Tonight's Sunset

I had to pick Jay up in Hanover at 8:00 tonight. The sky on the way home was amazing. As I was driving along, I was looking for a place to pull over to take a few photos, but there was no place to stop. The sky was changing by the minute, and I was driving like a maniac to get to the pond in Rockland. It was the closest place I could think of where I might be able to get a shot. Each turn in the road.....each clearing in the horizon......the sky was getting better and better. I think I started yelling "Oh my God!!!" and my palms were sweating at one point.
I may or may not have started swearing.
I frightened Jay a little. He thinks his mother has issues.
I got to the pond in Rockland, jumped out of the car and I was able to capture the last gasp of the sunset. It wasn't as dramatic as the previous 5-8 minutes, but it was still pretty nonetheless.

I like the contrast in black and white for this one as well.

Thanks Jay. :-0)

Seven and a half weeks later........

Today was a milestone which I quite honestly wasn't sure we would ever see. Look where my Dad went today:

I had the Dr. write him an order to go out today for a few hours. It was called a psycho-social leave.

Not sure who needed a psycho leave the most, but it could have been me. Or my sister Nancy. Yeah, it was her. No wait......this was about my Dad. We must leave our own issues aside. Sorry.

So, yes, we took a ride to Nantasket Beach. The parking God's were looking down on me, and I got a handicapped spot with a bench right there just waiting for my Dad to sit on and breathe in the good fresh Atlantic air.....feel the breeze, hear the sounds of the waves and the seagulls, and smell the salty air.

Of course, Mom was THRILLED to be sitting beside the love of her life at one of their favorite places.

I have to share this image  because I just love the body language:

LOVE IS AGELESS, RIGHT?

I have something very special to tell you about this next image. See the nail polish on my sister Nancy's toes?

Well, she bought that nail polish in 1999 and it's still useable today....get this.....it doesn't even have any clumps. How do yah like that!!

Okay, back to the day. After we left the beach, we stopped for ice creams and Dad ate his entire dish of ice cream.

He was exhausted when we brought him back, and he went right to bed to lie down. It was a great day!!!

Summer Solstice 2012

Welcome Summer! It certainly has arrived with avengance here in New England. All I can say is thank God for air conditioning.
Last night I attended a photography workshop sponsored by the Mass Cultural Council. My friend Greg Lessard led the photography workshop in conjunction with John Galluzzo from the Mass Audubon. Two MA Audubon vans drove us along the 5 mile road out to the Gurnet Lighthouse in Saquish. The road (accessible only by 4 wheel drive vehicles) begins at Duxbury Beach and the land somewhere along the way becomes part of Plymouth .
Here is a view across the bay to Plymouth.

It was a very hot and hazy evening.

We were standing on top of an old army bunker as I took this shot. Notice the thin strip of land behind the lighthouse to the right. That is the road we drove out to get there. (It's the same place I photographed the Snowy Owl this past winter if you remember.)

As the sun was getting lower in the sky, I set the exposure to get a sillhouette by using the exposure compensation button and dialing in a negative exposure value. Notice the people in the top of the lighthouse in this image as well as the previous image. A man from the Lighthouse association accompanied us and he opened the lighthouse up to us. (I chose not to go up, I was already sweating thank you very much)

Here's a shot of the setting sun taken along the road back.

The sinking sun........

And the afterglow..........

It felt great to be out shooting again. This was my first photography outing in almost 2 months.

I'm baaaaaaack...................:-)

