Memorial Morning

There will be more later as we are planning to plant the rest of the garden today, so I must needs to get to work. Would like to go to WH to see parents sites, but may/may not. I can't stop photographing the apple blossoms. These are from up across the road...

A Day in the Garden

Well actually I started off with 10 miles on the bike this morning, riding from the house west to the Taunton River Bridge and back. Some of the hills were long, but it really wasn't a strain, so I'm sure I can get to the point where I can get to Ellsworth or Winter Harbor from here fairly easily.

When I got back David had repaired the roto-tiller (the intake manifold had been broken in an accidental collision) and gone over the upper corner of the garden, so I started on the other end to finish, got interrupted by running out of gas, then filled up and finished tilling. It's still pretty wet on the lower end so I only went over the last 15 feet once and will do it up better when it dries out.

Jen and Matt and I are going to Belfast to meet Torrey for his birthday (May 28) and give him cards, take him out to lunch and such. Maybe we can go through some of the shops downtown in Belfast, usually some good art galleries as well. I'm looking forward to seeing Torrey again.

I just can't get enough pictures of the blossoms that are out now, taking many, many and can't decide which ones I like the best.

Delicacy and Death

Sure, we all appreciate the beauty of an unfolding flower, the softness of the petals, the often contrasting colors of the style, stigma and anthers at the center of the flower. This is the time of year to take all this in and watch as nature unfolds her marvelous beauties to us in the fine delicacy of the flowering trees. My favorite has always been the apples, they have such a variety of colors and shapes of flowers as well as sheer numbers of blossoms on a single tree. Are there that many apples that form? There usually are. The tree down front is getting gorgeous and I want to wait until just the right moment to capture its effluence of color. I will have my second seasonal photograph of that tree and I can hardly wait! I took one tonight, but...


So mixed in with all this beauty is the amazing, at least in my mind, increase of roadkill I've seen on the highways recently. When I took this bottom photo I also took a picture of a Dr. Pepper can in the bushes near the raccoon, thinking that in context, they both seem as though just thrown away, no longer possessing any meaning. Not that the can ever did anyway, but the loss of living things bothers a bit. And this one was very young. For what its worth.

Music in the Arts

Of course music is in the arts! Even on our fire drills we have what I like to call one of the essential elements of life (as are all the arts) as our Music Director, who is headed to the All-State performance in southern Maine today with the Choral Director and a dozen of our excellent student musicians, plays for us on the "pink guitar". He and I frequently have morning duty together and find ourselves performing mini concerts for the students as they prepare for school. Our most recent was a medley of Elvis tunes including Don't Be Cruel, Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog. We have no plans to take our show on the road at this time, so our audience is restricted, although there are plans in the works to do some recording next year.

Morning Sun

...(to be read in a singsong voice) "always makes me happy!" The rays were bursting through early today as I stepped outside after my morning workout. The day just goes well, and today has, as it is just about time to head for home.
I headed a panel for a senior exhibition today and it was on photography and it was great! The student was a bit nervous, which is common, but he was also very well prepared, knew what was up with the subject he was talking about and had a great number of examples of the work he had accomplished with his mentor. It just seems like another wonderful day to be alive!

Students Always Have an Eye on You...

... so I'm thinking it's a good thing to be aware at all times how you present yourself to students, what you say to others in the environment of the halls and classroom and how you respond to student's questions and to their needs. The photo with this post was taken by one of my students without my knowledge. Oh, sure, I know about what time it was taken in the context of the background and the photographs surrounding it in the camera, and I have an idea it was one of my photo students because of the composition and the use of zoom, but it really doesn't matter because a good picture is just a good picture. It may not necessarily be flattering. I just had Photo II students finish up and critique an "unusual portrait" assignment, and while most of the portraits were truly unusual and unique, one of the sophomores did a portrait of a classmate that was simply "unflattering", but it was a truly unusual portrait to capture someone at their worst, and the rest of the class "got it". Kudos to all of them, they're great and I love them.

Fantasy... The Polar Bears are Coming!

... so on the way to school this morning, visions of surrealism dancing through my supplely imaginative mind due to a project I'm starting with my digital media class, I was startled by a sight seldom seen in this neck of the woods, and there are a lot of woods on Mount Desert Island. I did have to turn the Red Ranger around and do my second double-take (redundant, I know) on the dream-like and surrealist vision occupying the picture plane of my eyes. Now, understand that I don't really believe that the earth is cooling (in opposition to the "global warming" crowd) or that polar bears are migrating south to MDI, but to see a surrealistic scene such as this could easily sway me for a moment! Viva la vie!

Burning Sun

Shooting Through A Screen

... doesn't really seem like that good an idea, but I had no choice yesterday in Rockland, as all the windows were screened in anticipation of the warm weather bringing flying insects to the Island Institute's building downtown. The fourth floor allowed enough height to see the water over the tops of the buildings on the south side of Main Street, but the screens were an obstacle. Well, sort of an obstacle as I actually think some of the moire patterns I see on the image as I change its size are intriguing. Any sign of pattern or sense of movement in the photo is kind of special, especially as it was taken from such a high point of view.

The CREST (Community for Rural Education Stewardship and Technology) workshop went well and moved along quickly as everyone had the opportunity to present ideas and practices that had been tried during the last year. I got some usable ideas for working with web design in my regular classes, and why not if it is presented in a simple manner to kids and allows them to present their work to a wider audience. It would be cool for students to be able to do that! Anyway, it was a worthwhile "in-service" that moved along, kept everyone busy and allowed for some reflection and planning so there was a sense of accomplishment as well.

The "dinner" afterward was very nice, in a classy Rockland restaurant I will not plug here. Some excellent dinner conversation over a variety of topics (I was "shushed" when the political conversation got intense) that included jokes, anecdotes and some serious "shop talk", which is common when a bunch of teachers get together. For dinner I had mussels, salmon and a butterscotch pudding "to die for". Yum!

Morning Bike Ride

It felt great to get "out on the road" again after the winter inside... I can barely wait for summer! I also got drawn into the woods near the house by the light shining through the trees, and though I got some good photos, I'll share but one. Has everybody that has ridden a bike imagined themselves as the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz? I did this morning, what's up with that?