Massasoit State Park walk

Perhaps an addenda to the  previous blog, more dragonflies, as beautiful day as can be had,  all taken with the Canon EF 70-300mm f:4-5.6 L IS USM lens.  Massasoit is an under-used, and beautiful state Park in Raynham.

Sunlight is everything

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Chestnut-sided Towhee (called a "Joree" in the South)

Bug Hunt, Pratt Farm

Sometimes it is great  just to take one lens, and see what you can do with it.  In this case, its a 100mm
Macro lens (in this case the Canon Macro Lens EF 2.8 USM and here is the best results.

This is about 1/16th of an inch long

Total size about 1/8th of an inch

These jaws must be the secret to their incredible success at capturing mosquitos

Westerly, Pratt Farm, Alex, Bill Daley

A blog about the Westerly Pops Concert, Alex at Stony Brook Audubon, Pratt Farm walk, and some pictures borrowed from Bill Daley who visited the World Series trophies.

Why do water lilies seem to glow from within?

Alex loves trails

The 2013 World Series ring, as seen on the hand of a 93
year-old woman who showed up to see the trophies

And here is Bill Daley, sports enthusiast extraordinaire, with
the 2004, 2007, and 2013 World Series trophies.

Pokey Reese, a member of the 2004 team.

This is Westerly, and here are the canon, part of the Newport Artillery Co. who
provide the canon fire for the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture which always
concludes the concert.

Reserving a space for the concert

The stage.
The Chorus of Westerly had staged a Pops concert for at least
20 years or so, and I have played every single one.

There is some magnificent architecture in Westerly.  Here is the townlLibrary.

Christ Church, Westerly. This is George Kent's church where he has been organist
for probably 50 years.  Steve Young and I played a trombone and organ recital here.

The library, again

A wonderful, curved façade of columns.



Andrew Price conducting the rehearsal.
Very warm, very, very bright.  It cooled off considerably (thank God) for the concert.

Cary Buttery, tuba

Andrew with the solo Baritone, remarkable.  He sang the Vaughan-Williams "Five Mystical Songs"
and the Copland"s "Five American Songs"

Mark Weaver (front) and Brian Sturm

Every year there was this enormous Beech tree that served as shade for the dinner area between the rehearsal and
the performance, and it succumbed to a storm this year.  This trunk can give you an idea of the size.

Brian Sturm, Mark Weaver, A. Douglas Wauchope, and Gary Buttery
Wonderful gentlemen to perform with.

This photo is by Chris Walsh, a friend of Mark Weaver.  It is a photo I can never get, so I hope
Chris will be ok with me putting it on my blog. 

The Chorus of Westerly is a true community chorus, with representatives of four
generations singing.

A few photos from today's walk with Susan at Pratt Farm.

Father's Day Weekend

What a weekend!  We started by driving up to Amesbury and checking in at a hotel, drove down to Newburyport to Plum Island for a brief visit, saw a Northern Shoveler, not a common bird in N.E., drove to Amesbury to have dinner with Erin, Ken, Trish and Oliver, got some beautiful clothes from Ken and Erin for Father's Day, and a wonderful woven bird house from Oliver, very cool.  Drove to Sparhawk school, and watched Jackson in "Hello, Dolly", then back to the hotel for the night.  Up the next morning to Peabody Essex Museum, met with Barbara and Bill to see the  J.M.W. Turner exhibition "Turner & the Sea", just spectacular, came home to feed the cat,  slept in Sunday morning, Susan served me breakfast on the deck for Father's day, and then off to the Mazzoli's to celebrate Father's Day there.  The only way the weekend could have been better was to have Cheryl and Carter with us, but he is facing surgery on Friday, and Cheryl wanted to keep him healthy for that. Photos and a video for the weekend.

These photos are from Heritage Plantation in Sandwich, where the
"Big Bugs" are on exhibit.  This is from the visit on Monday with Alex
The Granddaddy Longlegs



The Praying Mantis

One of the three Ants

Lady Bug

Scott and Alex at home.

From a gallery in Amesbury

Wonderful Oil

These next photos are from the Mazzoli house, the
Father's Day gathering.  These are for you, Cheryl

Here is the Northern Shoveler at Plum Island

Jackson, "Hello, Dolly"

Peabody-Essex Museum
This is part of the "California Design" exhibit.
This is an "Avanti"

Susan

This is a Sam Maloof chair, one of the great
wood artists

Some jazz albums from the 50's

And finally to the Turners. 
"The fighting 'Temeraire' tugged to her last birth to be broken up"

John Singer Sargent
"Atlantic Storm"
This was the most disturbing painting for me.  The following sea is so terrifying, so malevolent.
Neither Barbara or Bill liked this painting.   I am not so sure it is meant to be liked.
It makes one feel powerless

"Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand)
to Warn Steam Boats of Shoal Water"

 

"Staffa, Fingal's Cave"