1 30 13

ISLAND IN THE SKY

 

January 30, 2013, 8:10 am, and it's 67 degrees here south of the sun.  Going to 80 most likely, but we're supposed to get some storms.  The big lake just froze and we're at spring time temperatures.  Go figure.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  As I season, I can tolerate cold weather less and less.  I always wondered how stupid my mother was in her later years...wearing sweaters and stuff in the middle of summer.  Now I know.  The blood thins and there is less alcohol in it and you get cold when the normal world is wandering around in shorts and wife beaters.  Why the H do they call them wife beaters anyway.  If anybody knows please write in and let me know.  I am always looking to further my education.

 

Yesterday, we had a chance to go up to Newbury to look at a  piece of property Sheri's cousin wants to clear and build upon.  It got up to the low seventies and my major worry was wandering into a sunning copperhead or rattler or moccasin along the lake's edge.  I don't worry about a snake I can see...it's the one's I can't see that give me chills.  Phobia's are strange.  But I really don't want to have to undergo shots of anti-venom, wired up in some emergency room.

 

Anyway, not snakes to report.  The dog got wet and smelled all the way home.  We talked to the guy who will be bush-hogging the place.  There's another word whose source would prove interesting.  Bush-hog?

 

I do understand "Island in the Sky" however!

 

Happy Hump Day.  And I do understand the origin of that!

 

 

 

 

1 29 13

FOR THE BIRDS

 

I am not sure of just what the attraction is, but birds in a wild setting do peak my interest.  When I first started to take pictures and thought stupidly that I would like to be a pro photographer, it was the birds to which my concentration was directed. 

 

I have done some portrait photography and one (that's 1) wedding.  People photography is probably where the money is, but ducks don't talk back and that was always important to me.  I once had a lady say that the photographer who did her portrait five years ago made her look so much better than my efforts.  Well!  Duh lady!  You're five years older and those wrinkles were there before Photo Shop.  So, I stayed with birds.  Throw them some food and they're friends for life and never bad mouth ya unless you run out of seed.  Squirrels at the feeder are another matter.

 

I guess I have taken photos, like the one above of a cattle egret, from Maine to Florida and a lot of spots in between.  In the far north, there just aren't the numbers of them that we see in the south.  That makes them smarter than us because they stay were it's warm and you don't have to work so hard for food.  And then you have to learn migration patterns, mating patters and just the locations in which they like to hang.  So, I guess you could say that you just don't go outside and go "Click,click" to get that photo.

Places that are fun to visit and productive in wildlife area range from Acadia in Maine, Fire Island in New York, Bombay Hook in Delaware, Black Water and Chesapeake Farms in Maryland, Assateague Island in Virginia, Great Smokey National Park in Tennessee, Ding Darling and the Alligator Farm in Florida.  I guess there are a lot more places on the East Coast, but I have been blessed to be able to visit those.

Then there is the most stable place of all to photograph our feather friends.  The back yard bird feeder is probably the easiest place to photograph the little critters.  Also the cheapest place to go.  All you need is a feeder (0$ to $35), a bag of black oil sunflower seed ($25) and a lot of patience.  Tack a branch or two on the feeder and you have a place for them to land, preen and argue.  And it looks more natural when they land there.  A friend of mine who photographed "The Mad Bluebird" (and made a million on it..no kidding) claimed that he cut all the other branches off a particular tree...thus forcing the bird to land only on the one he wanted to photograph.  OK, maybe that works but I am not so sure.  And the bluebird was on top of a fence post anyway so I guess he cut all the other posts down.  Probably not!

Me, I'll just sit in a nice warm car with a long lens and let them put on a show for me.  Have my Pike Place Roast all nice and warm and fire away.  Lazy....yep!  But I'm old and worked hard at being lazy for a lot of years so I deserve it.  Besides I probably have a thousand images of a bird just like that one over there in the thorns and brush.  Pass the donuts please!

 

1 26 13

IN THE ICE BOX OF MY MIND

 

As some of you know I spent 45 years fishing with the same five or six guys on Lake Winnepasaukee in New Hampshire at the end of April.  That story is buried in this blog over the past four years and you can find it, but it would take a heck of a lot of work.

 

  Known by locals as the big lake, this year it never froze over until this past week.

 

I have never fished it through the ice

but this morning's cam capture sure looks like that sport could soon happen.

 

We would wait until just after that winter covering would melt and sink.  The ice would push all that warmer water down below to the top and the small bait fish called smelt would head to the surface followed by the bigger, hungry trout and salmon.  If we timed it right we would watch it sink just as we arrive in Wolfeboro, where we would buy what food, snacks, adult beverages, fishing licenses and new sure fire lures that we deemed necessary to withstand the rigors of non stop fishing and poker playing.  It was a ritual! 

 

But in the deep winter of my brain this morning, I was seeing different images.  Maybe it's just all the medication or just plain memory on steroids.

 

 

January through March is the time of year when a young fisherman's thought processes are hot even if the body is frozen in with the season.  This is the time when equipment is primed for the upcoming seasons and anticipation is honed to a fine edge.  The mental images  float to the surface, just like the smelt and salmon.

 



I cannot begin to tell you the number of hours spent in this old tin boat on those ice cold waters, but suffice to say it was in the hundreds.  That old craft, simply called "Putt", caught more fish over those 40 plus years than all the rest of the newer fancy craft we employed.  I am sure even with all the ice and snow she still to this day is lying upside down on the small beach called "Winter home", waiting for us to show up and put her to work.  Sorta like having an old bird dog waiting by the door as you put your boots on and grab the old double barrel.  Can't wait to get started.

