Keeping track of time again…

We will be on the road starting tomorrow to find some warmer weather, but for now, I will finish my year in review.

July was uneventful except that our daughter Carrie had her 30^th birthday.  Where does the time go?  Otherwise, we just rambled on like usual. This photo is apropos of nothing except that Carrie and I both like butterflies and it was taken in July.

In August, Greg and I drove north through New Hampshire with a stop to drive up Mount Washington, through Maine, through New Brunswick, Canada and onto Prince Edward Island – a place I’ve wanted to go for a very long time.  Then we came home via Nova Scotia, then Campobello Island and Maine where we stayed a couple of nights with our friends Linda and Brian.  A good trip all around.

Looking out over the lake in Brian and Linda's back yard.

We got lucky with a loon siting right at golden hour.

Aside from the fact that I consider Opening Day of Baseball as the true New Year Day, my year usually really begins in September.  I get busier with meetings and such.  This year was no exception.  But we had some fun, too.  Our neighbors, the McGuires, had a great pool-warming party and that doesn’t mean we all stood in their pool and peed.  It was a beautiful, mild but cool night and a wonderful gathering of neighbors and friends.  But only the kids went in the pool.

This is Walker Pond, not the McGuire's pool.

October was uneventful except for the gorgeous autumn leaves.

I started physical therapy in November for a sciatica problem and though I faithfully attended all sessions and did the exercises, I didn’t get any relief that was long-lasting.  So I was feeling a bit off-centered and old in November.  But we had a very nice Thanksgiving with the kids at a local restaurant and I continue to feel very thankful for so many things in my life with the possible exception of compressed discs in my back that my doctor says is “normal aging.”  Oh, well…

Now, here we are at the end of December and the end of another year.  My mother’s health continues to decline and another good friend has been diagnosed with cancer.  News of the world does its best to try to push me into despair.  But every day, I witness human kindness, small and grand, and it gives me hope.  I’ve been watching out my kitchen window seeing the birds, squirrels and chipmunks going about their daily business.  I think that they know more than I do about the resilience of our Mother, the Earth.  And in our inevitable way, we will join the birds and squirrels and Chip and Dale in going forward into a new year to witness the wonders and splendors of the Earth, small and grand.

My hope for you all as we enter 2015 is that your joys outweigh your sorrows on every count.  Blessed be.

Good Fall Fences...

"There is no fence nor hedge round time that is gone.  You can go back and have what you like of it if you can remember."

~Philip Dunne

Technically, fall isn't over yet even if it might feel like winter here most days.  And I happened to remember that I have fall fence pictures languishing on my hard drive so that's what I'm going to post today.

Linking to Theresa's GOOD FENCES!

A little late fall color...

No words needed...

Willy-Nilly Fall Friday 5…

Baseball season is over.  This makes me sad.  I do have to admit that it was a fun World Series to watch though.  And there was no stress because I didn’t really care who won, although I will admit that I really liked the Kansas City Royals and had to root for them.  Oh, well…  Maybe next year.

I do watch a lot of television from Great Britain on Netflix these days.  You know, things like Dr. Who, Torchwood and Midsomer Murders.  I’m always surprised when people who need to defend themselves on these shows often pull out a baseball bat…a baseball bat, for pity’s sake.  Now, I may be wrong, but I don’t think they play baseball in Great Britain.  So why do all these people have bats in their closets and where the heck do they buy them?  They must be sold as weapons over there in the stores.  You almost never see a baseball bat used as a weapon on American TV.  I mentioned this today to Greg for whatever reason and his answer was short and to the point.  “That’s because,” he said, “American use guns.”

Are you sick of political ads yet?  I sure am.  We get them not only from Massachusetts but also from New Hampshire.  It almost makes me nostalgic for that Verizon ad with the bouncing, whispering couple with the baby that makes the salesgirl shush so as not to wake the kid.  I’d like to slap those people and I am non-violent by nature.  But those dunderheads are a breath of fresh air compared with all this politics.

The biggest leaf I've found this year so far.

I have sciatica and am going to physical therapy trying to get it under control.  I laughed about the first exercise that the PT gave me, which was to lie on my stomach for fifteen minutes three times a day.  Hey, even I can do that!  But I was told yesterday that I needed to roll in and out of bed.  Do you know how hard that is??  I always thought that it was kind of a figure of speech but apparently it is an actual way to get in and out of bed.  I haven’t mastered it yet.  I am afraid that I require further instruction.

