but that's just what this is. At first I thought the birds were crows, but they're rather large, so I think they may be gulls. I used my 200mm on this shot, so I can't be sure.

See what others have posted on SKYWATCH.

P.S. Why is my comment box not showing up? Help. Maybe it's a glitch on Blogger....
P.P.S. A HUGE THANKS TO Hilda of My Manila! SHE SOLVED MY PROBLEM, AND THE BOX IS BACK!!!

Nikola Tesla

This statue stands (or sits!) outside the Faculty of Engineering in Belgrade. Nikola Tesla
(1856-1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer, one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity. Tesla made many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and his patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power systems, which he helped bring about the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, in what is now Croatia, he was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth (since Croatia was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and later became an American citizen. During his many years of work in the United States, Tesla's fame was widespread, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and often bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was regarded as a mad scientist. References to Tesla were made in such films as The Prestige and The Bucket List. In the latter, actor Morgan Freeman mentions that it was not really Marconi who invented the radio. Indeed, the the U.S. Supreme Court overturned most of Marconi’s patents in light of the previous work of Nikola Tesla, Oliver Lodge, and John Stone from which Marconi’s patent’s were based.

ABC Wednesday-- 'I' is for 'Internationally intermingled'

Nope, no blankets for sale! Is that what you thought? So did I at first, when I saw this sign on on a wall of Hotel Jugoslavija that you can read somewhat outdated information about right here. I'd just walked passed another sign on a floating restaurant that read 'Fine Dinning,' so I figured the same poor speller made this sign for 'blankets' and forgot the 'l'.

Not so. 'Premier Halls,' a Belgrade firm using an English name, is advertising 'banket sale' (in Serbian) or 'banquet rooms.' A little confusing at first....

See what others have posted today on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Little Rista is Missing

I see a lot of these posters for lost dogs. This one says little Rista, a miniature pinscher, was hit by a car, got scared, and ran off. He had no collar, and most people here don't know that some dogs may have microchips with their i.d. embedded. It's required by law now and low-cost microchipping is available, but many owners don't have their dog chipped, for whatever reason.

I was sort of tempted to call and see if someone had returned him, but if they hadn't, I'd end up making the owner feel worse.

Whittling away the hours....

Meet Stevo Radelic, a Serbian refugee who has been living just outside of Belgrade now ever since he lost his home in Croatia at the beginning of Yugoslavia's break-up. He's made a new life for himself, although a difficult one, creating works of art from pieces of oak. Some wood he finds himself; other times clients bring him a pieces to turn into an artwork. He often comes to town on special days (here he had come for International Women's Day on March 8th) to try to sell what he's made. Prices range according to size and amount of work. The piece on the right, for example, costs 50 euros.

"Yankee" is two!

Today I celebrate my second blog anniversary. Like last year's post, I'm giving you a blast-from-the-past. The above is a photo also taken in 1973 (so was last year's) shortly after I bought my first camera when I lived in Paris. That summer I returned to Los Angeles where my parents were living at the time, and in downtown L.A. on Pershing Square I captured this scene. It makes me think of what Henri Cartier-Bresson said about grabbing 'the decisive moment,' for I was using an old 135mm lens that I really had to fiddle with (but didn't, seeing as how all I had time for was a quick focus). That's why it's overexposed. Anyway, this photo is one of my favorites.

Help! I'm trapped under the ice!

I couldn't resist this 'face' under a frozen puddle I saw the other day. The bubbles look like two eyes.... Come to think of it, I hope there WASN'T something under there....

This post goes out to Daryl of Out and About in New York, who posted a similar shot the other day. Click on her link above and see another pair of eyes.

Today I decided to join Monochrome Weekend. Check it out.

Snow cupcakes!

Well, guess what the weather is...again. I decided to take advantage of the snow to make my friend Marianne in NYC some cupcakes for her birthday. Lo-cal for sure.

Here's to you, Marianne, on your birthday!

Theme Day - The Tenin Technique

It's still darn cold out there and I couldn't relish lying on the sidewalk or muddy ground....so I opted for a Bibi at Home shot. A little fuzzy, but she kept moving...

Thanks to Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo for getting me blogging. I found his blog in early 2008 while looking for a good site to send my friend in NYC for her upcoming trip to Paris.

I'll be celebrating my own anniversary (the second!) on March 14th, so check back!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants