The End of August

Adam is back at school, we returned from Vermont last night. The drive is a bit easier, especially with one and a half hour ride on the Cross Sound Ferry. With my two sons up at college, summer for the most part is over.

I have a golf outing today and the heat is up again. The weather announcer said something about the low ninety's tomorrow. Hot!

I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first book in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I understand why so many people are talking about the series. I liked it and plan to finish the other two.

Today's post is from Randolph Vermont. We stopped to get a bit to eat and I made this from the McDonald's parking lot. They had some nice original black and white photographs on their walls. A nice change from the usual out of the box stuff I usually see in chain stores. Very impressive.

This is a handheld HDR image made with the Canon 5d and processed with Photomatix Pro and Photoshop.

After three days of rain

Many of the plants out in the wild are burnt and dry, like this one I came across in Westhampton. My lawn doesn't look much different, if what I have you can call a lawn. I needed to keep the garden watered, so I neglected the lawn. It looks like I sill lost a bush or two even with all my watering. 

We needed the rain, even if it was a bit late.

This photo was made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR and photoshop. After converting it to grayscale, I changed it back to RGB and added yellow and red to get the warm tone.

Rusty old lock

On my walk this afternoon I kicked-up this rusty old padlock. I was looking for something I could turn into a grayscale image. This had the texture and the color to make an interesting subject. I picked it up and placed it on the fence post.

I used the Canon G10 and processed it with both ACR and photoshop.

Hydrangea #2

Hydrangea has to be one of my favorite bushes. I find their flowers photogenic at any point in their life. I came across this one on my walk Saturday.

Made with the Canon G10 and processed with ACR.

Cotton Candy Clouds

That's what Cel, my wife called the clouds today as they appeared to be wrapping themselves around the top of the Adirondack Mountains. Strands of white gray clouds moved freely against the dark rain clouds and up the purple mountains. 

God is incredible.

We made good time getting home tonight despite the rain. Not that we were trying to make a record or anything. It's just nice to get off the road and back home.

This is an HDR photograph made along Old Military Road, Lake Placid, New York. Old Military Road is the by-pass around the center of Lake Placid and the Olympic Training Center.

Rainy trip to Potsdam

Yesterday was the first solid day of rain we had all summer, and even with the dry weather, many people complained that the summer was too hot. It was too hot to get much done and the dryness made a short growing season for my garden. I was able to jar 9 quarts of tomatoes and about 10 pints of Jalapeno Salsa. That's about the same as what I did last year, and there's sill some stuff on the vines.

So, today's the drive home. We hit a lot of traffic yesterday and it made the long ride tiresome. It's gray and cool with the forecast calling for more showers.

Today's post is part of a sign I found in East Quogue.

Back to semi-normal

My wife's cousin and her husband left for California today. After having house guests for a week, it will be nice to return to some semblance of normalcy. It was a great visit, and we all had a blast. Sadly, they missed a connecting flight and are spending the night in Philadelphia. Too bad, we could have had one more night of fun.

Tomorrow my wife and I leave to bring Brian up to Postdam for school, so really it will be Tuesday before things are normal again.

I made today's photo while waiting for shop to complete an oil change on my car. I don't know what kind of plant this is, but I really love them.

The sun sets over Cold Spring Pond

The craziness of the election season starts today for me, campaign photos, e-mails about campaign photos, phone calls about campaign photos...it's a living. I'm thankful to be working.

I took a bike ride yesterday evening and on the way back home stopped at the boat ramp and made this photo.

The scene reminds me of late September or October, not August. Those houses you see in the photo are on a man-made strip. That strip separates Cold Spring Pond from Peconic Bay. As the season ends, come evening, less and less of the houses on the strip have any lights on. Last night the strip looked dark. The vacationers are either gone, or green or sleeping early. I stood there enjoying the sunset, wondering if summer was ending early. 
If it was, someone forgot to tell the gnats.

The inn is full.

My wife's cousin and her husband are in from California for the week, this we were planning for. What we were not ready for were my son's girlfriend and his college room mate. Thankfully there's enough space for everyone to find a spot. There's no more room at the inn.

This first weekend has been loads of fun starting with my mother-in-law finding this yellow parakeet in the bird feeder. She had my father-in-law catch it and try to put it in a bird cage. It flew around their house for a few hours until the two of them netted the little bird and put it in the cage. Did I mention my mother-in-law getting bit a couple of times in the process?

Sunday we took the kayaks out on the pond. We had the whole pond almost all to ourselves due to the grey skies. My sister-in law, wife and their cousin went for a swim afterwards.

After dinner the parakeet flew in from the bedroom. Either the bird is smart about sliding birdcage doors or the bars are not close enough. I did manage to get the little fella back into the cage without any pecks or nips.

August Sunflower

I've needed a muse this past week and my sunflowers didn't let me down. I just didn't feel all that creative. This past week I turned 53 and worked a grueling golf outing on my birthday.

I also needed to get a slide show of the Wounded Warrior Project's Soldier Ride up and running for the Town of Babylon.

We have family flying in from California for a week and then the boys go back to collage. Time just goes way too fast.

I needed some time to stop and notice the sunflowers.

Voice of America

Voice of America was the mane of a radio show broadcast in the theater of war. It is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. Today's photo is my tribute to VOA.

Red Fox

Last year at the Tuckahoe golf outing a White Tail Deer ran across the course. We see a lot of deer in our neighborhood and this outing was held close to where we live, so the deer was no surprise.

Yesterday, I photographed a golf outing 45 minutes west of here. I was totally unprepared for this little guy that ran across the golf course. I was driving around in a golf cart with only a 35 to 105.

I've always wanted to make a photo of a Red Fox. I have two more golf outings this August. I wonder what else I'll come across?

Hey 19

 

Here's another image for my numbers series. I don't remember too much about being 19. I do remember being able to buy alcohol legally at eighteen and maybe that's way I can't remember anything significant about 19.

The title comes from the Steely Dan song, one of my favorites.

Click on the 60 West photo in the sidebar  if you'd like to see all the numbers in the series.