I've already posted this photo on Facebook, but I think it bears repeating.  This is my mother, father and me all duded up and ready to leave for a Halloween party at my sister Cindy's house back in 1976.  Pretty funny, isn't it?!  I'm not dressing up this year.  As a matter of fact, I almost forgot all about Trick or Treat and had to run out and purchase last minute candy.  I need to start paying attention to the calendar.  Have a safe and happy Halloween!

P.S.  I'd like some help identifying this cute little guy who has been hanging out at our feeder.  He scrounges underneath and doesn't go on to the feeders.  He must be some kind of sparrow but what kind is the question.  He's a tad bigger than a dark-eyed junco.

Linking up to Tanya's Around Roanoke, VA

Willy-Nilly Friday 5!

Using my super power…

Being on Facebook, I have learned that there are lots and lots of t-shirts available for photographers.  Those are the advertisements that pop up most often when I go on to check on all the odds and ends my friends and family are posting.

  The t-shirt I like best has a camera printed on it and says, “I can stop time.  What’s your superpower?”  One of these days, I may just click on that link and buy one of those, because in many ways that is true.  Photography does give us the ability to freeze moments in time.

Still, I find myself wishing this superpower of mine didn’t require a Nikon and, in fact, wasn’t just a catch phrase on a t-shirt, because this has been a ridiculously busy month and a half for me.  I cannot put my finger on why exactly, but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I was born a slow and deliberate person and as I age, I’m just getting slower and slower and more deliberate.  Things just take me a lot of time and I can’t seem to change that.  So when I add in appointments and other obligations, the things I actually enjoy doing get shoved to the side…like this blog, for instance.

Yesterday, I thought I would have time to post something, but my yearly eye exam was scheduled for the afternoon.  I was happy to learn that my eyes are not showing the normal signs of aging that other parts of my body are.  I was told that there is no sign of cataract or glaucoma.  And the doctor was polite enough to not mention that when he looked though my dilated pupils, he could see that my brain was starting to atrophy and lose its elasticity.  I thought that was rather kind of him.  But those drops he used did put an end to me doing anything useful for the rest of the day.

Anyhow, thanks to the Nor’easter that passed through here last week, our fall color is pretty much gone.  Sure, here and there, you may spot a nice bright red tree, but mostly what’s there now are the coppers and browns of the oaks.

  Of course, the oaks never really completely let go of their leaves until the new ones come in.  Isn’t there a saying that says, “Stubborn as an Oak!”??  If not, I may have that one printed on a t-shirt, too.  There are probably people I know who would find that pretty appropriate for me.

Well, since I have it, I might as well exercise my superpower!  Here are a few shots of autumn that I have frozen in time.

Autumn!

The stripped and shapely

Maple grieves

The ghosts of her

Departed leaves.

The ground is hard,

As hard as stone.

The year is old,

The birds are flown.

And yet the world,

In its distress,

Displays a certain

Loveliness---

-   John Updike, A Child's Calendar

I love it!

Confessions of a closet peeper…

We complain a fair amount about leaf peepers here in New England.  This time of year, the traffic gets heavier, people drive like maniacs and there are more busses on the road.  Getting from point A to point B can sometimes be challenging.  Even so, Greg and I are not above doing a little leaf peeping ourselves.  In truth, it was our plan to load Olive, the pug, into the car and to drive up into southern Vermont this weekend to see how the leaves are changing there, but things conspired against us and we never made it.  So yesterday, even though the weather was a bit overcast, we went ahead and did a short tour of Vermont.

Starting out here in south central Massachusetts, the day was pretty nice.  The sky was mostly blue but the leaves are quite a way from being at peak.

Still even here, now and then, we saw patches of true autumn color.

As we traveled north and west, the sky got more and more overcast, but the leaves were more and more colorful.

Of course, it is my humble opinion that Vermont is the most beautiful place in this country no matter what the time of year, but in the fall, it has beauty that is beyond words.

Driving around staring at all that color makes one a bit peckish, so as we were heading home, we pulled into a little place that sold ice cream and each had a small cone.  This is what a pug looks like when she thinks that she deserves a lick of your ice cream.  She can hold that pose for quite a while.

It was a nice day in spite of the less than stellar weather.

  I just love this time of year!

Looking a little closer….

Autumn is winding down and most of the bright fall colors are gone.  The color scheme of brown and green is what I see out my window these days.  After the vibrant fall we had, these toned down colors can seem a bit dreary even on a bright and beautiful day like today.  But I know there are still intriguing things to find out there.  One just has to look a little closer.

Look and you might see delicate, gossamer milkweed seeds about to be released upon the wind.

Or gracefully twisted branches that were once hidden by foliage.

