"Boy Scout" View, Kaieteur Falls, Potaro River, Kaieteur National Park, Guyana

The name "Guyana" derives from "land of many waters." Kaieteur Falls is the crown jewel in Guyana's extensive park system. Located in the Central Rainforest, it is the highest single-drop waterfall in the world at 741 feet (5X Niagara Falls). In 1929, the British Colonial Administration designated 45 square miles surrounding the Falls as a national park, one of the first such acts in Latin America or the Caribbean. The name comes from a Patamona Amerindian chief Kai ("teur" means falls). Kai paddled over the Falls to appease angry gods. Due to its remote location, there are no kitschy shops or guardrails. Here, Nature appears as it did in 1870 when "discovered" by Barrington Browne.

We flew a Cessna Caravan C208B (12-seater) single turboprop engine charter plane (Air Services Ltd.) from Ogle airport in Georgetown a bit more than an hour due south, bush flying at its best ! Four lookouts were available on the well-trod trail, including the Johnson View and the so-called "Boy Scout" view where the date "25-3-32" and "B.G. Boy Scouts" are chiseled into the stone from the days under British rule (British Guiana became Guyana in 1966). We managed to see both the Guianan cock-of-the-rocks (Guyana's poster bird attributable to the males' brilliant orange colorings complete with Mohawk) and the tiny golden poison dart dart frog (the world's most poisonous), that lives its entire life in the giant bromeliads' leaves (photo, right of center) atop Kaieteur Falls.

9/11 Memorial, Manhattan, New York

Zuccotti Park, Manhattan, New York

Nobody ever heard of Zuccotti Park until this Privately Owned Public Space ("POP") was taken over by Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") on September 17. The POP designation is significant in granting certain rights to protesters staying there 24 hours, since it is not subject to curfews. The park's northwest corner is across the street from Four World Trade Center (photo). A block north provides a dramatic viewe of One World trade Center (photo).

Joie de Vivre (photo) by Mark di Suvero, a 70-foot-tall sculpture consisting of bright-red beams, was installed in Zuccotti Park in 2006.

Scenes of OWS protesters are from November 19. Amidst the commotion, New York City workers install Christmas lights on the trees. At the same time Egyptian protesters were in front of the Egyptian Mission to the UN on 44th St., only hours after the Egyptian Military had beaten down protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Photo shows Gigi Ibrahim leading the group.

Trinity Churchyard, Manhattan, New York

The Gothic Revival Trinity Church (note the amazing bronze doors) is dwarfed by Skyscrapers in the Financial District, including the 50-story art deco Irving Trust Co. Building (1931) at 1 Wall St. The first church was built in 1698, the current building was built in 1839 by Richard Upjohn. The cemetery is static as burials below Canal St. have been banned for many decades. The graveyard's inhabitants and markers provide one of the richest concentrations of colonial history to be found anywhere. In fact, Francis Lewis is buried here, the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to be buried in New York.

Alexander Hamilton (d. 1804) is buried here, having died in a duel in Weehawken, NJ, with Aaron Burr. Although most duels were ritualistic acts of bravery, with shots deliberately sent wide, Burr chose to take true aim and mortally wounded Hamilton in the abdomen.

The mid-18th century headstones sport skull & crossbones and other whimsical features, almost cartoonesque.

Halloween Nor'easter, Bristol, CT

This is what happens when snow falls on trees BEFORE the leaves fall ! One appreciates how clever nature is, but it can occasionally become outfoxed ! Btw, a Nor'easter describes a low-pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the East Coast and whose leading winds in the left forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast.

Inspiration Point, Manhattan, New York, NY

Inspiration Point Shelter, on Henry Hudson Parkway at 190th Street, opened in 1925 as a resting place for pedestrians and leisure drivers. Designed by architect Gustave Steinacher in 1924, the neoclassical sitting area opened a year later and quickly became a favorite of Hudson River tourists. It was a stopping point for drivers and walkers along the Riverside Drive, and at one point, wrote Christopher Gray in his 1989 book Changing New York: The Architectural Scene, the structure originally had bathrooms and a roof. But after Robert Moses built the Henry Hudson Parkway in the 1930s, Inspiration Point was cut off from the rest of Manhattan — and it began decades of decline. The city renovated the structure soon after Gray’s book was published — although the bathrooms and the roof were permanently done away with. It remains under the control of the Parks Department. A short ride further north and one can see the remains of the Cornelius Billings Estate, the grand stone gallery that once marked the beginning of the 1600 ft long drive to the main house (see p. 5, The New York Times, Jan 11, 2009) is now accessible from Ft. Tryon Park.

Little Red Lighthouse, Manhattan, New York, NY

The lighthouse was first established in 1889 at Sandy Hook, NJ. It was reconstructed in 1921 on the Hudson, operational until 1947. It was made famous by the 1942 children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward. The "great gray bridge" is clearly the George Washington Bridge, though it is not named in the book. Construction on the bridge began in 1927, only 6 years after the lighthouse was erected at its current location, and concluded in 1931. The proposed dismantling of the lighthouse in 1951 resulted in a public outcry, largely from fans of Swift's book, leading to the preservation of the lighthouse by the City of New York/Parks & Recreation. Note the Homeland Security watch station.