 

 

But now the trips have come to an end and we are all looking at the sunset.  This is the way I prefer to see that image resting peacefully in that portion of my brain that has survived the lobotomy of life.

 

Good times.  Good people.  How can I be so lucky.  Thank you Lord!

 

 

1 25 13

PRESSURE COOKER!

 

Anyone around that actually remembers what they are?

 

  You new folks probably think the the modern day "Pressure cooker" is your job!  Your life!  I know I feel that way sometimes.  It seems that the only way to deal is to caffeinate, hydrate and exacerbate our lives just to make it through the day.  I mean there's the alarm clock routine, shower and dressing for the occasion, commute, coffee, doughnut, email and memo check before the requisite meetings with people who are "some do and some don't ers", lunch either at the desk or with someone who ends up wasting a couple hours.  Maybe a couple hours of real work before the needy little heads of employees and colleagues poke into your "Private Office".  All the while taking care of personal business with spouses in the same soup, kids at school learning to be little thugs, or relatives who need a loan to get the double wide back up on the blocks.

 

And yes "Virginia" there is somebody that can do it and it's you!

 

Then, ya retire and die! 

 

Well, no I got news for ya.

 

when you retire, or even semi like me..........there is still a pressure cooker.  Aren't you glad that you have that to look forward to?

 

Sure 1% retire wealthy and can walrus up on some sunny beach someplace...but that ain't us!

 

Here's a few beans to put in that retirement pressure cooker.

 

 

I just had a favorite uncle pass away at the age of 101......Ya mean I got that much longer to do this stuff?

 

Now I have to go and chase that damn squirrel off the bird feeder.

 

OH, and did I mention that the Semi- part of retirement means that I still have to work on the pics, blogs, and social marketing just to pay the bills.

 

 

The definition of a "Real" pressure cooker is an old pot being heated to extreme temperatures with a air tight lid that when mistreated is likely to blow half cooked calves brains all over the kitchen ceiling. 

 

But that's for tomorrow's bucket list.

 

No sitting around and rusting for me!

 

 

 

 

1 24 13

EXAGGERATED!

 

Need a dominated color to go with something else?

 

 

No. 5

 

No.4

 

 

 

No. 3

 



 

No. 2

 

 

No. 1

 

No problem!

 

1 23 13

COLD!

 

It's called Winter, Son! 

 

So cold that the big lake looks like it will finally freeze this year for the first time.

 

Here's last night

 

 

And this morning!

 

 

New Hampshire of course.  Two cam captures on the northern end of Lake Winnepasaukee.

 

It did make freezing here earlier, but nowhere near what's going on up north.  Last weekend's adventure included a day at the Biltmore in Asheville, NC.  First time and nothing but opulence.  Course I wish it was my opulence, but not so.  I took a bunch of photos which cannot be sold because of their policy ..... it's all about making money dontchyaknow.  But that's OK.  I suspect that I can use a couple on here as nobody is paying anything for this stuff.  If you haven't been, it is quite an experience in the early wealth generated by those evil entrepreneurs in this country.  But don't get me started about how the early capitalists only built the country that you and I enjoy today.  Pure evil!

 

  Even the gargoyles are classic and interesting and I wish I knew the story behind them.

 

You could eat off the stable floor, they were so clean!

 

 

Just a couple of generic photos as a tease.  You really must take the time to go and visit the place.  Huge estate {a castle actually}, rolling hills  and mountains in the background.  A real treat. 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

1 19 13

BREAKFAST

 

 

 

Just finished it and am sitting back, chewing ma cud, with my second cup of Pikes Place and thinking that it can't get much better than this.  Of course you could go to the site and buy something and that would help, but all the same life is pretty good.  It's cooler this morning and a small fire in the fireplace just seems appropriate.

 

As you, my astute and knowledgeable readers know, I started a new Gallery yesterday consisting of  digital images of old or antique lighthouse postcards.  There are some of the same lights in my Lighthouse Gallery to match those antiques I will be posting.  So have fun with that and take a look at what one of your favorite lighthouses looked over fifty or a hundred years ago.

 

I will be soon switching my favorite coffee out for some tea this afternoon.  We, Sheri and I, will be attending something called "Rocket Man" tonight at the Kroger Center for the Arts here in town.  It is a Tokyo Joe Production for the benefit for a children's shelter.  It's a tribute to Sir Elton John.  So presumably we will be "Rocking" along with 1200 of our newest and closest friends.  Gotta drink a lotta tea!!  Also have to leave enough time to go out and get my ear pierced, just so I feel appropriately dressed.  Sigh!

 

Then tomorrow we will take off for a day and half to see "The Biltmore" property in Asheville, North Carolina.  Only wish we would have time to go into the Smokies from there, but probably not.

 

I can pretty much guarantee that I will be taking a photo or five during our little escapades.  I would have loved to have my three grand daughters with us at the Biltmore....it is a castle you know and just the thing little and big princesses would love.  Of course being kids, they wouldn't tell you that they loved it till 25 years later when you're on your deathbed.  "Hey Grand dad....do you remember".  As I'm sitting in my rocker just a slurpin and droolin.  At that point I don't remember.  Who is that kid anyway?  All that is probably coming sooner than I care for.

 

Oh, and btw....all of my FB friends who are retired English teachers or just self appointed gramaritists (? I know it's not a word), a lot of this drivel is gramatically incorrect.  But I don't give a Bulldog's Butt. And without spell check, it would be even better.   It's my blog so suffer...I think you will get the drift about that which I speak.  Enjoy it and if you want to be critical...go ahead, I always need a good laff!  Love you all and keep the light on for me!