Or dried seed pods that make up their own bouquets where their flowers once stood.

Or the nice, bright sparkle of red berries.

Just look...

Chasing My White Whales…

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”

~Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Now and then, I join my daughter Carrie on a photo excursion.  Sometimes when we drive by something that she would like to take a good photo of but can’t manage to do it, she will say rather wistfully, “There goes my White Whale.”  I chuckle at that because I think we all channel Captain Ahab, now and then.  I certainly have my White Whales…my unattainable, enigmatic shots.

Two of mine are only about 4 or 5 miles from our house.  One is in an area of wetlands where the marsh grass grows in clumps very straight and even.  The grass snakes through the bog and when there is no breeze, it is reflected perfectly in the still water in front of it.  Some days when I pass that area and the light is hitting it just right, it looks like endless clusters of gold wires reflected in a pool of black oil and I can feel my shutter finger twitching.  The problem is that it is located on a very busy stretch of Route 20 and if my car and I survived even a short layover there, I would probably be arrested for stopping in such a dangerous area to indulge what others, who don’t understand the concept of the White Whale, might consider to be just a photographic itch.  Ah, sometimes I feel as misunderstood as Ahab.

My other nemesis is an old farmhouse that sits up a rise off another busy stretch of Route 20.  For years now, I’ve thought of Andrew Wyeth’s great painting “Christina’s World” whenever I’ve looked at it.  It seems to me that it has just been begging me to photograph it.  The few times I’ve had the opportunity, though, either the sun was in the wrong place or I just couldn’t get the right angle on it without trespassing or standing in the middle of Route 20 playing chicken with a semi-truck.  However, we drive past this house frequently so I think about it a lot.  A few weeks ago, to my great dismay, I noticed that the house was being disassembled.  Yes, it is being taken apart piece by piece.  Now my possibilities with that particular White Whale are gone.

I don’t suppose I should ever imagine that the world is going to stay the same day after day just waiting for me to come along with my camera whenever it happens to suit me.  Still, I am disappointed that I will never get another chance at that old farm house.  And truly, I’m not intrepid enough to even attempt a shot of the marsh grass.

Thar, I've blown my White Whales.

I’m sure you have them, too…that beautiful old barn on a busy highway, that noble old tree that has just been cut down, the fleeting bird or the look of total and complete joy or awe on the face of a loved one that comes and goes in the split second before you hit the damn shutter.

I will just have to keep forming photographs in my mind when I pass my White Whales and go fishing with a cheery and open mind for some other opportunity.  After all, I am not Ahab…not really.  To me, the world is full of possibilities and they aren't all white. I will never know all that may be coming.

An unfortunate attempt at capturing my White Whale:

The bones of my White Whale.  Here it is as it sits today:

A new impossible dream...capturing every last essence of fall:

October love...

As it's winding down, I guess I'm already getting nostalgic.  I love fall and October is my favorite month.  Oh, well...if all goes well, I'll see a few more.

LINKING TO A RURAL JOURNAL'S

TUESDAY MUSE!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday…

Here are this week’s prompts:  Watching, Leafy, First World Problem, Still and A Good Day.  And here’s what I came up with.

Olive the pug.  She’s always on the alert when she’s not asleep.  That's because she's kind of a little wimp.  Here’s she’s watching something that’s going on in the yard.  My guess is that she saw a leaf blow by and figured it was some kind of pug-getting monster.

Well, finding a shot for leafy is not a problem here right now as we are in the midst of fall.  I found this branch on the ground a couple weeks ago and decided that it is just as beautiful as a bunch of flowers.  It has been sitting on my kitchen sink since.  I love looking at it.

Now, here’s a First World Problem.  I have a love/hate relationship with my iPod.  I love that I can listen to books just about anywhere I am, but I hate that when I touch the darn thing while listening to a book, I often skip to the next chapter and then have to back up and listen to the chapter I was on all over again.  The touch screen is just too sensitive.  While this doesn’t happen all the time, it happens often enough that this iPod should feel ashamed of itself.  Also, while we’re on the subject, if I don’t get the darn thing securely clipped to something in my purse, it falls to the bottom of my bag and I panic thinking I lost it and won’t get to finish my book.  I just liked my first iPod a lot more and wish it hadn’t crapped out.

Here’s an autumn reflection in still water.

What started out as a bad day this week turned into a good day for taking pictures.  It’s a long story of me starting out to go somewhere when the battery in my smart key died (a first world problem if there ever was one) and ended up with me stopping at the pond when it was beautifully flat and still.

  What an autumn we’ve had!

LINKING TO ASHLEY SISK'S

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY!