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I can't begin to tell you how many light towers I have climbed, but suffice to say that there are about 330 or so lighthouses on the East Coast and I have photographed 2/3's of them.  I have climbed Barnegat Inlet above and at 172 feet high it quite an exercise.  Now when climbing a lighthouse tower, you have to remember just how they were built.  The open area at the bottom is wider than the top, thus claustrophobia is at play.  Of course with my inner ears that have been clogged over the years with all kinds of riff raff, changes in air pressure plays havoc with my balance.  OK, so I got claustrophobia and am dizzy, but at least I didn't have to carry two five gallon buckets of whale oil up 172 feet three times a night. Seventeen stories by modern count!

 

The other tower lighthouse in New Jersey is of course Cape May, which is 170feet tall.  Almost 17 stories.  "The present Cape May brick tower rests on a 12-foot deep, pyramidal foundation of stone blocks.  It is of double wall construction.  The exterior wall has a base diameter of 27 feet, tapering to 13.5.  It's thicknesses range from 3.75 feet at the base to 1.5 at the watchroom deck."
That information and a great deal more can be found in what I call the Lighthouse Bible.  A book called "America's Atlantic Coast Lighthouses", by Kenneth G. Kochel.  The book includes all the east coast lights giving directions and facts about each light.  The book is 486 pages long and without it you won't find half of the lights.

 

It's amazing the work done in building these things back in the 1800's when none of today's heavy equipment had even been invented.  Just plain good old manual labor I guess.

 

 

And above is the reason these things were built.  That light kept burning all night long regardless of weather, equipment malfunction, in sickness and health.  Back then the keepers were not paid much over $500 a year in salary, but they also had their board and it was a very respected profession back in the day.

 

 

 

 

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A long walk home

 

There are a few lighthouses in this country that one must make a little effort to see.

 

But, that's half of the fun.  I am still amazed whenever I head out to visit a tower that can be seen for 17 miles out to sea, but cannot be found two city blocks away.  One would think that hey, the Hatteras tower is 208 feet high and you should be able to see it from Rt. 12 in Buxton.  North Carolina that is.  Only two or three miles from the highway.  The land is basically flat.......it's on a barrier island for God's sake.  But not so.  You can't see it until your almost upon it. 

 

 I would understand if it were Absecon lighthouse I was looking for.  It's in Atlantic City, NJ and who could see a paltry lighthouse amongst all those gambling dens called Hotels.  It's sort of like being in a back alley of New York City and looking for a cross town bus.  Yup, been there too!

Even when I know exactly where the lighthouse is located and can see the light in the evening for miles,  Hereford Inlet light in New Jersey can't really be seen until you are on Central Avenue and a couple of blocks away.

Stage Harbor lighthouse, on Cape Cod, is probably in terrain nearest to what it was when it was built.

It is a couple of miles from the road head on flat scrubby sand which is still getting that old sand blast thing that Mom Nature.  Even at that, the light room is long gone.  So so much for a total realistic immersion in historical significance.

A post card in the showing the Fenwick Island lighthouse on the Maryland, Delaware border in the early 1900's Vs. one made around 1950 will give you the idea of just what the building clutter does.

They also show just how popular it is to live near the beach and helps to understand how hidden some of these things are.

 

 

Early 1900's

 

 

1950's

 

And there are so many others where the trip to, is the most challenging part of the trip.  The one light that really stands out in my mind however, is the walk out to Race Point Lighthouse on Cape Cod.  About 2 mile walk through the dunes and marshes at the end of the cape.  It was really a nice walk to and from, although it got kinda dark on the way back.  So it was a long walk home.  One really gets a significant "Feel" for what life must have been for those souls who tended to the lights.  Lonely and barren life which centered around polishing the glass lanterns and carrying oil up anywhere from two stories to 208 feet [with 10 foot ceilings that's a 20 story climb].  Their arms must have been down to their knees after carrying all that oil to the lantern rooms.

 

 

I think that I may have liked that life style!

 

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Young stuff!

 

I know, some of you were expecting something else. 

 

 

I have alluded here in the past that one of my favorite places to photograph nature is Chincoteague and Asssateague Island in Virginia.  One year I met a family of Canada Geese.  This little guy and his brother and sisters were very accommodating.  If you look closely this guy was blowing bubbles like any kid has done.

 

The are called Canada Geese, not Canadian Geese.  I have been corrected on that score by photographers too many times.  So, I entitled this one Canada Ehyy!  Don't even know, nor care, if that's the way you spell it.

 

Eventually, the family paddled off into the sunset or wherever it was that they were going. 

 

 

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This is one of the perks of living somewhere in or near the SOUTH!

 

 

I don't have to deal with this.

 

Image taken from the "Drudge Report" this morning.  Of course the kids love it.  Only problem for them is that it is coming on a weekend and won't close the schools.  One granddaughter already has a campus wide snowball fight scheduled for Saturday at her college.  God bless em..I wish I was there and young enough to enjoy it.  As for now, I will just enjoy not having to shovel all that stuff.  I would like to have a nickel for each shovel load I have moved in my lifetime.  I'd be living on a private island somewhere now with my own boat and chopper.  Next life perhaps.

 

Maryland had it's share of winter, but the white stuff was pretty much gone within a week.  Still had to move a bunch of that stuff on three properties for which I was responsible.  I shiver just looking at that photo of the Chester River.  I see it's beginning to snow on the Big Lake in New Hampshire and probably just going to get worse.

