Category: Scenic Photography

September Sunsets

Posted on by Markman
Sunset picture taken at Harding's beach in Chatham, Massachusetts.
September Sunsets

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

– William Shakespeare

People in the lighthouse group seem to really like my lighthouse photos! Finally, some people who can really appreciate my art (LOL). The Nauset one so far has 381 likes, 40 comments and 29 shares. The Pemaquid one really took off with over 500 likes, 55 comments and 195 shares. That one really boggles my mind. I also recently uploaded one I have of Whaleback Light which so far has garnered 104 likes, 7 comments and 7 shares, and I just recently put up one I have at sunset at Scituate Light which is climbing the ranks at 74 likes, 11 comments and 4 shares, not that I’m counting or anything (!). Someone on the group actually messaged me with an interest in purchasing it so I’ve made it available. Fingers crossed!

My new beach chair arrived tonight. I’ll try unpacking it and trying out sometime tomorrow and see how it performs. If I’m satisfied with it, the old Big Boy can finally rest in peace. However I may cut out the Big Boy logo on the carrying back strap and attach it to this new bag as a honorific to a great chair that sadly is no longer available. Had a lot of great beach adventures with that chair, along with other outings. Speaking of beachy things, I did get around to repairing my inner tube with this yellow rope that goes around the perimeter. Not sure if I mentioned that before, it was a few days ago. You know you care.

Tonight I made a chicken sausage, sweet potato and kale soup with some herb butter toast. Not too bad.

Impressions I Created That People Like and Share

Posted on by Markman
Facebook post going viral (available for purchase)

This is amazing. My photo on FB so far has become pretty well liked (for me anyway) but I was really blown away by the number of shares of this image so far, and climbing. Pemaquid Light is probably my favorite lighthouse out of the many I’ve visited. I enjoyed clambering along the cliffs just behind it. I can remember when I took this, we were leaving for the night when LD did one final pass and I just shot it from out the car window (ah, miss that old Saturn – many adventures in that automobile). I think what makes this one must be the cloudy sky and I also like that I got it just as the lighthouse flashed. So I feel a lot of my shots are just lucky and are taken right off the cuff. I’m just pleased they come out so well. This was also time we witnessed two skunks frolicking around the area and being amorous (and hopefully not malodorous) .

I downloaded the Star Trek Console Watch face for my Versa 2. I’m sharing it here in case you want to download it as well (it’s free) and you’re into Trek. I’ll use it for a little while before reverting back. The nice thing about the Versa is you can have up to 5 different watch faces. For those that care my current stats all time so far for the year are: 1,604,234 steps, 2140 floors, 679.37 miles and 793,033 calories burned.

I got an email back from those town calendar people. They seem to like what I sent them but we’ll see if they actually end up using it. There’s no monetary prize or anything like that, but I figure it’s just another way to get my name and work out there.

We appear to be having some small pumpkins growing, although not in the pumpkin patch we set up but rather in one of the raised boxes where I put some leftover seeds just to see what would happen if anything. These would be the 3rd generation of the “Sean the Pumpkin” that we had two years ago now – actually seeds from his “son”. LD has named this little pumpkin Penelope Pandemic. An apt description for the times I’d say.

My Love of Lighthouses

Posted on by Markman
The Sisters of Nauset, Eastham MA

Update: I’ve added the Nauset shot now up for purchase.

I’ve always loved lighthouses, just everything about them, their location, their various looks, their history, the people who lived in the them and tended the light, their bravery. I just think it’s pretty cool. I’m sure many people feel the same way. I’m very lucky to live in new England where there are so many. Boston was home to the very first lighthouse in America after all (and it’s still there!)

I joined a lighthouse of New England group and posted my shot of Nauset Light from this summer. Seems to be getting a lot of traction, hundreds of likes and comments. Makes me feel good but also reinforced the fact to me that I need to focus some of my work toward the proper audiences. Anyways here’s a shot of two of the three sister lighthouses which originally were where the current Nauset Light is. You can read a history of it all here. There’s a nice trail you can walk between the current and former lighthouses. I like the vibe I created for this photo – I feel it looks a little spooky. Will probably do another Cape trip in the fall for a night or two. In somewhat unrelated photography news I submitted a photo for the local town calendar but we’ll see if any thing comes of it. I’ve submitted things before but never really got any traction out of them.

Made pizzas for lunch today using up the remainder of things in the fridge like roasted tomatoes and eggplant that we had made a few days ago. Last night we made a walnut encrusted chicken with honey mustard and a side of roasted broccoli with some bread with melted cheese and butter. Today I’ll probably grill some turkey burgers (had done a couple of those a few days ago as well). We also made apple sauce using the Instant Pot last night with some apples that had been in the fridge for a quite a while. It’s kinda good to get through and use all these items!

