So So Sunday

It has been one of those days. I have had heartburn all day. The forecast was for showers on and off all day. Call me stupid... but don't you need clouds in order for it to rain? The sun was out most of the day and it's just now getting cloudy. I decided to go for a little drive around noon time. I didn't want to go too far but wanted to be by the ocean. I chose Revere Beach. I drove up Route 1A (Revere Beach Parkway) and found a parking space. I decided to take a little walk along the beach. It was low tide, the sun was out and no breeze. Needless to say I didn't stay long.

The land in the background is Nahant, a very small community connected by a small strip of land.

This picture is facing north looking towards Swampscott. I was suprised that there weren't many people at the beach. There were signs up posting "No Swimming" due to the rip currents and strong undertow from Hurricane Bill.

Red Cross rescue building on Revere Beach. I have never been to this beach when it is packed with people, but judging from the length of the beach, the hundreds of small snack bars and vendors I can imagine how crowded it gets.

Picture of Boston taken from a small park in Swampscott. It was beginning to get very hot and extremely humid so I decided to cut the trip short and head home.

Mandavilla

Mandavilla

This was my Mom's plant. It overwintered in her house in Southold, NY last year. I bought it for her in the spring of 2008. This spring she wanted me to bring it home. I brought it home and put it on the front steps of my apartment. I waited.. and waited.. and waited.. and then.. the first few weeks of August it started to bloom.. and it is heavy with blooms now. It is climbing up the stair rail. I am not sure what took it so long to bloom but I am glad it did. I also wanted to post pictures of it so I wouldn't forget the name. My Mom has told me at least 50 times what it is.. and I could never remember.

.

A Few of My Enhanced Photos

I have dabbled with a few photo enhancing software packages over the years. I found some to be too complicated (Photoshop) and some too simple (Windows Paint). I have settled on Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. Here are a few photos that I have enhanced. You can click on the pictures to see the full size. Some are large and may not fit on your screen, depending on your resolution.

OK I'll Stop

... changing the theme on my blog. I just want the photo's to pop out and at the same time make it easy for my Mom to read it as well as a very dear friend who is blind (he has software that can read website text - his son describes the pictures). So, I think I've settled on a black background, white text and a few colors in other areas.

North Fork - Long Island - July 31, 2009

I couldn't remember where I stored the pictures from my last trip to visit my Mom in Southold, NY (North Fork of Long Island). The North Fork has a very interesting history. For many years it was scattered with many farms growing potatoes, fruit orchards, sod farms, cabbage (boy do I remember that as a kid -- acres of cabbage in the hot summer sun -- you knew you were near a cabbage farm), dairy farms, and of course fishing, clams and scallop farming. Now, however, there are many vineyards on the North Fork. The North Fork seems to survive the changes, but remains a very quaint, laid back area to live in as well as visit.

One of the thousands of rows of grapevines.

Acres of potatoes.

An old barn on Main Road (Rte 25) outside of Southold being taken over by nature.

The clouds rolled in and looked ominous. It didn't rain, the clouds kept moving northeast.

One of the things I like most about the North Fork are all the small beaches that scatter both Long Island Sound and the Peconic Bay. This is a picture taken at Cedar Beach in Southold, of two sailboats, with Shelter Island in the background.

This is a sculpture of an Osprey and it is located in Greenport, NY. It is HUGE !!!

Goose Creek, Southold, NY. Across the street is a very small town beach.

Greenport, NY harbor. I like stopping here when I'm visiting my Mom just to see if there are any yachts. These aren't yachts, but they are very nice boats. But then again, anything larger than a row boat is a yacht to me.

One of the many lighthouses on the North Fork. This one is across from Founders Landing.

A few more photos

I'm on a roll, so I thought I'd add a few more of my favorite photos.

This is a ceramic/cement angel my Mom has had in her gardens over the years. I manipulated the image a bit. Don't ask me what setting I used, I can't remember..

This is a cottage in Founders Landing, which is in Southold, NY. My Mom was still "putzing" around at a yard sale down the street and I went for a walk. I passed this cottage twice before I dared stop and take a picture of it. It is only a few hundred yards from the Founders Landing beach. (I forgot I could Google Map places I've been and add them to my blog.. oh well.. live and learn, even at my age)

I see this lighthouse every time I visit my Mom. I take the Cross Sound Ferry from New London to Orient Point. In the map image above the lighthouse is located at the very end.

I bought a pot of yellow tulips at Mahoney's Greenhouse in Winchester MA around Easter in 2008. I waited a few days until they bloomed and was lucky enough to be walking through my dining room one sunny Sunday afternoon, and the light was just right.

