At the Race….

I am not a runner but while watching family and friends racing in the Li’l Rhody Runaround I will admit that I wished I were. Rather quickly, however, I came to my senses and realized that I am happy taking photos of  the race, congratulating the runners, and then going for a nice long walk.  As my grandson says, running is “Hammett business” because my daughter and her husband, his father, his two brothers, and several of their friends run and they participated in the race on this absolutely gorgeous autumn day.  The eight mile race follows the Vin Gormley Trail in Burlingame State Park circling  Watchaug Pond.  Because most of the course was in the woods during hunting season all runners had to wear bright orange. 

As they ran, Mr O and I settled in at the halfway mark and waited for them to reach us.

The first to run by us was Mr H’s brother Greg, who went on to win…

 

I wasn’t happy with any of the photos I took when Mr H himself ran by…

His other brother Glenn was not far behind…

..and his father flew by us too.

Ms O was able to smile when she passed us even though running uphill at this point.

Many friends ran too…we may have embarrassed them with our picture taking and cheering…

There was a cheering section at the finish line too.

 

On his blog, South County Trails,  Mr H describes exactly how he felt during the race as he listened to the sounds of runners not seen, planned a course through puddles and over bridges,  and felt  like flying at the finish line.  It’s a beautiful description.  With the race followed by food and drinks at my daughter’s house the day had the feel of a celebratory holiday.  Mr O and I did leave for home early enough to go for that nice long walk…

Congratulations to all the runners!

Beach Layers…

Monday and Tuesday were warm and delightful and I managed to go for nice long walks around the pond but on Wednesday I talked myself into taking the dog to the beach for a walk.  Even though I only live about a half hour away from the beach I don’t get there as often as I should, there is always something more pressing it seems and the dog really doesn’t like to ride in the car.  Fortunately on this day I went.   The warmth, the light, the haze, and the full moon all convened to make some magic.  The layers of color enticed me.  I didn’t adjust them at all in the photos…these are SOOC or straight out of the camera.  The light and the colors seemed to change with every step…

Heading back into the sun the colors changed…

…and then the moon rose and changed the layers of color even more.

An Autumn Snowstorm…

The weathermen said we would probably miss the storm since we were so close to the coast  and we did miss the worst of it.  So it was exciting to see the flurries as we were driving home Saturday night and it was quite amazing to wake to a couple of inches of snow on Sunday morning.  It was just three weeks ago when we were sailing in unseasonably hot weather.  Mother Nature is playing games with us I think. 

 


 





We were fortunate not to lose power so we could enjoy the whole strangeness of snow in October and still have family and friends over for dinner…

There are so many textures to be found on this snowday walk that I decided to add this to Kat Eye Studio's Exploring with a Camera link-up.



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Apple Picking…

 

The day we went apple picking was yet another unseasonably hot October day…It is probably the first time we did this in shorts and t-shirts and still complained.   It just didn’t seem right.  The heat did increase the scent of the apples though, a wonderful cidery scent that you just can’t blame the yellow jackets for being attracted to…a scent that reminds me how I miss an old apple tree that once grew in our backyard, a tree so tall you would need a ladder to pick the apples if they were any good for eating.  The yellow jackets loved those apples too.

Apples

by Laurie Lee

Behold the apples’ rounded worlds:
juice-green of July rain,
the black polestar of flowers, the rind
mapped with its crimson stain.
The russet, crab and cottage red
burn to the sun’s hot brass,
then drop like sweat from every branch
and bubble in the grass.
They lie as wanton as they fall,
and where they fall and break,
the stallion clamps his crunching jaws,
the starling stabs his beak.
In each plump gourd the cidery bite
of boys’ teeth tears the skin;
the waltzing wasp consumes his share,
the bent worm enters in.
I, with as easy hunger, take
entire my season’s dole;
welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour,
the hollow and the whole.

What I did this Summer…Maine

This year it has been more difficult than usual for me to have a mind of autumn.   I seem to be stuck in the hot mugginess of summer…just like our recent weather.  I still haven’t put away my summer clothes or edited my summer photos.  Perhaps one last look at our Maine vacation photos will help ease me into fall…maybe it will keep me in the summery doldrums.   It was a wonderful vacation, like all our Maine vacations are…lots of family and friends and food and fun…tiring but relaxing at the same time.  Maybe my mind is still there on vacation…

What I did this Summer….Sailing on Catnip

We don’t always get to spend as much time on our little sailboat as we would like but this year it got closer…
Catnip went in the water at the beginning of June…






Sometimes sailing involves picnicking…




Sometimes it is busy out on the water…..

Sometimes it is nice and quiet…

Sometimes we drop the kids off for a swim at the beach…
Sometimes we meet up with friends…


Sometimes we go out in the evening…

and stay for the sunset…

Sometimes I take photos of boats, birds, shoreline, buoys, lighthouses…


and if I get bored I can start taking photos of parts of the boat…




I hope we still have a few autumn sails to go.