Enjoyed some nice quiet time out on the patio this afternoon, reading and I even napped at one point in the deck chair. Been trying to get through a book I purchased a couple of years ago on Giza and the Pyramids by Lehner and Hawass (two quite famous and respected egyptologists). It’s a huge tome with lots of amazing photographs and very many pages. It weighs 6 pounds!

Black Swan Peddle Boat

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Black Swan pedddleboat docked
Black Swan pedddleboat docked

There it was, docked on the small wooden pier, alongside the edge of the river, surrounded by lily pads and a crisp September afternoon breeze. I knew I had to get in and take it for a spin. Someday maybe I’ll get the chance, just not today. But while at the Sanctuary, which we finally visited after not having been since February, we petted goats and they remembered us, got to see some other animals and re-upped our membership. It’s a special place.

I did buy some rope tonight to help re-add the old rope around my inner tube floatie. This time I picked a bright yellow so I’m hoping to not just fix it but make it better and look better as well. Also bought some bubbles for Carson although I probably won’t tackle these tasks until tomorrow.

Tonight’s movie watch was Precious. Pretty heavy subject matter.

Morpheus Turned Me into Rumpelstiltskin?

Posted on by Markman
A boater off the coast of Thatcher's Island.
A boater off the coast of Thatcher’s Island.

I’ve been feeling so sleepy these days. Not sure why since I seem to be getting enough sleep. Maybe it’s residual from that last Sunday when the power went out over at Earth-1. Maybe it’s because I got t up early yesterday morning to get some yard work out of the way that I’ve been meaning to get to. I mowed and edges the front and cleaned up the back patio and weeded around the edges. All in all I think it looks pretty good! I also cleaned up some of the spearmint that was starting to invade. Maybe it’s a little bit of depression. No matter what’s causing it I feel like I’m dragging lately.

BBQ’d up a few items tonight for dinner. Also bought 3 pots of Mums. I like Mums but I also don’t like them just for the simple reason it means summer is ending. Finished the day off to a soothing fire burning in the pit.

I’m up to Level 117 of the first grouping of levels on SokoDroid, a game I posted about a few days ago. They’re getting really crazy now – sometimes takes me a day or two to solve, although I’m not playing it all day – just some minutes here and there. Keeps my brain busy for sure though.

Recorded a movie on the DVR called Lovelace, a story about the porn actress. Sounds interesting. Hopefully we’ll get to watch it tonight. Last night I just zoned out to Deadpool II.

Wednesday Again

Posted on by Markman
Broken Bridges.

“I can almost understand why people leap from bridges.”

Charles Bukowski

Good days, bad days. For some reason it seems when it’s rainy out, I tend to get a little more down on myself. I find it rather interesting that that happens.

Carson likes watching bubbles. I don’t know if it’s the reflections (he has a thing where he likes to chase shadows and light reflecting off of devices on the walls) or just the spheres hanging in the air floating by, but he really seems into them. I need to go buy a bottle so I can blow some and he can watch them and continue to be fascinated.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEo6soAg1M9/

Checkerboard of Nights and Days…

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A checkerboard design on a street in Downtown Boston.
A checkerboard design on a street in Downtown Boston.

Around 10 am every morning or so the hummingbird comes around and probes all the flowers on the deck. I wonder if maybe I should try to be out there around that time to see if I could get a good photo of her. I believe it is a female since I don;t see the red throat markings that the male has.

Yesterday I put together a three tiered metal cart which came out rather cute and LD will use for her various papers and notes.

I finally ordered a new camping beach chair. Took me a while to select one that I think would last and had a lot of options (for a beach chair anyway). The one I chose has extra pockets for storage including one in the headrest which I’d never heard of before but liked the option (you can also put a small pillow in it for support if desired). It also has a small cooler in an armrest to keep cans cool. The other armrest has a cup holder as well. It also has lumbar support which a lot of these chairs don’t have although I probably won’t use that much. It should arrive in a couple of weeks and then I can throw out my beloved-but-now-has-seen-better-days “big boy” beach chair.

Tonight’s movie watch was Daddy’s Home starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlburg. It’s hilarious! Super funny! While watching it we were eating dinner that we made, a dish called Salmon Limone, with couscous, italian herbs, and a zucchini ribbon salad – basically ribbons and diced tomato with some scallion greens.

Breaking Things on the Last Summer Weekend Sunday

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Spent a big part of yesterday down at the beach house, quite possibly our last chance of getting in the ocean. I used my inner tube again and bounced on the waves. The wind was blowing and made it a bit exciting and maybe even a little scary but surprisingly not as cold as you would think – the sun basking away kept us from shivering. Nothing us hardened New Englanders couldn’t handle. The little rope I have on it broke so I want to get a new piece of rope and tie it anew. I bought this tube down at the Cape probably about 10 years are so ago but never used it. It just sat in the garage for, like, 10 years. Finally this year I pulled it out and so far have used it twice and it’s held up great. It really did feel glorious to be riding the waves with the sea spray in my face,.

