Miss J's Baby Shower at The Olde Hitching Post Restaurant

This morning was Miss J's baby shower brunch which was held at The Olde Hitching Post Restaurant in Hanson MA. Lots of images to share, so let's cut to the chase, shall we?
Here are Miss J and Steve arriving:

How beautiful does she look? Sigh........

Just have to show you the cake. The cake!!!!! Oh my goodness look at this beautiful cake!!!!

Cake was made by Michelle Nolan:

http://buttercreamscakes.com/index.php

And it was deeeelicious!!!!

"Grandmas's Cutie" Oh yes.......

Look at the moose!!!!! Oh yes, this baby will love Vermont and the Vermont wildlife just like the rest of us!!! (Thanks Nancy I!)

Do you think my Grandchild is going to be a red-head? You decide! :-)

Okay, now for a surprise. A very big surprise. I found out about this two days ago.........

Chef Gordon Ramsey from "Kitchen Nightmares" was scheduled for a follow-up visit to the restaurant during today's baby shower. His film crew and producer where there the entire time......all of our guests were asked to sign waivers in case we are going to be shown on TV........Chef Ramsey was late, and he arrived after half of our guests went home.

Here he is upon his arrival:

He immediately came into the room with us, along with his camera crew, and spoke to us...... asked us questions.....spoke to Miss J and Steve......and......get this...... he told me I am too young looking to be a Grandmother. I knew I liked that man!!! LOL

Not everyone gets a celebrity and camera crew to come to their baby shower. Nothing but the best for Miss J and my Grandbaby!!!!! *wink*

It was a beautiful day!!!!!

Here's Lucy

Lucy Goosey is keeping cool down by the water. I hope you're finding someplace to keep cool yourself today.

I am so not liking this heat!

Beach Roses

One of my most favorite sights of summer in New England are the beautiful Beach Roses that our beaches are often decorated with.

I found this old abandoned fishing boat somewhere up in Coastal Maine a few years ago. I just love how the beach roses have grown around the boat.

This next image was taken locally at Nantasket Beach in Hull MA:

I hope you can find some time to visit the local beaches and try to cool off this week and maybe get a glimpse of some pretty beach roses!

Happy Birthday Mr. S

Even though he doesn't regularly follow my blog (I think the man is soooo sick of my photography) :-) I still want to wish Mr S a very happy birthday today.
He has endured countless hours out on the road with me and my camera....not too many people would be so understanding as he is, so I just want to thank him....tell him that I love him......and make him read today's blog post so he gets this message. :-)
Happy birthday Mr. S......thank you for loving me....and I love you right back, a whole bunch of bunches!!!! xxoo

Come and sit a spell

Life is good....

Garden

A true "sign" of Summer

More Summer Scenics from Vermont

St Paul's Church in Barton seen from across a farm field:

Sky reflections at Lake Parker on a beautiful summer day in Glover VT:

A field of Ragged Robin and "Buttercups" along Beach Hill Road in Glover:

No Matter what the season, beauty abounds around every corner in the Northeast Kingdom of VT.

Alyson and Gil, Cohasset Engagement

I went along with Diane the other evening, as the second shooter, on an engagement session she was doing in Cohasset MA. It was a beautiful evening, and we had a lot of fun and came away with some great shots that I hope Alyson and Gil will be happy with.
Diane was shooting mainly with the Nikon 70-200, so I opted for a shorter focal length and shot entirely using the Nikon 50mm f1.8.  Diane and I work so well together, we are like a fine oiled machine! And can I tell you how wonderful it was to walk around with such a lightweight lens? I was in heaven and my biceps were very happy to be lugging such a light kit around.
Now onto the images. Alyson and Gil are fun!!!! They are a beautiful couple who are totally in love with each other and it was so easy to shoot them because of that.

How well do they go together, huh?

The light was gorgeous that evening

Love this....

This pose was Alyson's idea. She is a natural!

Love this one too. Diane was shooting them on the boardwalk, and I noticed this view of them through the greenery. Love it!

Probably my favorite....

Thanks for the opportunity Diane!!! Thank you to Alyson and Gil as well. It was a pleasure to meet you and I wish you love and happiness forever and ever. Congratulations!!!!!

Vermont Wildlife

The thing about wildlife photography is....sometimes you find 'em and sometimes you don't. At least that has been my experience. Often times when we are in Vermont we go out in the early evenings looking for wildlife, especially moose. We know the areas where they frequently feed, but we don't always get fortunate enough to see them.
Last week, while vacationing in our Barton VT home, Mr S and I took an early evening drive up to Island Pond and Bloomfield to check out the moose hot spots. Here is a typical area where one might find moose up in these parts. This is along South America Pond Road in Bloomfield. It was a perfect evening (except for the skeeters and black flies of course) but we didn't see any moose here.

We made our way back to Rte 105, and that's where we found our moose. This looks like a youngster to me from it's size. Probably a one year old maybe?

On the way back home, we found this doe and fawn in a field in Barton. The fawn was so precious!! I wish the grasses weren't so high, but we take what we can get, and let me tell you....these two put big smiles on our faces.

On a different evening, I went out by myself and left Mr S back on the couch. :-0) I was hoping to photograph the freight train which usually runs through the village each evening. I heard the whistle at 7:30 pm the night before, so I got myself in place the following evening by around 6:45. I found a spot where the train would pass an outlet to Crystal Lake and was thinking I would get reflections of the train in the water. Guess what???? Yup....the train didn't come by that night.

So, I switched to plan B and did some bird photography and found this beautiful Eastern Pheobe while I was waiting for the train that never arrived.

Hopefully will catch the train on my next try!