The Sidetrack...

We all get a little side-tracked once in awhile. This was my weekend sidetrack - headed west on 9 - hang a left to Cold Springs Orchard.. Yummy apples, and even yummier views.. Although my son did point out that I didn't shoot left enough and I missed the shot of the 7 Sisters.. Oh well.. I'll just have to head back over there for that one.. Anyway, here are a couple of shots I did manage to get, although I feel a little guilty about the one below.. Cold Springs did an incredible job with this gourd display, I simply pointed at it and pushed the freakin' button! Lovely!
Laura

Herding Cats...

Who's Watching Who? Here's a quick collage of some of the wildlife thats around my home. The dog and the kitties aren't wild you say? Well, obviously, you've never been to my home... I don't hold out much hope for the chipmunk and the cats are the dog's "herd", she'll chase them till her feet are raw if we let her, being part Corgi the herding instinct is ingrained, throw in one part high-jumping Jack Russell and you get a Corgi-Jack that could herd kangaroos. They say "You can't herd cats." Well, nobody ever told my dog that, and frankly she does a pretty good job of it. Sorry for the low res, but when your putting that many pics in one animation they tend to get a little huge!
Later...

It's a leaf riot!

So this is why I live in New England...  Have you looked outside lately?  I mean REALLY looked..  it's freakin' beautiful out there!  We're at peak foliage here on Bay, and it's a peak better than I ever remember.. usually we have gotten a few rain/wind storms that take down a good portion of the leaves before the colors get a chance to peak out..  but we've been really lucky these past couple of weeks, the majority of the leaves are still on the trees.. and they look like their on fire!  Enjoy it while you can.. I've heard we're due for some nasty weather come tomorrow nite and into the weekend, so it may be the last day for the peak leaf peeping!  I'll be hucking the camera again tomorrow and will try not to rush into the office and may I suggest that you all do the same..  slow it on down people.. its red yellow and orange out there and before you know it, it will be brown and *gasp.. WHITE..

Later.. much later please!

Laura

Colors of New England

Macro Photography

Ok.. so alot of the photos I've been taking lately have been macro's.. extreme closeups of the flora and fauna that I've been finding around me as I've been out and about photographing the lovely fall scenery. This time of the year just screams for some extreme closeups and luckily the new camera has some awesome macro and super macro features. This is one of the latest, hope you like!
Laura

I saw you!

Ok..  so not much strikes fear in my heart more than running into a friend/client/aquaintance and having them say "I saw you driving down the road the other day..."   My first thought...  CRAP..  I used to just hold my breath and try and act casual and say "Oh.. where was that?"..  but I've since changed my tactics..  why not come right out with it and get it over with..  so what do I say now.. I look them straight in the eye.. give a little laugh.. and say..  "Oh.... and was I singing?"..  Much to my relief the answer has usually been "no.. I don't think so.."  *whew..  I swear I've sung more backup driving alone in my truck than one of the Pips did in his entire career..  I can't help it.. Warren Haynes (who little does he know that even though there isn't a backup singer to be found in his many albums... and I have them ALL.. )every day there is a woman.. driving alone... along Bay Road..  singing along... "con mucho gusto!"  Elvis Costello...  you betcha Alison!

I think it's been bothering me more than usual because the other day I got stuck in the road construction their doing on Route 47..  As I approached the cop in my lane he held up his hand... stopping the line of traffic right at me.. so there I sat.. first in line.. right in front of the cop.. right in front of the construction workers..  when I realized I had been there a couple of minutes.. thats right.. SINGING... the whole time!  Damn...  my only consolation is that I'm sure he's seen weirder stuff than that..  but I'd be willing to bet he hasn't heard any worse!

