Ditmas Detective Solved: Fence on Argyle
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Chalk a correct guess up for letmesaysomething, who rightly identified the location of this week’s mystery photo: a fence on Argyle Road at Albemarle.
‘Images’
Ditmas Detective: Slant
Saturday, February 25th, 2012
What’s your angle on this week’s mystery photo? Got an idea about where you’ve seen this in the neighborhood? Take a guess in the comments, and I’ll reveal the answer later.
Rogue Art of the Day
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Spotted this morning by neighbor Antonio outside of Connecticut Muffin on Cortelyou.
Ditmas Detective Solved: Guitar and Garages
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Correctly guessed by a Guest, this week’s mystery photo can be seen from Westminster Road, just north of Newkirk Ave. The guitar peeks out of the back of someone’s garage at the end of an alley that’s lined with backyards and other garages.
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Ditmas Detective: Guitar
Saturday, February 18th, 2012
Up close, this guitar looks like it might be there temporarily, but it’s been there for quite a while. Have you seen it? Take a guess at its location, and I’ll reveal the answer later.
Blossoms of the Day
Friday, February 17th, 2012
February Blossoms, originally uploaded by carryboo.
It should come as no surprise that this month is on track to be the warmest February ever recorded in NYC.
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Ditmas Detective Solved: Newkirk Plaza’s Corrugated Metal Walls
Monday, February 13th, 2012
Newkirk Plaza metal wall on the Foster Avenue end.
This week’s mystery photo was apparently too hard for anyone to ID, but it was the source of some good questions and comments from readers Jeb Hart, Ocean Ave Resident, and Art Vandelay on a post about the new clock on Newkirk Plaza. The rope in the mystery picture is one of the ad-hoc fasteners holding up the decrepit corrugated metal barriers that stand on either side of the Plaza. There are also pieces of wire, which look like the equivalent of coat hangers, helping keep the walls from falling over.
These walls have been a source of contention for quite some time. The last we heard, they were not covered in New York City Transit’s Newkirk Plaza station rehabilitation project because the walls are not technically their responsibility, but instead are the Department of Transit’s. However, that might not be the case, and so, for the moment, these walls are in limbo.
Community Board 14 and the Flatbush Development Corporation are actively (seriously–exhaustively) trying to determine what agency is responsible for these walls, and then what can be done to get them up to the attractive standards of the newly updated Plaza. They’ll keep me updated, and I’ll relay that info to you, but until then we’ll all just have to hang tight. But rest assured that we have people working hard to find a solution.
In the meantime, do any long-time neighbors remember about what year those letters went up?
Newkirk Plaza metal wall on the Newkirk Ave end.
Ditmas Detective: Knot
Saturday, February 11th, 2012
In honor of Valentine’s Day, this week’s mystery photo is all about tying the knot, or perhaps, hoping it stays tied. Guessing its location may seem tricky at first, but here’s a hint–this spot was mentioned in the comments during the past week.
Leave your guess in the comments, and I’ll reveal the answer later.
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Bird of the Day
Friday, February 10th, 2012
I know I said yesterday would be the final bird of the day, but then I was walking down Rugby Road this morning and spotted this woodpecker. Not the best photo, but it’s always exciting to see one of these guys in the neighborhood.
Right after I saw it, I spotted a falcon flying over in the opposite direction, and later in the afternoon I saw a hawk circling over Fiske Terrace, and of course, heard the loud squawks of our resident parrots. If you don’t think there’s much wildlife in New York City, just look up every once in a while.
Bird of the Day
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Blue Jay, originally uploaded by carryboo.
And that about does it for bird week (as I’m out of bird photos)! Now that you’ve seen some of the birds that are common in our neighborhood, why not see the broader spectrum that live in Prospect Park? If you’re a bird lover, consider heading to the park this Saturday and Sunday for the Great Backyard Bird Count, where you can enjoy the outdoors (bundle up) and help Audubon Naturalists track North American bird populations.
Birds of the Day
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Geese landing at the Parade Ground, originally uploaded by carryboo.
Flowers for a Grey Day
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Gardener and neighbor Tracey Hohman shares this shot of “orange peel” witch hazel that she’s growing.
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Bird of the Day
Monday, February 6th, 2012
Mockingbird, originally uploaded by carryboo.
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Ditmas Detective Solved: Soap at the Flatbush Food Co-op
Monday, February 6th, 2012
As the majority of you correctly guessed (though second place “Andrew Weakland’s bathroom” probably would have gained in votes if I let this go on any longer), this week’s mystery photo is of the soap stand in the Flatbush Food Co-op on Cortelyou Road. They’re made by The Soap Works, a Canadian company that makes soaps with natural ingredients and very little packaging to create the smallest environmental footprint they can.
Ditmas Detective: Soap
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Not the TV show that led to the spin-off Benson, but the lathering bars. Think you’ve seen this soap in the neighborhood? Leave a guess to its location in the comments, and I’ll reveal the answer later.
Planet of the Night
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Being in the city, we don’t get a particularly starry night sky to look at, but even with all the light pollution, you can’t miss Venus at the moment. The planet, one of the brightest we can see from Earth, can be spotted soon after sunset in the western part of the sky (the other bright spots in the photo above are just reflections). Besides being the most brilliant thing up there, you can tell it’s a planet because it doesn’t appear to twinkle as much as a star.
Coming up next month, we’ll have a chance to see both Venus and Jupiter at about the same spot where you can see Jupiter now. The two planets are in conjunction on Thursday, March 15, the best we’ve been able to see in years, and they will stay visible for about four hours after sunset.
Statue of the Day
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
East 17th Street, originally uploaded by carryboo.
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Flowers of the Day
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
February Crocuses, originally uploaded by carryboo.
Spotted up and down the Flatbush Malls on Albermarle. And, after daffodils and snowdrops, that about seals it. There is no winter, Brooklyn.
Ditmas Detective Solved: Monument on Caton
Monday, January 30th, 2012
As Pam’s Husband mentioned, there are more than one of these “Monument Borough President Brooklyn” squares in the neighborhood–the one he mentioned, located on Beverley, and the one that was pictured in this week’s mystery photo, located on Caton at Argyle.
And Anticar points to an explanation from Brooklyn Historian Ron Schweiger, who told Brownstoner that they were used by surveyors. He says that they are “placed at a specific, horizontal distance from another known location for measurement purposes.”
Just down the road from here, there is the one pictured below, at the corner of Caton and Coney Island Avenue.
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