It has been a gorgeous weekend. Earl, Jamie, Scott and I went out to dinner to a local Irish castle (even though we are not in Ireland). The Beardslee Castle is known for it’s ghosts, it’s ambience and it’s great food. We had a wonderful evening.
We’ve been doing some work around the lawn getting everything ready for spring. I added a few new landscaping lights to the collection; I have promised these are the only landscaping lights I will purchase this season. Solar powered lighting rocks!
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
The last remnants of winter are almost gone. We are hoping that all remaining snow will be gone by sundown. It looks like we are making good progress towards that goal.
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
I went for a walk to “town” and back and decided to bring the good camera along for the walk. I snapped some photos with the theme “connections” in mind. The first two photos in this blog entry are part of that theme; the landscape lights stand in unison, connected to their sun via their solar powered batteries. The last bit of the snow bank is the connection to the winter that has (hopefully) passed.
The lilac bush in the front lawn is feeling connected to spring. Soon we will have lilacs giving us a lovely scent as we walk out the front door. I think lilacs are my favorite flower; Grandma City had quite a few bushes in the back lawn and when they were in season, she’d have a small arrangement on the kitchen table. The scent was pleasant
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
The local county DPW has decided to start marking the county routes like most of the counties in New York State does, connecting folks to the directions stamped on their printed Google Maps directions or barked out by their GPS. I took this photo of one of the new signs.
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
As I notice these signs I bark out “we are on County Route (whatever)!” Everyone else in the vehicle sighs.
Before the road came through, their was a railroad that is now mainly used by a local railroad preservation society. This line goes into the Adirondacks and is aptly home to the Adirondack Railroad. The northern end of the line is just south of Old Forge in Thendara; the southern end of the line in Utica at Union Station.
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| Northbound. From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
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| Southbound. From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
Grandma Country had a fondness for watching the trains go by as she read in her rocking chair. I wish this line was busier so I could snap some photos from time to time. I’ve never ridden in a locomotive; that’s something I’d like to do.
Because I’m a big geek and have always been a big geek, I occasionally take photos of power lines. These particular type of pylons (I believe that’s what those who know call them) are only found in Upstate New York (mostly in the former Niagara Mohawk territory), at least as far as I have observed and there are several variations on this theme throughout the Empire State. I plan on taking some shots of the variations. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a manufacturer or date when I inspected this closely.
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
It’s hard to believe that the local expressway is eight years old already. It keeps us connected to the small city, pictured here in the distance. Someday this road will have an official Interstate number and everything.
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
I have been feeling particularly connected to my country these days. This flag made me smile, as it is up 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and given the proper lighting and respect it deserves. This is at the local post office.
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| From 2011-04-03: Connections. |
All in all the walk was around two miles and it felt good to be out in the sunshine. I’m ramping up to be on the bike by the end of the week; the weather predictions say we’ll be near 60 by then. Perfect cycling weather.
