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October 31, 2017

FINAL OCTOBER WANDERABOUT

... john invited me to join him on a drive out to his camp to check if yesterday's almost hurricane did any damage ... everything was as it was supposed to be, so we headed on to "find some more of the signs" ...


... we had a difficult time finding a place to eat lunch since the power was out all over the region, until driving past the "china dine-ah" we noticed lights in its windows ... in the parking lot i snapped what i think is somewheres near my 1,000th picture of a stalk of grain ...

... i forgot to get his name, but this nice gentleman took me on a guided tour of the reason the diner was serving—it has it's own "propane powered, of course" eight-cylinder generator ... smart man, smart business ...

... i grew up in the military ... when i see someone "taking a knee" i say to myself, "what a wonderful country this is" ... in large part a result of my personal history, i'll admit that when i see someone burning an american flag in protest i get a bit queasy, but then i remind myself that i swore an oath to with my very life protect the rights of those who wish to express themselves, even if what they are saying or the manner they are doing so is something i don't want to see or hear ...

... but this—this still bothers me ... haphazardly draped from a doorknob, what you can't see in the picture is the rust stains and dirt on the flag ...

... "protest" i understand, i cherish the nation that protects the right to do so ...

... this—this, i don't understand ...

... unless, of course, it's some sort of statement, or protest, or declaration ...

... nah, even then i don't understand it ...

... this, however, i do understand ... i know exactly what it means ...

... i've no idea why i took this picture ... perhaps you do ... ??? ...

... in one of the unfinished spaces of the hathaway building, a moment ...

... i like seeing things ...

... i like sharing what i see ...

... that i can do these things are of the many reasons i am a most lucky man ...

October 29, 2017

CURATIVE WANDERABOUTING

... rather stressed, in mid-afternoon i went to the railroad square cinema to take in a showing of the highly recommended "loving vincent" ... after the movie i wandered a bit around the downtown area ... almost on the 45th parallel, in waterville this time of year evening begins well before supper ...

... a beautiful sky, with no hint of the nasty weather heading our way ...

... apparently u.p.s. has flights to main street ... i laughed, then reminded myself that most likely it won't be long when drones make such local delivery a reality ...

... relaxing in one of waterville's newest eateries ...

... i'll give him credit, even as he was rocketing into the intersection i saw that he checked to make sure traffic had stopped ...

... quietly enjoying the sunset ...

... i always find the reflections in these windows quit fascinating ...

... the back entrance of one of the town's most expensive restaurants ...

... i'm sure there's a conspiracy theorist who can explain this ...

 ... 5:30pm, sunset ... next week it'll occur one hour earlier ... i think there was probably once some sort of understandable reason for doing  so, but in these modern times i'm of the mind that the only reason the government "changes the clocks" is simply to demonstrate its power over us ...

 ... i made a nice pizza, applied ultrasound to my broken ankle for twenty minutes while i worked on photographs, then decided it would be good medicine to go walking ... i left my apartment to negotiate a well-defined route through the back streets and lanes of my little town ... something i've not had to do for awhile, i repeated a mantra for a distance measured out many, many years ago, then held a conversation involving only myself ...

... i got home tired, but relaxed ...

... with that, good night to you all ...

October 25, 2017

AUTUMN WET

... this one is from our visit a few weeks ago to the maine huts & trails lodge on flagstaff lake ...

... i'd left my overjacket at the lodge ... merrie had brought it to the kingfield office, and john asked if i'd like to make an outing of its retrieval ... over an inch of rain predicted for the afternoon, we weren't in the least deterred ...

... again, "there's as much color in a single leaf as there is in the entire forest" ... and, as i've said, you either understand that or—well, or i'll hope you're working on it ...

... everyone raves about the "reds" and "oranges," but i can also appreciate the browns, too ...

... the wire bridge in north new portland, approximately 150 years old ...

... on their journey back to earth, these two took a little pause ...

