Beach
A very quiet day today. Still recovering a bit from flu and the 18 hour drive, but this is the place to do it.
Bray House
My neighbor Ken was on his way to Temple when he called and said that the light on the house at the bottom of our road was nice. I walked down and took this photo, mostly for him. It was a beautiful warm day, but as soon as the sun went down it got quite cold. When he gets home tonight, he will have this image in his email box. I really like the immediacy of photography.
Chicken
My brother and I drove to South Carolina yesterday. It was a great drive and beautiful weather the whole time. / I knew we had crossed the IHOP/Waffle House line when I saw this sign in Virginia. Too bad it wasn’t Tuesday; I could have had an extra crispy gizzard for lunch.
Willard Cemetery
Every time I go to Willard, NY to do some work relating to the Psych Center, I go to the cemetery and walk around. The setting is really beautiful; a huge rolling field with a view of Seneca Lake. It is also a very moving place. For reasons I have never completely understood (or agreed with), the only names on headstones are in the veteran’s section. All other graves are marked with a number. I spent all day Friday photographing the wonderful people who worked at Willard before it was closed, and then Brad Edmondson and I walked across the road to have a look. I was struck by the fact that it was late Friday afternoon on the 10th of September, the last day of Rosh Hashanah.
Newsstand
The New York State Museum is looking at some older style newsstands that are slowly being replaced by a more modern version. I was in the city yesterday on a mad dash down Broadway starting at 178th Street and ending around Times Square. It was very windy, rainy, rushed and a total blast. We were helped out by Harley Spiller, who is THE expert on the stands and in particular the paperweights used to hold down the piles of papers. An amazing and very cool guy. This stand is on the corner of 46th and Broadway.
Purple Loosestrife
“Hey, purple stuff”! A while back, Cris and I started seeing this plant near wetlands as we were driving around the Northeast. It was often near highways and at first we really liked seeing it. At some point I read an article about how it is a very invasive plant called Purple Loosestrife that rapidly spreads and is taking over wetlands at a scary rate. Cris had a hard time remembering the name, so it became a bit of a joke with us. We’d be in the car and the first to see it would call out “Hey, Purple Stuff”. (Akin to our “THERE”S the sewage treatment plant”.) Anyway, Peter and the Pearl and I were walking today and there was tons of it near the UMASS football field. It was very windy and beautiful, and I liked how the goldenrod looked next to it.
Fungi
Cris and I were walking in Northampton today and I saw the fungus on the left growing on a tree. It was about 9 feet off the ground so I guessed at the framing. Just missed the right side. As I was taking the picture, a woman driving by got our attention and said there was a bigger one on Olive Street. So we drove over and saw the one on the right. I like the first one a bit better, but the one on Olive is huge.
Graveyard
No matter where I live, there is one spot which I am always surprised to see. It is as if it doesn’t belong to its surroundings, so in my mind I block it out. In Ithaca there was a stretch of road that gave me the feeling of being somewhere else, and there was a street in Springfield, OH that had the same affect on me. / Peter and I were walking in downtown Amherst yesterday and as I looked to my left down an alley, I saw this graveyard. It is literally in the very center of town, but is situated in such a way that it is not visible unless you are really looking for it. Emily Dickinson is buried here, so there are almost always vague looking people wandering around paying their respects.
John S. Lane & Son, Inc
I went here once many years ago with my neighbor Dan to get trap rock for my driveway. It is a very cool business in an interesting location. I drive past on occasion and just recently noticed how lovely the sign looks at night.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
leave a comment