Category: Scenic Photography

I Did It Again

Posted on by Markman
Cruising under the Zakim
Another BTS shot!

I had to run down to Earth-1 today and while I was there, I was figuring, since it was a rather cool day out, that I’d go and do a quick bike ride down the GLX and get some exercise in. So that’s one of the things that happened today. While I was there i think I saw the next door neighbor’s kid brother out on her patio but I can’t figure out if it was him, how he got there. He doesn’t exactly live close to her. Mysteries to ponder. Also the guys putting in the foundation for the new condo development behind the garage have toppled over a tree that was back there but it’s actually good because that was basically just a giant weed. We do need to be careful though that they don’t mess up the back of the garage, which admittedly, is a very old edifice.

Tonight I’ll make some dinner and get ready for tomorrow’s shift. Lovely, I hear it’s supposed to rain on me again. The rain gear is getting a lot of use this week! Also tomorrow I need to find some time to maybe finally hit the home improvement store and get the items that I still didn’t get and perhaps put together a rather large contraption. (Long story).

Find Time to Stop and Admire Nature All Around

Posted on by Markman

Here’s a great shot I took a few months ago that people really seem to enjoy, so I thought I’d put it up again. I may go back there soon just to see how things look now, maybe the place looks cool in different seasons. We’ll see.

After my shift today I ran so many errands it seemed. I was pretty busy either returning stuff to Amazon at Whole Foods, running to CVS, paying a bill and mailing it out at the post office, dropping off some food for the local pantry, receiving a humongous package from DHL which I imagine I’ll have to put together (but more on that another time, like, maybe tomorrow).

Another reason I put that particular photo up is that it gave me an opportunity to think that every now and then, we need to stop and admire the world around us. remember it’s not the world that sucks, it’s certain people in it that make it seem that way sometimes. And also that I feel blessed to live in an area that has a lot of scenic sights, if you just stop to look once in a while.

The Case of the Dory Boat to Nubble

Posted on by Markman

Had a dentist appointment this morning and it was all good but apparently I do have a cavity starting to creep up on me so I’ll need to get a filling next month. No big deal but just something I’ll need to have addressed.

Here’s apic of the Nubble Light that I took. I think this one features a rather unique angle, and I was lucky that the dory that the lightkeeper uses to get to the lighthouse just happened to be up on the rocks.

Round Hill Beach Day Number 2

Posted on by Markman

Can you correctly identify these four creatures?

We had so much fun the other day, we had to go back yesterday and do it all over again. This time the waves were better and we basically ended up staying there until closing, Once again, thanks to LD’s friend for allowing us to use her resident pass so we could access this private beach. For lunch we munched on a Jersey Mike’s but one thing I learned is you have to eat there kind of with your food hidden, because the gulls are pretty aggressive. In fact on Thursday before I knew this I was divebombed by one of them trying to get the sandwich out of my hand! It basically crashed into my head but ended up empty handed.

I have so much yard work and gardening maintenance to do today and I want to do it but my body is tired and I don’t feel like it. Two beach days in a row apparently take a lot out of me these days. I’ll try to force myself in a little bit, at least to do a little.

A Beautiful Bristol Birthday Lunch Day for the Ages

Posted on by Markman

We took an afternoon trip down to beautiful Bristol RI and I got to have a nice lunch by the water. We saw some herons and egrets too. I ended up getting a Del’s Lemonade Cucumber Spritz with Vodka and a nice Seafood Linguine. I would recommend this place called the Beach House. I found my dish to be super delicious.

The before heading back we took a detour to stop by Like No Udder down in Providence to get some ice cream and slush goodies.

I also got some cool books, and a neat bamboo cutting board that includes different mats for cutting different types of foods on top of it, which will replace the current cutting board I’ve been using for a long time now.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Posted on by Markman

Today’s my birthday! First thing I got out of the way was my morning shift. I ended up being a rainy morning so I got a little drenched but it’s all part of the job. I also played a lottery ticket while I was doing my route. Nicely, the sun came out in the afternoon so the whole day wasn’t a washout.

