Smokey Bear
Cris and I used to joke about this. I have always argued that his real name was Smokey Bear, and she insisted that it was Smokey the Bear. I still think I am right, and this billboard could prove it. / It is very cool and windy today; much different than the wild weather of yesterday.
Connecticut River / Hadley, MA
The sun has not made an appearance here since last Saturday. In the winter time, it would most likely bum me out to have everything so gray, but this spring has been amazing. So many shades of green and the sky so subtle. It won’t last long, but it is just beautiful. / This shot is made up of 4 different images that I stitched together. They were taken on the levee in Hadley that overlooks the Connecticut.
Jardin Botanique de Montreal
Before it started raining heavily yesterday, Cris and I got the chance to go to the Botanical Gardens out near the Olympic site. Since it was so early in the season, there was no charge to enter. The daffodils and some of the tulips were out, and the Alpine garden was especially nice. / Back to the States in an hour or so. It’s been fun.
Hotel Room With a View (finally)
Cris and I are well used to having hotel rooms with crap views. Were were pleasantly surprised to enter our room and see this. It is especially nice to be able to open the window far enough to stick out the camera and get a clear shot. / I am really liking this city.
Woods
It actually snowed yesterday morning. It melted away by late afternoon, but it was foggy and wet all day. It is much warmer this morning, and still a bit foggy. The sun is out now and all the fog is gone. / This is the view looking south off our deck. The mountain laurels should bloom in the next three or four weeks, and by mid May, there are literally hundreds of pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acule) that return year after year.
Bartlett Fishrod Factory Dam
It rained really hard last night, and I thought it would be a good time to start to document the old dam on Amethyst Brook in Pelham. There is some talk about removing it to allow the river to revert to its original course. It was built almost 200 years ago, and the small lake above the dam used to be a popular swimming spot for the locals. When we first moved to the area, it seemed sad that it no longer filled this purpose. Years ago the state declared it unsafe, and in 2008, the state Office of Dam Safety declared it “structurally deficient”, and the current owners were forced to either repair or remove it. Lots of dough involved here, and several local and national pro rivers organizations are trying to raise the money needed to start the demolition. I hated the idea at first (destruction of a cool old structure), but after reading an article in the Amherst Bulletin, it seems to make a sense in terms of restoring the river to its original state. It’ll be fun to watch what happens.
Clingstone story in Old House Journal
The Old House Journal with the Clingstone story is on the newsstands. It is the May 2011 issue. Click here to see the online version. Please click on the photos to see them in a pop-out window. And keep in mind that the volunteer weekend is coming up . It is a blast.
Day Peckinpaugh / Erie Canal
I was mostly crazed yesterday. Sometime over the weekend, I either lost, misplaced, or had stolen some important mail. I was preoccupied by it most of the day. So much so that at about 2 o’clock I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. For some reason, I decided to mess around with my web site instead. I had been wanting to update it fore a while, especially the projects page.
Several years ago, the New York State Museum rescued the Day Peckinpaugh from imminent scrapping. It was in Erie, PA, and by some miracle Craig Williams got a hold of it just before its demise. Most amazing was that he found someone who had actually worked on the ship while it was still an active hauler, and who knew his way around the engines. So they fired them up and started the journey from Erie to Waterford, NY.
The Peckinpaugh was built in 1921 and when it was retired in 1994, it was the last working freighter on the Erie Canal. I think I remember hearing that it was hauling concrete at that time.
I got the chance to be on her for much of the trip across New York State on the canal. It was late October / early November and the weather could not have been better. A really interesting group of people too.
John Callaghan was the skipper, and you can see by the concentration on his face that it was an intense job for him and his crew. The ship travelled mostly by her own power, but on occasion tug boats came in to help out.
So, at the end of the day, I still hadn’t found the mail, but at least I felt good about getting something productive done. To see more from the trip, check out the “projects” page of my main website (joncrispin.com) by clicking the link on the right (Jon’s main site).
Delaware Memorial Bridge
Peter and I left Tilghman this morning at 5.00. We drove in tandem until I got on 295 to go over the bridge and he went up toward Ithaca on 476. It’s always nice to see the sun rise.
Looking South
We are shooting at a house on a part of the island called Bar Neck. This is the view out the back window. The platform in the water usually has ospreys nesting on it. Mary Kellogg says that the male usually shows up around St Patrick’s Day to establish territorial rights, and the female follows shortly thereafter.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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