Laura

Thanks for the comments

So I finally got a comment on my blog.. whew.. I was beginning to think I was the only one here.. not that it matters much I guess, I do this because I love it.. I was never very good at keeping a journal, although writing is a passion of mine, and this has become my journal..  anyway.. you can check out the comments on the story below from Cynthia of http://www.creativewritersgroup.blogspot.com   (and check out her blog if you get the opportunity)..  she asked some questions that I'll answer here..  "how do I get the photo's on my blog"..  I have a website where these photo's actual reside - when I wrote that blog (and this only works in the blogger.com interface not in an email) I used an html call <img source="http:// and the address of the actual picture)..  Do I use a Mac?  Umm no.. I like having software for my computers..  Is it a 'special camera'?  Well I think so.. :)  but it's just a regular Minolta Dimage Z1 - digital SLR, loads of features - plenty of manual overrides so I can get the shot that I want, not that the camera wants to give me.. The truck under the bridge photo was pushing it though..  taken at 40times zoom and thru my vehicle window.. happy to say it turned out - albiet a little fuzzy..  so yes.. it's a special camera! 

I'll see what else I can come up with for photo's - after the truck incident I've realized the value of hucking the camera around with me and will now give it a prominent place riding shotgun with me on a daily basis! 

Later

As promised!

Reading back over my posts from the last couple of weeks I noticed that I had promised to post some pictures from my ride. Well I got a good start with yesterday's picture of the truck-eatin' bridge but other than that I've been remiss. It's not that the photo's don't exist I just haven't posted them here. So I'll begin posting some of them up there.. I've managed to pull over and line up a few shots in the past week or so, it's amazing how a new camera will do that to you, all of a sudden you don't HAVE to be in the office at the usual time! Got some lovely shots of the beaver swamp but unfortunately the lovely white bird has been nowhere to be found, Molly and Hector (the shaggy mini donkeys) haven't even been co-operative, and of course the farmer put the windows back in the barn so even the barn cats are among the missing.. although I promise I'll keep trying.. Enjoy..
Laura

How High?

And this truck driver was hoping that it would all just be a bad memory.. lucky I had the new camera with me this morning to record it for posterity! Get a load of the guy on the left talking to the driver.. "The bridge is THIS high!! Yup, that's Northampton's 11 footer claiming another victim.. notice the nice can opener technique it employs at the top of the truck!

Laura

All this debate!

So the presidential election and all the lovely debate about the debates that is going on at http://www.masslive.com/forums/weblogs/ (which I read regularly) almost makes me wish that my blog was a little more 'political' in nature..  but frankly that's not what I'm about.. Oh.. I follow the election news..  the debates.. etc..  and I definitely have an opinion and I will vote.. but that's about the extent of it.. although there is a 'political post' in here thanks to some grafitti artists..  if you travel the length of Bay Road I'm sure you've seen it.. someone.. in their unbridled political frenzy... scrawled in black paint on the stop sign where Bay joins Route 47 "Bush".. making the sign read "Stop Bush"..  very clever..  I will certainly take into account the opinion of someone that drives around the back roads of town with a can of spray paint scrawling graffiti on road signs..  now that's someone who's opinion should be respected and recognized!  Oh.. the cleverness of it..  the sheer simplicity..  the brilliant stroke of genius that must have hit this person had to be awe-inspiring!  I think all the candidates should hire their own gangs of tag artists..  why stop with defacing one stop sign on a little back road when you can reach hordes of drivers everywhere! Stop Bush.. Stop Kerry..  Stop the war..   or how about this gem..  Stop the frickin' graffitti!

Later

House-jacking

Just before the Coolidge in Northampton they are preparing to move that adorable little yellow house (337) that looks remarkabley like a train station.  They've got it jacked up a good 8 feet and on the trailer ready to be hauled away.. I'm glad their saving the cute little bungalow, but frankly, I'll miss seeing it on my travels..  Word is they are hauling it away in the middle of the nite to avoid traffic tie-ups..  small mercies anyway...  they will be setting it back up on Dewey Ct... I'll have to take a ride by in a month or so and check it out!

 

Later

Missing Again....

So, once again, it's been awhile since I've blogged. The usual excuses, busy.. busy.. busy.. oh.. and throw in a lovely one week vacation to Chatham on Cape Cod.. then of course you have the obligatory 3 days of playing catchup.. and that was just the email..
Anyway.. the route in to the office has become quite the treat.. the trees are starting to change.. lovely foggy mornings settling over the corn fields.. the pumpkins are showing their happy orange faces to the world.. Atkin's apple trees are bowing under the weight of the reddening fruit.. and the sunflowers are bowing their heads on these chilly mornings... really lovely..
I promise I'll drag the camera along with me sometime in the near future and get some photo's.. I can only hope that the lovely white bird that has taken up residence in the beaver swamp at the Quabbin doesn't fly the coop till I can get my shots in!
Later

Run Nellie, run...