Speaking of things breaking, my beach chair appears to be on the way out. One of the rods seems to have rusted out so it’s time for a replacement. Unfortunately it appears that this particular chair isn’t being produced anymore so I’m trying to find something comparable because I love that chair.

One the way back home got a call from my mom saying the power to the house is all messed up. Usually something blows out somewhere and the panel needs to be reset. She said she did that though and still no luck and wanted to me to come check so I headed over there last night. When I got there it just didn’t make sense. I reset everything but some outlets just wouldn’t work, while others did. I was wracking my brain over this one. Long story short, EverSource came down this morning to check something and come to find out a tree across the street broke something on the wire in the wind or some such. Strange how it would only affect certain outlets and not others but whatever they replaced fixed it up. Nice thing is we didn’t need an electrician to come out (and we had called because we thought he would be needed) but it wasn’t so we cancelled. Anyways I stayed at Earth-1 over the night but slept like crap so I may be taking a nap later. My mom also placed a ticket with the city to trim some of the branches of this city tree that apparently caused the damage to the electrical gadgetry.

The story behind the photo: Just looking around Brewster and came across the historic Stony Brook Grist Mill, probably one of the first grist mills ever in America, if not THE first. Herring also swim up the brook in this location and you can easily see them when they come to spawn. It’s a lovely scenic area worthy of checking out.

Make Life Worthwhile and Smile

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A seal smiles while basking on a rock.
A seal smiles while basking on a rock.

“You’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.”

Charlie Chaplin

Been doing some rearranging in the house today. LD’s office is temporarily going to be in the sun room which is a big improvement. Also looked at some ovens today because it’s getting to be time to replace the one that’s there as it’s quickly running out of its useful lifespan and it’s time for an upgrade. One that would match the decor better would also be a nice improvement to the kitchen. Still trying to get the right match (dimensions, etc.) Not easy to get just the right combination of factors all lined up! Would’ve maybe liked to get one on the tax-free weekend but it isn’t happening. It’s got to be right so there looks to be more looking around for the time being. Anyways, the new setup in the sun room is a reason to smile.

I’ve also been following the Tufts Covid dashboard. Interesting.

Gametime: SokoDroid has been keeping me busy lately.

Tonight’s movie watch was Lymelife. Kind of a strange movie, but we kind of dug it! I’m giving it a recommendation if you haven’t seen it.

Summer’s Ending on the Horizon

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A silhouetted dowitcher looks to the waves at sunset in Chatham, MA.
A silhouetted dowitcher looks to the waves at sunset in Chatham, MA.

The story behind the photo: This was taken a few weeks ago down at Hardings Beach in Chatham as the sun was setting. A dowitcher kept running back and forth into and from the surf. I was really trying to capture the movement of the waves, their undulating flow was hypnotic to me in a sense that night.

Got my RealID coming finally. This time I made sure to have all my ducks in a row by having more documents than were needed, just in case. Had to wait over an hour in line because one of the machines apparently broke down, so that sucked (going to a AAA location is still better than the RMV in my opinion), but finally getting the thing is good. Glad that’s over with. Now I’ll be able to enter federal buildings as well as get on a airplane after Sept. 2021, not that I plan on ever possibly doing those things, but good to have just in case. Naturally you have to wear your mask and be socially distant as you wait your turn. I wear glasses when I drive so I had to take the eye test (which is really easy – basically just tests to make sure you’re not blind IMO) but they ask if you wear your glasses while driving which means it needs to be checked. (So I thought to myself, if I didn’t wear glasses I wouldn’t need an eye test? And wouldn’t that actually be worse?)

I took two pictures. I didn’t like how the first one came out and the 2nd one wasn’t too swift either but everyone knows that nobody looks good in these ID photos. Why is that?

Getting Ready for the Real

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Boston Seaport, 1900 – present

Well, tomorrow’s the big day when I try to get my Real ID again. This time I think I’m better prepared so I’m not expecting any issues.

Remember when this blog used to be full of interesting stuff? Feel like I’ve become “tres boring” lately. Truth to tell there just isn’t that much to tell (about myself these days anyway – there’s lots of things happening in the world for sure).

I’ll try to up my game moving forward.

