Abington Swan Nest 2016

Some sad news. The swan nest at Island Grove in Abington has been compromised by a human. The eggs are no longer viable and the swans have abandoned the nest and eggs. It's a very sad issue in so many ways. The person who I believe did this suffers from mental health problems.
Here are a few images I have recently taken.

Sitting on this years nest

Another day sitting on the new nest. Notice all of the bread and corn that has been placed there. It is harmful to the swans (the bread) but it is not illegal. So sad.

Here are the eggs that were taken from this years nest....these are sitting on last years nest.

Here are the very same eggs, one day later, sitting on this years nest which is about 100 feet up the pond away from last years nest. This is a cell phone image.

I hope you are following this. It's like "Who's on First"? Mind boggling that someone would do this. I pray that the person responsible for this gets the mental health care that they need. 

Final image is Mama taking a swim. I can't help but think that she looks sad. I know I am.

The Old North Church, Boston

The Old North Church was built in December of 1723. In April of 1775 Paul Revere told three Patriots to hang lanterns in the steeple to signal the movement of the British Army........"One if by land, two if by sea". It is the oldest standing church in Boston and is a National Historic Landmark.

Paul Revere Statue across from the church

From Copp's Hill

Beautiful interior

Hull Gut

Hull Gut is a channel about 1/2 mile wide in Boston Harbor between Pemberton Point in Hull and Peddock's Island, just off shore. It's a favorite place of ours to sit and watch the boats go by in the Summer, and it's a beautiful spot to catch a sunset over Boston.

We took a ride late yesterday afternoon and that's where we ended up. Here is a boat going through the Gut, with Peddock's Island  in the background.

Taking a rest....

It was so windy. that this gull was literally just hanging in the air right in front of me.

My Week In Review

I haven't blogged in almost a week, and it's not from lack of material. So I decided to blog my week in review, all in one post.....from my sister's suggestion.....she wants to see all the pictures at once. So make your self comfortable and here we go......

A trip to Boston on a foggy day (more to come from this trip in an upcoming post)

A Canada Goose Family at the Abington Cemetery

A nesting swan in Pembroke MA

I won "Digital Image of the Year " in the Advanced Category at Camera Club the other night at our final meeting of the year with this image:

Yeah for me!

Took my Dad to Webb Park in Weymouth and the Cherry Blossoms are blooming

And last but certainly not least.....a visit with my new Grandson Henry!

My son N and his baby boy. LOVE this

Handsome Henry

Ryleigh loves her baby cousin

I also photographed at a Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday, but will do a separate blog post on that trip over the weekend.

Happy Friday the 13th!!!!

Happy Mothers Day

Mothers Day is extra special for us this year. I would like to introduce our new Grandson, Henry, who joined us this week. Henry is perfect and Mom is doing great. We are so in love with our new little guy!

A Mother's Love:

Wishing all of the Moms a happy and blessed Mothers Day!

Kindness, Generosity, and Most Of All Love

You have seen me mention my friend David on a few recent blog posts. David is battling stage 4 brain cancer. A group of his friends got together to put on a fundraiser event to help David in his time of need. I'm honored to have been on this fundraising committee with such caring, helpful, generous, and kind people.
Our world is in such a troubled time right now. There is so much anger, violence, prejudice, and hate. Just look at our Presidential Candidates. It literally makes me sick and disheartened. And then you see something like this come together. So many people have donated their precious time, talents, money, food, resources etc to help another person.....and in some cases someone they never actually met before......yet gladly help out because they can.
To me, that is what it's all about. That is the reason why we are hear on this Earth. To help others. And it's just damn awesome to see it happen.

Here are the emcees for the evening of the event. This is Butch Stearns, a Sportcaster on FOX 25 News in Boston, along with his talented brother Derek Stearns. These men had never met David.....yet they took their own personal time to help make this event a success. My heart is so touched by their generosity and kindness.

Here is David, thanking the crowd for attending. FOX 25 news sent a camera crew to the event. None of us knew they were going to be doing this. It has not been aired yet, but I will let you know when it will be aired if you are interested in seeing it.

As a surprise for the evening.....David and his wonderful and loving girlfriend Theresa did a commitment ceremony. I don't know if there was a dry eye in the house. It was so beautiful and touching.

The future is so uncertain for all of us........but even more so for them. But with love, they will conquer whatever they are faced with together.

No words are needed.

One Of My Favorite Places To Shoot

I will be leading 28 photographers on a trip to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont next month. (Yikes, yes I said 28) The reason for this trip is a fundraiser for my good friend and fellow photographer, David, who is battling brain cancer. 100% of the money that I charged the participants will go directly to David to support him in his time of need. That is the reason that I didn't limit the number of participants.....so that I could raise as much money as possible.

I have been working on the itinerary for this workshop, and have been looking through some of my Vermont photos. I'm sharing one of my favorite "Vermont spots" here on this blog post. I am pretty proud of this "location". It is located not far from our vacation home in Barton. I have shared images that I've taken from this spot on The Scenes of Vermont Website Forum, where I am a moderator. My good friend and mentor Andy Richards, whom I met on this forum, featured one of the images that he took at this location in his e-book on photographing scenes in VT. titled "Photographing Vermont's Fall Foliage: Where To Find The Iconic Shots".  This e-book is available to download from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and other e book providers.

Here is a sample image of this location that I shot just after sunrise last Fall.

I'm really looking forward to getting back up to the NEK with my camera. No matter what the season, beauty abounds.