This evening, LD took me out for a nice dinner over at Seasons 52, as part of their Dine Out Boston week, Yum!

Currently Reading: Little, Crazy Children: A True Crime Tragedy of Lost Innocence

A Busy but Relaxing Weekend

Posted on by Markman
Gateway to Nauset

Been kind of a busy and yet relaxing weekend. We had some folks over on Saturday and I got to ride in their new electric luxury BMW. That thing was pretty crazy with the way the instrument panel is and all the geeky electronic stuff. Sunday was a day of relaxing, grilling and using the firepit to read by.

Enjoy another pic of Nauset Light! It’s National Lighthouse Day afterall!

A Friday in the Middle of Summer

Posted on by Markman
One of my latest summer shots from the Cape.

I think we saw two squirrels having sex this morning in the back yard. I mean, they were rolling around each other in a display that we have never seen before in our lives. I suppose they could have been playing but I don’t know. It was quite a scene.

According to the weather reports, it was supposed to rain all day today, however it’s been nothing but sunny here. Which is good, because I purchased a bunch of new firefly lights for the back yard. I think I’m going to have them line the back fence. I think it’ll look pretty cool. I also bought some more ink for my photo printer. I do like to print out a lot of my photos and place them in sort of a portfolio.

Water Shoes and Wellfleet and Sunset Slivers

Posted on by Markman

Forgot to mention my new water shoes! I purchased them back last September but finally had a chance to try them out at the beach yesterday. They are amazing! Anyways if you’re interested, search amazon for the Zhuanglin Men’s Quick Drying Aqua Water Shoes.

Today was a little more low key. Mostly just a trip out to Wellfleet for lunch and then back here for pool time. I overdid it a little bit at the beach yesterday but then again, it WAS one of the best days of my life EVER. I do feel somewhat drained however.

After the pool we headed to Crosby for a sunset (or what was left of it that we could see – just a sliver through the clouds). Wrap up with a trip to the Sparrow for my go to Nectar of the Gods drink, the hot choc with soy milk. I did p[ick up a book from a little library there but I don’t know if I’ll read it. Basically a bunch of short moral stories. I’ll list the title here later as it’s in the car right now and I don’t remember the title offhand.

Update: The title is The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories and it’s over 800 pages, although the stories themselves only appear to be a page or two generally.

One of Our Best Days on the Cape

Posted on by Markman

Did you ever have a few days were there was so much packed in you couldn’t describe it all successfully?

That’s pretty much what I’m feeling right now. I did head back to Earth-1 on Monday Night to do my work shift on Tuesday morning but by the afternoon I was back. I grilled some burgers with the charcoal grill, we swam and swam. Harding’s Beach on Wednesday afternoon was particularly awesome. The water was warm, the waves were high, and I was having a blast. I think we all ended up staying there from like 1:30 to 6:30.

And of Course by the end of the day you have to check out the sunsets.

Although the sunsets so far have been a bit on the cloudy side, minus those amazing shots I got from Rock Harbor earlier in the week. The weather down here has simply been spectacular this week. I think it’s the best it’s ever been for us.

This morning I walked around some conservation land.

They had a pretty cool layout there and included this very Zen looking area. There’s just too much for me to process right now so here’s just a few pics from today.

