Snowliage Trick or is it a Treat?

 We got about 3-4 inches of snow here today at my house in SE MA.

It is the year 2020 afterall, where by now we know to expect the unexpected.

Stay safe and well my friends. xxoo

Words for Wednesday 10/28/2020

 

"For one minute,

walk outside.

Stand there in silence.

Look up at the sky.

And contemplate how amazing life is."

Route 9 Southern Vermont

 On October 2nd, I made another mask wearing day trip up North. This day I went up to explore the Rte 9 "Molly Stark Scenic Byway" in Southern VT. This stretch of road takes you literally across the state of Vermont, from Brattleboro to Bennington. 

On the ride to Vermont....this was taken as we were driving along Route 2 in Athol MA. The sun was rising behind us and the rain was beginning to Fall.

I knew that the weather in the area we were headed was forecasted for showers, rain, and low clouds in the morning, with partial clearing from West to East in the afternoon. I learned a long time ago to not let bad weather prohibit me from heading out with my camera. Low clouds and fog can add drama to the photos, and the color of the wet leaves really pop. 

Route 9 begins in the low lands of Brattleboro. That area was still mostly green, as expected on this fairly early date, but I knew once we got up into the highlands that we would find more color.

Our first stop was to the Hogback Mountain overlook in West Marlboro VT. It was raining when I shot this photo.

The road into Harriman Reservior in Wilmington:

Harriman Reservior:

From here we took Somerset Road in Searsburg and found this lovely row of Sugar Maples.

Another stop we made along this road.

Back onto Route 9 this is the color we saw in the highlands.

We took a different route to get back home and made several stops in Pownal and North Pownal. This area is just to the south of Bennington. As I've said before, the best way to find photo ops and beautiful scenes is to hit the back roads of VT! We found early color in this area and it looked like it had another week to a week and a half before this area would peak. But, I was very impressed with the early color that we saw.

My friend noticed this white horse as we were traveling along one of the many dirt roads in the area, so I backed up to check it out. Although this isn't technically the greatest photo ever, I love the story book feel of this one.

The skies were finally brightening, and here are the last few photos I took in the Pownal area.

It was another long day, but very fun day!

Stay safe and healthy my friends. xxoo

Words For Wednesday 10/21/2020

 

"I can not endure to waste anything so precious as Autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."

                                     -----------Nathaniel Hawthorne

Harrisville NH and Jaffrey NH Fall Photos

 Today's a good day to catch up on posting here on the blog. It's cloudy and a bit chilly here in Southern New England. It's also a good day for cooking and I'm going to be making a big pot of vegetarian chile and a cornbread later this afternoon. 

On September 29th I took a daytrip to Southern NH with a friend. Again, it was a mask wearing long day, but it was a fun day and the weather was beautiful.

First stop of the day:

I'm all about back road driving......that's where you can find the good spots to photograph. As we were driving  North through the town of Peperrell MA we crossed a bridge that went over the Nashua River. The view to the right was lovely, so I turned around and parked the car and walked back to take some photos. I had left my house in SE MA at 4:40 AM and by the time we were this far North the sun was rising and there was no wind with just a bit of fog left on the water in the distance. 

We then made another road side stop at a very small and narrow bridge along the way. I forgot to take a cell phone shot at this location, so I have no idea where this was. Ugh. I really love this shot and regret not knowing the exact location. It is somewhere in Northern MA near the NH border. 

A bit of Autumn Americana:

We then made it to our first destination.....the beautiful town of Harrisville NH. It was my first time here, and I immediately fell in love with this quaint Southern NH town.

From here, we meandered some back roads in the area and came across this old shed which was just begging to be photographed.

We also stumbled upon this field of grazing sheep.

We then made our way towards Mount Monadnock and found this lovely back lit New England Fall scene, complete with a stone wall. 

Some road side blue berries. We didn't eat any, although I was tempted.

Here is Mount Monadnock taken from Perkins Pond in Troy NH:

An adorable farm in Dublin NH with Mount Monadnock in the background.

Our final stop of the day just as the clouds were rolling in was the Jaffrey Meetinghouse in Jaffrey NH.

So happy I was able to safely make this day trip happen.

Stay safe and healthy my friends!

NEK of Vermont Foliage 9/25/2020

 Fall colors came early to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont this year. The reports were coming in of early colors, so I made a fairly last minute decision to head up just for the day on Friday September 25th. Here's a sample of the beautiful colors we found.

My home in Barton was not available to use at the moment, so this was just a day trip. The state of  VT also has some strict covid restrictions regarding people traveling from out of state. My friend and I spent 16 hours on this one day road trip. We wore our masks the entire time in the car (I wore an N95 mask) and we didn't go near any other people. 

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Our first stop of the morning was to Jobs Pond in Westmore......one of my favorite places. I have shot here every year for probably 20+ years in a row, and have gotten some beautiful photos, but I've never gotten the "perfect" shot that I am after. I wanted morning fog with the sun breaking through, and although I didn't get it again this year, it was still beautiful and my friend said it was worth the 16 hour day just to see this beautiful spot. Will try again next year for the shot I am envisioning.

Our next stop was to photograph nearby Newark Pond.

We then went just a bit down the road to Bald Hill Pond.

A two image panorama:

Bald Hill Pond Reflctions:

I switched lenses to the zoom lens for this one and photographed the hillside across the pond. The red colors were exceptional.

From here we headed to West Burke and stopped to photograph the Sugar house on Sugarhouse Road.

Lovely colors in the sugar bush.

From here we drove Victory Road from East Burke to Guildhall. It's a lovely forest road that I've driven several times before. I just forgot how LONG the drive is! The colors were spectacular along this road.

We stopped to photograph the Old Mill in Guildhall VT

From here, we went to scout a road that a fellow photographer told me about in Lunenburg VT that has views to the East of the White Mountains of NH. The road is called Bobbin Mill Road. This area has great potential on a clear late afternoon with the late day sun illuminating the White Mountains. It was an overcast, off and on drizzly afternoon on this particular day.

This was a great start to the 2020 foliage season. I made three other trips up North within a two week time period. Those photos will be featured in future blog posts.

Stay safe and well my friends. xxoo