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September 28, 2014

HERON AT HERON COVE

... after a nice wanderabout in the the late september summer, i drove over to east pond to take chuck up on his offer of a "swim out by the rocks" ... he, ann, bella and myself took the boat over to the other end of the lake, where we enjoyed a nice dip in the cool water ... chuck snapped a picture of me swimming back to the boat ... head's in the high position because i was worried i might scrape my face against one of the submerged boulders ...

... bella, as usual, welcomed me back aboard ...

... this is why east pond is so special to me ...

 ... with ann's sharp eyes and chuck's skill at the helm, we managed to sneak up on a great blue heron ...

... ardea herodias have wingspans exceeding six feet ...

... herons will eat almost anything that moves that they can fit in their mouths ...

... the combination of light weight and huge wings allows them to lift themselves almost vertically from the marsh's cluttering vegetation ...

... and seemingly without effort they can glide just above the surface of the water ...

... on the way back to the dock chuck pointed out some unusual algae clumps ... this, by the way, the water clarity of almost zero, was why i couldn't see the rocks ...

... bella likes to keep one ear to the breeze ...

... after my swim i went down to mount vernon to cook up supper for c.j. ... i found him playing around with his little toy ... after this he picked up a rock so big the machine tipped, so he asked me to "ride in the front bucket as a counterweight" ... hmmmm, seems every day there's a new experience ...

VESPA IN BLUE

... this morning roger and i drove to brunswick to have lunch with eric ... on the way north i lost roger, due, i'm sure, to my rather vague "which way we're headed" instructions ... i lost eric, too, but that was mostly because once he's out of sight there's pretty much no way for me to catch up with the rocketship he calls a motorcycle ...

... riding north on route 24, shirtsleeves rolled up and wishing i hadn't promised my daughters i'd always wear my helmet, i noticed eric parked on the side of the road next to a robin's eggshell blue vespa ... wondering how in such a short period of time roger could make it back to waterville and then return on his little 150cc antique italian moped, i was a bit confused, but then i saw that eric was conversing with a stranger ...
... this is chris ... he's got a last name, but it's one of those eastern european monikers with multiple consonants and scarce for vowels, thus difficult for me to easily remember ...

... chris restored this little 1965 (?) vespa ... i was most amazed when he told us how he'd taught himself to weld so he could fix all the cracks, breaks, and holes in the machine's frame and sheet metal ... he'd even designed and built a clever little stand so that if necessary while on the road the spare tire could be mounted ... he was interested in finding out more about the vespa sidecar roger might have for sale ... when we spoke of taking his little six-year old daughter for a ride in it he was a bit hesitant, i said, "do it ... minimize the risk as much as possible, of course, but if that's what she wants, do it" ...

... i don't think i'd be as happy doing my wanderabouts on a little put-put like this, but i'll admit that i wouldn't mind having a motorcycle this color ... 

... day's half-over, but when it's 80+°f on an afternoon this late in september, the trick is stretch it out as long as possible, so, soon as this is posted, i'm off for a swim in east pond, then a barbecue down in mount vernon ...

... what a beautiful day ...

September 26, 2014

DOCKSIDE SURPRISE

... was going to take a ride down to r.i. to visit brother and sister-in-law, found myself lacking the energy necessary for riding that kind of distance ... roger asked me to do a long day ride with him, ditto ... almost 80°f out, however, so i prompted myself to do a small local wanderabout ... halfway through i was tired, so i stopped at carl & jane's for a cup of coffee ... as i pulled into the driveway i noticed a floatplane tied up to their dock ... my thought, of course, was that c.j. had suddenly developed a new hobby ... it turned out that a young man from boston had rented a plane to bring his two pals for lunch at "the olde post office cafe" in mount vernon ... [hmmmm ... "rented a plane to bring his two pals for lunch" ... taking bets, my money's down that he's not a teacher] ... we talked to them as they were preparing to leave, and i volunteered to snap a few pictures of the take-off ... [once again, i so miss my sigma 100-300mm super lens, but, as i've said before, it's highly unlikely i'd have had it with me riding my motorcycle] ...



... after they took off he did a fly around ... 

... and then he did a nice low-level pass down the length of the lake ...

... growing up next to an air force flight line, it was always my dream to get my pilot's license and become a pan-am international clipper captain ... [the name of that airline company dates me a bit, doesn't it] ... alas, 20-400 vision in one of my eyes ended those fantasies, and, by the time the opportunity arose, "recreational" flying for middle-class teachers had become extinct ... 

... but ...
... but, while it isn't exactly the supercharged G50 model of the beechcraft twin bonanza, cruising the tight curly-wags my trusty bmw f650 gets close enough for a thrill ...

