Posts tagged as:

spring

Baby Great Horned Owl, Old Saybrook, CT

October 5, 2016

I heard an owl a few nights ago; a soft and beautiful succession of hoo-hoos that woke me up around 3AM, like the call to prayer of a muezzin.

I wonder if it was this little one, who had fallen out of its nest in a nearby white pine over a year ago, and – thanks to the quick response of neighbors and the crew at A Place Called Hope, in Killingworth CT – shortly thereafter re-nested. The crew built a new platform directly beneath the existing nest, lined it with some white pine branches, and placed this little one back up in the tree.

The owl family seemed to leave the area shortly thereafter, perhaps related to the noise pollution of a new house going up nearby. But that is now behind us, and the neighborhood for the most part is quiet again. And the Great Horned Owls may be moving back into the area.

Tagged as: animals, CT, spring

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First Haying, TInmouth, VT

June 11, 2016

Glenn Merrill, a pleasant young guy doing the mowing here, finally stopped near me, popped open the cabin door, and said “You must really like tractors!”

At that point, he had been around the field five times or so since I arrived and started photographing.

“Well it’s more the first haying of the season..”

The unofficial start of Summer.

Tagged as: farms and fields, spring, VT

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View of Mount Ascutney from Saint-Gaudens National Park, Cornish, NH

June 4, 2016

The park is one of my favorite places, magnificent pretty much any time of the year, but especially in the Fall. The main workshop always strikes me as a hallowed space, and the Adams Memorial something to behold. Plan to spend a better part of a day.

Tagged as: art and music, book, current favorites, national parks, NH, spring

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Free Range, Pawlet, VT

June 2, 2016

Tagged as: animals, book, current favorites, farms and fields, spring, VT

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Son De Mi Tierra (You Are From My Land), Middletown, CT

May 27, 2016

My good friend Jose and I had dinner in Middletown CT a couple of weeks ago, and afterwards roamed the streets a bit. We lingered in front of this band for a couple of tunes, including one Jose requested, a song called “Por Mujeres Como Tu”, which you can listen to here (translated lyrics below). I later asked him what the song was about; he laughed and said ” women… alcohol…”.

He and his wife emigrated from Venezuela some years ago; it got me thinking about the song(s) I might request if we were in Venezuela and it was now my “home”.

Twenty years ago my wife and I went to France, and we took along a few CDs to help with any homesickness: Eat a Peach by the Allman Brothers, and Working on Wings to Fly, by Cindy Kallett. And though we never had to use them, it was nice to have them along.

Por Mujeres Como Tu (For Women Like You)

I’m becoming afraid and she’s realized it,
And that’s not very good for me,
If I want to keep her in my arms
It’d be better for her not to see me suffer.

I’m keeping myself in the failures,
And today I’m going to fix the situation.
It’ll be that I’ve always given too much
And in the excess I always end up hurt (lit. damaged).

For women like you, my love
There are men like me, I know
That we can lose ourselves
In alcohol
Because of a deception.

I’m keeping myself in the failures,
And today I’m going to fix the situation.
It’ll be that I’ve always given too much
And in the excess I always end up hurt (lit. damaged).

For women like you…

Tagged as: art and music, book, CT, current favorites, smartphone, spring

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Old Barn, New Garden, Newfane, VT

May 26, 2016

This barn looks even better today than in 2007 when I took this picture. It’s been freshened up with red paint, and looks, well, 30 years younger and even more photogenic. The garden – from a distance anyway – looks like it’s just been marking time over the years.

Tagged as: at work, spring, VT, yankee structures

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Bees and Blossoms, Shelburne Falls, MA

May 24, 2016

I once picked apples at this orchard, over 30 years ago – the only local (and gringo) so employed – everyone else was from Jamaica. It took me a full two weeks to acclimate my body to climbing up and down the ladder with a load of apples in the kidney shaped bucket at my waist, straps cutting into my shoulder, and I thought of myself in pretty decent shape to begin with. We were on a daily quota for the first week; to a man my co-workers finished by noon while it took me the full day. By the end of the season though, which lasted about 6 weeks, I had pulled even.

Many a fine memory there; the top rung of the ladder offered the best view of the orchard itself as well as distances near and far. It was heaven to be doing that hard physical work, no matter the weather; knowing it was time limited probably helped.

This image is from the beginning of the season, after the trees had been pruned and just before the bees really began pollinating.

Tagged as: farms and fields, MA, spring, vehicles

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