Spring trip
Time, distance, money. How do you juggle the variables? We drove 500 miles to get a free haircut…
Spring was early and the Bradford pears were in bloom. Pink flowering trees… and the ride home was a white knuckle ride thru a slushy wintery mix. Colleen didn’t know whether to scream or take the wheel. Me? I had two hands on the wheel. When that happens you know it’s a serious weather day.
The microscope? Colleen and I had parallel lives. We orbited in the same solar system. We were in the same classroom from 3rd grade to 6th. … the same Junior High School… the same parties… same dance group… and so on and on. We also both had a Gilbert microscope. It cost about $25 in the early ‘60’s. New! Now, an antique? It was $35 without much of the bling that accompanied the new set. It was a sorry product being sold way over cost and value. The same microscope! We both had one! It warms the heart! I later got a real one for med school. It was a requirement. We bought it special on a trip to Hong Kong. A Leica! Everyone else had a Nikon. Somehow, I felt I should have had a Nikon too. Keeping up with the Joneses? Colleen remembers her microscope fondly. I still have that Leica, somewhere… I just wanna know… how is it that I did not know Colleen and remember her fondly until so many years later…. if I had but one regret…
Along the way
I’m an outsider looking in… I do not miss it… at all!
It’s a long trip to NYC from where I am now. We don’t come this way frequently. There is plenty to see and do. I just do not relish the crowds and traffic. Waiting has no appeal. Jockeying for position in traffic is no fun. Walking into a crowded restaurant is yuck. I admit there are more choices and plenty of more interesting places to visit in NYC.
Overall? … been there done that. Ah! Colleen would and does love every visit we make. It’s still wonderment to her. Sort of. She has claustrophobia about people and jammed traffic. It does seem that bridges are a dominant feature of our travels.
Hmmm… April fool’s, and, it happens that it is Lisa’s birthday. No greeting or well wishes, i just had to punch in the date to schedule this post…
Chasing fall
New England, Maine, in the fall (every family relative asked) – have you seen the leaves change? Yet? Climate change, it’s been whacky. When we arrived, we were definitely too early. There was barely a hint of color change. As the weeks passed (yes, we were here for a few weeks) colors changed subtly. And, then, suddenly they were here/changed, only to fade quickly. Within the span of the few times we passed by, a tree in Rockland faded drastically losing its leaves. I shot individual trees; I shot individual leaves; I shot scenes; I shot reflections; I shot fog. Quintessential?! Sort of. I feel vaguely unrequited. I did get color. For sure. I’ve done better. And, I’ve done worse. I hate the randomness of my finding a suitable scene. Mostly, we were on the way to somewhere else and I shot out the from the car window or we stopped, paused, shot, and then quickly drove onward. I cannot say that I ever got that “Ah!!” shot. Otherwise, if I were chasing wool (fiber), I would say we were successful. Priorities! Keep priority straight and it’s a completely different picture. (pun intended)
Alas…
I never think much of trees. They live forever. At least they should outlive me. Along a country road someone planted a rose – a fairy rose bush – in the hollowed trunk of an old dead oak. The roses were striking enough for me to take pictures whenever I rode by on my bike… until the roses weren’t there anymore. They laugh at me to talk of fairy roses in DE. They don’t grow in DE. I’ve had no luck whatsoever. Here! They grow on LI.
The copper beech that you see behind the post office is an enormous specimen. I mean it is just stupendous. This tree grows that way. Words and this picture do not do true justice to its grace. And then… it was cut down to make way for a building. There’s no other way. It can’t/couldn’t be moved. Gone. I think of that tree. It was old. Then gone. Who will remember it was ever there?
Another please
Another tree? How about some pansies? I think in color. Black and white is awesome. It’s just that I think in color. I shot black and white film, and I developed and printed it. Then I did the same with color slides. Phewf! That was hard. The Kodak instructions called for temperature tolerance of +/- .1 degree. That’s a tenth of a degree! I was a chem major and had the thermometers to measure. But a water bath? Ha! Try doing that in your bathroom tub and sink. Then I got the means to afford a real darkroom. That all worked until my neighbor complained about the water running at 3AM. Hey, I was a night owl! He was a grouch? Was it him or me? I guess I must credit him with ushering (shoving unwillingly) me into digital.
Cherry Blossom III
More images. What the… it was on my bucket list. Go for it. I was there at the peak time. It’s like a full moon. It is because they say it is. There’s a window of opportunity. Days. We missed in late March. The blossoms weren’t open. Climate change. The bloom occurred weeks later. There is no climate change. Or as the lion in the Wizard of Oz said, “I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks.”
Cherry Blossoms
Bucket list. It’s been on my list to see the cherry blossoms. It was never very far away. I’ve just never been… till now. What’s so special? I’ve seen plenty of blossoms. There are said to be about 2000 trees. The DC folks have a whole festival about it. They warn tourists not to pick the blossoms because it will kill next year’s blossoms. I mean it’s all well and good. I didn’t come away with a quintessential shot. I got the requisite images. I got the monuments in the background. I’m vaguely missing the point here?
Waiting for Spring
We passed fields of early spring flowers. I don’t know what they are. Leaning trees. I guess I don’t notice the leaning when the leaves are out. But in early spring I wonder how and why the trees progressively lean. Are they republican?
It’s not clover. It’s not a field crop. The flowers give a nice pastel to the field. It sure beats the monotones of winter.
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