Petals

More photos from today's visit to The Stephens-Coolidge Place can be seen in the gallery Summer days... 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Low tide ramble

A walk on a quiet beach, a low tide ramble...

The Wells Reserve is a favorite place, with a beach that is made for walking. As the trail from the inland portion of the reserve enters the shoreline, the beach to the left is in the reserve and is a quiet place for walking, for sharing space with the birds. I knew I wanted to visit at low tide so for a change I checked the tide charts before I left home. Hmm... low tide today was at 5:16 AM and 5:21 PM. I didn't think too long before deciding on a late day walk.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Wells Reserve - 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Flower in the wind

This pink spiky flower caught my eye.

I found my camera jumping into my hand even though I knew that a light wind was causing movement. Ah, a pink spiky flower jumped into my camera.

Flower unfolding

Seaside

Boats, glittering water, colors... more photos can be seen in the gallery Along the New Hampshire coast - 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Garden hour

More of the images that jumped from the Fuller Garden's flower beds into my camera this afternoon can be found in the gallery Petals pop - Fuller Gardens 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Reflections

Today's forecast was for a repeat of the hot humid weather that has been enveloping a good chunk of the country this week. Temperatures were targeted to rise into the 90s, an improvement over yesterday but still hot. I thought an early morning ride sounded like a good idea, with 7 AM popping up in my mind as a good starting time.

I heard the sound of rain on the windows when I woke up. Uh oh! not my favorite riding conditions.

I opted to wait for warmer drier air, heading out in the late morning. I rode by a falling down shed of sorts, with a piece of aluminum roofing draped down to the water, reflecting. I was sans camera, but I took a chance that the sunshine would still be creating photos - my bike turned towards home, I finished my ride, grabbed my camera, and headed back to Harold Parker State Forest.

A few more photos from my quick jaunt can be seen in the gallery Summer days... 2011, starting with this photo and ending here.

Humid

walking, humid air
sweat sliding into my eyes
destination bright flowers

Chatting with the birds

As I realized that time was flying by and it was (probably) past time to really head for home, a flock of homing pigeons gathered at the side of the canal. They weren't too interested in standing still but sometimes photos in motion work too.

A few more photos of the quickly scurrying birds can be seen here.

A canal of many names

My drive home from visiting my folks this past weekend took a couple of hours longer than the distance required. I've been tempted by a "no unauthorized personnel" sign on the eastbound side of New York Thruway that appears to be the entrance to one of the locks on the canal. It's not really acceptable to pull off on the side of a limited access highway to go wandering with my camera, but the thought has occurred to me on more than one occasion.

Instead of hopping on the Thruway to head home, I headed down routes 5 and 5S, stopping at Lock 19 in Schuyler and Lock 18 in Herkimer. If you look at a map you can see that the roads, canal, and river snake about, crossing each other, crossing back again. There was a railroad bridge just past Lock 19. Oh! That would be an interesting spot to catch a train rolling by. Hmm... I guess I'll need to go back. I was lucky enough to watch a tour boat traverse Lock 18, and to chat with the lockmaster as he worked.

I had to look up the name of the canal when I reached home Sunday evening. I remembered it as the Erie Canal and as the Barge Canal, but I wasn't sure of the official name. It turns out that it was renamed the New York State Barge Canal after it was widened and rebuilt between 1905 and 1918. It was renamed again (recently) as the New York State Canal System. What's in a name?

Curious about the canal? You can read a brief history on the New York State Canals site, and you can gather information to drive your explorations at the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor site.

More photos can be seen in the gallery A canal, two locks, birds.