Castle in the Sky of Blue

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An image of a castle looking building with a blue sky behind it.
Castles in the sky

The story behind the photo: This is a picture of the corner of the Wellesley Town Hall. Pretty nice for a municipal building, eh? Well, there’s a bit of a story to it. This Romanesque stone building was designed by Shaw & Hunnewell (a railroad financier and interestingly enough, perhaps the first person to cultivate and popularize rhododendrons in the United States) and built between 1881 and 1886. Its construction was funded by, and it was built on land donated by him. The east end of the building, which was finished first, was opened as the public library in 1883, whose initial collection was also funded by Hunnewell. The building is a striking example of the then-fashionable Richardsonian Romanesque, although it also exhibits French Chateau features seen by the architects during travels in Europe. The Trinity Church in Boston is another example of Richardson Romanesque architecture.

Anyways I happened to walking around the building one day and liked this angle with the blue sky in the background. Also, it so reminds me of a castle with the turret and all. Reminds me almost of a fairy tale.

Egret Love

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CEUCxdwA1tc/

Thanks local news network for featuring another one of my shots!

Spent the day in the ‘Ville. Had to help my mom bring her two cats to the vet to get their nails cut. These cats have extra digits so it’s a little tricky to cut them plus they are beasts (though lovable and kind – scroll down a ways to see my Insta post of them last week) so it’s easier to have them do it. Worked out cause while there the cell phone provider we use turned us off but it was their mistake so we had to go straighten that out too. Also got a bunch of little things done too so it was a good visit.

Sunken Ship

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A rowboat with the word "sunken Ship" painted on it's back.
Sunken Ship

This picture I took encapsulates how I’ve been feeling lately. Anyone else? I mean, I think I’m a pretty positive person but things just keep beating me down and the times feel depressing. I’m always looking for the silver lining but the world feels like shit to me right now. I feel like the ship is sunk (or sinking) but maybe this little rowboat can save me? Save us? Holding out hope…kinda. The tide always rises, right?

Thoughts?

Remember Me in 200 Years?

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Pemaquid Point

Playing around with some black and white photography. What do you think?

Saw the hummingbird again this morning flitting around on the back deck. Such a cool little bird – wild to watch it just hover. I’m hoping maybe someday I could photograph him. He stayed for a while this time too but never long enough.

I had an interesting thought yesterday as we strolled around a local cemetery (always looking for different places to walk and get a change of scenery). It occurred to me that unless you did something noteworthy and had some renown, most of us would be forgotten within a generation or two. The newer graves had flowers and other things left behind by loved ones, but the older graves had nothing. People who remembered them are probably gone now as well. I mean, I know nothing of my grandparent parents, who they were, what they were like, and same of their parents and so on up the line. I know, what an uplifting thought! But then I thought, well, as long as you made a difference, no matter how small, to the people around you now, perhaps that’s all that is needed and that’s enough for me.

Tonight’s movie watch was Patch Adams. Interesting role for Robin to play, in hindsight.

Monday Marigolds, So Good to Me

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Reddish Marigolds

My own little take on the Mamas and the Papas hit. These marigolds just keep on blooming over on the side of the house towards to entrance-way. Today was kind of a blah day, maybe cause it’s Monday, maybe because things are sort of crap at the moment, I don’t know – just wasn’t feeling it today. It wasn’t all a waste though, did get a new printer set up, and got a couple of errands done. Grilled some plant based burgers and corn…that’s about it. Nothing earth shattering today.

Egret Duo and Little Library

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Two Egrets

Here’s a picture of two egrets from the other day. I took a lot of shots but here’s one for now.

Here I am visiting a little library on the Lexington/Lincoln line. We happened to be in the area this afternoon to visit an acquaintance for a quick socially distant get together and decided to check this out on the way back. What’s neat about this one is the cat is supposedly animated when you open and close the doors. It didn’t happen for me but maybe it needs to be dark out or something. Anyways, this place was cool because it looked like they also had this killer tree house and erecting another building on the property to match the current house. You have to see it in person to really appreciate it.

Cool Day to Float

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A group pf chairs surround a firepit situated next to the ocean.
Cool day by the ocean.

Spent the afternoon down at the beach house, partly to get the other chair to match the other one we have and left down there and partly to get some swim time and good conversation in. It was a little chilly but we persevered. LD swam a little bit, our host kayaked, and I brought my inner tube floatie and just floated around in the water. Some pics may be forthcoming but I also might just keep them in my private library of shots. We did get to see some White Egrets and Little Egrets that I may put up. Got to love living close to the ocean – I couldn’t live anyplace not near it.

Standing with American Gothic

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Hanging with American Gothic inspired statues.

The story behind the photo: Back in 2014 took a trip to a place just out of Princeton, NJ called Grounds for Sculpture which has all these various famous artworks recreated as giant statues around the grounds. This one of American Gothic is right outside of the place. I’ll post more from the trip over the coming weeks, such as a famous WWII photo, Marilyn Monroe’s Seven Year Itch, the Mona Lisa, and a bunch of other ones. This was right in my wheelhouse, so to speak. Quite the roadside attraction.