spiky

A flower, or perhaps the remnants of a flower, wears spiky tendrils.

a walk in Lowell

Following some of the canals in Lowell felt like a good afternoon activity. My first stop was at the Lowell National Historical Park visitor center to pick up some maps. Next it was time to walk.

There was a free-standing wall along a canal, a remnant of an old building, that was wearing colors in the windows. I had to stop for a bit of camera play before heading out for my walk.

I walked a small section of the canals, stopping to absorb the sight of old mill buildings reflected in the water.

More photos can be viewed in the gallery a walk in Lowell, 2016.

I plan to return on another day for a longer walk following both canals and rivers.

time zone

I read an article in the Boston Globe today about a proposal to move Massachusetts to Atlantic Standard Time. It's funny, I was sure that I had seen this (or a similar) proposal before.

A search turned up a proposal to move Maine to Atlantic Standard Time in 2005. Clearly that failed. Next I found an article from 2014 suggesting that Massachusetts switch time zones. It hasn't happened yet.

Today's article, Is it time for Mass. to move to a new time zone?, indicates that a task force to study if Massachusetts should leave Eastern Standard Time behind was included in an economic development bill that was signed yesterday.

I've always thought that the Eastern Time Zone in the northern part of the country was too wide. And switching between daylight and standard time doesn't make sense (to me). The new proposal apparently is to move the state into Atlantic Standard Time and to forego the switch to daylight time. That means our time would match that of Eastern Time when daylight time is in effect and would be an hour ahead during the standard time months. I wonder if Atlantic time is in our future.

petals

Petals in yellow radiate from the flower's center.

bright

Summer gardens are a delight, filled with flowers wearing bright colors.

to Halibut Point

I felt a need for an ocean visit this morning. It has been a while since I visited Halibut Point State Park in Rockport (MA); that quickly became today's destination.

I love the contrast between the quiet water in the old quarry and the rocks along the coast.

More photos from today's visit can be seen in the gallery Halibut Point :: 2016 starting with this photo and ending here.

taste treat!

I know it's a good berry time when Whole Foods has fresh wild Maine blueberries. We don't often get these wonderful tiny berries here; when I see them I smile and buy.

Yes, of course I've already tasted them, yum!

felling a tree

Wednesday morning is my gardening volunteer time at the Stevens-Coolidge Place. There was an Ash tree toward the back of the property that needed to come down. Since many of the volunteers were interested in watching, the activity was scheduled during our gardening time. Today it was time to remove the tree.

I found it fascinating to watch. Felling the tree took surprisingly little time from start to finish.

Here's the final sequence:

More photos can be seen in this gallery.

fresh

It's the season of fresh, of wonderful fruits and vegetables.

tomatoes in the garden

clover in pink

Simple wildflowers bring magic to the landscape.