I’ll Remember Every Moment, These Endless Summer Nights

Posted on by Markman
Endless Summer Nights

“Seaweed just went up my nose!” is a quote I overheard today from some kid playing in the seaweed at West Dennis Beach. I can honestly say that that is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that, so me being me, I had to make a mental note of it and share that with you all. So to recap today we slept in, then pretty much headed down to the beach and spent a good chunk of time there. I finally got to try out the Beau Jarden cart we got last fall and it worked flawlessly. So much easier to cart all our stuff around in. Anyways, I went in the water, LD went in a couple of times, and then I dried out in the sun and it pretty much wiped me out when we were done. I was so tired. But I rallied after some time to rest up and then we headed out to see a sunset. We chose Rock Harbor and this is one of the shots that I took tonight. This time I decided to walk further down along the marshy area then I have in the past. I covered myself up appropriately so that I wouldn’t get eaten by any bugs too badly and that was a smart move by me. This isn’t my first rodeo! What’s really cool about this pic is how the sun’s reflection kind of forms the shape of a heart! Then we went for ice cream and I got a burger. Now I’m uploading this to the website and going to chill the rest of the night.

I also wanted to mentioned that I learned today of some sad news. One of our favorite goats at the Sanctuary we visit recently passed away. This goat was special in that he was the goat that had been there the longest, 16 or years, and he was always such a sweetheart to us. He loved to be brushed too. RIP Eustis. We love you.

Enjoying a Deep Tissue Massage to Work the Kinks Out

Posted on by Markman
Orange Double Tiger Lily in bloom

I had a deep tissue massage today and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. I am so totally relaxed from it. Props out to Rebecca for treating me so greatly. I went with the deep tissue this time because I felt I needed it and it had been quite a while.

Other things I managed to get around to today were: I returned some grout that I had purchased in error a few weeks back to the Home Depot and used the refund to get a Jersey Mike’s for lunch, handed a donation benefit to a visiting African pastor (long story), I mailed an RSVP letter indicating that we will be attending a ceremony later this year, I changed the air purifier filters, I purchased gas, I went to the bank, I played the Powerball, and I cleared out the basement/gameroom of most of the kitchen things. It was nice to be able to get access to the air hockey table and arcade Ms. Pac machine. I fired them both up to make sure they still worked. The Ms. Pac is the real deal from the 80s, that takes quarters, not a reproduction. Nice to see that even though I was rusty I can still score over 100,000 points. Now, except for a few minor finishing touches, the kitchen is fully functional! Yay!

While walking around the garden, I saw several double tiger lilies blooming beside the ordinary ones. That caught me off guard! I don’t recall adding those. Anyways, I had to take a picture of one!

I decided to grill tonight even though it was pretty warm out. Another night of burgers.

The Beautiful Moves in Curves

Posted on by Markman
Soft curves, warming shades, organic contours.

Been pretty busy getting down to the last of the kitchen remodel. It’s almost done and looks spectacular! I’ll post a before and after when it’s all done. I think you’ll be amazed by the transformation. I know I was! LD worked hard to get it just right and it shows.

The various lilies in the garden are just now beginning to bloom. Since they were all planted at various dates and in various places, I never really understood how many distinct varieties we actually have. Now that they all appear at the same time, the variety excites me, plus they are so cool to look at.

One benefit of remodeling the kitchen is that I’ve developed some grill master skills. I suppose it’s accurate to say that practice makes perfect. When it’s extremely hot outside or the weather is simply not cooperating, it’s not really that much fun, but then we’ll either have some leftovers or possibly some takeout, but overall, I’m becoming somewhat of a little chef.

Nature’s Own Little Fireworks Display in the Garden

Posted on by Markman

Pretty low key July 4th here today. Glad I got to do all I wanted to do yesterday. I think everyone had a pretty good time. The rain does make for good flower photos though! I noticed these little babies growing over in the corner of the yard and needed to take a closer look. I like how they had all arranged themselves around like they are. I also made a bunch of progress on my reading. The garden is looking spectacular all around. My folks were impressed with our green thumb! We’ve created quite the lush oasis around here! Thankfully by supper time the rains had stopped and I was able to get out there and grill some stuff up.

