Late day, misty, gray

The end of the rain...
Water has been falling from the sky since Sunday night. Ah, finally, a change.

I thought about taking a different route home tonight, but I decided to chance my normal roads. During the last big rainstorm just two weeks ago I had to turn away from home to get home, avoiding a very flooded road. My fingers were crossed tonight; luck held! The river I was concerned about was far from its normal small stream. While water was flowing above the river's normal banks, it hadn't yet encroached on the road. Tomorrow morning might be a different story though.

Water, water, everywhere. AGAIN! From the stats I've seen on rainfall, it appears that the area where I live was graced with somewhere between 3 and 5 inches of rain, much less than in some areas. The worst of the storm was to the south, in southeastern Massachusetts, much worse in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Luck stayed with me here in the northeastern part of the state.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT SPOTTER REPORTS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 430 PM EDT WED MAR 31 2010 THIS 48 HOUR EVENT WAS COMPRISED OF COLD FRONTAL GENERATED RAINFALL MONDAY THE 29TH AND THEN A NOREASTER ON TUESDAY THE 30TH. RECORD DAILY RAINS OCCURRED ON MONDAY THE 29TH WITH THE RECORD RAINS ON TUESDAY CONFINED TO RHODE ISLAND AND GENERALLY THE EAST HALF OF MASSACHUSETTS, EXCLUSIVE OF THE CAPE COD AND THE ISLANDS. THE RESULTANT MONTHLY TOTALS, 3 MAJOR RAIN EVENTS BETWEEN MARCH 13-31, EXCEEDED THE ALL TIME MONTHLY RECORDS OF THE TROPICAL EVENT RELATED AUGUST 1955 TOTALS FROM PROVIDENCE RI TO JUST SOUTHWEST OF BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS. WIDESPREAD MAJOR FLOODING OCCURRED IN RHODE ISLAND AND SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS...AND...THESE CUMULATIVE MONTHLY RAINS FORCED THE PAWTUXET RIVER IN CRANSTON TO A FLOOD STAGE 6 FEET ABOVE THE ALL TIME FLOOD OF RECORD...SET JUST 2 WEEKS AGO...MARCH 15TH 2010.

Public Information Statement Courtesy of the National Weather Service

I walked the last two evenings in steady to heavy rain. Today the rain changed to a heavy mist; by the time I headed out for a calming walk tonight I was greeted my mostly dry air. Much better!





And yes, I'm very lucky. I'm dry.

Rain

It was a rainy day today, with wet weather predicted to hover over the region until sometime on Wednesday.

Thoughts and experiences on a very rainy day...
...listening, to the sound of steady rain against an umbrella
...thinking, it's spring, days of rain are to be expected
...dreaming, of the summer-like days predicted for the upcoming weekend

Rain.

Purple, white, intertwined

Patterns in petals

It was a sunny day today. Chilly, but sunny...

My camera insisted on joining me for a walk. I was searching for early spring flowers, so I had both the macro lens and the macro extender mounted. Rather than succumbing to the desire to get a more powerful macro lens last year, I added the Life-Size Converter EF to my 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro. At some point in the future I may still decide I want a more powerful macro lens, but for now this combination is working for me.

For those who are interested, here's the description of the converter:

"Unlike a conventional extension tube, the Life-Size Converter EF has a 4-element optical design that acts like a tele-extender, allowing magnifications from 0.26x to 1x while increasing the working distance from the front of the lens to the subject."

I headed to The Stevens-Coolidge Place, hoping for some early season flowers. They have some wonderful gardens that I visited last summer and fall; it was time to see what bits of color have cropped up so far this season.

As I expected the gardens were showing early green growth, but as for color? There were some tiny blue flowers in a few sections. The winning color of the day came from crocus popping up in a field behind the gardens. Fabulous beauty in small things...







More photos can be seen in the gallery Patterns in petals. I'm sure I'll be adding to this gallery as more petals emerge. As with all galleries that I plan to add to, it is set up so the newest photos will always be at the beginning of the gallery.

Shifting weather

It's spring, right?

From 70s and sunny on Saturday, to rain (another 2 inches!), warm to chilly to warm to brrr... I even saw snow on the way to work today! It is spring though, with willows starting to wear a glow of early yellow-green leaves, other trees wearing opening tiny leaves, early spring floral color, all signs of the season.

Red light

Did you see the new light I ordered for Denise?

When we were looking at the red glow from Kilauea one night during our too quick visit to Hawaii this winter, Denise was chatting with another photographer. The other photographer was using a red flashlight to set up her tripod and her camera, and she told Denise that her eyes don't need time to jump back to seeing in the dark after turning her red light off. It's not as much of a shock to the seeing pieces of human eyes as a white light is. Hmmm...

I thought maybe Denise would order one for herself, but she didn't. Maybe it slipped her mind. I waited a while, and then last week I decided that she must need one, so I ordered one for her. You need one too and want to know what I ordered? It's a Petzl Tacktikka. (I ordered one with a black headband, not the funny camouflage band shown in the picture if you jumped to the link.)

