Iris in Lavender Blooms

Heaven & Earth Abound

Dome at dusk, Borough of Queens, New York.

Happy Independence Day, America!

Original photograph by Dimitra DeFotis. All Rights Reserved.

America. Pomegranates

In the spirit of the political climate in our nation, I'd like to report that this pomegranate of unknown USA origin is the best I've had in a long time: no bad seeds, sweet and tart. And the skin has a rich red color. And it was only $2.50.

Hurricane Rain In Camden

Greek Documentary Film: Hungry in Athens

Saw two documentaries about the Greek crisis this week: how financial
hardship is fostering food sharing, and how he migrant and refugee
influx forced everyday people to comfort nearly drowned strangers.

This is about the former: "The Struggle Behind the Lens: Interview
with Greek Filmmaker Takis Bardakos:
http://greektv.com/the-struggle-behind-the-lens-interview-with-greek-filmmaker-takis-bardakos/

9/11 Lights at Sunset in Mahattan

Subway Balloons

Someone just wants to make people happy while riding the trains
tonight. So the artist, top right, made pole-hugging balloon animals. Cute and clever!

Love, Authenticy & Predators

Be authentic, open and loving, but remember life is war.
With weak people seeking power and acting like bullies, we sometimes need to find a treehouse, just like animals -- see the video below.
Author Paulo Cuelho says, "Love does not need to be understood. It needs only to be shown ... The world around you will reward you." Sociologist/inspirational speaker Brene Brown says we should let ourselves be deeply, vulnerably seen, and love with our whole hearts, though there is no guarantee."
Still, be fierce in this hyper-technological life.
Also see the movie Life As War, part of a trilogy on modern society with Philip Glass music.

Lenten Recipes: Bamia & Veggies

Mixed Baked Vegetables

2 c (1 can) diced tomato
2 c (1 can) tomato sauce
4 c small whole fresh okra
1 large eggplant, peeled
6 small red potatoes
4-5 red pearl onions, or onion to taste, chopped
Dry Oregano
Dry Basil
Black pepper
Water
Salt to taste (none if canned tomato has salt)

Method: wash okra and cut off top, place in a bowl and sprinkle with 1
cup white vinegar. Add one cup of water and set aside at least 2
hours.

Peel and slice eggplant into 1-inch cubes, sprinkle with salt, put in
colander to drain bitterness, wait at least half hour, rinse eggplant.

Peel and cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes or 1-cm slices.

in a small pot, cover bottom with olive oil and briefly sauté onion,
add dived tomato and a little of tomato sauce and cook about 20
minutes, add sprinkled oregano, pepper, basil. Set aside.

In a baking pan - mom uses Corningware, sprinkle olive oil. Place
mixed vegetables, pour sauce over and sprinkle again with olive oil.

Bake at 375 for approximately 1 hour, but check at 30 minutes. You can
cover with foil, and may need to raise temperature. Lenten/vegetarian!

Absolut Bowie: New Yorker 10.15.2001

This was the back cover advertisement for the New Yorker Magazine on October 15, 2001.

It was just a month after the horrible terrorist attack, and the articles included,  "Life in the largest Arab-American community, and a letter from China on "the disaster as it appeared in the provinces."

RIP David Bowie, for whom resting peacefully meant being cremated in New Jersey and having ashes spread across Bali.

David Bowie: Change, Influences & Chicago Ties

At Bowie Is, MCA Chicago. By Dimitra DeFotis

A good quote for the new year from rock star genius David Bowie:

"I feel confident imposing change on myself. It's a lot more fun progressing than looking back. That's why I need to throw curve balls," Bowie said.

With yet another album from Bowie, a man of many styles, the Chicago Tribune's longtime music critic writes for the BBC on the surprising
list of U.S. artists who influenced Bowie, who Bowie encouraged or who collaborated with Bowie.

I shot the photo at right at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art at the 2014 Bowie Is retrospective, which was financed there with support from some big Chicago hedge fund managers. Here's the BBC piece:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160108-space-oddities-david-bowies-hidden-influences

UPDATE: I wrote this post the day Bowie died, not realizing he was on his deathbed. But he had just released his album. The New York Times obituary notes he was 69 and had cancer, Don't we all wish we could go the career retrospective in his honor, planned for March at Carnegie Hall. 

Happy New Year Vasilopita

Yours truly got the coin in her own Vasilopita bread - a Greek new year tradition in honor of a holy saint who gave money to the poor disguised in loaves.
This was the last slice of my loaf, a leftover slice, and the coin was so buried not even I could see it - nor could the people at my New Year's Eve dinner party. Και του χρόνου! To the years to come!

A Thanksgiving Hearth

Photo by Dimitra DeFotis in New York.

A Central Park View

Soup, bread, water and a wonderful view of 5th Avenue buildings near Central Park. The leaves are still green, but temperatures under 40 degrees last night will change everything.

Butternut Squash

Butternut squash carpaccio - a brilliant idea from the new Empire Hotel restaurant in New York via The Wall Street Journal. But one might need an industrial lunch meat cutter to try at home!

Never Forget: September 11, 2001

Things are taking shape at Ground Zero, finally. The grounds are beautiful. I haven't had the courage yet for listening to the recordings of people on planes at the new museum. But the view is great from the high office floors of the new Freedom Tower.

Islamorada Florida Sunset

Capitalizing on Greek Crisis

Times Square Room w/Bath: $1:50

Crews have been disassembling a building near my office for more than a year. It's finally down and the walls are talking!
How long ago was it that one could get a room for a dollar, and a room with a bath and lunch in New York's Times Square for less than $2? Well, the hotel opened in 1904.
UPDATE: A blogger who researches old New York dug up a newspaper ad that says the hotel was exclusively male and "absolutely fireproof."
Another image shows that the wall once brushed bricks with a brownstone. That's exceedingly rare in Times Square, today.
See the full post on Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.