Olive Takes a Dip
I think I post a version of this photograph more than I probably should. We have had a ton of rain in the past few days, and Olive and I had a lovely wet walk in the woods this afternoon. But for some reason, the water, the leaves, and the dog make me feel quite happy and I wanted to share it.
Star / Higgins Beach
We are up in Maine for a few days. The Christmas tree came down earlier today and some of the stars fell off on the way out of the house.
Cris, Olive, and I had a lovely walk on Higgins Beach just before the sun went down.
I’ll try to post before the New Year, but if I don’t get the chance, happy end of 2015 to all of you, and best for 2016
Olive at the Beach
Due to the wonderful generosity of my brother and sister-in-law, we are back at the beach in South Carolina. This is Olive’s first visit to the ocean.
She took to it like a champ. Full blast, right into the water and ran like the wind. Here she is during her first encounter with a horseshoe crab. Initially she was cautious, but after a minute she just barked at it until we lured her away with biscuits. She is really becoming a great dog.
Nor’easter Walk
There is a Nor’easter spinning around New England today. It is always a bit odd to have weather move in from the East. I have been spending a lot of time in front of the computer editing photographs and answering email, and thought the dog and I could use some time in the woods.
I have written before about these little plants that grow around here and, as usual, I can never remember what they are called. The recent rains have really brought them out.
Fantastic stick action for Olive.
In addition to the usual horse shit and acorns that she usually finds and eats, she also ate some of these mushrooms before I could stop her.
Anybody have any idea if they are poisonous? Or hallucinogenic? Let’s hope not. Ach, puppies.
Block Island
We took the ferry to Block Island today. This evening we walked down to Mansion Beach. Cris has a knack for finding the most amazing things on beaches. She found an iPhone once in South Carolina.
Tonight she found this.
And then she found the box it came in.
It appears to be some kine of weather device that was attached to a balloon.
Here’s the code number.
It’s in the back of the car now.
Here’s a sand castle about to disappear.
Tilghman(‘s) Island/DuPont Circle
I have spent the last two days on Tilghman Island shooting more artifacts and a bunch of really interesting artwork. It is a remarkable place, and I just love working there. The above shot is a detail from a very old linen map of oyster beds near the island. It was literally falling apart but is an amazing remnant of work life on the bay.
After 6 months of really hard work, it looks like Peter has found a job. It will be a few weeks before he starts, but we are so happy for him. I took a quick shower after the drive back to DC from Tilghman’s and we went right out to buy him some work clothes. There is a GAP practically next to Nando’s so we ate some chicken and then went to Larry’s for ice cream. It is a wonderful place on Connecticut Avenue. I had lavender, which was probably the most interesting flavor I’ve had in years.
Home tomorrow.
Connecticut River / Hadley
I was driving home from Northampton early this evening and stopped at my favorite spot on the Connecticut river. The light was quite nice as I stood on this levee looking West. It has been a beautiful Spring here this year.
Travels
It has been a while since I’ve posted. I think it was a combination of having the Kickstarter campaign wrap up and feeling a bit of “Kharma Congestion” as my friend Alex would call it.
Last week Cris and I drove to Toronto. She was presenting at the annual CIES Conference and I was tagging along for fun.
We went out to an amazing South Indian restaurant called Udupi Palace and it was the best. Cristine’s favorite food in the world is a paper masala dosa, and Udupi has the best ones she has ever found outside of India. After we ate, we were waiting for a streetcar to take us back downtown and I saw this window display. Love the hands.
I was very excited to get back to Toronto to be able to see the Thompson Collection of Cornelius Krieghoff paintings at The Art Gallery of Ontario. Here is a previous post about my relation to him. The museum has a ton of his work. I was really jazzed to see so many in one place.
This is a detail from one of his paintings that is a sort of self-portrait of his family (in the sleigh).
I especially liked reading the bottom paragraph here. It helps to explain where I might get my own disregard for authority.
After Toronto, we drove to Pittsburgh for another of Cris’ conferences. On the way we had to stop at Niagara Falls. I hadn’t been on the Canadian side for years, and it was a beautiful day. (Unlike many, I also really like the American side.)
In Toronto we scored some of these great Roots mittens. And I bought this hat in the Soviet Union in 1982, a very long time ago.
Next stop was Eddie’s Footlong Hot Dogs on the Lake Road just outside of Meadville. I grew up eating these and was thrilled to see that they had opened for the season just a few days earlier. I rarely post pictures of food, but oh man are these good. Too cold to eat at the picnic tables, but two with the works hit the spot.
We got to Pittsburgh in time for a nice walk along the River. It is a fantastic city that somehow remains largely intact. The downtown is full of beautiful buildings that are mostly in good shape, and it seems, just waiting for a revival of sorts. It is hard to imagine why young artists aren’t flocking here and making it home. It is such a cheap place to live, with amazing loft spaces right in town, and tons of culture. And the rivers!
So many beautiful steel bridges. This one leads to PNC Park, just across the river from downtown.
Here’s a view looking back across the water.
Our hotel was very near to Penn Station and on Sunday morning I took a walk over to check it out. As a kid I had traveled through it on the train, and the upper floors are now converted to “luxury” apartments. This is a section of the dome which used to be the main entryway from the street.
It was sad to see the “modern” waiting room like this.
With only two trains a day, and nothing running North/South there isn’t much activity. And the times aren’t particularly convenient.
Thanks for checking in. I’ll try to get on a more regular schedule of posting. Tomorrow Peggy Ross is coming over and we are meeting with my friends at Small Batch Books to start work on the Suitcases book reward. I’ll keep updating progress on the project, and plan to be back shooting next week.
Tilghman’s Island
I am back on Tilghman’s Island (some call it Tilghman Island; it’s kind of confusing as the town is Tilghman, MD but most of the older watermen call it Tilghman’s). I set up my lights and background and Willie Roe came by with his collection of items that he dredged up during his clamming days on Chesapeake Bay.
He has a huge assortment of 19th century clay pipes.
I especially like this one with Etoile etched into it and the lovely little star above the word.
Many of the pipes had the words HOME RULE stamped upon the bowl. Here is what I found when I looked it up on the internet. So amazing what you can learn about the past.
I-95
I was meant to be driving to DC as I am writing this, but due to the winter storm nailing the I-95 corridor, I ended up leaving last night. I stopped just North of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, got a room for a few hours and was on the road again by 6.30 this morning. It started snowing just after I parked in Peter’s apartment building in DC, and now at 2.15 it is really coming down. And cold to boot. I really wanted to make it here today as it is his 25th birthday. We’ll get to spend the whole day together and then go out to dinner somewhere in the neighborhood this evening.
Tomorrow I am off to Tilghman to shoot Chesapeake Bay related artifacts for the Watermen’s Museum. Originally Peter Carroll was going to be shooting video as well, but he basically had no safe way of getting here from Ithaca due to the weather. He and I have been working on the island on and off for over 5 years now and it is such an interesting place. / The second of his films about the watermen and their families will be shown on Maryland Public Television Tuesday, 23rd April at 8.30 PM. Here is a teaser. And here is a link to an earlier post of mine about one aspect of the project.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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