... on an aps-c framed sensor my 12mm's field-of-view approximates a full-frame 18mm ... this particular vantage of the wire bridge is one of the very few where i always end up revisiting thoughts of an even wider lens ...

... autumn in new england ...

... each leaf a miracle of color ...

... it's almost sad that they're not edible ...

... on the way to lunch in farmington john pulled off to the side of the road for a bit of through-the-window photography ... my first frame, i really liked this one ... "okay, let's just wait a bit for a loaded pulpwood truck to come screaming towards us" ... we finally gave up, after which, naturally, we saw several big rigs coming from the opposite direction ...

... i retrieved my jacket, bought a cup of coffee from a cheery young lady at the cumby in kingfield, enjoyed a scrumptious b-l-t sandwich in farmington, and shared a great wanderabout with john ...

... what a nice day ...

October 13, 2017

MILKY WAY OVER FLAGSTAFF

... john asked me to join him for the "star party" he was presenting at the "maine huts & trails" facility on the shore of flagstaff lake ... while he was setting up all his telescopes i took a little stroll along the peninsula ...

... again, "there's as much color in a single leaf as there is in the entire forest" ... words to live by, at least as far as i'm concerned ...

... from the darkened woods i could see the far shore being painted with the warm light from the descending sun ...

... despite the time of year the water was unusually warm ... i so wanted to take a dip ... no bathing suit or towel didn't inhibit me, but thoughts of the group of eighth-graders at the lodge kept me honest ... darn ... !!! ...

... the dam controlled level of the lake fluctuates due to power demands ...

... autumn, but the ferns hang on ...

... the trail darkened more as the sun moved towards the invisible horizon ...

... from almost the end of the peninsula, 4000+ foot bigelow mountain ... the entire area is now protected land ...

... no lighthouse, but, like pemaquid, a little reflecting pool, aligned perfectly for a photographer's play ...

... as i waited for the sunset i heard soft voices behind me ... the kids were showing up to witness the event ... stacy, their teacher, found her spot while a bit further along the rocks one of her charges experimented with a bit more precarious vantage ...

... a most well-behaved group, they added much to the evening's joy ...

... the supper bell called our return to the lodge ...


 ... later, while john was doing his magic act, in near total darkness i made my way back along the trail so i could [finally] photograph the milky way with star reflections in still water ...

... a moment and place for no words, just being ...

... and, as it is, right this minute i'm heading out to do it again ... !!! ...

ONE-EYED MAN PLACE WANDERABOUT

... i was hoping that the journal entry title would catch your attention ... of course, with most shirts being sewn overseas these days, the hathaway mill where the one-eyed man's shirts were once produced now contains high-end apartments, medical records processing, and an office for cengage books ... for me, it's a favorite place to wander and explore light ...

... the main floor is most wonderfully developed retail spaces ... with occasional rare exception all have been empty since the building was renovated ...

... the main hall is rather elegant ... this is about half of it ...

... a large unoccupied space is sometimes utilized as a meeting place by one of the firms located on the third-floor ...

... when the building was renovated the windows became a great controversy ... the developer made it clear he couldn't afford to replace the frames with "historically accurate" pieces, which was something required as the building is listed as a "nationally historical building" ... my understanding is that somehow the state got involved, so it would seem that i might've paid for a tiny part of this scene ...

... this is one of the rooms that is part of the building director's office, which is the only space being utilized on the main hallway ...

... the adjacent mill is still undeveloped ... in the weeds i found two nice telephone insulators, which i gave to liz for her "repurposing" artwork ...

... try the fall foliage in b&w ... that takes effort ...

... and i was tired (at least partly because, it turns out, i've been walking on a broken ankle since my motorcycle accident) so i "changed film" ...

... you'll hear from me often, "there's as much color in a single leaf as there is in the entire forest" ... it's a zen thing, defined as such by the fact that you can apply the observation to almost anything ...

... i like wandering the hathaway mill, so i'll do it again sometime ... company's welcome, always ...