Yep, gliding out from Port Clyde, Maine, on my way to Monhegan Island this view made me hum Mr. Otis Redding’s hit song. It was a mellow, overcast day and my stomach was full of buttery Maine seafood from the Dip Net Restaurant on the water. I boarded the ferry headed for the island of no cars where pets run free.
I was hanging out in Great Barrington MA last spring and shot this image of the sun lighting a shock of hair and a young woman’s profile. I love the wisps caught by the sun in the upper left corner! And the shape of what’s not in shadow . . . Somehow the camera captures so much more than what my naked eye can process.
Louie has new chew toys! He jumps on the table after Christmas Eve dinner and goes for the live centerpiece. See his ears turned back? That’s because I’m scolding him, telling him in my not-nice voice to get down. Does he care? Only enough to put his ears in low gear.
Next photo is this morning, Christmas Day. Louie has been playing tether ball with the ornaments. He hides under the tree. Chews its “branches”, too. So many new chew toys! The best part of Christmas for Louie, along with the much-needed nap after so much excitement.
After his nap, Louie wakes to play with the tree ornaments again. The sun has gone down and everything’s even more exciting in the dark!
On this eve of Thanksgiving, Louie has already begun to celebrate. He doesn’t have to worry about shopping, chopping, stuffing, mashing, pie-baking or cakes. All he has to do is sit at my feet, wait for the bits of roast beef to appear at my fingertips, and lick his lips. Next hour, my son opens a can of tuna and a quarter cup of Louie’s favorite juice appears in his bowl. Oh, if our Thanksgiving dinner could be so effortless!
Before: King Louie
After: Tuna juice does it every time.
If you don’t know the song Cows, it’s the opening track on the CD Philadelphia Chickens by childrens’ author Sandra Boynton. If you’re going on a road trip with the kids, I recommend it as one of the few CDs that parents can listen to as long as the kids can. Even if there are no kids in tow, it’s fun, quirky music perfect for the open road and blue highways amusement.
Cows is a theatrical, lyrically-compelling opener sung by The Seldom Herd. Kevin Bacon punches an incredible lead vocal onto the big band jazz arrangement of title track Philadelphia Chickens. Meryl Streep sings a beautifully-plaintive comedic lead vocal on Faraway Cookies. Endlessly entertaining. You won’t be disappointed.
Here are my cows. It was near dark and they were in a mellow, early-summer-night mood. Cows. Remarkable cows.
Spring is coming around.
San Diego CA
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Boy in tree, San Diego CA
Passion flower, San Diego CA
The Bangor & Aroostook railroad caboose in Mansfield Depot CT was a dining car and part of the Mansfield Depot Restaurant until a fire destroyed the rest of the establishment in July 2003. This 100-year-old train car, known as the Mansfield Depot Caboose, sat for seven years in its old home next to the tracks and marked the Mansfield crossroads. In September 2010, The Connecticut Trolley Museum bought it for $500 from the Canadian National Railway and spent $7,200 to move it to East Windsor.
The closer I got, the better she looked. So many textures, color, and contrast, and the ever-fascinating peeling paint. Through one window a wine glass sat on the table untouched, while the rest of the windows were successful targets of nighttime teenage entertainment with sailing rock torpedos. I was lucky to photograph the outside of the caboose a few months before she was moved and covered with tarp to wait for restoration funding. The depth and rich beauty of the effects of weather and corrosion will be sanded and polished away.
Last spring in Mansfield, Connecticut, I drove by this majestic scene straight from a fairy tale. When I gaze at it, I sense the little people are hiding, ready to pop out the moment I’m out of sight. I can see Father Willow’s branches coming alive, lowering to the ground for the rascals to scamper up to rummage in the nooks and crannies of the trunk. The metal sculpture on the left stands cold and erect, creating a splendor of mesmerizing contrast.
It’s snowing now. Tomorrow I’ll drive the back road to have a look at this grand tree in winter. In the morning I’ll head out and hope for a bright white sky.
8 March 2012 Posting winter willow photo today taken March 2. It’s sad to see branches lost. I hope the right arm was lost to natural causes, perhaps last October’s storm.
I took these photos at closing time on the grounds of Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington CT
Close-up in the sculpture garden.
Sun setting behind a rock wall.
Another close-up in sculpture garden.
