November 2016 Supermoon

I wasn't going to leave the comfort of my jammies and house to go look at the supermoon but decided to get dressed and go to Mass Maritime.  Really glad I did.  I have never seen a moon that big in my life.  And it was all lit up pink from the sunset too.

There goes the barge!  Kinda wish the train bridge had lowered for a train.  That would've been cool.

Really gorgeous!!!!!  Once in a lifetime!

October 2016

The fall is passing by so fast just like the rest of the year.  I haven't taken many foliage pictures because it seemed like it lasted a week.  Now the leaves are falling off the trees.  Buzzards Bay continues to disappoint me with the lack of seasonal spirit.  No scarecrows again this year.  Main Street at my end of town is still a disgrace with vacant and crumbling buildings.  Now the park is all torn up to be redone (supposedly better) which means no Christmas tree or decorations down there either.

Did everyone get out to see the beautiful, full Hunters Moon that was also a super moon?  A couple of days before it was completely full, I took the tripod outside and shot 16 pictures in different exposures.  The very last picture was 'the money shot'.  I did like how the moon looks like it's being held up by the tree.

I'm very happy with this shot.  It's so hard to get a good pic of the moon so I'm just going to call this 'good' and not keep trying to get 'the perfect picture' of it.  This one will do nicely.

Another pretty sunset.

I took this near where I grew up in E. Sandwich.  In an odd twist of fate, when I was checking my 'on this day' memories, I'd taken similar photos on the same date as these, in 2012.  

Hoxie Pond

This is a couple of houses down from me.  They've done a great job with their Halloween decorations!

It's hard to believe that we are heading full bore into the holidays again.  I wish time would slow down a little!

Super Moon and Blood Moon

Unless you were living under a rock, you are pretty much all aware of the unusual circumstances for the full moon on September 27.  Not only was it a super moon, there was going to be a total eclipse turning it into the red blood moon too.  The next one like this won't happen till something like 2033.

It was going to start a little after 9 and peak about 11.  I was sooo tired and I didn't feel like dragging out the tripod and all that.  I just wanted to go to bed.  While I did check it out a few times to see the phases, I didn't feel like shooting them.  It was kinda cool to see how bright my yard was at 8:30 and then get progressively darker every time I looked outside. I wrote as my status that there was no way I was going to stay awake that late.  One of my friends commented, in all caps no less, that I should get my butt out there and shoot the damn thing.  The way she worded it made me laugh, so I was like, 'FINE!' but it came out like 'FINE-AH'.  

I grabbed the tripod from the other room, attached the zoom lens, screwed the camera onto the tripod head, a flashlight and my new cable shutter release and went outside.  

OK so it was getting pretty cool.  I'd already done night time photography adjustments in the manual settings so I went out there and started messing around with exposure times.  

I should've written down each exposure time.  I did 1, 2, 3 and 4 seconds; a couple were longer.  The first pic was taken at 10:24 pm, the last at 10:29.

Despite my best efforts and a much easier to see object, I just couldn't get the focus quite right.  But the cable shutter release is a godsend.  I haven't been able to effectively shoot on the bulb setting no matter how still I thought I was standing.  Even when it was on the tripod, just pressing down the shutter was enough to shake the camera.  

While I was waiting for the red to take over more, I tried some shots of the stars but they were all pretty bad because of the focus problem.  I'll have to work on that more.

I decided I'd had about enough and wanted to go inside.  I adjusted the focus one last time and snapped what is probably the best picture I've ever taken in my life.  Not only is the moon crisp, the stars look great too.  I entered it in NASA's photo contest but I don't really hold out any hope of winning based on the volume of submissions.

Busy Summer!

Due to the fantastic weather up here this summer, just for a change, and our wedding, I've now gotten WAY behind on my day trip & life-in-general posts.  A lot of people have been complaining about how cool it's been but I've been absolutely delighted with the temperature.  Oddly, the Pacific Northwest has been pretty much frying off and on all summer with terrible fires in Eastern WA, OR and in Idaho.  Even the rainy days have been sporadic and only a couple of thunderstorms, which is good because I don't like them and my dogs like them even less.

It was a bit stormy this late afternoon though, with tons of hail that fell in some towns on the Cape but not at our house.

Blackberries that are slowly ripening in the back yard.  After I took this pic I picked and ate the ripe ones!

Another Supermoon in August.

Made a quick trip to Butterflies of Cape Cod one morning.

Cercropia moth caterpillar getting BIG!

The day I went into Sandwich to get my hair cut and coloured, I had a chance to walk around a little bit near the salon, Classy Cuts.  These dog statues are near a vet's office.  So cute with their hat and snorkel!

Outside the wine shop.  I took it because of the Beringer bottle, having been there a few times in CA.

I met my cousin Diane for lunch one day and then we went for a cone at Twin Acres.  I never noticed their weathervane before! 

In addition, several other friends visited in August!  When Mary got to town, a group of us went to lunch at Bobby Byrnes one Saturday, although I only took this pic of Russell & his 'little sister'. (she was standing on a chair).

Plus I got to take two more items off the local bucket list when I visited Scituate when JoLisa was here from South Dakota, and Salem with Moriah & Bruce who were visiting from Canada! Although those day trips occurred a couple of weeks ago, I will be posting the pics over the next few days. August...and the whole summer....just flew by!

Lazy Hazy Dayz

The weather this summer has been the best in the four summers I've now been here.  There are humid stretches but they are punctuated by dry days too.  Even if it's warm out, that's fine, as long as it's not wicked humid on top of it.  

We had a gorgeous, orange Supermoon on the 12th.  

Got up on the 13th to a very warm day and although I was exhausted, I had to take a walk in the morning hours before the Harry Potter movie marathon continued on TV.  I didn't want to miss the movies but also didn't want to waste nice weather by staying indoors all day.  

I love these two shop signs.

Instead of my usual trek around Main Street, I went down Academy Drive, to the Taylor's Point Marina  & Mass Maritime area.  I could watch the water reflections dance off the boat hulls for hours.  

Or as they would say it here in Massachusetts, "Hahbahmastah".  ;-)

Isn't this the cutest little railroad bridge?  It's in someone's yard.

 

Peace maaaaan.

I would love to have a lighthouse in my yard!

Love this poster....makes it look really retro.  The Barnstable County Fair has been around for 169 years! I used to go every year as a kid....and Russell worked the fair with Coke up till he left the company.  But I really have no interest in going now.  Too many people, too much traffic and way too hot.  I don't ride the rides anymore and I know I'll end up spending money on more bric-a-brac I don't need!