Sunday bird blogging

A giant petrel on the beach with some seals at Fortuna Bay.

One more week of crazy prep, and the semester will be finished. There may not be a program next year, unfortunately. We won't know if our funding has been cut until July, but since there's nothing I can do about it, I'm just going to keep my head down, grade my tests, assemble my books of student writing, and try not to think about it.

Saturday reflections

The Upper East Side reflected in a car on East 68th Street, taken on my way to the bus stop after class today.

Sunday bird blogging

A giant petrel swimming in Fortuna Bay in South Georgia.

Yesterday after class I took the bus on Fifth Avenue—walking the full two miles home after standing all day is not always possible with my still highly tempermental knee. The bus was crowded, and as soon as I got on, a young man jumped up and offered me his seat.

Reader, I accepted— gratefully—even as an incredulous voice in my head was shrieking, “Wait! I'm not old!”

Sunday bird blogging

A few penguins hanging out on the beach in Gold Harbour, in South Georgia.

Saturday reflections

The São Sebastião Cathedral looks better as a reflection.

Urban poetry

Packing up after a long day on the beach at Copacabana. I am so impressed by everything this man managed to pack onto that little cart. Most of the vendors I noticed around the beach used big trucks to haul all their stuff around.

Watching it all

I don't think it's possible to look more Brazilian than this woman on a balcony overlooking the steps.

Waiting out the rain

Some locals near the bottom of the steps who were also hanging out while getting out of the rain.

Murals

Street art near the stairs

The street below the stairs is full of murals and mosaics. (Eu te amo means I love you, for those of you who understand as little Portuguese as I do.)

Escadaria Selarón

The Selarón Steps (locally known as the Lapa Steps for the neighborhood in Rio where they're located) were created by Chilean painter and sculptor Jorge Selarón. In 1990, he started painting the dilapidated stairs outside his home, and decorating them with tiles he salvaged from building sites. The steps became an obsession, and he used his other art as a sideline to finance the project. Eventually visitors from around the world began to donate tiles.

Selarón died in 2013.

If you think the picture above isn't great, here's an example of the rest of my pictures. Not only was it pouring rain when we were there, but the weather did nothing to discourage the multitudes of tourists. I didn't even attempt to fight my way through the crowds and climb the stairs; instead I joined the more intelligent tourists huddling under awnings outside nearby shops until it was time to get back in the van.

Homeless Jesus

But I did love this outside the cathedral: a status of Jesus as a homeless man (identifiable only by the wounds on his feet), created by a Canadian artist, Timothy Schmalz.