Part of the reason I've been walking so much is pure enjoyment and secondary is getting to know my camera. I used to ride my bike for exercise and just the pure enjoyment of the ride. Now I need a reason to walk, and luckily my camera has given me a reason.
Normally when hurricane/tropical storm runs through New England I'm in the area that gets whalloped. This time the storm went further inland and we simply got a bunch of rain and wind. The worst I was worried about was losing some of my pears due to high winds, and I did lose a few, but not many.
The western part of the state and other areas did not fair so well. We're texting and checking on FaceBook to check in with family members and friends in other locations.
We were lucky.
This journal page by This Chicken reminds me of Pinterest. Anyone else remember having a journal you stuck images from a magazine into, or an inspiration board?
Somehow the traffic gods have been smiling on me, I suspect there is some sort of evil plan in which all the time I haven't spent in traffic will come back to me and I'll end up sleeping overnight on I95. Let's not worry about traffic karma, and take a look at these pictures. I get to work early and I'm not at all motivated to go in the building so I drive down to this place:
Then I get out of my car and go for a walk. With my camera. So it's not like I'm getting a lot of cardio in before I go to work. Instead I'm stopping and starting and taking pictures. The air has a chill that only early AMs in August have, the mosquitoes are thick, ticks are a plague, and I walk. It's been makming my mornings wonderful. Here are a few more pictures: 
This past weekend I headed to Machias, Maine for the 30-somethingth Wild Blueberry Festival. Growing up I was always involved in the harvest and never got to attend the festival. Now I try to make a point of going to the festival. A town further south has started up a competing festival that has really done a lot of harm to the Machias Festival.
However, in recent years the Bee Hive Collective has breathed some life into the staid festival. They have brought bands in from out of town to play, organized a repair of a dance floor, and started the Blackfly Ball. I regret that I was unable to attend the Ball this year but hope that next year I can do so.
I was surprised to see a marching band go through town as well as my favorite little park dressed up for the occasion.
Sadly the competing fair has drawn away many of the usual sellers and thus many of the interesting things that were sold there aren’t any longer. Over the last few years I’ve felt the festival has been declining, the addition of the Bee Hive Collective has brought to it some great energy.
(I mean, c'mon, how often do you get to see a man dressed in pink on a 6 foot high unicycle in Machias, Maine?)
Nothing like peaches preserved in jars for winter months. I grew up learning how to can vegetables with my mom. We always canned tomatoes, peaches, and beans for winter. The peaches and tomatoes came from NY, until my father expanded his garden and was able to grow enough tomatoes for canning. Technically you can can any number of cans of fruit or vegetables, but for anything less than a full pot its a total pain in the butt.
This is a particularly exciting moment in that the peaches came from the tree my father and I planted. Canning fruits and vegetables is hot work but well worth it, it's also relatively easy to do.
Sure, the topic is crappy but the image pops like whoa! The black on the bright colors really keeps me looking. RcannonP does great things with color.
This AM I got to work early. My typical hour long commute lasted a mere 30 minutes and I arrived to work a full 30 minutes early. I decided to drive up to the Sudbury River Valley recreation lands, specifically to Heard Pond, which is literally out the back door from work and are part of the swamp I’ve been mucking about in during my breaks at the DayJob.
I got to watch the last of the sunrise over the pond and the fog lift and it was really really wonderful to watch. It reminded me of nights I’d spend at the family camp on Schoodick Lake in Cherryfield, ME and I’d watch the same process. It never gets old.
I need to remember to wear proper gear. After 2 minutes near the pond my chucks and jeans were soaked. Well worth it.
I took a few pictures, some of which capture the fog lifting, I’m still figuring out how best to capture that so I’ll be forced to travel back to the pond and try and figure out the best settings. (A small part of me wonders how the hell do I capture that fog in paint???)
The walk was worth it, wet shoes and all.
