Cat Art

She likes sitting on the back of the new couch.

Music… Finally

It’s been almost two months since the last time I played guitar. I’ve been so wrapped up in rediscovering my camera obsession that I’ve nearly forgotten about my guitar obsession.

Now that the weather is starting to get cold and I’m running out of places I want to try to take pictures, it’s time to dive back into the music. With five days left in September, I am clearly not going to pull off an album this month. I might pull off a single though. I wrote two really simple song ideas today. Music will happen, if it kills me.

Given the situation though, it might be safe to expect the bombardment of post-playing guitar pictures will be from the DSLR so the image quality (though not the megapixel count) could be improved. Here’s hoping, at least.

Three Stops on a Sunday Morning

I went to three places this morning. The first two were sort of a bust but the third worked out nicely.

I tried to retrace my steps from Friday and hit a couple of things I saw on the Plum Island Turnpike. The first was the little airport on the side of the road. It wasn’t as nice as it was on Friday. I think there were fewer planes parked there, but I’m not sure. I pulled over on the side of the road and then wussed out and took a couple of pics through the windshield. They kinda rot.

There was also this cool abandoned looking house so I drove up to it, but the sun was directly behind it so I had to find a place to turn around. That took approximately 3000 years, but I managed it. This pic is also through the windshield, but it’s not as crummy as the last couple.

That house has to be haunted, right? Otherwise someone would have bought it and fixed it up (and then probably sold it for a fortune).

On the way back to civilization I stopped in the airport parking lot and tried again. The pictures are better, but the view was better from the road, I think.

The next stop was a pretty major fail all in all. It was Water Street in Newburyport, I think. There’s a marina on what has to be the Merrimack River, but might be the Parker River? Not sure. I wanted to get close but it’s right in the downtown area and the waterfront is super built up and I couldn’t find a parking lot or an entrance or anything. I found one little pull off on the side of the road just outside of the downtown that was about 235236236235 miles from the boats. I pulled off and snapped a few in hopes of getting something decent.

The view in the other direction wasn’t quite as New Englandy picturesque, but it was better (I think?).

Check out the house with the observatory looking thing on the roof.

One last shot at the boats.

At this point I was feeling pretty blue about the whole morning’s adventure so I headed back home. I had a thought about trying to find the airport in Lawrence, but I set the GPS for home thinking I’d adjust it after I got back to the highway. There was a stretch of road in Amesbury that was on the river as well with a couple of bridges. I thought about finding a place to park on the way in but passed. One the way out I found a little spot called Alliance Park that was right next to another marina type thing, and a cool looking bridge. There was a parking lot and I was the only visitor. I wandered around the park and got some decent looking pictures. It sort of salvaged the trip for me.

Once I got back to the highway I did point the GPS at the airport in Lawrence, but it was all fenced off and you couldn’t really see anything. There were parked planes in view but the fence ruined the vibe. I didn’t stop and just headed home.

That’s when I got this bonus shot. I got out of the car with my hands full of stuff and started walking up the side of the driveway. 30 yards away from me, along the trees in the backyard, was a deer! I couldn’t get a pic because my hands were full. We just stared at each other for a few seconds and then it hopped into the woods. Crap. I started walking up the driveway again and saw two more.

I quietly put my stuff down on the steps and snuck around the corner of the house. When I lifted the camera the went into the woods too. Damn. I crept into the back yard to see if I could see them through the trees. I could. They were just standing there, eyeing me with suspicion. I tried 5-6 shots but only one of them came out.

Can you see her there, through the trees? I told her she could come back any time. She and her friends are always welcome in our yard. Probably not in the house though, sorry.

The Scenic Route

We drove up to Vermont to have lunch with the kids. We left ridiculously early so that we could take the scenic route. We left the highway at the Vermont line and went back roads the rest of the way. We stopped at Quechee Gorge and a couple of random spots. There aren’t a lot of pictures but here are a few.

I was afraid we were going to be stuck behind this guy for hours. He was going 29 in a 50.

We stopped at this field to stretch our legs. I liked the view. The next door neighbor was a Jehovah’s Witness building. Oddly we found two Jehovah’s Witness places today.

Harry likes Stok Cold Brew coffee. I’ve never seen it like this before, but I really haven’t been paying attention.

The reason for the trip. The college crowd.

