Shared From Mountaindale After Dark...Should Have Been Here From Start

After The Storm...a Couple Photographs

This week it has been more like winter here in Downtown Mountaindale, the temperatures today warmer, but still a bit nippy.  A lot of times (read that to mean most of the time) I have my Canon Rebel digital camera beside me in the car when I go out to run errands, and the other day was no exception.  One never knows when something or another will catch your eye, and sometimes lady luck shines on your camera and the results are a photograph or two worth sharing. 

Sitting here in my apartment trying to stay warm this afternoon I downloaded images from my camera, and a couple pictures I happen to really like and thought I would share them here for everyone to enjoy.

As you leave the "Town of Fallsburgh" heading toward the Shop Rite in Thompson, New York you'll see these power poles off to your left about two miles out of town.  It had stopped snowing, but there was a misting rain in the air, the sheen of ice could still be seen on many of the trees branches along the drive, and the road conditions saw me moving along slower than most days.  I've passed these power poles numerous times, and they just not not shout out to me, but on this day, the poles in unison just seemed to speak out in unison, "Take our picture".

I so covet these lens!

Seeing the results, very happy that this was a day when my camera was with me in the car, and that I happened to have my 55-250mm Zoom lens on the box.    For the money, you just cannot beat the Canon Rebel EOS, though, if I win the lottery, would love to have a full set of their top of the Zoom Lens with all the bells and whistles on them.  For that matter, I would love just being able to shoot with these lens for say one week...especially if I could pick any location in the world for that one week.  Wondering if Canon has any need for a product tester in Sullivan County NY?  I will work for free if I get to keep anything I test...can I give you a wish list?  Anything on this page I would so die for...OK, not die, but drool over in a covetous fashion...did I mention my birthday was last week?  Of course, thinking if I got that incredible EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM   or the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM  I would need to invest in a new box for such incredible lens.

Another couple of pictures I snapped were at the entrance to our own "Rails to Trails" here in Mountaindale, including one of the Train Garden in the proverbial dead of winter.    This one is not as spectacular as the one above, but still liked it, perhaps because I spent so much of this past summer working on the trail during the installation of our "Train Garden".    I also just have an affinity for pictures that just seem to fade into infinity, almost always stop when I see a road or path that seems to present a feeling of great depth.  Streams are another one of those  subject matters that quickly catches my attention for the very same reason.

Sure for those of us who spent our summer working on the train garden will find this winter shot of our sculptural interpretation fun.  Waiting for spring so we can see how many of our garden perennials survived after the drubbing they took in last year's hurricane.  The garden is definitely going to need some TLC this spring, as is the portion of the trail just up from it that was all but washed out.  Of course, looking at how hard some of our neighboring communities were hit by Hurricane Irene, we here in Mountaindale can count ourselves very lucky.
 

For those of you who have gotten this far, just a reminder that Sunday March 10th, 2012 will  see Rock Hill hosting the Second Annual Rock Hill Saint Patrick's Day Parade beginning at 12 Noon.

Also on March 10th, the Sullivan Renaissance Annual Conference, which officially kicks off this years Sullivan Renaissance Project season.  Applications for the 2012 Sullivan Renaissance Program are available online, and due in their office no later than 5 PM on March 21, 2012.

Tree Came Down Today

Today is one of those melancholy days; self reflection seems to be the guiding force dictating the unraveling of the hours from morning until dusk turns into dark, the world closing in around me as night finds the small hamlet in which I reside.  Today was spent digging out my small abode from the holiday season just past, taking down my small tree, wrapping each ornament back up with tissue paper for a long season's nap, each one bringing with it memories of days so long ago past.

Remember decorating the tree with my mother, she always happy; smiling at that time of the year, Christmas holding special meaning for her.  Recall the first time I found out that there was no Santa Claus, the pain of that truth softened when she allowed me to stay up late to help her wrap presents for my three younger siblings who still nurtured and believed in that dream of a jolly old man coming down our chimney, his sack full of toys for all the good little boys and girls. She passed away back in 1993, yet there is not a holiday,not a Mother's day that goes by that thoughts of her don't find a way of creeping in.  I still smile at the thought of her and I taking down the family tree, putting away ornaments, everyone else no where in site, wanting nothing to do with the task of putting Christmas away, though they were all there to help put it up.

A lot of those Christmas's from so long ago seem jumbled up together.  Separating and defining just a singular Christmas with any clarity an impossible task, though I can recall certain gifts vividly, know the exact year I got them.  There was my first bike without training wheels...it was used, but Dad had put a new banana seat on it (teal metal flake blue green vinyl top with a white leather side, grips and streamers to match.  Then there was the Christmas it seemed like Santa had not been overly kind where I was concerned until Mom brought out my new fishing rod, reel and tackle box that she had  hidden behind the couch.  I had so much fun that day casting out in the snow, seemingly immune to the frigid temperatures on that wonderful day.

