Happy Halloween Brooklyn. I took this early on a gray morning this week, and it seemed nice and spooky for the holiday. I moved most of my stuff out of my place in Red Hook today, so tonight will be my last night as a Red Hook resident and tomorrow will be the last post on Here in Red Hook.

I had lots of trouble deciding what to post today, but settled on these two reminders of the natural world. Whenever I walk along the path in the top image, which is usually several times per week, I'm reminded of the eternal ebb and flow of the tides, and of the oceans that cover most of our globe's surface. It's nice to get a reminder of what's beyond when you live in NYC, which can feel like the gravitational center of everything.

I took the second picture on October 12, the morning after hail the size of large marbles fell in Red Hook. During the storm I was lucky enough to be inside, but the assault of ice was a reminder of how vulnerable we are to nature, especially as our climate changes. The hail had knocked about half of the leaves off of all the trees in the neighborhood, and they carpeted the sidewalks like some kind of harvest.

This is Pat, who owns a house across the street from where I work.

An ode to American food.

I shot these on the same day, two winters ago. They didn't excite me when I developed the film at the time, but they've grown on me so I'm sharing them now.

A storm two weeks ago took down this tree up the street from me, along with over 1000 others in NYC. During the storm I was almost struck by lightning on my roof-- but I wasn't-- so I was able to photograph this scene the next day. (As usual, the photo's better bigger, so click on it.)

This particular stretch of Henry Street gets referred to as "Puerto Rico Block", but a young woman I know who lives there finds the name somewhat offensive, so we won't call it that.

My mother was just visiting from Massachusetts and complaining that they hadn't gotten any snow up there this winter. That made me recall that we had, so I went back into my winter images. The photo lab I've been using recently, Accurate Photo, is a real mom and pop place in Park Slope, owned and run by a Chinese family. When she was scanning these negatives, the mother in the family was excited about this photo, saying she liked the even composition. I guess I agree. This is Center Street, running through the Red Hook West Houses. (Blogger limits the height of your pictures, so these 35mm verticals show up really small. Click on the image to see it bigger.)

Conover Street At Dusk

Conover Street is one of the last blocks in Red Hook, furthest from the rest of Brooklyn and closest to the bay. It mostly contains small industrial buildings as well as some empty brick apartments waiting to be torn down, and the school where I work. But there are one or two blocks with little wood-frame houses lining one side of the street, facing towards the water. They seem so secret and so nestled and I wonder what it would be like to live tucked in one of their bastment apartments. I took these pictures as the sunset was casting the last bits of light down the cobblestone street.

Covered Car

I did some internet research and as far as I can tell, this is a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain. The plates say Bolivia, but somehow it got tucked away in an old lot in the corner of Red Hook.