Tuesday's Truths Week Sixteen: "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter....."

Hello. Welcome to week sixteenth of Tuesday's Truths, which happens to coincide with the day after Halloween. For those of you who follow me here on Blogger, Facebook, tumblr or hometalk, you know that I've discussed I use Halloween decor in my rooftop garden. And you know that I've also created many story-lines re the whimsical characters who have visited both my indoor succulent garden and main living area during the time of Halloween prep; the Halloween holiday itself; and Halloween aftermath. Today's Blogger post content touches on Halloween aftermath among other subjects. The photograph atop this blog features a partial view of what hangs above my kitchen stove.

In my picture you can see a character still dressed in her Halloween costume. Her name is Polka-Dottie-Boo, she first came to my home a couple of years ago and has made it her annual ritual to visit my place at Halloween, however, I think Polka-Dottie-Boo may stick around much longer this year, I am stating this because she has made herself at home in area above a photograph that features my rooftop garden in bygone years, and this photo is in a permanent (as well as prominent) position within my apartment.

The image (which can be seen more clearly below) was taken by my late friend, Donna De Solis, whom I've discussed here on Blogger as well as in a 10-24-16 entry on Facebook in honor of what would've been her birthday.

Donna's picture features a SODAS sign that I had in my garden for over ten years. It can be seen in an aerial view of my garden (which is an image taken by Juan V) that was taken a number of years ago a little before Halloween.

Donna was a frequent visitor to my garden and she adored my SODAS sign. She was very disappointed that I took it down in May of 2011 in order to make room for my kiwi vines (seen on the right hand side of this picture) to wrap around the railing which surrounds my garden. However, while Donna was unhappy with me for taking down my SODAS sign, a member of my kiwi vine couple was glad as it gave him more room to grow. 

Still, Donna always wanted me to put the sign back up, and I thought about her opinion on my decision last night because it was Halloween; and she was often spent time with me and other friends in order to celebrate. She always carried a mask on a stick which is what Ms. Polka-Dottie-Boo is doing (a larger view of this may be seen in the following picture).

And on most of the Halloweens that we celebrated we would head out to an annual NYC Halloween event, on the UWS, an event where three blocks of a tree-lined street are closed to traffic, and where most of the  brownstones there are decorated in Halloween themes. A number of examples of this can be seen below.

As I said these are only "examples" of a way in which brownstones sported Halloween decor, there was much. much more. The attention decorators gave in details is evident in the images posted above, and the following pictures provide a closer look to just some of the intricacies.

Decorators also include tree tops and tree pits in their Halloween "installations"! Here are a few examples:

It has been a tradition for folks living there to decorate their homes and it apparently gives them joy as indicated in a note to passersby that was affixed to a building by a resident participating in this event.

In any event, it was good to spend time at this annual event and take in the efforts of others to ensure folks a happy Halloween and a chance to escape from one's woes for a few hours. It would've been easy for me to stay home, especially because I had undergone having my eyes dilated in the late afternoon (as part of my on-going follow-up).

Moreover, I'm have been devoting all my attention to completing the soft-cover version of Cam's book, Words In Our Beak, Volume One (which is currently available in digital format via iBooks or ePub).

In spite of my struggle to see last night and in spite of my trepidation in taking time away from my book project, I'm glad I went to see the sights and sounds of the nearby Halloween event!

Doing this also helped me to carry on the legacy of Donna DeSolis by participating in an event she loved, for friends are very valuable; and as I reflect on friendship, my mind turns to Saint Veronica. She is known for many things, including being a patron saint of photographers.

A meditation re Saint Veronica at the Sixth Station of the Cross, goes something like this, "a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one, finds a treasure; a faithful friend is a life saving remedy...no sum can balance his worth..."

The meditation associated with Saint Veronica is a good thing be reminded of on this day after Halloween, November 1st, which also happens to be All Saints Day!

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The non-hardcover version (or versions)  of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold. Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

MY BOOK SERIES

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.

This was followed by an ePub version...

... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.

Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES (which is in Apple's Bookstore and On Amazon)...

... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.