View allAll Photos Tagged sidelines
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...no wait...I think that opening has been used somewhere before. Let's try again.
It was a grey, misty day and not a breeze stirred even the leaves fallen on the mirror-like surface of the lake. Quiet is the dominant theme of days like this. A few crows cawing and the comforting babble of the loons who watched as I paddled by, greeting them in passing as I knew they now counted the days before departure ...and I, in turn, watch a bit more eagerly each day for their presence.
Paddling the shoreline, I looked for signs of a summer past and found ragged lily pads and fallen trees, remnants of the storm a few weeks ago. No turtles, or the sound of frogs...though an occasional fish rose to the surface, even that seeming to emphasize the quiet as the ripples gradually faded away into the grey. Even the song birds were silent. A time to contemplate things...and I did just that.
Then, I thought I spotted something out of the corner of my eye and pulling my camera out of my pocket, awkwardly paddled back one-handed, went too far, tried again, clicked the camera, noticed it was on macro mode, changed it, clicked it again once before my subject skittered away. It was an American Coot, (not to be confused with the Old Coot, a variety with which I am intimately familiar), and a species which I don't believe I've ever seen on the lake before. You can see in the image that he was just watching me, and I had the odd sensation of the roles being reversed between hunter and hunted. If you look larger, you may be able to see his amused expression.
Locomotive models from various makers and eras populate the T-Yard at BNSF's Northtown Yard. No unit is safe.
In the prior photo I posted you may have noticed an old blue high nosed first generation geep lurking in the background beyond the main focus of that image. Well here is a closer look. This unit will need no introduction if you're from New England but if not here you go.
MBTA 904 is an EMD GP18 which was originally built for the Grand Trunk Western in Mar. 1960 as number 4952. Delivered in classic CN green and yellow maple leaf colors she powered commuter trains in Detroit for GTW and then SEMTA until that service ended in the 1983. She then moved on to Boston with four siblings who she long outlasted to become the last of her breed on the MBTA, relegated to switching and work train duties. Alas in 2019 she was retired from active service and stricken from the Keolis contract and shipped to the MBTA/MassDOT contract shop in Wareham where she has languished ever since awaiting a possible rebuild and return to service as a switcher that may or may not ever come to fruition.
At the time this was taken she was parked here behind the small Seaview Railroad shop for ACSES equipment upgrades.
To learn more about the Seaview, Rhode Island's own railroad check out the caption with this shot: flic.kr/p/2ndaWTG
North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Sunday June 10, 2018
Very low water levels at Huntley Meadows Park provided easy fishing for the herons and egrets but also danger from the large snapping turtles. Here you see unusual caution as they had just witnessed a couple encounters with the turtles.
Today we went to Melin Court waterfalls. Unfortunately there was quiet a few other people up there. I still don't have my mojo back and refused to fight for a small bit of the falls. This might be a side effect of my condition I don't know. We saw this small falls at the side of the path on our way up. I wonder how many times this has been over looked for the larger falls further upstream.
This shot wasn't very sharp and was a little overexposed. I just liked it and wanted to see how well I could recover the details. I pushed the processing and like where it ended up !
You know there’s a certain kind of individual
Who always takes the rough side
The side that nobody else wants to take
Most folks are content to take the path of least resistance
To sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by
(Part of a poem written by John Mellencamp in tribute to Woody Guthrie)
Dory the cat's sittin' at her windae, watchin' the lively carry-on doon below wi' a growin' sense o' suspicion. As the meeces dart back an' forth across the field, somethin' on the sidelines catches her eye. There's that awful reprobate, Brushtail Mousie, who's gone an' set up a wee stall where she's takin' bets on the outcome o' the game. Dory's ears twitch, an' her suspicions deepen.
Could there be a connection between these bets an' the "donations" the BunBuns are so freely handin' oot tae the players? Dory's got a feelin' in her whiskers that Brushtail Mousie an' the BunBuns might be in cahoots. Maybe these donations arenae just innocent wee gifts, but part o' some bigger scheme tae rig the game. The BunBuns arenae just gamblin'—they're makin' investments, an' Brushtail Mousie could be the one makin' sure those investments pay aff.
Dory narrows her eyes even mair as she thinks it over. Whatever's goin' on here, it reeks o' a crafty plan that could turn the daft world o' pawball-playin' meeces upside doon. In a world where Brushtail Mousie is pullin' the strings, ye can bet yer last bit o' kibble that nothin's left tae chance.
Dory, die Katze, sitzt an ihrem Fenster und beobachtet das lebhafte Treiben unten mit wachsendem Misstrauen. Während die Mäuse auf dem Spielfeld hin und her flitzen, zieht etwas am Rand des Geschehens ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Da ist Brushtail Mousie, dieser abscheuliche Halunke, der doch tatsächlich einen Stand aufgebaut hat, an dem sie Wetten auf den Ausgang des Spiels annimmt. Dorys Ohren zucken, und ihr Verdacht wächst.
Könnte es einen Zusammenhang zwischen diesen Wetten und den "Spenden" geben, die die BunBuns so großzügig an die Spieler verteilen? Dory hat den scharfen Verdacht, dass Brushtail Mousie und die BunBuns gemeinsame Sache machen. Vielleicht sind die Spenden gar keine unschuldigen Gaben, sondern Teil eines größeren Plans, um das Spiel zu manipulieren. Die BunBuns wetten nicht nur, sie investieren—und Brushtail Mousie könnte genau derjenige sein, der dafür sorgt, dass sich diese Investitionen auszahlen.
Dorys Augen verengen sich noch mehr, als sie darüber nachdenkt. Was auch immer hier vor sich geht, es riecht stark nach einem ausgeklügelten Plan, der die naive Welt der Pfotenball spielenden Mäuse gründlich durcheinanderbringen könnte. In einer Welt, in der Brushtail Mousie die Fäden zieht, scheint nichts dem Zufall überlassen zu sein.
Cabooses were once commonplace at the back ends of freight trains. The conductor could watch for trouble from the cupola on top, while the crew could eat or rest in the accommodations below. Starting with deregulation in the late 1980's cabooses were phased out in favor of the FRED (flashing rear end device).
(15 second exposure + LED8 light)
Blue-flagged and on a side track, three Lake Superior & Ishpeming RSD12’s of Chesapeake & Ohio and later Baltimore & Ohio lineage stand near the shops in Eagle Mills, Michigan. Neither the C&O nor the B&O rostered many Alco's, and it’s very likely that these three have not been subject to the same care and maintenance as the LS&I’s bought-new RSD12’s, which are still going strong. It’s apparent that these three were stored, possibly permanently.
One of the many lotus seen growing along the edge of the Lotus Pond at Dauset Trails Nature Center. It's so nice to be able to get so close to them, getting to see all their amazing beauty up close and personal.
It also makes for some great photo ops. But one must remember to watch your step and not to get distracted by all that beauty when taking those photos. I, for one, definitely do not want to find out the hard way just how muddy and marshy that bank can get.