Emerson Falls

Day 131/Year 2

Our second to last stop on our whirlwind NEK of VT camera club trip was at Emerson Falls located in St Johnsbury VT. This is a decent sized waterfall, and I'm sure in the Spring it must have some really great running water. We were here smack dab in the middle of the day...noontime......which is the worst possible time for slow shutter speed photography. We all put our neutral density filters on our lenses and made the best of it!

A web, a face, a farm, a risk :-) Fun times!

Day 130/Year 2

Here's a few more from Robillard Flats in Irasburg (the round barn from yesterday) I love the cow looking up at me, as I was focusing in the spider web in this shot.

This next cow portrait just cracks me up! :-0)

This next shot was taken from down the road and around the corner from the barn. I really like this view and am excited to see it in the Fall with the hillsides ablaze in their Fall colors.

My buddy Greg Lessard will put himself into some pretty precarious positions to get just the right shot....not to worry......I was on "traffic patrol" and alerted him to any vehicles coming up the road from behind.

Robillard Flats

There was a time in my life, not too long ago, where I would get excited to visit a new mall, or to buy new shoes or a bag. You know, girly things. I still like the girly things, but my interests have evolved and changed. I had the opportunity "of a lifetime" this past weekend. I was allowed to visit the upstairs of a round barn!!! How cool is that???? I know what some of you must be thinking.......I would have been right there thinking along those lines as you a few years ago......."You're excited about going into a barn"?????
Yup, sure was! :-)

Day 129/Year 2

This is the barn located at "Robillard Flats Farm" in Irasburg VT. I have photographed this barn on many occasions, but this time was different......in such a cool way!!!! The owners gave us full access to photograph the entire property. Here's some of the girls having their breakfast:

Now onto the really cool part. Here's a photo taken from the inside of "the hurricane room" as it is called. This is the upper portion of the barn. The reason why it is called the hurricane room, was because years ago during the Hurricane of 1932 the wind blew in so strong that it twisted the boards in this upper portion of the barn.

I also captured a ghost up there. Here it is............:-)

A black and white from the other side of the circle......

A stairway leading down to the lower level:

Finally, an exterior look from behind the barn:

This was such a wonderful experience and I am very thankful to the owners for being so kind and allowing us access to their beautiful property.

Love

Day 128/Year 2

Today wasn't a very good day for me. I know we've all had those days. You know the kind of day......when one thing can just set you off and the tears start flowing. It was one of those days. Poor Mr. S called me this morning, just to say hi........and I burst into tears on the phone. 

I have no room in my life for drama, and I avoid unnecessary conflict. My Mama taught me well. So, I put on my big girl panties and went on with my day.

How surprised I was when Mr. S came home from work carrying this beautiful single red rose for me. I know I promised more photos from VT on today's blog, but this is better. This is what love looks like. :-)

The Specs:

Nikon D90, 18-200 mm lens, ISO 400, 1/400, f10, -1/3 EV

Day 2 of Camera Club VT trip

Day 127/Year 2

This was just before sunrise at Burton Hill Farm on Burton Hill Rd in Barton VT. Yes.....all of the previous blogs from this weekend trip were all from day 1. Can you believe it? We covered a lot of ground! So, day 2 began with this beautiful pre-dawn sky. Unfortunately, the clouds won over and we never got a true sunrise. It was okay though....the sun was out the rest of the day and it was a glorious day....temps in the 70's and nice blue skies.

After breakfast, a few of us stopped at the waterfall in Barton. It was a quick stop, but we managed to get a few photos. Here's one of mine:

While standing on the bridge shooting the waterfall, I noticed this vine and loved the leaf color and shape:

Tomorrow I will blog about my favorite place we photographed this weekend.

Darling Hill Road

Day 126/Year 2

So, after a delicious dinner at the Pub Outback in East Burke (where the frozen strawberry daiquari was consumed) we headed up the hill to Darling Hill Road. I love this road! There are sweeping views to the west of the Willoughby Gap, and sweeping views to the East of Burke Mountain.

Our first stop was to visit these cows. The late day light was beautiful, and I love the backdrop of Burke Mountain in the distance.

There's a barn across the street from this field, and I liked how the sun was low in the sky, positioned behind this cupola.

From here, we drove South down the road and stopped at this farm for our sunset shots. The farmer couldn't have been any nicer and allowed us access to his property where we set up our tripods and waited for the magic to happen.

This farmer raises Belted Galloways. They are a black or brown beef breed of cattle originating from Scotland, and have a white "belt" around the midsection.

