Chickens and Grandsons

If you haven't noticed yet, there is a lot of activity on this blog that involves my grandsons. This post is no exception, as there was an exciting day at Pineland (New Gloucester) with all the farm tractors and such that the farm uses.

What a day they both had with the animals and all the plants in the gardens to see. The boys have two chickens, but seeing a whole barn full was amazing. Rhode Island Reds, I think. Here are a few of the photos.

The hens. The boys.

Jackson and the John

While in Home Depot last week, Jackson thought it might be fun to try out a toilet that was on display. He told me right after this shot that he thought the toilet was a little "close to the wall". Finding pictures of him is never a difficult task for "Grampie", sometimes known as "Grumpy"!

There's a Dead Frog in the Middle of the Road

Out on my bike ride up to Pineland and back this morning, and the first thing I see on the Penny Road is this poor crushed frog. Colorful.

Two Days After the Fourth

 I realize more today than I have in a while just how much my family means to me and how careful I need to be with "our" relationships. Thoughtlessness, although not ever intentional on my part, can really be damaging to others, especially those that you love, and I must be more careful to realize my place in my family has changed as I have grown older and as I have become a grandparent and a parent of full grown and almost middle aged children of my own. I think I just have trouble looking back over my shoulder. I have always been forward looking and full speed ahead, and as that has worked for me for a long time, I have just taken for granted what is left in my wake. Now it is different, I don't have forever on this mortal earth, and I really need to slow down and listen to where my family is at any given time.

I don't know what to post for a photo here, but I will look and see what I have done or shot with my camera that might have helped to put me in this place I find myself.

Double Exposures...

These are all images from the "Hipstamatic" Phone app on my iPhone. I'm just trying to explore the double exposure mode with these photos, hoping to gain some experience and skill in being able to anticipate what an image or pair of images in this case, might look like together.

The first one this afternoon, below/top.

The second, below/middle, and the third, one my oldest son Matthew, is at the bottom.

Apple Blossom Enemies

There was a branch on the East Tree that was all brown and leaves falling off and such, so I looked closely and found these things on the branch. I got the trimmers and the tree lost the branch but the damage was contained. I know I don't seem very kind to the bugs, but I didn't burn them, I just put them on the shore to fend otherwise than they would have on that apple tree branch. Here they were.

Apple Blossoms

Got home early tonight as it is Friday and I had the chance to cut the grass and get a few chores done ahead for the weekend as we will have Matt at home and I really would like to spend some time with him.

I am always amazed by the spring blossoms, and our apple trees are especially profuse with blossoms this spring. The "front tree" always has the pinkish color in its blossoms and I have photographed them numerous times. I never get tired of it. Here are some of the shots I captured this afternoon with a telephoto (75-200) macro lens and close-up filters. I set the f-stop as low as I could to narrow depth of field.

Spring - The Edge of Water

While the weather seems more like spring, it is still pretty chilly with the wind right off the ocean. I went down to the shore this afternoon for a half-hour or so to take some pictures and it didn't take all that long to get really cold.

My intention was to try out my neutral density filter as a way of expressing the photo assignment "The Edge of Water" I use with classes. While I have read a great deal about using ND filters, I had never actually put it into practice. I made a bunch of mistakes, and then little by little got better at it to the point I got some images I think I like. Here are a few, and I find the almost pure white of the water in the first one fascinating after looking at ice on the bay for the most of the winter.

Frosty Morning

It is so nice to have some warm days and feel that sun on my face, but this morning had that "spring chill". I stopped the car and flicked on the "Hipstamatic" app on my phone, pointing it out through the windshield at the trees on the sides of the road. The frost contributed a sense of mystique to the image that I think represents this time of the season and that time of morning very well!

The Past Winter

I am already feeling nostalgic for last winter, especially after today has topped 60 degrees and the snow is melting quickly. I took this shot a couple of weeks ago, and felt at the time it was a marker for the end of winter, and then we got a few single digit temperatures over night and I did my "cake walk" on the ice a few days ago. Everthing is open in the bay now and it does feel good to really have winter behind us!