Summer Splendor at Snug Harbor

Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden is a wonderful retreat on Staten Island that offers 23 historical buildings, including museums, cultural institutions, and nine botanical gardens on 83 acres just a short bus ride from the Staten Island ferry terminal at St. George. I visited on August 10 for the first time, and was rewarded with so many gorgeous flower photos, plus some nice bugs and butterflies. I've now added a Snug Harbor page to this Web site, which you can visit for even more flowers and insects.

My favorite shot from August 10 at Snug Harbor

Below are some of the flowers and bugs I loved seeing. I tried in many shots to get as deep inside the bloom as I could, as well as to show the "landscape" of a flower. And I was so excited to get shots of the sulphur butterfly, as well as monarchs.

The "landscape" of a flower

Deep inside a bloom

The interior offers color, and a bug

Sulphur butterfly

Monarch butterfly

The Wonderful Wonders of Christmas Monsterland!

Dear, dear readers! Delightful news! Book 16 of the PM Sagas, The Wonders of Christmas Monsterland, has been added to the PM Saga Archives!

In this story, one of the best ever written, if I do say so myself, your Chronicler, to earn a little extra, conducts a tour of PM's homeland. It also includes one of Purple Monsterland's most enduring historical sagas, The Story of the Cave of the Time to Come.
 

The Saga was first published and painted for Christmas 1992. Check out this Saga, and so many more, on The PM Sagas page. These stories, after all, are the original raison d'être of this Web site.

Narcissism 101

On July 8, I did a photo shoot with Svetlana Jovanovic, a wonderful photographer who is doing a series on women and aging. She took some incredible photos of me, which I have put on my acting page.

Photo by Svetlana Jovanovic, July 2018

Photo by Svetlana Jovanovic, July 2018

I realized I hadn't scanned in a lot of my former headshots, so in a real splurge of narcissism, I have now scanned many of my headshots plus some very early acting shots. The first shot was directly out of acting school at American Academy of Dramatic Arts, in 1973.

Acting head shot, 1973

After a couple of years and a hair cut, I got new acting shots, about 1975.

In 1977, I accompanied Dirck Halstead, the incredible Time magazine photographer, as he photographed the cover and inside photos for a cover story on the Sulzbergers and The New York Times. We became friends, and he and his assistant came to my apartment in the fall of 1977 and took some photos of me that are still my favorites. I have started to scan them in, although I may have to take the larger prints to be scanned by professionals. In the meantime, here are a few.

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977. This was my headshot until the mid 1980s.

Around 1986, I got new headshots from a photographer I don't remember, except that it was a horrible experience, and he seemed to think the best photographs were ones that made the actress look like she was about to kill someone. The photos are indeed dramatic, but I hope I am now enough of an actress that you don't have to belittle me to get me furious.

Headshot, about 1986

In my stroll down Acting Memory Lane, I came across some more performance shots from very early in my career. In 1986, I played Thomasina Q. Turkey in The Owl and the Pussycat, a children's play. Whenever I get too full of myself, I like to look at these photos.

As Thomas Q. Turkey. "I lost the ga in my gobble!" October 1986

While looking for headshots, I found two photos taken by Sandy Geis, a friend who worked at The Times in 1980, when I did I've Got Sixpence, by John van Druten, at Seventh Sign Theater with Edward D. Griffith and Violet Lane.

As Inez Cabral in I've Got Sixpence, with Violet Lane as Mrs. Entwhistle, 1980. Photo by Sandy Geis

As Inez Cabral in I've Got Sixpence, with Edward D. Griffith as Peter Tyndall, 1980. Photo by Sandy Geis