... if march was "in like a lion—out like a lamb," with days warm enough for motorcycle riding, april seems to have paid little notice since it seems to be emulating my refrigerator's crisper section ... nevertheless, since it's not cold enough to actually freeze my camera's shutter, i was out-the-door to wanderabout and share with you ...
... along a back road, in the vicinity of searsmont, i believe, john and i made acquaintances with these two trees ...
... this was the goal of our early morning outing ... john said, "i've been passing by this house for years, but have never paused in my travels to take a picture" ... i didn't think about it at the time, but not being able to count the number of times i've driven maine's busy coastal highway, u.s. route one, which edges its front yard, i, too, was long overdue stopping ...
... the large granite foundation slabs are a good clue as to the age of the structure ... without brick capping they were popular from after the civil war until the very early 1900s ... my thought was of how many stories, both wonderful and sad, that're framed by these old walls ... i'm glad i took a moment to listen ...
... we made a little side trip to the 164 year-old fort point lighthouse ... new lighthouses aren't being built anymore, i would guess because of radar and gps navigation, but if they were i'd petition the coast guard to make sure they considered photographers when designing and situating the structures ... this is one of those lighthouses of which i've never been able to find a really nice perspective ...
... in frankfort we pulled over to watch a bald eagle fishing below the marsh stream dam ... i cursed a bit that the longest lens i usually carry is only 200mm, on my apsc frame camera about equal to an 8x binocular, but once i was in photoshop i realized that even an impossible-to-hand-hold 400mm lens wouldn't have made much of a difference ... a picture for which i'll pat myself on the back and say, "not bad, considering" ...
... we left waterville at two-thirty in the morning so we'd be at bar harbor in plenty of time for a predicted clear sky sunrise ... heading north on i95 the snow spitting at us should've been a clue that for this day the weather service was going to be about as accurate as the farmers' almanac ... a bit of an experiment, this is a two-minute exposure (for the shadows) and a thirty-second exposure (for the highlights) hdr combined in photomatix and then color corrected in photoshop ...
... the coarse sand was once tiny pebbles, the tiniest of pebbles used to be big big stones, and the big stones were at one time giant jagged edged boulders ... water plus time vs. the hardest granite and pegmatite, water always wins ... there are many lessons to be learned in this, one of which is that there is great beauty to be found in for a moment standing still ...
... trousers salt water soaked to my knees, this is how the sunrise felt at boulder beach in acadia national park ...
... me, boulder beach, sunrise, and the atlantic ocean ...
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| COURTESY JOHN MEADER |
... score a point for my soon-to-be-officially-senior eyes, as we drove back onto the mainland i spotted this tiny owl sitting alongside the road ... he seemed healthy except for what looked like an injured eye, but we knew something was wrong by the way he accepted our care ... pa taught us to "let nature take its course," but over time i've amended that philosophy to included "but it's okay to give a hand when an unnatural collision with an automobile is involved," which is what we figured might've happened ... so, with the little bird carefully cradled in john's hands, we drove ten miles to the stanwood wildlife sanctuary in ellsworth ...
... there was no one around, so we found a shelf inside the visitor kiosk upon which to make a comfy nest using chad's scarf ... a quick call to leave a message with the staff, our best wishes to the bird, and we were off ... i received a call later in the day informing me that the little girl (!) was doing well, and that they were giving her a 50/50 chance of recovering ... i know that for fragile avian species this is a good number, and we're all crossing our fingers that in a few days another call will bring good news ...
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| COURTESY JOHN MEADER |
... back in waterville i took emily and megan with me to watch the lumberjack competition at colby college ... all sorts of events were taking place ...
... the competition was intense ...
... the "how many slices can you make in a minute without toppling the pile" event was most fascinating ...
... what i like most, however, was that the competitors were neither male nor female—in what they were doing they were all simply lumberjacks ...
... john's favorite tree ...
... what a wonderful day ...