In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time of Photographs: May 10, around 8:30.

The oily black smoke of 100-year-old boilers disperses daily across the rooftops in Washington Heights, heedless of those who suffer from pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis. Officials and politicians? Not even footnotes in this story, which is about the aggregation of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse documents the sunset of a dream.

Today the tide seemed to finally turn against Hillary Clinton.

We felt bad about it, but mostly on behalf of our mother. She’s in her seventies now and really wanted Hillary to win.

She’s spent the better part of four decades fighting for women’s “equality.” As people [...]

In which The Gay Recluse serves brunch.

This was yesterday morning, after our first trip to Zabar’s since the Christmas Eve trifecta. We were almost nostalgic thinking about it, but ultimately relieved that it’s a mountain we will probably never have to climb again.

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Time/Date: May 4, around 8pm-ish.

I, too, have an obsession with the George Washington Bridge. However, mine involves a nagging compulsion to complete a football pass from the deck of the bridge to a buddy on the ground below.
–Ryan Pissed and Petty (March [...]

In which The Gay Recluse watches birds.

The bird flew by just as the fog was lifting. That could be a metaphor for many different things!

In which The Gay Recluse attempts to use a new “macro” lens.

So yeah: The Globularia stygia we bought last year at Stonecrop Gardens is in bloom.

These first two pix we took with the regular lens.

Then we took some drugs tried out a new macro lens.

We are reminded of a record cover for one of those [...]

In which The Gay Recluse retires to our garden in Washington Heights.
Date of photograph: April 28, 2008, around 6:30pm

It’s hardly a secret that sometimes the spring garden looks better in the rain.

Today was one of those days…

One of our favorite plants is the creeping yellow groundcover, which we bought a few years ago at [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Time of photographs: April 19th, 7:00-8:00 (ish).

Washington Heights is a place of extremes.

Even the clouds are intense.

Life is nothing but abrasive.

Washington Heights is completely bereft of visionaries.

But resonates with the dead genius of the past.

Here we have been destroyed by music.

As our hearing [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Date of Photographs: April 18, 2008

We’ve noticed that almost every chimney in Washington Heights is spewing thick, black smoke these days.

It’s definitely a lot worse than it’s ever been, which leads us to ask: Does it have anything to do with the rising cost of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Date of photographs: April 18, 2008, 8:00pm-ish

I, too, have an obsession with the George Washington Bridge. However, mine involves a nagging compulsion to complete a football pass from the deck of the bridge to a buddy on the ground below.
–Ryan Pissed and Petty [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and date of photographs: April 17, 2008, 7:00 - 8:00 pm (ish).
Originally the George Washington Bridge was meant to be clad in stone but fortunately they ran out of money.

This is not a pattern we ever get tired of looking at.

Even when [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge.
Date of Photographs: April 13, 2008

The clouds over the bridge were riveting today.

It made us remember: once we were in Vermont, on tour with the band.

We were eating dinner at a restaurant overlooking Lake Champlain.

(The sixth great lake.)

There was a beautiful sunset.

Some of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and date of photographs: April 3, 2008, wheneverness.

Work was difficult this week.

It was hard to concentrate.

Life felt very distant.

We wished we could take a nap.

Somehow it never ends.
“I, too am obsessed with the George Washington Bridge, and have been ever since as stoned [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time and date of photographs: March 26, 10am (ish). [We would have posted earlier but had a backlog of hot gay statues to attend to. (Plus we had to go to Pittsburgh for the weekend for a celebration.)]
We’ve repeatedly documented the monstrous plumes of black [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time and date of photographs: April 2, 2008, 7pm (ish)

Although the worst offender seems to have abated after we called 311 a few weeks ago, there are regular emissions of nasty-looking black smoke from almost all of the rooftops.

At least when it gets dark it’s [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and date of photographs: April 1, 2008, 7:00 - 8:00 pm (ish).

The sunset sky — even this tone of blue — is perhaps not as promising as we’d like to believe. (We think of someone we recently overheard describing her life as [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and Date of photograph: March 31, 2008, 9:48am.
Notes: The gray tone of the sky nearly matched that of the bridge.

“The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of cables and steel beams, it gleams [...]

In which The Gay Recluse dreams of stowing away.

There are hundreds of barges that pass by each day.

All of them seem to have cool apartments on board.

We dream of sailing to Australia to visit The Cannanes.

In which The Gay Recluse takes pictures and displays ignorance.
First, a note from our new friend and GreenCine film critic James Van Maanen, who writes (with regard to the below shot):
Is that first picture of a hawk, maybe? (I ask, because we are getting a number of here out here in Jackson Heights of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse does some investigative reporting and follows up with a complaint.
As we’ve documented many times, thick black smoke — a function of improperly maintained or outdated boiler systems — is pretty much a constant of life in Washington Heights. (No coincidence, asthma rates are pretty much through the roof.) Although [...]