September 23, 2014

LOOKING OUT MY WINDOW

... just a few minutes ago, looking out my window ...

... you decide ...

September 20, 2014

SIS

 ... my memories of my sister always include her hair, and, no matter what distant corner of the globe pa's military service brought us to living in, my recollection is that safe in her embrace no critter was ever considered a "stray" ...

COMMON GROUND FAIR

... i was excited when john asked me to join him on a visit to the common ground fair ... rather odd, after living in maine for over forty years i still had not attended this world famous event ... wandering around the well managed grounds, i decided that instead of trying to chronicle everything i'd simply focus on finding a few nice pictures ...

... i didn't know horses could be equipped with gear shift levers ...

... these guys made me rather self-conscious that i needed a haircut ...

... one of john's friends has a most memorable face ...

... he's a master canoe paddle carver, and ever so patiently he's teaching his granddaughters the centuries-old skill ...

... there was a wide variety of music in the air ...
 

... in various venues blossomed flowers of all colors ...

... and shapes ...

and kinds ...


... one enjoyed the fair by staging a little show ...

... another was content to watch ...

... and there was she who found a field within which to dance ...

... like fiery foliage and frosted panes, another of autumn's rewards was evident ...

... on rare occasions even tomatoes can raise deep philosophical questions ...

... the common ground fair is about making things ...

... and it is about times that needn't be discarded in the name of progress ...

... i like the common ground fair ... it is gentle ...










A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY PRESENT

... for my birthday present john took me on a little wanderabout ... we drove up past skowhegan to a wonderful place i had never before visited ...

... i made a poster of john capturing the water ...

... and then spent some time with evidence that fall is soon to be ...

... a few weeks later, i took my cousin, glen, who was visiting from his home on grand cayman in the west indies, to see the waterfall ... the island has no waterfalls because it has no rivers ...

... as we were hiking out we ran across a couple who had kayaked to the falls from the public beach a few miles down the road ...

... a truly wonderful place, directions specific to finding it are available in trade for a donut and a cup of coffee ...




September 5, 2014

AD & DAD: IDAHO WANDERABOUT

... we've been working at it for several years, and it's down to the final push ... as of a few weeks ago, adrien only needed four states to complete the list:  idaho, alaska, arkansas, and tennessee ... so, cameras in hand and no baggage to check, monday morning of this week we headed for las vegas, our goal to scratch idaho off the list ...

... other'n a broken airplane on the first leg of our trip, all went fine ... as we flew into las vegas adrien used my camera to snap pictures of the grand canyon and parts of lake mead ...

... our first driver change stop ... already i was having to explain to her the concept of "public land" managed by the federal bureau of land management ...

... we made it to wendover in time to drive out to the bonneville salt flats ... this is the very end of the pavement, the "speed stuff" takes place on the flats stretching from the right to the center of the picture ... the current record for a car is a bit over 640 miles per hour ... we met these two, who had arrived early for september's "world of speed" ...

... adair, originally from alberta, canada, now tuscon, arizona ... he is extremely proud of his vintage harley davidson motorcycle ... "over 100,000 miles with nothing but routine maintenance ... i'm going for 200,000" ... i'm not really a harley fan, but when i see one with this much mileage driven by such a dedicated rider i tip my hat in admiration ...

... about 14,000 years ago lake bonneville was a huge inland sea, over 1,000 feet deep and covering an area larger than present day michigan ... then, when red rock pass broke through, the lake drained away most of its volume ... in the first two weeks of the flood over 1,000 cubic miles of water gushed out ... now, except for the much smaller "great salt lake," all that is left is a huge plain of salt ...

... rainwater sitting on the surface of the salt can make for treacherous going ... adrien watched a car head out onto the flats, we both then decided to take a pass on doing the same ...

... we met tex deville, owner of "rat rods inc," who is dedicated to building motorcycles and spreading the word of jesus ...

... adrien walked over to take a picture of the public facilities ... one whiff and she quickly scurried away ...

... even in this seeming inhospitable environment, life takes hold ...

... we found bonneville salt flats to be a most intriguing place, the sublime simplicity making it so that one can become simultaneously lost and found ...

... prospect, nevada, we crossed into idaho, but not before taking a rest break at a casino sitting right on the border and walking out with a fresh ben franklin portrait ...

... the last time my heart stuck in my throat like this was when little liz hung herself out over the edge of zion's great arch ... adrien decided it was finally her turn ... i managed to take this before i almost passed out from not breathing ...

... taken on our return trip, you can see why i was faint ... the very tip of the arrow shows where adrien sat down ...

... at the "craters of the moon" national park we toured a surrealistic landscape ... the lava field the park encompasses is approximately 9,000,000 years old, but there are many cinder cones and lava vents that were active as recently as 4,000 years ago ...