After the sunset, the sky turned a beautiful shade of pink and purple.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day of photography.

Lake Willoughby revisits the blog

Day 125/Year 2

This is one of the waterfalls that flows off Mount Pisgah, which is one of the mountains that flanks Lake Willoughby in Westmore VT.

This is a boathouse located at the south end of the lake. It has always been sinking into the water, but this winter it took a big hit with the extreme weather. It's sinking more now than ever:

The south end beach:

I can't even describe how wonderful the breeze felt at this lake. After the record breaking heat wave we experienced during the week, this felt like heaven on Earth. This is one of my favorite places on the planet. It's been featured here on the blog in the past. I was thrilled to be able to share this place with my camera club friends.

More from the Vermont weekend

Day 124/Year 2

This is a farm located in West Glover. In the dozens of times I have been by here in the past, there have always been cows grazing in the field. Not this day. It was too hot. The cows were across the street up the hill by the farmers house in the shade. (hmmmmm.....it was too hot for the cows, but not too hot for us photographers!) :-)

Here's another barn in West Glover. We didn't see any cows at this farm either. We were thinking the cows all got the memo that the photographers from MA were all coming up.....so they went into hiding! Not to worry, we eventually found cows. Lots of cows. You'll eventually see.

The Red Sky shop in Glover is one of my favorite places to visit. The owners Doug and Sherri are always very welcoming to me and my camera. Doug invited us into the private area of the gardens, and to the hen house,where the public is usually not allowed. Thanks so much for your hospitality to Doug and Sherri!

Remember the other day when I said there was a frozen strawberry daiquari with my name on it in Vermont?

Life is good............

Monroe's Sugar House, Barton VT

Day 123/Year 2

Sorry for my absence the past few days. I was up in VT leading 15 members of my camera club on a Northeast Kingdom of Vermont photography tour.

Steve Monroe invited us to tour his sugar house and sugar bush. I arranged for a 2 pm tour on Saturday. Steve and his wife and 2 teenage children were so welcoming and accomodating to us. This is a photo of Steve showing us the different grades of syrup that he produces.

After the sugar house tour, we were taken 1/4 mile uphill to his sugar bush. He has 6000 maple tres that are tapped using the line system. The light in the sugar bush was beautiful:

Here's part of our group who hitched a ride up to the sugar bush in the back of Steve's pickup truck:

Here's Diane getting a ride on the four wheeler by Steve's daughter:

I love the way the light was hitting this fern:

Thank you so much to Steve and his entire family. This was he and his wife's 23rd wedding anniversary, and we were so grateful that they gave us some time during their special day. I am looking forward to making some pancakes to go along with the syrup I purchased. :-)

There are many more photos from this weekend's photography trip. Stay tuned......

The heat is on

Day 122/Year 2

I know I don't have to tell anybody how hot it is today. This was the exterior temperature when I got in my car this afternoon. I had to run a few errands. This is what the exterior temperature was when I got home:

'nuff said!

It's 5 o'clock somewhere

Day 121/Year 2

Today was the annual hospital employee summer barbecue. I don't have to tell you how hot it was outside today! The guys did a fantastic job of putting this whole thing together and I'm sure working in the heat was quite a challenge.

Tropical fruit and a basket of leis.......the only thing that could have made it any better was a nice frozen daiquiri!! That will have to wait for this weekend......there is a nice cold frozen strawberry daiquiri with my name on it at the Pub Outback in Vermont this Saturday night. Stay tuned.............

Train of thought

Day 120/Year 2

I have gotten very lazy. This photo was taken as I was sitting in my car. The gates came down, so as I came to a stop, I grabbed the camera and got ready for the train to come down the tracks.

Lazy, yes.

But it's hot.

The AC in the car works quite well.

This was my "just in case I don't get anything else today" shot. Hmf. As you can see I didn't get anything else today...............

Sunflowers

Day 119/Year 2

Sunflowers doing what sunflowers do............basking in the sun!

The Specs:

Nikon D90, 18-200 mm lens, ISO 200, 1/800, f7.1, -1/3 ev

Dairy Queen :-)

Day 118/Year 2

I had a little post production fun with this cow. I cropped in tightly on the cow, did a levels adjustment, then used one of the plug in filters that I have to give her this look. Is she a diva or what??????

The Soule Homestead

Day 117/Year 2

Here are a few more photos to share from the Soule farmstead in Middleboro MA.

A peek-a-boo goat:

"Wearing a sheepish grin" :-)

A country door:

"On the wagon"

I hope you enjoyed the farm photos from the past few days!!