Yellow hibiscus I used to have on my back porch. The back porch is enclosed and in the summer gets very very hot.. and I accidentaly "cooked" it last summer. I guess from now on I should keep one in my dining room, as I only go out to the back porch to change the cat box or do laundry and tend to forget to water the plants out there. Hence.. no plants out there now.

My Mom's Garden

I have spent many weekends at my Mom's house in Southold, Long Island, NY over the past 2 1/2 years. I spent years priot to that being distant from my family. I am so glad that I have reconnected with my Mom and look forward to every visit. I usually go down at least once a month, sometimes twice. It is expensive to go down, but it is always well worth it. I love my Mom so very much. She treats me like a close friend as well as a son, and I treat her as my best friend and my Mom.

Here are some photos of the flowers in her garden.

A humingbird stopped by one day last summer. Thank goodness he/she was hungry. Have you ever tried to photograph a hummingbird? The bird seemed to enjoy the Cardnial flower vine my Mom had growing up a tall poll just off her patio. I remember that weekend well as the two of us were always looking out the window to see if the hummingbird was there. They seemed to show up later in the afternoon.

I'm not sure what this plant is called, but I really liked how the picture came out.

My Mom loves morning glories. This picture was taken in the summer of 2008, early in the morning. Her morning glories this year are doing just fine, and according to her, bloomed earlier than last year.

This is a double flowering pink Hibiscus. Mom has it on her patio and over winters it in the house each winter. The blooms are just amazing. Of course, she'll know the name.. but me.. I never remember, even though she tells me every time I ask.

A pink Peony.. with morning dew on it. I took this picture in the summer of 2008. I love peonies, they smell so sweet and pure. It's too bad that a good thundestorm tears them apart.

This is one of my Mom's double colored Iris'. The picture was taken in 2008. I manipulated the picture to look like a watercolor.

You can't have pictures of Southold, NY without one of deer. They are all over the place. There is no population control and their natural feeding grounds have been wiped away with housing developments. These three don't look so bad, but I've seen some that look like they are starving, their coats all matted, missing fur and you can see their ribs. This doe with her 2 fawn were grazing on a lawn one day when Mom and I were leaving Cedar Beach.

Memorable Photos

I wanted to keep up my interest in posting often to this blog site. So, today after work I decided to connect my extrnal hard drive which holds thousands of my photographs. I picked out a few to post. I will do it in smaller posts than my day trip posts

Note: It is difficult for me to go through many of the older photographs I've taken over the years as a great deal of them are from my gardens and house in Stoneham, MA that I lost to foreclosure 2 1/2 years ago. I have very fond memories of that home, which I lived in for 14 years, but it is still difficult to see pictures of my gardens which I so loved to tend to. They were my therapy. Cleo, my African Gray would always sit on the hammock and usher out orders to me.

Most of the pictures in this posting are from my Mom's gardens in Southold, NY.

Off my patio in Stoneham I had a huge pot of Dianthis.. The sprinkler was on and I took this picture. I then enhanced it with "bubbles". It is one of my favorite photos.

This picture was taken out my bedroom window in Stoneham. The only alternation I did was add a few "bubbles".. I call it "Invasion". The light was just perfect. I sat by the window and waited a good 1/2 hour until the light was just right. My bedroom was in the back of the house, facing west, and was 3 stories up. My backyard sloped down another 2 stories.. So.. I was up about 50'. Another one of my favorite photos. I miss the sunsets out my back bedroom window very much.

This is a picture I took several years ago at my ex-partners family cottage in Hampstead, NH. I was standing on the dock and the clouds were just right, late afternoon. I converted the photo to black and white with a tinge of color. I have fond memories of spending time at his families cottage.

Day Trip Thoughts

I've read through yesterdays blog entry and realized that I need to take wider angle shots that show the full area, and then take more close up shots of what I am focusing on. It was a long time coming, to get up and leave my apartment for this past day trip. I have been wanting to do these day trips for a long time. My last day trip was to Brattleboror, VT in October 2008. I went there to photograph a few houses my younger brother and his wife were interested in buying in the event they ended up purchases a very well known and poplular restaurant which was for sale in Brattleboro. Needless to say the deal fell through and my brother and his wife are still in Key West, FL.

On a personal note. I suffer from social anxiety and depression, so it makes it difficult for me to go out and do things by myself. I love to go for long walks in the fall and winter. The summer here is just too hot and humid to do that comfortably. I'm hoping these weekly day trips will help me overcome my fear of being out in public.

My next day trip, this coming Saturday, depending on the weather is either to do the complete outer loop of Cape Anne, with stops in Rockport and Gloucester or to drive up to Ogunquit, ME and take the back roads back down to Portsmouth, NH and then home. I love the coast line. I feel so comfortable when I can see the ocean, or a bay, or inlet or cove. When I see a body of water on my GPS I head straight for it.

