Morning Boat Ride and Torrey to Bus Station

Torrey and I went out this morning to cruise around some of the nearby Islands, and got a bunch of pictures, mostly exciting were the seals on Half Tide Ledge, which I knew Torrey would appreciate. He got some great shots as well, and I hope he posts them so I can see. He only brought one card with him and it filled up quickly between yesterday and this morning.

Blue Skies, Lobsters & Torrey Home

While things didn't come together very well for my brother today with the fuel pump in the boat not working, I went down to Winter Harbor again and helped him as I could by power washing the boat down while he took the fuel filter and pump out. I didn't take any pictures down there as it was pouring rain and I just wore a pair of shorts and sneakers and an old beat up t-shirt and was drenched in the first few minutes. Got the job done and got back home before Torrey got here, started a fire on the shore and steamed a dozen lobsters for a picnic supper on the patio. What a day! Some of the blue sky peaked through and it was good to see Torrey as always. Now he wants to use my laptop so he can process some of the pictures he took today. He's having car trouble so is going back to Portland without it to see how he can manage, and in the meantime I will do repairs and save him some money.

Great Fog and Photo Day!

I'm not going to say much here other than I went to Winter Harbor to help my brother Alan work on one of his boats and that being back in the town where I grew up is always nostalgic in the sense of being familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Life goes on, doesn't it? I loved a lot of the pictures I got today, but had to make some choices to post.

Fascination With Flowers

What is this fascination with flowers? They are delicate, beautiful, and they smell great... does it get any better than that?

Also, I just discovered that Blogspot has put up a new editor for this blog, I'm using it now, and it is great! Thanks, Blogspot.

Center Harbor Sails & A Quart of Raspberries

So Vern and I went over to Center Harbor Sails in Brooklin this morning to see about getting some material so I could repair the mainsail for his Cape Dory 25, but they were so accommodating that they just repaired the sail while we were there. I don't know that I had been in a sail maker's loft for years and they were very organized and efficient. What a pleasure dealing with those kinds of people, they showed us around and were extremely courteous (not always the case with busy sailmakers this time of year). I got several photos I liked there of the owner working with his son, but the one I am posting is one where the boy seemed more than just disinterested in what was going on.


I also picked a couple of quarts of raspberries, after sneaking through the bushes and approaching the patch next door down near the water. Something, I'm thinking deer, had been down around the patch nibbling (bears tend to be a bit more sloppy) and bedding down in a patch of field. I also found a tick the size of a dime, but no pictures. I am posting a close up of the raspberries, yum!

July Sky

I've been shooting some stuff with a Nikon D-40 in RAW format and find it fascinating that I can do so much more with an image easily when it is in that format. It is also "lossless" so I don't get any image degradation as I work on and save it in various states. Anyway, PhotoShop has an adjustment tool that's called "lightness and darkness" (I think - I do know that it's under "adjustments") and there is so much more you can do with it than the old "brightness and contrast" tool or even "curves", and I really like curves. So I just did a quick apply and I will post three shots of the July sky in Sullivan, America! The sky is a gorgeous thing, Matt and I saw about six clouds "stacked upon one another" (that's the only way I can explain it) as we were coming home from (H)Ellsworth over the Taunton River Bridge, but I was driving and the camera was in the back seat, so no images.

iPhone Photo and the Morning Bike Ride

I got this application for my iPhone that makes photos look old-ish and puts them in a square format, which is kind of cool considering that I have been taking photos with my camera set at film proportions (16:9) for a few weeks now, and I realize that it might benefit my work and attitude to occasionally crop things a bit to make them more pleasantly proportioned. But anyway, I shot this on my phone (low res) and it is the interior of the car with some reflections. I thought it an interesting composition with an amazing amount of "reddish" in it. I like it.

I also got a couple of pictures on my bike ride this morning, the interesting one being a day lilly that still had drops of rain on it from the night. The day lillies' blossoms only last one day, I'm told. That conjours up a scenario for me that might compare to life as a human being; that being that we grom and finally bloom to maturity only to find that our fullness is terribly short lived and before long we drift toward ageing and decay. Goodness! If I had realized that when I was a youngster and had all those long and glorious days stretch out in front of me. Ah! The missed opportunities! The last photo posted is of the Mill Pond on route 1 in Sullivan Harbor. Remember that you can click on an image to view it full size and then back arrow to go back to the page.

The Waters Edge & Another Chipmunk

So I got up before the heat kicked in and took a 10 mile ride east with my camera, thinking that something might present itself to me as an interesting photo, but nothing did. For me that was weird, and I thought to myself on the way back (5 out, 5 back) that it was unusual, so my inquisitive mind realized that it might just have been a combination of a "poorly lit sky" (sorry, God), too early a morning for the summertime and, most assuredly, me!


Any way, I got back on track with the camera and seem to be taking a lot of pictures of "our" chipmunks. I got very close to the squirrel the other day and managed the same today with one of the numerous chipmunks around the house. They are cute little rodents, and one came up to me on the patio during coffee to where I could have reached out and touched it. Time on the boat today setting a bilge pump (no leaks, just rainwater) and a couple of pictures from the beach.

Fourth of July Stuff and a Squirrel

A hot and humid day ending with the Bar Harbor Fireworks from our picnic area down by the shore, and a lot of time on the boat for the first time so far this summer. I invented (?) the "Double Dog", a man sized sandwich with two hot dogs jammed into a twice sliced bun complete with mustard and onions, but I guess one could have it any way they wanted, I just ask you to be creative with your condiments.

I post a shot of the Campbell family matriarch and her offspring at the annual 4th of July cook-out to show the range of expressions, including those of the 91 year old mother at her best enjoying the day.

Oh, and there's the squirrel that is constantly cleaning out the bird feeder, and I think I need to move the bird bath as he is using to launch onto the feeder. Too bad for glare and brightly lit background, but a real closeup of him.

What a Difference a Week Makes & Into the Real World

So I made it home and was astonished by how much the garden had changed. The blueberries are ripening (David picked a quart after supper tonight as I tilled the garden) and everything else seemed to have doubled in size. Astonishing when one remembers that last year everything was under 3 inches of water and the tomatoes were covered in blight.


Speaking of tomatoes, look at the giant one in the below post, it is already huge and ready to ripen. Yummy! I can hardly wait as there is nothing like fresh vegetables from the garden.


Below is one of several shots of a daisy patch on the path to the garden, which is where I also shot the blueberries above. I thought this picture was kind of cool with the honey bee in it as well. Ahhh! Two posts in one day, one from Portland at Torrey's this morning and the other from my own home. Does it ever get any better?