Sunday, October 16, 2011

Distracted again...

...by members of Sandy Bay's cat population.

Suspicious? Me?
The town has lots of felines slinking around, though most seem to prefer being indoors. Can't say as I blame them, as the weather is turning cool. It's a good time for them to be indoors looking out....

Some even have their own spaces for loafing, playing, sleeping and generally ignoring whatever they want to ignore. That's obviously tiring work....

Every cat needs a picture window.

PARENTHETICAL EQUAL-TIME-BECAUSE-I'M-AN-EQUAL-TIME-KINDA-GUY NOTE: Naturally, there are plenty of dogs here as well. Most are friendly, a few are standoffish, and fewer still are downright annoying. I've seldom felt much interest in photographing them, preferring cats as subjects -- and companions. There are exceptions!



The latest in canine fall fashions.

No, I have not forgotten to post a few more New Hampshuh pictures. Any day now....

Friday, October 14, 2011

Oh, what a tangled web...

...and so on. I'm not that hot for quotations. Unless I'm quoting myself, which is fine.

Not really so tangled, I guess....
It would appear that we have some fairly hefty spiders in the neighborhood, no?

Saw the web earlier today when we took a walk to the waterfront to see what conditions were like, fog-wise. It was foggy, all right. Humid, too. And rain began to fall just as we were getting home. Summed up, a nice Fall day.

Things were quiet on the water....

I have to say I've been waiting for the Ocean Reporter to sink ever since I arrived in Sandy Bay. It's such a disreputable-looking tub. But even if the owner cobbled it together out of materials discarded at area boatyards, scraps from the Transfer Station and pieces that have fallen off cars, trucks and other boats, I'm told it is a sturdy beast capable of enduring lots of abuse and bad weather without taking a drop of water through its plates.

I'm still planning to post a few more New Hampshuh photos, but was distracted by shooting in the fog today. I love fog, and some day I'll even make a picture that shows it off to best advantage. Didn't today, though.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Fall Colors.

The color change from summer green to fall yellow, orange, red, etc. seems to be a Rather Big Deal in this part of the world, and a slight mystery to me, who spent the majority of my life in places where foliage went directly from green to brown to bare-branch with little or no transition.

This meant that a trip to New Hampshuh was necessary, so D., her mother and daughter and I piled into the car for a northward run. It was a delightful two days.

Of course one of the first lessons a photographer learns is that neat things don't always become neat pictures. Vivid flora abounded, but wasn't necessarily arranged so that it made for good images. I managed, but it took time and a lot of shooting....



Naturally, there was much more to see than a bunch of trees and plants changing hues. We also went up the Mount Washington Auto Road, billed as the "oldest man-made attraction in America," which is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. A nit-picker -- that would be me -- might point out that it could not have been known as an "auto road" for most of its first half-century, as there were no automobiles in 1861. But never mind that.

We ascended to the summit. Not, alas, with me behind the wheel. Now that I think of it, that might have been a Good Thing, as I have the impression that D. has never seen herself riding with me at 165 mph on the track at Daytona; nor has she likely longed to be in the passenger's seat cruising along at 185 mph on a German Autobahn. The more sedate guided van tour was chosen, and if she was picking up my thoughts as I checked out the road during the trip ("accelerate hard now...heavy on the brakes...downshift...start turning...clip the apex of the corner here...accelerate...") she didn't exactly refuse when I insisted I will drive next time we're visiting Mount Washington.

The climb is amazingly rapid, going from ground level through forest -- yes, more Fall Colors -- and ending up at the summit, well above the tree line. Though the weather was fine while we were there, it can be dramatically different -- often worse -- on top than what's encountered at the base. Apparently, the weather station at the peak recorded a wind speed of 231 mph on a blustery day back in the 1930s....

It's a beautiful place, with plenty to see both on the road and at the peak, but somehow photos don't really get the point across.



There are three ways to climb the mountain: road, hiking trails, and the cog railway. You can see road and railway in the above photo....

Speaking of railroads, we stayed in North Conway, which is also the home of the North Conway Scenic Railroad. Conditions permitting, I would have opted for an extra day or two just to check out the trips offered and take a leisurely look at the wonderful collection of classic locomotives, railcars and general memorabilia gathered there.

This too was a natural for taking photos, and I did, coming away with many, many photos; I have too many to choose from! So instead of showing them (yet, anyway), here's a peek inside the beautifully restored station:


I haven't sorted all the trip photos yet (there were more than 180 from our two days, plus those D. took), and frankly I'm a bit under the weather (and therefore not overly energetic) today. I think I've got a bit of a cold. Or it might just be my normal allergic reaction to yuppie tourists, who filled the sidewalks of North Conway and its curio, trinket and bauble shops.

Even if it hadn't been as great a trip as it was, the excursion definitely got my travel-juices flowing again. Just think: a little more driving and we might have added Berlin or Lebanon to our agenda!

PARENTHETICAL MULTI-COLORED THOUGHT: yes: we're getting Fall Colors here as well, but D. thinks they are nowhere near as vivid as they were in New Hampshuh. Based on limited experience, I can only agree.