... fall comes to the high country ...

... patient like the wind and rain, life takes rock fresh from planet's mantle and ever-so-slowly transforms it into earth ...

... everywhere is evidence of rock hardened so swiftly as to retain evidence of its molten birth ...

... again, life takes hold ...

... crossing through a pass on route 20, adrien yelled to the wind, "once there were trees as far as you could see" ... [private joke, you'll have to ask her] ...

... we found a most excellent bakery in boise ... their sourdough cinnamon buns were quantum levels beyond the ones you get at the fancy store in the mall ...

... finally, after all we'd seen and done, we reached our goal, the turn-around point of our little wanderabout, the famous "boise fry company" ...

... we made it just in time for supper ... an all-time great hamburger, and small helpings of three different kinds of fries ... the root beer was brewed and honey sweetened, refill free ...

... the next day we went to the newest boise fry company for lunch ... my stomach was still happy with the hamburger from the night before, so we tried some different kinds of potatoes ... the purple ones are from south america, and are very, very potatoey tasting ...

... adrien navigated us to the idaho's capitol building ... beautiful grounds, a nice looking structure, but, from my point of view, not all that unique ...

... until we got inside, that is ... then the reason for the building's name, "the capitol of light," became very, very clear ...

... not marble, but scagliola, a sort of a stucco mixture much less expensive than real marble which allows for the use of lighter sandstone columns ... in other words, fake marble, but so perfectly done as to fool me completely ...

... inside the capitol is a beautiful gold stature of george washington ...

... the stairwells are architecturally fascinating ...

... idaho's house is almost 50% female ... for a few minutes adrien took over the state government, enacting legislation providing for "two cars in every garage, a chicken in every pot, and free forever french fries for all citizens and visitors" ... idaho's capitol building is the only one in the united states that is heated using a geothermal source ...

... adrien took us to "julia davis park" to see the abraham lincoln statue ... it was sculpted by gutzon berglum, who also created mount rushmore ...

... we took turns, i think adrien gets the win ...

... julia moved to boise in 1869 ... she was noted for helping emigrants on the oregon trail ... after she died her grief stricken husband deeded the land for the park, that it be kept "forever in her memory" ...

... i took the shotgun seat and adrien took over the navigation of our wanderabout ... we went a bit off track to see the bruneau dune, at almost 500 feet the largest solitary sand dune in north america ... at the visitor center we debated renting a sand surfing board, deciding that if it turned out we wanted to do so we could return to the main gate ... at the dune we saw a man flying down the steep slope ...

... we struck up a conversation with him and his wife, and he offered up one of the boards they'd rented for me to give it a go ...

... ever so talented, adrien recorded on both still and video cameras my first ever boarding experience ...

... roger and marlene, from holland, who, like adrien, are on a quest to visit all fifty of the united states ... a very nice couple, and, in my opinion, roger is an excellent sand boarding instructor ...



... i sledded the small dune in the left foreground ... if you look very, very closely you can see roger and marlene ... someday i'd like to try the giant dune on the right, but i'm thinkin' for that i'll schedule a helicopter to get to the top ...

... adrien then took us a "wild goose" chase ... or pelican ... or, perhaps, sand hill crane ... while wandering some unpaved roads we found what looked like the original oregon trail ...

... the more adrien wandered these back roads, the more it became apparent she carries a good measure of my pa's "i-wonder-where-this-goes" gene ...

... apparently there are a thousand springs along this stretch of the river ...

... much later in our journey, we ventured past the "no gas for 150 miles sign" and headed down the "alien highway" to see what all the fuss was about "area 51" ...

... not on our gps, this is literally the "middle of nowhere" ...

... at the "little a'le'inn" we enjoyed a nice lunch ... i spoke with the rancher who owns the famous black mailbox ... he was having a cold beer, taking a break from riding up into the hills to get salt for his cows ... "all them people're ruining my mailbox with stickers" ... talking with him, it seemed to me that i was as close as one can get to america, but i didn't want intrude into his work day by taking his picture ...

... my little olympus tucked beneath my arm, as we left the building i surreptitiously snapped this picture of what i believe to be one of the little a'le'inn's regulars ...

... what a wonderful back corner of our nation ...

... we drove back to vegas, the "low gas" light merrily blinking all the way ... "how far do you think this car will go on reserve, dad" ... "hmmmm, well, hopefully as far as the next gas station" ...

... we made it to vegas ... i drove us the wrong way on a one-way street, not on purpose but good enough to give adrien a fantastic demonstration of my high-speed u-turn skills ... at the bellagio we won, then we lost ... then we came home ...

... this, clearly, was a most wonderful wanderabout ...