The cow is escaping.. the cow is escaping...  down across from Hartsbrook last nite one of the cows.. we'll call her Nellie.. managed to escape the confines of the pasture..  so what's so unusual about that? Cows escape all the time.. what was amazing about this one was the support that she received from her fellow bovines..  they were all lined up against the fence, literally reveling in Nellie's escape..  As Nellie cavorted on the outside of the fence they were packed in like sardines at the corner of the fencing, tossing their head, swishing their tales, and jockeying for a better view of their escaped friend..  some definite excitement in that crowd..  makes you wonder if they were cheering her on or trying to talk her back in.. my bet is they were playing 'lookout' for her..  "Quick Nellie... run.. run now.. the warden went in for dinner.. now's your chance..  Run Nellie.. RUN!!"  Pretty funny.. just hopefully the warden caught up with her before she wandered into the road..

Not nearly as fun..

So they put that final coat of asphalt on the Belchertown end of Bay Road..  not nearly as fun driving it as it was when they had the Barrel Gauntlet set up..  but OH so nice and SMOOTH!!  It's too bad the only thing I can think of when I drive it is.. FINALLY..  this had to be the longest construction job in Western Mass history..  ooopss.. scratch that.. there's the Coolidge Bridge project...  OH.. and the *snicker Springfield Civic Center (why can't I mention THAT 'doomed to fail' project without snickering..)  OH.. and the Memorial Bridge mess..  hhmm..  add the ramp reversal fiasco in downtown Springfield..  oh.. never mind..  I guess if you use 'average construction project time' taking 2 years to re-do a mile of road is right in the norm..

Pet Peeve #35 - it's a smelly one!

So technically it's not a Bay Road issue, but this was spotted at the CVS on Route 10 in Easthampton so it kind of qualifies..  and OH is this a pet peeve..  mainly because of the idiocy of it...  so the woman in front of me emptys her hand basket on the counter..  what's in there?  Pineapple scented shampoo..  Coconut scented hair conditioner..  Ocean Breeze scented deoderant, and a 25 dollar bottle of Red Door perfume..  oohh..  Red Door..  love that scent..  I've been wearing Red for a couple of years now and I still love the scent.. the difference tho?  I don't mix my smells.. when I put on perfume.. especially 25 bucks a half ounce perfume.. I wanna smell like 25 dollar perfume..  not like a two dollar stick of deoderant.. 

 

Basically this woman is gonna smell like a pina colada, drunk on the beach, while wearing expensive perfume.. add in the fact that I bet she uses Tide, in the Spring Fresh scent, to wash her clothes..  Downey Pink, which has a smell no-one can even name, and probably Irish Spring soap in the shower.. so we now have a pina colada, drunk on the beach, in the Springtime, while dressed in pink,  in Ireland, while wearing expensive perfume..  don't even get me started on baby powder, hand lotion, wrinkle cream, and those god-awful stinky toilet papers!

 

Just say "unscented" America! 

A Smooth Obstacle Course

So they are finally back to work on the B'town end of Bay Road (and ok, I'm finally back to blogging)..  What a difference.. they finally paved, although it was a 'patch it here.. patch it there' kind of a job, it did kind of cover the whole road cause frankly, the whole road is what needed paving..  so now it's smooth.. a nice smooth obstacle course..  they are still working on the manholes, so every 50 feet or so (less in some cases) there is one of those large orange barrels..  frankly it's kind of fun..  swerve to the left.. then you swerve to the right.. you do the hokey pokey.. oh.. but that's a different dance..  really fun when you have the road to yourself, you can pick and choose which side of the barrel your gonna drive around, but when there's someone coming the other way.. not so fun..  no one stops and lets you go first..  no one.. except me of course.. it doesn't matter if the barrel is in your lane, which of course means you should stop before you swerve into their lane, or if the barrel is in their lane, they are gonna swerve into yours without stopping..  Oh the rudeness of it all.. the only other place I've encountered such driving rudeness is on Route 10 in Easthampton..  but we won't get into that right now..  that's another blog..

