Friday Finish!

 Lately it seems I never have time to go online and when I do, it is to quickly scan and hopefully not miss anything. I usually try to catch up on blogs on the weekend so hopefully I can catch up on everyones news.

I decided to start an Americana piece this week, a design by Bird in the Hand Primitives. It was fun to do and small pieces are nice since I can add more to my walls. I traced it in reverse, I guess I placed the design backwards on the light pad, but it looks like either way.

And of course we spent afternoons at the beach when we could. Glass collecting, walks on the beach and nature.

One day I got more distracted by the antics of a pair of Great Egrets, so not as much glass that day. 

The gulls like to hang with them, always a chance of stealing food if they can get it.

And at one point they were doing their dance, but it was hard to catch them in the act.

In the distance on a large rock island, I spotted a lot of Cormorants. This is just a portion of the rock and you can see how many nests are there. 

And we finally got a chance to get to the Veterans Cemetery. My parents are there, Bills dad and second wife, as well as his brother Tom. It is a beautiful place to just walk around.

His brother is in the memorial wall, but it is a new section and they still haven't engraved names on any. The old graveyard is in the back and this sad section is the graves that died at Ladd School, formally called The School for the Feeble Minded. They finally closed it down, a time of horrors to the poor and mentally disabled.

Today we stopped at the main state beach to get passes for our cars. While we were down there, we stopped at another beach for a nice walk, perfect day but the tide was up, so not a good time for glass collecting.

And on a sad note, we said our goodbyes to Moki. He as a stray that wondered into my yard one day. Scared and hungry, and scarred up from battles. It took a few weeks before he fully trusted me and then he came in and stayed. We were not sure how old he was, but the vet said around 3 years. He was silly and loving and will be missed, but I know he is better off from his suffering. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I got a dragon kite for the boys, so hoping we can get out to try it.

Weekend Wanderings!

 

We have been keeping busy with drives and finding new places, as well as visiting old places. A lot of foliage is showing now, but I can never find a place to get good shots. Today I found some nice places and of all times, my camera has stopped focusing. I will have to take it in to see what is going on, hopefully not an expensive fix. I am looking at buying a new body to hold my zoom lens so I can just grab and shoot and maybe not miss shots, like I did this week.

Our first stop Thursday was a graveyard, always fun when I find a new one. Lots of old grave and we enjoyed walking around and reading some of them. To the side was this sign and small stones to mark the graves.

As we were walking on a hillside area, I looked down the hill and saw a grave, all by itself. Of course I had to see what was on it and why it was there. As you can see from the stone, he committed suicide after he murdered a Doctor's daughter. I read that they were lovers and the family didn't approve, so he killed her, then himself. Another says he loved her, but she didn't feel the same way, so it was unrequited love. 

Our next stop was a pond. As you can see in this photo, there are two hawks, battling it out. One zoomed by my face, one over my face and I grabbed this shot with a regular lens. Then an eagle flew over my head and before I could get my zoom set up, he was gone. The sky was full of crows, they were chasing the hawks and eagle.

We walked along the path to a big field and walked through that to old cornfields, but no eagle in sight. I did find a few wasp nests, and glad it was cold and windy. Definitely not a place to go to in the warm weather.

Our final stop was the fabric store. They have tons of fabric, but nothing that I was looking for. I did find a fun kitty print, to make a few masks for me and the boys. Then a rustic flag print for Bill and the ghosts glow in the dark, so the boys will love that.

Today I wanted an easy day, a ride to the quiet side of Connecticut to stop at a few places and the primitive store to get a new pump for my soap jar. We stopped at a dam first, that is when I went to use my camera. I think dropping it the other day didn't help, I did notice my photos were not the usual quality. Then we stopped at Roseland park to enjoy the views. It is a beautiful park and the colors were coming in nicely. The iPhone did a fairly nice job though.

Our last stop was Wolf's Den. I wanted to do the hike we couldn't do with the boys and I figured it was an easy 2 miles. I was wrong, we walked 7 1/2 miles, up and down steep hills, lol. My legs got tired and weak, but I made it to the Wolf's den and the other interesting sites. I seriously think I need a rest day tomorrow. It will be warmer, so sitting at the ocean for a few hours will be fine with me. 

Christmas Vacation!

Bill always gets the holiday week off, so we took advantage of the time to get out and do some exploring. It is also a great time to use the coupons and sales to get some needed items like a new coat. I finally found one that is duck cloth, warm inner but not heavy so I can have something to wear when we go on adventures.

We had one day that was considered warm, warm enough that my hands didn't freeze, that is. It was a great day to go for a drive and enjoy the ocean. It seems everyone was out enjoying it, as well. A few were doing some parasailing which looks like fun to me, though I am not sure I have the strength to control the sail.

Lots of surfers, birds and action going on at the beaches, but I realize, I need a zoom to get good shots of those. I did catch this little guy who was running back and forth on the beach.

The treat was, as we were coming home, the sun was going down. We went down a side road and stopped at the pond to watch the sunset. A wonderful way to end a day.

Another day we went to the Watch Hill lighthouse. It was a bit cool and breezy but a perfect place to sit in the car and just enjoy the views. From here you can see the rhode island and the long island sounds.

Today we went to go to a park on the opposite side of Westerly. The river runs through Rhode Island, and empties into the ocean. The park was small but a nice little walk with views of a graveyard across the river.

I found a road from here that took us across, into Connecticut and to Barn Island. We have been here to paddle, and I wanted to just go for the views.

When we got there, I noticed a lot of people parked at the hiking trails. We have never been on the trails, I assumed they were just short walks to look at the estuaries and it was too swampy to walk. Well, I had to go check it out and I was surprised to see nice trails that led through the area with views of the inlets and areas in the woods.

Lots of old growth trees, reformed by the weather and storms.

We even got to see a blue heron, another time I wish I had a zoom. The area is so beautiful and peaceful, definitely coming back to do more hiking when it isn't so cold.

Before we headed home, we went further down so I could get some shots of a church with my wide angle. I plan on using churches in my area to do new pieces, so I took shots and this one was an experiment in art photography, you can see some of the church, lots of character for a new piece.

I hope everyone is having a nice week and rested from the holiday festivities. I did make something new this week, but was so tired when we got home, I didn't get a chance to finish it off. A few more days of goofing off and then it is time to start working on my projects again. I hope it will be a productive year for all of you. May the new year bring good health and blessings to you all.