Looking back, knowing at 56 that Mom, Dad and all the grandparents are long gone, it's  bittersweet to see all the traditions I have managed to keep alive, sadder still knowing  I have no offspring who will carry those traditions on once I have left this space we call earth.

Sitting here at my office desk in the kitchen, nibbling on the last of the turkey from Thanksgiving I took out of the freezer earlier today can peer into the living room, all traces of the three back to back holidays gone and out of site.  The various boxes and shopping bags full of decorations tucked away here and there, not to be seen again until the end of this New Year. A life time of memories taken out, examined as I went through my day, it is hard to hold back the tears of loss I feel at all those things and people who are no more.  Funny, not in a ha ha way, how the older we get the more precious those Easters, Memorial Days, 4th of July's and all the rest become, how we wonder just how many more we individually are destined to enjoy before there are no more.

I don't fear death, am seeing more of it with each passing year, friends and family passing as I approach 60, realizing at best that my own life is at least 3/4 done, but it is not a final curtain call I am looking forward too.  I look at my stuff, each little thing special to me in its own unique way, imbued with a magical power to bring back to the forefront of my mind the day and time when it came into my life.  My possessions not defining me, but acting as props used in the telling of my life's story. With that knowledge of what those things represent, I wonder what will become of them when I am gone, wonder what becomes of the story that is my life when those things are scattered to the seven winds.  Do fear that when I am gone, my things no longer gathered for display in one place, there will be no one there to tell the story of who I was, no one there to share the tales of my childhood, no one there who can share with the world what it was like to be in the kitchen with my Mom, baking cookies on a cold snowy day in December in preparation for the Christmas that was/is about to begin.

*This post is dedicated to Wes Tern who passed away, losing his own brief bout with cancer, this post is dedicated to all of his friends who gathered at his house here in Mountaindale, each of them honoring his memory by taking little things from his house with them, giving those items a place of honor in their abodes so that his story, small parts of his life will carry on as the things that told his story find a new role, become a part of another story as his possessions become the props that will help each of them recall their own memories of times and friends past.  God's speed Wes.

Just a Few Photographs

Trying to spend some time in the new year being more creative, while at the same time also working at being healthier, losing a bit of weight. To that end, grabbed my Canon Rebel this morning and went out for a walk of about two miles, snapping some photographs along the way that I thought I would share here.

This first one was taken along the Rails to Trails corridor heading toward Woodridge. Love the color of the leaves, so muted and ethereal against the green of the pine needs.

I have an affinity for old abandoned buildings, decaying relics of days gone by. This door was found behind one of the many abandoned homes that dot the landscape here in our small hamlet of Mountaindale and its surrounding area.

This next picture is a close up of the same door, the decorative work on the door plate quite stunning. Of the two, the second one is my own favorite, as it is emblematic of the attention to detail that you do not see today in pretty much everything. Back then, the most mundane items had a flair to them, a small bit of decoration making the ordinary extraordinary. This particular building provided several hidden treasures as I walked around its exterior.

This cast iron knoll post from the front stairs of the building was tucked under a small covered entryway into the basement of the building and would have been tempted to bring one home to display in my livingroom, but would have needed a couple of very strong bodies with me, or a dolly to have gotten it back to my apartment, and God only knows how I would get it up the stairs and into the front room, but do love it. As a subject of a photograph, love the muted pastel palette of the photograph.

In front of the building, the columns were yet another surprise, the lead green paint tenaciously holding on in some areas provides beautiful texture as well as stunningly unexpected color.

This one walk around a forgotten building turned out to be a photographer's dream, and it just goes to show you, that if you look closely, there are beautiful pictures to be found almost anywhere if you have your eyes looking for them. It was cold out, and after these pictures, headed back home to get warm, though I would take my camera with me later in the day on my trip to Ellenville.

Again, as I was driving down 209 found a few more pictures that saw me stopping my car, grabbing the camera and snapping away, capturing the moment forever in a digital pic.

Mother Nature at her finest...so simple, and yet so beautiful. Thinking this one would also make a great pencil drawing one day this winter when the snow is flying and I find myself trapped inside looking for something to amuse myself with for a few hours. Snapped this next one about 50 yards down, same subject matter, but has a completely different feel because of the background colors.

It was a good day for taking photographs, and I have several more that I may share over the next few days. I leave you though with just one more...windows on an old house that I stumbled upon while out for a drive on New year's day. Again, took several photographs of this home, it's windows, each one of them beautiful treasures evoking feelings of a time long ago past.

Hope you have enjoyed my photo montage. Not sure how good I am at it (digital photography is still new to me), but do enjoy the whole process involved, though have to admit I miss the good old days when you went out with a few rolls of TRI X 400 ASA film, then spent a couple of days playing in the darkroom. Times like this, show my age, as well as my old school ways when it comes to things creative, though I will admit it is fun being able to so quickly play with and change photographs taken with digital technology.