That's just downright cold....somewhere around ten degrees.  Silk undies and heavy insulated body socks are in order for that stuff.  It will be interesting to see the photos tomorrow from those places.  In the meantime, I will just have to do with a fire in the fireplace tonight and thoughts of gummy bear places running through my depleted mind.

 

 

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Congratulations to the 2013 Super Bowl Champs.

 

 

Even we X-pats are proud.

 

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GOOD SUPER SUNDAY MORNING ALL!

 

A big Sunday for the Harbaugh's, as the brothers take the field in the modern day interpretation of the Lions Vs. the Christians.  You know all that competition way back when, in the Coliseum, in Rome.  Only difference here is that we don't have the judge in the stands deciding who dies and who lives.  Here it's just football's biggest trophy at stake and not some lion's dinner.  The Raven will eat well tonight, or so the thought goes.

 

 

It is funny (not ha ha type) how when everything changes, every things remains the same.  Generally, the Lions won and the Christians got the crap beat out of them.  Sort of like our politicians.  They win regardless of who we elect and we get the leavings.  Or that last item you bought at Tar-jjjay.  You know the one that either broke after ten minutes of use or maybe didn't work at all once you got it home.  Same concept really...somebody won and you lost!

 

It really is too bad the game couldn't end in a tie.  But you know that won't happen...even if we have to go into overtime number 14 at quarter to one tomorrow morning. 

 

Then, just to keep this entry really trite, there are the TV commercials.  I thought that I might buy one, but couldn't come up with the 69 million bucks for 30 seconds.  Titillating number what?  If I did though, what would I say?  Have a bunch of half nekid girls running around with guys in tighty whiteys sceaming about my site on Fine Art America.  Not very catchy!  I need some little critter like a lizard with an English accent. 

 

 Hey, how about "Panache"?  Give him an Aussie voice over than nobody north of Anartica can understand and it's done. 

 

 

A whole new icon born there.

 

Have a super, super-Sunday.

 

  God, I have using that wine-sipping word "Super".  Unless it's spelled with another p and then it has a whole different connotation.  But as it stands --- it is so elitist. And why do we have to call it the "Super" bowl anyway.  Why not extraordinary or excellence bowl.  Or the "I kicked the crap out of you--now live with it" bowl.  Just not enough critical thinking in the world today.

 

 

 

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Astoundings!
 

No, it's not a word so all you English teachers unwad your panties.  I can't spell nor am I any more interested in being grammatically correct than politically correct.
 

I have no photographs of a "Raven"!  Some fan I am!  I also have no images of a "49'er", and that is even more astounding.  I means some would say that I was alive during that era.  As some of you know, I am a huge college football fan but not so much for the pros.  In fact, I have never been too interested in the super bowl with the one exception of the Joe Namath win a hundred years ago.  The Jets won and I do have a photo of a jet or two.  The real ones with the wings and stuff.  But I guess given my fifty years on the "Shore" (Eastern Shore that is for the uninitiated) makes me interested in this one SB coming up tomorrow.  The fact that the competing coaches are brothers just adds to the drama.  So tomorrow, I will be joining a hundred million of my closest friends in cheering on Edgar Allen's Raven.

 

You see, I do have a life.  Other than behind the cameras or in front of the puter, and can fake sports aplomb along with the best of em. "Aplomb", that's a Bill O'Reilly word....go look it up. 

 

Since this is the first time writing in a few days, I bet you can guess I will be working in the office today.  The past week has been consumed with a lot of home chores spent away from the office and not too productive of the biz.  January was a decent month sales wise being considerably stronger than a year ago. It dropped off about mid month and while revenues were stronger, sales were down.

I am still not too trusting of the economy, but then art has it's own economy to a certain extent.  But when folks don't know where the next mortgage payment is going to come from, they certainly aren't going to buy much of my stuff.

I have added a couple of new galleries and some new images which I hope you all find interesting.  The Lemur photos in the Critters gallery were taken at our local zoo and while I would have loved to photo them in the wild....it is what it is.  A photo of the animal...a good representative of the species.

 

I am also in the process of building the "Historic Lighthouse Images" gallery.  Most of the photographs there will be scans of old postcards out of copyright because of their age.  I hope that the comparison of these old images to some of my newer pictures will provide you lovable old lighthouse freaks (like me and don't take offense with the term) with historic relevance.

 

A number of the postcards I am using have messages on them, and can be dated with the accuracy of a postal cancellation and that is an easy way to date the image.  Others can be dated only by the type of card manufactured.  The table below will give you an idea as to how that is done.  As you can see certain types of cards were published only during certain time periods.

 

POSTCARD LEGEND

  

1890 TO 1900

PIONEER TYPE

 

1900 TO 1907

UNDIVIDED BACK OF THE CARD

 

1908 TO 1918

DIVIDED BACK OF THE CARD

 

1920 TO 1932, 1934

WHITE BORDER ON THE CARD

 

1935 THRU 1950’S

LINEN PAPER TYPE ERA

 

1950’S AND ON

CHROMES (OR PHOTOGRAPHS)

 

ZIP CODES

 

1950’S STARTED 2 DIGIT

 

1963 STARTED THE FIVE DIGIT

 

 

Maybe I will be able to come up with something for Valentine's day more appropriate than the tigers at the Philadelphia zoo.  Like "Love is in the air" or some other dumb quote like that.  Have a great weekend my friends and we'll see ya on the flip side.