Of Beautiful Bike Rides and Feline Shots

Posted on by Markman

Since I was going to Earth-1 today for a visit and to help my mom bring one of her cats to the vet for his yearly physical, I figured I’d take the bike again but and check out the GLX path but this time follow it to the end. It basically ends at Lechmere but connects to North Point so getting to the Museum of Science, or TD Garden, the North End, etc. is super easy and one straight shot. Seriously, this is pretty cool. Naturally I had to get a shot of myself by the Zakim Bridge. The park actually goes underneath the bridge so it’s pretty freaky to be under something that so many cars use. (I-93) Plus the Charles River is right there. I must say that everyone involved did a really nice job tying everything together.

Anyways while I was doing that, my mom had a dr. appt but I was done and waiting for her by the time she got back. She wanted to run a couple of errands so I took her around to do those. I got some gas for my car. A bunch of little odds and end things.

The contractors demolishing the old laundry building out back are almost done it looks like. They’ve been using a backhoe to scoop up all the debris and place them into giant dumpsters. It’s all open now, which seems kind of weird being able to see the houses across the way that were blocked by the building before. It won’t last though as new buildings will go up to take it’s place.

By around 2 o’clock it was time to take Hardy to the vet. His brother Laurel will probably be going in a couple of weeks but today was Hardy’s turn. Just the usual exam, he was due for his rabies shot and got his nails cut while there. He wasn’t a happy camper while he was there but he mostly behaved himself and got a clean bill of health.

Finally after all that and he was returned to his abode I decided to take one more short bike ride over to just outside Harvard Square because I wanted to take a picture of this church that has all these really neat looking wildflowers growing out in front. So I banged that out as well.

Heading back to Earth-2 LD was kind enough to order us up some Greek food takeout, which I picked up on the way back from the ‘Ville. I did end up grilling some chicken afterwards though because it needed to be done and we can eat it tomorrow. I’m planning on having my mom and sis over for a BBQ day here on Monday so I’m getting pretty excited about that. I hope the weather will be alright.

First Fire Lily of the Season

Posted on by Markman

I was really excited to see this fire lily open up after the rains last night. I love the fire lilies that we have and am always so glad when they decide to show their colors for us. They don’t last too long so we have to catch them when we can. This little guy seemed to bloom a bit early, but I’ll take it!

I want to try Starry soda and some Warheads Sour soda based off the candy, which sounds really disgusting and probably is, but I think I want to try it anyway, at least the Green Apple and Watermelon flavors.

This afternoon was spent checking out paint colors, determining what handles to have for the cabinets, and a bunch of other things that I won;t bore you with at the moment.

Century Old Lilies Bring the Fire!

Posted on by Markman
100 year old bulbs came to life

After work today I decided to do some long overdue work in the garden, especially during a lull when the breeze was blowing and the day felt cool to me, so I thought it would be a good time to get to it. I basically used six mulch bags to surround the bases of all these lilies. Something LD’s been wanting me to do for a while now. It was on my to do list and I finally got it done. These particular lilies were gifted to us from one of LD’s pool buddies who also is in charge of the town’s garden club. Anyways, these lilies are , like, a century old! Nice to see they still have that fire. I hope I still have that kind of fire if I can make it to a century old!

The electrician came by today. We needed to move a couple of the outlets around to accommodate the new countertops in the bar-top area, I was afraid we were going to lose them but he managed to figure out a way to get most of them newly situated.

Love from Boston

Posted on by Markman
Show me you live in New England without telling me you live in New England.

Here’s a picture I took during one of my various photo expeditions throughout the city of Boston. I like this one. It’s got Long Wharf, the Constitution floating out in the harbor, and a couple enjoying the sights.

I went and took a drive down this afternoon and picked up the specific backsplash tile that the kitchen will be having over in Rockland. The regular place where you would pick it up normally is currently within the midst of it’s own renovation so I had to go to the warehouse that they use to get the goods. Pretty straightforward. Moved up to the loading gate and got my grubby little hands on all the boxes and got them in the SUV and took them home. All in all, roundtrip that whole adventure only took about 45 minutes.

I then went ahead and mowed the front lawn. I need to go out and get some more gasoline for the mower so I can do the back still.