I thought this looked cool. Sorry.

Riverwalk in Lowell

My final stop today was the riverwalk on Pawtucket Blvd in Lowell. The Merrimack looks huge there and I don’t think the shots came out very good. At least they don’t look as good as actually being there looked. I don’t know.

There are a couple of places where you can walk right to the water’s edge. My favs from the visit were taken at one of those spots.

The bridge in the distance is the Rourke Bridge. The story as I have heard it is the bridge was built by the Army Corps of Engineers as a temporary structure… back in the 1970’s (I think)… and it’s still there with huge amounts of traffic sitting on it around the clock. Either that story isn’t true, or it probably isn’t a good thing.

That’s my old school across the river, but that parking garage wasn’t there when I was a student.

And we close the post with a faux artsy lamp post shot. Like ya do.

And that is the end of my picture taking bonanza of a PTO Friday. Tomorrow we go to Vermont and we may take the scenic route… so hopefully another blitz of pics tomorrow. Bring it on, babie!

Shawsheen River in Tewksbury

I was expecting the Shawsheen River to be super low, but I guess the rain we had over the last couple of days filled it up. It was actually a little bit over the bank at this spot.

You get to this spot from the parking lot of the K of C hall where we had our wedding reception. Romantic, eh? The bridge is route 38, which is the road the house I grew up in is on.

There are a couple of other spots on the Shawsheen that are accessible. I’ll save those for another day. Up next is more Merrimack River, this time in Lowell.

Long Pond in Tewksbury

I went out to run an errand and snuck away to a few spots to snap a few more pics. These are Long Pond in Tewksbury. This is just down the street from the house I grew up in, but the parking area and the nice, neat little park is new.

I messed around with a polarizing filter. Here we can see it removing the reflections off of the water…

…and here it is not removing the reflections…

Up next will be the Shawsheen River, also in Tewksbury.

Plum Island Lighthouse

If the stop at Hampton Beach on the previous post was a waste of time, this next stop was a lot of time for very little result, but still kind of worth it.

I drove from Hampton Beach to Plum Island to see the lighthouse. I knew from Googling that the light house itself would be pretty underwhelming, but I wanted to make the trip anyway. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Plum Island, and I had to drive through Newburyport which I know has a lot of great views.

I think I set my personal record for most draw bridges crossed in one day. Three. I also think I set a record for most turns missed while using a GPS in one morning. Three, again. I didn’t stop anywhere besides the light house but if I ever go back I’ll know better. There is an airport in Newbury that is cool. There is a marina in Newburyport that is beautiful, though I couldn’t find anyplace to park. There are also some abandoned houses along the route that would be worth snapping a pic from the side of the road. The area around the lighthouse is where the Merrimack River dumps into the ocean. I didn’t see a clear pathway through the buildings to get to the water, but there had to be one there somewhere. I saw signs for beach parking but didn’t see a beach.

As I said, the lighthouse is super underwhelming, but still kinda neat. It’s not on the water, and it’s not tall at all, which makes me wonder what the point of it is. Still, I took two pics. The first one is okay. The second one isn’t.

The winding twisting turning drive from the Hampton down to Plum Island took a lot longer than I thought. The drive back to route 495 was more straightforward, but it felt like an eternity. It was probably 25 minutes, but it felt like six hours. The highway just never showed up. It was weird.

I left the house at 5:50 or so and got back a couple of minutes past 8:00. It was a quick trip that seemed a lot longer than it was.

I have to go out again to run an errand. I might make a second pitcher taking trip out of it and hit the ponds in Tewksbury and maybe the Merrimack in Lowell. We’ll see. I have the day off today and Jen doesn’t so I am on my own. I think I’ll go eat some breakfast before I go out again though. How does scrambled eggs sound?

Hampton Beach Non-Sunrise

I got up and out of the house in time to get to Hampton Beach for the sunrise. The whole drive up I didn’t see a single cloud. Perfectly clear skies. I was feeling pretty optimistic about getting better results than the last time I went to the ocean.

Nope. It was an even worse fail than last time. There was one thick, ugly, narrow band of clouds sitting exactly on the horizon. It blocked the sunrise completely. Fail Fail Fail. I also set my ISO really high when I took the picture of the cat I posted last night and I forgot to lower it. That screwed up my long exposure attempts. I was just winning left and right.