Posts Tagged ‘dogs’
intimate setting
It’s National Macaroni Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a summer Friday quickie today, lords and ladies, focusing in on Zuzu the dog. Zuzu has a double coat of fur, which makes the summertime quite uncomfortable for her. Accordingly, whenever Our Lady of the Pentacle is watering the plants, Zuzu makes a game of it and lunges for the stream of water coming out of the hose nozzle for a cold drink and a quick cool down. This results in an immensely wet dog, as you’d imagine.
I happened to have the camera handy one recent and quite hot morning, and was lucky enough to capture the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I love the “freeze frame effect” when a dog begins to shake off moisture, and never so much as when my soaking wet and double coated girl goes into her “barrel roll.” The problem with Zuzu cooling off by lunging at the hose, of course, is that she gets completely soaked. This results in everything within five feet of her getting wet as well as she discards the water.
Zuzu doesn’t actually care about that, she’s a dog.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve always found this spiral shake business that dogs utilize to dewater their fur fascinating. They all do it, so there must be some sort of genetic programming behind it which is innate. If you watch it happen “live” it’s all over in a few seconds, but by slowing time down to the tiny increments captured in a photograph the canine procedure is revealed. The head shakes and sheds water first, and then the motion travels down the spine to the tail. Along the way, excess water is released in vortices.
Dogs are fascinating critters, IMHO. Back Monday with something completely different, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
Upcoming Tours and events
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour, with Newtown Creek Alliance – July 15th, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m..
The “then and now” of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in LIC, once known as the “workshop of the United States.” with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek Walking Tour, with Atlas Obscura – July 22nd, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m..
Explore the hellish waste transfer and petroleum districts of North Brooklyn on this daring walk towards the doomed Kosciuszko Bridge, with NCA Historian Mitch Waxman – details here.
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festoons of green
A St. Pat’s one shot today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I fully realize that you’ve seen this shot before, but god help me, I just love it so. Big time fancy dancy post coming tomorrow, have your seatbelts on for Wednesday and happy St. Pat’s.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
healing balm
Cry havoc, and let slip the dog of Blissville…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way to a recent Poison Cauldron tour, wherein a group of overtly curious New Yorkers were guided around neighborhood found in Brooklyn’s DUKBO, a rather large canine was spotted. It is my belief that I have met this dog before, and if I’m correct in my assumption of its identity, all one hundred pounds of slavering canine flesh contained in its skinvelope are overtly friendly and desirous of a good scratch. One way or another, he caught my eye whilst a humble narrator was scuttling toward the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Stinging critique is omnipresent in my mind, as always. A novel one has been added to the list over at my Brownstoner Queens column, where someone has characterized a recent post as “classist.” That’s a new one. I’ve been called a lot of things over the last five years or so, but classist ain’t one of them. Just so that you understand where I come from, my Dad called the commode “a terlet” and the conventional wisdom in my family was that the best you could do in life was to pass a civil service exam which would vouchsafe “security” in the form of a job working for the City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dogs are generally good, to me at least. Here in Astoria, where a significant number of the neighbors hail from the near east and adhere to the mores of a Muslim upbringing – they’re not so good. There’s a whole other cultural imperative at work with these folks, and they view dogs as “unclean.” Canines aren’t as “haram” as pigs, of course, and I’ve noticed that there seems to be a coefficient to how unclean they are based on geography. Conversation with the neighbors has revealed that folks from the western side of the near east – Lebanon, Egypt etc. – are fairly tolerant of dogs although they are a bit wary about them (much like the Greeks who hail from the Cyclades). When you meet folks from further east – Bangladesh, India etc. – the sudden appearance of a dog amongst them is tantamount to pulling the pin on a grenade. The dividing line between the two points of view seems to be somewhere around the Arabian peninsula. This is entirely unscientific, of course, and based strictly on conversation with the neighbors.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
normal thing
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nothing earth shattering today, lords and ladies, just a few unrelated shots cracked out in the last couple of weeks. Pictured is an anonymous but industrious dog walker with his pack of charges awaiting the arrival of another companion in Long Island City nearby 21st street.
from wikipedia
Professional dog walkers, both individuals and businesses, are paid by dog owners to walk their dogs for them. Some dog walkers will take many dogs for a walk at once, while others will not. Also growing in popularity is dog running. Dog runners are professionals who will take your dog running, usually between 1 and 10 miles for a set fee, usually not more than 2 dogs at a time. In some jurisdictions dog walking businesses must be licensed and have animal first-aid-trained employees. Professional dog walking services can be obtained locally or thorough online referral services.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Western Queensicans will quickly recognize this joint, housed in the Home Depot parking lot on Northern Blvd. Rocco’s does these absolutely ridiculous sausage sandwiches that are the stuff of cardiologist nightmare, and overstuffed with stewed onion. I was there at night picking up a couple of buckets of joint compound, at Home Depot that is- not Rocco’s, and decided to do some of the low light exercise which has occupied me all winter while running the errand.
from wikipedia
Ready-mixed joint compound is most commonly used in hanging drywall for new or remodeled homes. Application is simple and easy, usually never taking more than three or four coats. When used for new walls, joint compound effectively eliminates all blemishes from the surface of the drywall, such as drilled in screws, hanging tape, or drywall tape. Joint compound can be used to finish gypsum panel joints, corner bead, trim and fasteners, as well as skim coating. In addition, it is also very handy for fixing minor blemishes or damages to walls. It easily patches up holes, bumps, tears, and other minor damages.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This fruit stand in Manhattan, with hand written signs, was catching a shaft of light which hasn’t been claimed by the upper crust yet. That crazy bokeh blur in the shot is all lens. I’ve been playing around a lot lately with my kit, in accordance with an intention stated a while back to “do a Costanza” and shake up my shooting habits a bit.
from wikipedia
A fruit stand is a primarily open-air business venue that sells seasonal fruit and many fruit products from local business. It might also sell vegetables and various processed items derived from fruit. The fruit stand is a small business structure that is primarily run as an independent sole proprietorship, with very few franchises or branches of larger fruit stand conglomerates.
The Newtown Pentacle 