Slow news day..

This heat has gotten to everyone and everything..  the ride down Bay has become slow and lazy matching the haze hanging in the air..  Molly and Hector the mini donkeys are just laying in the cool grass..  the cows are kind of just 'there'..  usually their milling around, munching grass, but today even they seem too hot to want to eat..  even the barn cat that sits in the window of the Hartsbrook farm's big red barn is nowhere to be found today.. she's probably off in some cool dark corner snoozing and ignoring the world till it all cools off..  on a road that is usually used by at least 10 bike riders is now deserted, save one hard-core cyclist and even he is looking a little wrung out..  when will this heat break?

 

Laura

H H and H

What a glorious ride in today..  Hazy.. Hot.. and Humid..  this is the type of weather that reminds me of being a care-free kid..  growing up in Spencer, MA, my Mom would gather up all us kids (no easy task I might add being there are 6 of us).. pack up a picnic lunch of baloney sandwiches (yeah it's spelled phonetically.. bologna just looks wrong.. )and a jug full of cherry Kool-Ade.. and take us all up to the Public Park for a day of swimming..  oh.. what wonderful times.. sitting in the shade.. running in and out of the water.. and trying to dust the sand off the sandwiches..  baloney never tasted so good..  but then of course we would delay eating for as long as possible cause Mom was a strong proponent of waiting an hour before you swim after you've eaten..  which was stupid really cause frankly none of us kids could really swim..  we'd just kind of float around and totally panic when even one drop of water would get on our faces..  OH.. those were the days.. 

 

Laura

Are they done?

Riding in on Friday morning yeilded a new development in the construction on the B'town end of Bay..  A freshly painted bright yellow double line down the middle of the lumpy bumpy holey road..  I'd say a straight yellow line but no.. it follows the contours of the pavement rather nicely..  up and down.. left and right.. in and out..  like perhaps the painter had a little too much coffee that day and couldn't keep his hand from shaking..  but this had more to do with the fact that the machinery that painted the line was bounced around repeatedly from all the potholes..  speed bumps.. and generally broken pavement..  so does this mean they're done?  you generally don't paint the furniture till your finished stripping it but we are dealing with town road crew workers here..  you never know..   they could show back up in a day or two and rip it all back up.. I've seen them do that before..  or.. more likely.. is it because no one that drives that road these days stays on their own side of the street.. HELLO.. they are dodging your leftover sink holes..  mountainous launch ramps.. and twisted tar..  if you think that a little paint is going to keep people in line you are sadly mistaken.. the only thing that'll do that, is to do your job and fix this wreck of a road..  I'll cross a yellow line any day of the week if it'll save me from having to drive my $25,000 vehicle across that crap and risk an $800 repair bill!

 

Laura

The Cable Guy is now "Big Brother"

All right so this isn't about Bay Road specifically, but if it 'takes' it could happen on Bay Road, or any Road, Street or Avenue in the US..  I found this so disturbing I had to rant somewhere and you lucky people got picked.. 

 

It seems that the Government is now training a whole new army of Big Brothers.. and they come in the form of Pest Exterminators, Cable Guys and Gals, and apartment managers..  Got roaches?  Better hide the incriminating evidence..  Florida law enforcement is training your average roach killer, cable modem repairman, and landlord to be on the lookout for anything that may be "terrorist related" while they are in your home taming the termites, tweaking your tv, and wrangling up your rent..  Now I'm all for catching the nasty terrorists but this is WAY TOO MUCH! 

 

So the cops can't get access to your house or car cause of that "illegal search" clause, so this is the next step..  get the people that you pay to come into your home to do the searching for them..  According the article Fox News they aren't supposed to technically 'search'.. just keep their eye out for anything suspicious and report it to them..  If this is allowed to continue and spread people.. better think twice before you call a plumber for that stopped up sink or an electrician to wire in the new dryer.. or at least take down the "Stop Bush" poster before you answer the door!