Thank you for listening.

Essex County Day Trip

I started my day trip at 7:30 AM on Saturday, August 15, 2009. My destination was Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, MA. I drove up interstate 93 to interstate 95 north to Route 128 north to Rockport. I exited 128 on to route 127 west. This is the roundabout way to get to Rockport. I have never been on this section of route 127. I am glad I did. It is amazing.

Above is an image showing my route.

Just before I exited route 128 (near the first traffic circle) I pulled over to take the picture above. A true houseboat.

Captain Hooks restaurant. I have never eaten hear, I just thought the location, overlooking a small harbor was interesting. By the way, this is a pizza/sub shop.

Goose Cove, Annisquam, MA - This is a small cove, beautiful modest homes. Route 127 bisects the cove from the Ipswich Bay inlets.

It is now about 8:20 AM. The sun is very bright, even at this hour and it is starting to warm up. I haven't yet developed the knack for snapping pictures while driving. This road has very few places to pull over.

If you look closely.. oh forget it.. There was only one place to pull over on this stretch. The picture is of Lobster Cove. It is a beautiful inlet off of Ispwich Bay (which is to the west). It reminded me of the small hidden lakes/ponds of New Hampshire.

There was actually someplace to pull over here. It is a beautiful little cove. There is a small beach (resident sticker parking only). It was close to low tide and there was a lot of red seaweed. I should have walked closer and taken better pictures, but this one I think shows its cozy beauty.

I finally made it to Halibut Point State Park . There were 2 other cars in the parking lot. I had been here about 10 years ago in the middle of winter. Even then it was amazing. I plan on going back this fall as well as winter.

This is a picture of the guide book. I walked from the parking lot up to the quarry, scenic lookout (AMAZING) and then back around the quarry. It was beginning to get quite hot and there are not many big trees here. It was like being on top of a mountain, vegetation was low and slow growing... but the views... well worth the heat and humidity.

A granite carving made from stone gathered in the quarry years ago. There are a handful of large granite blocks lying around.

Picture of the quarry overlooking the ocean. It almost looks like an infinity pool.

Another view of the quarry.

View from the scenic overlook at Halibut Point State Park.

Two lobster boats pulling in their catch. There were hundreds of lobster bouys just off shore.

Where else could you get a shot like this? Atop a granite rock quarry overlooking the ocean.

The visitors tower overlooking the quarry.

Along the path exiting the park I cam across this dead tree. Thought it looked interesting.

These berry bushes are all over the place. No wonder the park is also known for bird watching. I did see several male cardnials, one oriole and lots of finches.

This concludes my visit to Halibut Point State Park. I would have taken more pictures but it was getting very hot and humid. I decided to drive down through Esses and Ipswich.

On Route 133 just outside of Esses, looks like a 3 tier chicken barn. No signs for eggs though. I can't imagine what else it could be, but then again, I'm not a farmer.

Russell Farms, on the road to Cranes Beach in Ipswich. They had pick your own rasberries and peaches. I didn't pick any. I went in to the store to see what they had for fresh vegetables. There was hardly anything. I guess their big draw is apple picking in the fall.

Russell's has many Guinea hens roaming the area.. constantly eating bugs, which they are known for.

On the way to Ipswich, west on route 133 I saw a sign for Marini's Farm. I had come across their website when I was surfing Essex County activities. I am glad I stopped. They grow 99% of what they sell. They only had tomatoes and peaches from western Massachusetts. I talked with an older woman who was putting out jalapeno peppers. Come to find out, she's Mrs. Marnini, the matriarch of the farm. She told me that this year has been tough due to the colder weather in July and all the rain. I asked her what she liked most about farming.. and she said "Seeing people come back time and time again for our produce. We here at the farm take pride in what we grow". They do not use chemical pesticides on their produce. I bought 4 ears of corn (which they allow you to shuck right there, so I did), along with a small bag of pickling cukes. I sliced up the cukes with some sugar, vinegar and freshly ground pepper when I got home.

I continued west on route 133 until I hit route 1 in Ipswich. Too much traffic, too commercial. I turned around and drove east on route 133 in to Gloucester where I turned south on route 127 and drove through Manchester. I then got back on route 128 and headed home. This was definitely a great first day trip for me. I plan on doing one of these every weekend that I am not on Long Island visiting my Mom.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about and seeing the pictures I've taken.

I turned around in Ipswich and drove east on 133 again in to Gloucester. What a zoo. Traffic was at a standstill. I didn't mind, it gave me a chance to jot down some notes on my trip today.