Calling All Angels

I am so blessed to have my Dad here with us on this Fathers Day. I went directly to see him as soon as I got out of work this afternoon. When I arrived, he was sitting in a big "geri chair" out by the nurses station, and my Mom and my sister Nancy were sitting with him. (The nurses like to put Dad out in the hallway where they can keep a good eye on him.......he sometimes tries to get up on his own........my sisters and I call it the great escape:-) He looked good today....he was dressed in his new "workout" pants that my mom bought him, and he was wearing one of his favorite sweaters. He has lost so much weight. I went to him and gave him a Happy Fathers Day kiss, and then I read him the Fathers Day card that I bought for him. He closed his eyes as I read the card. Not sure if it was an emotional response or what. We then wheeled him out to the outside deck where he sat in the sun and breathed in the fresh air. Miss J and Steve arrived while we were sitting out there. I noticed he closed his eyes as Miss J read him the fathers Day card that she brought to him. He tried to talk a little bit to us, but it's very difficult for him because he has severe laryngitis. We assume this is a result of the NG Tube which he had for many days......it must have really irritated and inflamed his throat and vocal cords. It takes a lot of energy for him to speak......and he really doesn't have the energy to spare to carry out a conversation. His mental status has improved over the past 2 days, but I saw today that he is still hallucinating, and he still gets very confused. The confusion comes and goes. We still wonder what the future will be like for my Dad......the future is so uncertain, but actually, isn't it uncertain for all of us? We are still taking things one day at a time. The ups and downs have been so often and so extreme.
Here is a song for my Dad this Father's Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Idl2FGnLY

I hope you all enjoyed your Fathers Day. If you no longer have your father with you, I hope you hold onto the memories of all of the happy times and find comfort knowing that some day you will be together.
Here is one of my favorite images of my dad, taken exactly 5 years ago this week, at Crystal Lake in Barton VT.

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!!!

A Day In The Life

Hi everyone. Hope all is well with you. A few people have commented to me that they miss my blogs. (It's kind of nice to be missed in the blog world)
I honestly have had nothing to share with you and have not even picked up the Nikon in about 6 weeks. A few months ago I vowed to myself that in this phase of the blog I was only going to share my best work.
 No snapshots.
 Well folks, that's about to change, as I am living in a snapshot kind of world these days.
Due to popular demand (yes I know you have missed me, come on admit it) I decided to share with you a day in the life of me.
Here we go:
"Hi Mom, you don't mind sitting in the backseat today, do you?"

By the way, I hope you all can excuse the mess in my car. I never seem to be able to keep my car clean. Must work on that. Some other day.

Here we go driving through Dorchester/Lower Mills. I am really impressed with all of the renovations done to this area. It looks great.

This bridge along the Arborway is doing a number on Frita. (Frita is my car in case you don't remember) Frita is going to need a front end alignment from driving on this God-forsaken bridge day after day. The potholes are numerous, and in some cases, the cement is so far gone that you can see that metal mesh stuff that goes under the concrete and holds the bridge together. Okay, I'm not sure if it holds the bridge together or not, but whatever it is, I would think it should not be visible as you're driving over it. I don't have any pictures of the potholes because I had to focus on the road. There is a no texting while driving law in the state of Massachusetts, but is there a no picture taking while driving law? I didn't think so......

The wheels on the bus go round and round........We see lots of wheels, big bus wheels, little bike wheels

I have become a pretty darn good city driver . Yessiree......I can cut people off and run yellow lights just as good as the rest of them.

I'm lying.

No I'm not.

I seriously have picked up some pretty bad driving habits.

See this trolley coming at me? It doesn't scare me one bit. I can drive within 2 inches of that trolley coming at me without going into a full blown panic attack. How do you like that!

Here we have arrived at the Brigham and Womans Hospital in Boston. I turn right here under this overhang and leave Frita with the valet drivers.

This is the spot where I should be posting a picture either of my fathers hospital room, or of the view out the window of his room. But, being the wonderful focused photographer that I am, I forgot to take any pictures in his room. I must have been having too much fun.

Which leads us to the next image. This is the valet driver bringing Frita back to us.

Here's an abandoned building we drive past every day. This is how it goes:

My sister Nancy: "That building is condemned you know".

Me: "How do you know?"

Nancy: "Because it has a big red X on it".

My Mother: "That used to be the Boston Police Station".

This happens every. Single. Day.

Day after day after day...........

We're safely back to Braintree. Bye bye Mom. Love you. See you tomorrow..............

"Oh shitskabobs and onion skins."

:-)

All images taken with the Panasonic LX3