Oh! what fun! Denise was surprised, and happy that I thought of adding a red headlight to her photography supplies.

--- Rover

The light really is red - even though the photo of me with the light makes it seem like it might be a white light. The camera must have shifted the light...

Afternoon ride

It wasn't enough to wander at Parker River today, the warmth told me to take the time for a ride too. It was a first for the season, a ride with uncovered knees and summer attire, no layers. I know that won't last, but no complaints here!

My ride took me on roads that passed through the Harold Parker State Forest, and I stopped for a bit, fascinated by the reflections in one of the ponds.

Before the birds take over

It was a day to play outside, to enjoy the warmth that exceeded the normal temperatures in early spring. I didn't need to think too long about where to walk. We're just a week and a half away from the seasonal closure of the beach at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge as noted on their web site:

Each year beginning April 1 st, the majority of the refuge beach is closed to all public to provide undisturbed nesting and feeding habitat for the federally threatened piping plover. Portions of the beach not being used by the birds may be reopened starting in July. Typically all sections are reopened by mid-late August.

Where did I wander this morning? Parker River!



As I walked the boardwalks on the marsh side of the reserve I saw Canada Goose paddling, flying, playing. I heard constant bird sound, from the loud voice of geese to the many pitched tones of songbirds. I switched to the ocean side for a long beach walk, accompanied by the constant crashing of waves. The high tide line, marked by scattered seaweed, was much higher than I remember, rising far up the beach to the start of the dunes.





More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Parker River through the seasons - 2010.

Popping colors

Tiny, colors popping...

Peeking out...

The rain is gone, replaced by blue skies, sunshine, warmer days, cool nights. Colors are still muted, ground covered with browns of leftover leaves. And then, there is the pop of crocus, flowers of early spring. Smiles...

Water, water everywhere

Yikes! It's been raining here for three solid days.

I drove home tonight in heavy rain accompanied by a bit of sleet. The National Weather Service's PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT SPOTTER REPORTS shows storm total rainfall at hard to believe levels. Lawrence, the town next to my home town, shows rainfall from this storm at 6.63 inches (as of 5:54PM), and there are other towns that had more than 8 inches of rain. That's a lot of water!

There are rivers flooding, water pouring into roads, into homes. I feel lucky... I'm home and I'm dry. And it stayed warm enough to keep the precipitation in a liquid form. I can't imagine how much snow this would have been if the temperatures had been lower.

The rain appears to have stopped for now. There are trace amounts of rain and snow forecast for tonight. Tomorrow? Blue skies and warmth are supposed to return.

Raindrops

The string of days wearing blue skies came to an end today.

Gray sky, patterned clouds, light rain...

My walk this evening was accompanied by the sound of rain drops hitting bare trees and flat surfaces, magical, musical.

Late day light

A lack of common sense

The season is changing, days starting with a chill in the air, moving into welcome afternoon warmth.

As I was driving to work this morning, I spotted a girl waiting for the school bus. She was attired in jeans, what appeared to be fleece-lined boots, and a sleeveless shirt, no sign of a jacket.

It was all of 29 degrees (Fahrenheit), brrr!

That inattention to temperature, to the current weather conditions - do you suppose that is a characteristic of youth?

A Parker River wander

Today dawned bright, with morning chill quickly turning to (mid-50s) warmth. Parker River was on my mind, a perfect match to my desire to wander by the ocean.

The boardwalk through the salt marsh was surrounded by water. Last year's plants were still in evidence, but there was so much water!

Salt marsh wander complete, I moved on to the ocean side of the refuge. I visited with some birds and walked along the beach. There was an old (very large) tire and some rusty pieces of metal, there were scattered shell debris, sand, pools of water, crashing waves, beauty.

Yes, there really are supposed to be stairs leading from the beach to the boardwalk, not just randomly placed handrails. Sand moves, migrates...

More photos can be seen in the gallery Parker River through the seasons - 2010.

An early taste...

...of spring!

It's early March. I know that the weather wizard may still bring us more winter, but for now I'm enjoying the gift of early spring weather. I was pulled outside twice: in the morning, to walk in the still chill air, and in the afternoon, to roll down the road on my bicycle in comfortable warmth. The temperature? It was in the mid-50's (Fahrenheit). Very nice!

It's funny, most lawns were snow-free. But occasionally? A large swath of white would decorate some land that I know was hit by sunshine. I wonder. Why does the errant snow-patch remain?

Ponds still wore ice, with water showing around the edges, water showing reflections of the bright blue sky.

A few more photos from today can be found in the gallery White, winter... 2010

Twilight walk

Walking, late in the day, daylight edging into night. Walking after work, wearing bright flashing lights so I know I will be seen, walking in the dark.

But oh! the days have been expanding, and tonight I did my entire walk in twilight. It was dark, and yet the sky had not faded to black yet. Instead it wore a deep, dark blue, changing to nighttime black just after I returned home.

One more week until we have an hour more of late-day sunshine...