Ammachi's Fashion Sense: Loud and Proud

Do you see how many colors she is rocking? I sometimes forget that she doesn't dress normally. Her style is gaudy. See more here.

This Is Why I Like Rain

The slot-machine casino and raceway in Yonkers. Traffic is diverted in a way that I don't feel the impact living just a mile away.

After an afternoon with Ammachi.

Why Doesn't the Cat Like Me?

Zara the Cat didn't like my rough pats on her head.

Cats have dreams, too.

Hiding because I got on her nerves.

More in D.C.

I got a better photo of Washington Monument. I figured everyone knows what it looks like so I hid it.

You don't know how happy I was to get this photo on Pennsylvania Avenue during lunch time.

A fountain in the gentrified area of Columbia Heights.

A hot dog and a cinnamon bun at Sticky Fingers Bakery, a popular vegan establishment.

Another Small Trip

Those who attended the 2010 Animal Rights National Conference were allowed to bring dogs.

Zara the Cat, my couchsurfing host's companion.

Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate.

His wharf on the Potomac River.

Washington Monument.

Zooming In On Ammachi

You can see more new photos here, which are part of my documentary project on my grandmother.

I've been struggling with whether to spell the Malayalam word for grandmother "Ammichi" or "Ammachi". I'd been sticking to my guns and spelling it Ammichi for the longest time because of the way it sounded. Malayalam has its own alphabet, so I can spell any word as I please when I transliterate it into English.

Then I concluded Ammachi makes sense because it is based on the root word "Amma", which means mother. And it's also the way everyone else seems to spell it.

I've seen Varughese also spelled "Varghese" and "Verghese". It all depends on pronunciation.

A Few of My Favorite Things

The random give-away.

Yonkers city government announced garbage collection would only happen on Fridays because of budget cuts. But piles like this were on Bronx River Road today.

UPDATE: This issue was featured July 12 in a local CBS newscast (and perhaps on other stations, but I don't keep track). Does that mean it will be fixed? Forty-eight sanitation workers called out sick, causing a job slow-down. The city needs to re-hire the 30-plus sanitation workers who were laid off so Yonkers will have twice-a-week garbage pickup again. Stagnant garbage during these heat waves isn't pretty.

Red, White and Blue

Happy Fourth of July! This photo was taken yesterday at a vegan potluck "pignic" benefiting Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Pig project.

Gulf Impacts Roundup

A vacant home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

Click here to view all of my work from my trip to the Gulf of Mexico last month. I documented the lingering impact of devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the BP oil-spill impact in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.