Let the Sunshine In

Window panes cracked, shattered, broken. Never mind. They let the sunshine in.

It's a gorgeous day, the kids are playing on the balcony, enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon.

This Way and That

I like how this photo turned out, nearly monochrome with lines and angles, planes and fields, depth and flatness.The bright white and the dingy beige, the push and pull of shapes going this way and that.

It's soothing somehow.

The Jeans are Gone

A while I posted a picture of this place. That picture was closely cropped around the balcony near the center of this picture. Jeans hung over the balcony.

And now, the jeans are gone. That, and the window on the left has been half closed up with what looks like cardboard.

It's that change to the window that has grabbed my imagination now. It's a pretty clear sign that someone was trying to make things inside a little more comfortable. After all, we just had all that rain and a cold snap. Cardboard isn't the best weatherproofing material in the world, but it's better than nothing and nothing is all there was before. Nothing is all that some of us have.

I hope it worked, putting cardboard in the window. I hope it made things inside a little better when the wind and rain was so bad.

All You Want

There are places with so many secrets. You can try, but you'll never unravel them all.

A wall has gone up, solid and strong. You'll never get in and the secrets will never get out.

Above and Beyond

I really love this building. It's so ornate. And for what? Not for any practical reason, no. It's ornate because that is what it is. Nothing less, and nothing else.

And I really would love to see that scalloped whatever-it-is cresting the building, that neat looking though half-destroyed bit of decorative delight, I'd love to see that more often.

A Little of Everything

Let's see, what'll it be today? Deteriorating walls, crazy wires, pipes akimbo, that awesome metal roof stuff, balcony curtains, peeling-paint shuttered windows?

All of the above.

In the Alleyway

I stepped into an alleyway, turned back the way I'd came and looked up. Such simple actions, everyday, mundane.

It's a big city. Maybe someday, I will have stepped through every alleyway, turned back along every path I've walked to look around and consider where I came from.

Someday.

Agape

I see two eyes, one winking and a big mouth gaping open.


Shocking! It's going to eat me up.

On the Outside

I have no idea what this place is like on the inside. But I like the outside.

It's a realistic fiction that stops short of any true attempt at trompe l'oeil.

Have it All

When it comes to houses, they don't make them like the used to. In most cases, all I have to say to that is "thank goodness". I'm not a big fan of homes with only one bathroom (or no bathroom), I find ancient kitchens appalling and impractical. I'm not a fan of insufficient electrical supply or receptacles, and I also prefer the greater efficiency of modern HVAC units. For these and many other reasons I'd take a modern home any day.

Still, you can't beat the craftsmanship, the classy woodworking, the decorative stonework of older buildings. The perfect house would have it all.

Like the Sky, Like the Sea

Ah, blue. Such wonderful associations. This is a calm picture, a picture for a quiet day at home, taking advantage of every little bit of serenity.

It makes me happy just thinking about it.

I've tagged a bunch of Beirut Pursuit photos that show street lamps.  You can see that group of posts by clicking here. 

Truths Told Slant

Mirrors tell it like it is, and they tell it like it isn't.

Hope you're having a nice weekend.

The Perfect Yellow

A few years ago I had paint chips propped up on the window ledge in my living room. All of them within a few shades of this:

I was looking for the perfect yellow, something like an orange tinged lemon or a really yellowy butter or an egg tart if you bumped up the saturation.

Nothing Special

An ordinary day, and ordinary window.

Open to anything.

Dirt

It's just dirt.

And dirt don't hurt.

With This Place

So many houses, so many lives, so many stories.

All of them here together, all of them of a piece with this place.

Unique

Each floor of this house seem to call out in a stage whisper, "I'm different, I'm special, I'm nothing like the rest of them."

They belong together.

Looking Down

Hello again.

Mostly in Beirut, I take pictures on the street looking up. Not this time. This time, I was up in a flat, and then we went to the roof of one of the tallest buildings in my part of town. Those pictures are coming soon.

It was wonderful, looking down on things I'd seen from below over and over again.

It Helps

We have had very irregular and lengthy blackouts lately that have proven to be quite disruptive.

I hope things will be getting back to normal soon. Meanwhile, oranges are ripening on the trees. This is the season when you can get clementines of other-worldly deliciousness in every market and on nearly every corner.

It's one of the things that makes December in Lebanon perfect.

My Kind of Action

Usually when it's the first of the month I participate in City Daily Photo's them day.

Not this first of the month, though. Why? Because the theme is action shots, and everyone is being very literal about it. I mean, this is an action shot too. But what we've got are the slow, patient actions of peeling, rusting, deteriorating, and most of all, the act of surviving.

That's my kind of action.