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Cement Wall

This wall is outside the now defunct train station in town.  I just heard the story today about how the wall was built because the train tracks used to flood when it rained hard and trains would have to wait until the flood waters receded.  So the tracks were raised up and this wall is part of the support of the raised tracks.  

I love the vine branches. There's just something so appealing about bare branches in the fall and winter.  Obviously in the summer the wall is covered in vines which is also beautiful. 

The Waterfalls

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A couple of weeks ago, I signed up to attend a photo field trip today to a location that is a short hike to a really beautiful waterfall.  After my hike yesterday I was pretty weary and half determined not to get up at 5:15 am this morning to get to the carpool location on time.

But then I thought that if I didn't go, I'd just sit around the house, bored and unproductive, so why not get up and go?

Although it was very cloudy and drizzly this morning, it never actually rained, thank goodness. 

The cloudy conditions contributed to the intense colors of the foliage and rocks, and it was easy to 

avoid the sky at this particular location.  So all in all, it was a good day

and I'm glad I convinced myself to get out of bed and get there on time.   

I don't know the people in this first image, but I love the image anyway.  I love how they are relatively sharp, while the waterfall in the background and the tree branch in the foreground are soft.  

I recently purchased Photoshop Elements 10.  It has some fun special effects that are very easy to do.  Since the images in most of my recent posts have been straight, traditional images, I decided to try a couple of the special effects in Elements 10.  All but one of the images in this post have had an effect applied.  Such fun.

So You Want To Be a Jockey??

I spent the day at Sanford Farms doing photography at the Open House. Just step right up to the display, poke your face through, and for a split second you can be a jockey.

Another day that the rain held off until the end of the event.

Scroll down to the previous post to see my late pictures from Friday.

Friday Hike

We started out bright and early (not that it was bright, but it was early) on Friday for our weekly hike. The destination was one of the trail heads for Mt. Marcy. Our fearless leader wanted us to experience the beginning of the trail to Mt. Marcy so we could get the feel of what the entire hike would be like when/if we do it later this summer.

We finally got there, got all our gear ready, and began, hoping that it wouldn't rain while we were on the trail. About 2.2 miles from the trail head is Marcy Dam.

This stream was flowing without hesitation after all the rain we've had. It was really beautiful.

After arriving at the dam, we ate lunch while Jane consulted the guide book to see how much farther we would try to go. According to the book, another two miles would get us to a waterfall, and we would be a little over halfway to the summit. (This is the lake as seen from standing on the bridge over the dam.)

So off we went, up, Up, UP, over rOcKs and through mud. Oh, by the way, did I mention that we went UP? We never did make it to the waterfall, but the distance we did cover took about a mile an hour. I finally gave up.

It was a good thing we stopped when we did. After going to a diner to eat, and then driving a little over two hours to get home, I finally arrived at my house at 10. If we'd gone any farther, it would have been close to midnight before I got home.

Anyway, we tried to calculate how far we walked, and the consensus is that we walked about 8.5 miles. Whew! By the way, it didn't do much more than drizzle during our hike. Yeah!

Fireworks

This isn't my post for today. I just wanted to share these with you. Yesterday, when I had to trash the idea of going to the Lighthouse because of rain, I still had to go to Honolulu to run some last minute errands. As I arrived, the rain stopped and I thought I might be able to get some fireworks shots if the rain held off.

The weather did cooperate. Just as the fireworks began it started drizzling very lightly. Since the "show" only lasts about 5 minutes, it was okay. It still didn't rain for my entire ride home, but it poured all night.

The image below is a cropped portion of the above image. I shot wider views last night because I wanted to see how the scene would look if I included some of the buildings surrounding the fireworks site. Which do you like better? the horizontal or vertical?

The image below is also a crop of an horizontal image. I shot all of them horizontal just to insure I'd get the entire firework burst.

Posted 9:45 am on Sat, April 11, 2009.

check back later to see my post for today.

By the way, I probably won't be posting Sunday's post until very late tomorrow (Sunday) or maybe not until Monday morning. So let me wish you all a happy and Blessed Easter. God is risen!

Rain

It's raining.

Again.

A lot.

Sigh

Had to scratch plan A which was a trip to the lighthouse. So you get photos of rain instead. Enlarge to see the full effect!

Posted at 2 pm on Friday, April 10, 2009

Rain

It rained today. All day. A lot.

The dreary weather didn't seem to bother the tourists who were out in full force inbetween the downpours. There were three turtles on the beach today. The tourists were happy.

Even with the adverse weather, the beach was beautiful. Even though I was huddled under an umbrella, getting sprayed with the blowing rain, it was great being at the beach--hearing the waves break, watching the surfers, seeing the turtles romp in the surf, once again teasing the few tourists who braved the less than perfect conditions.

The ocean has a strong pull.

Posted at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 31, 2009