Freeze... Thaw, Freeze... Thaw

The weather outside is frightful, but the pattern of the weather is even more frightful when one considers the impact, long term anyway, of global warming. How can anyone deny that global warming is happening? In any case, it really shouldn't be about the effect, but about the cause, and it will behoove us as a planet to reduce carbon emissions, but can we really do that with China and India emerging as industrial nations with huge populations? Too many questions, so here are a couple of photos that for me demonstrate the freeze thaw cycle we seem to be going through lately.

Quilt Making

It's odd funny how priorities develop in one's life. I always thought that I had complete control over the sequence in which things, all things, get done in my life, assuming that control was the "organizing" factor. But I've begun to discover that the tasks (I'll call them tasks here, and yet feel that word is too harsh) order themselves in many ways, all I have to do is just find the right time or the "extra" time to accomplish them. It's all about time, isn't it?
So, anyway, here we go again, I'm running out of time to put this post up, I need to fetch Jen a cup of coffee as the 6 o'clock alarm just went off, and I need to shower and get ready for school.
Last weekend was spent doing quilts for the grandchildren (and grandchildren-soon-to-be), so without revealing the finished work and spoiling a surprise, I'll post some pictures here. I need to start taking more photos and getting back to this site, I really enjoy it!
Interestingly, this is my 100th post for this year, half as much as in the previous two years. That says a lot to me about "new things", lifelong learning, and losing interest...

Night Time Related

These two shots... the first was taken in my basement after bringing in the solar lights that line the walkways around the shore and patio all summer. They were thrown randomly into a box and then put in the dark basement. The light came from within.

The second shot is from my kayak last night as I got home before dark (hard to do now) and decided that a "paddle" was in order, so I made my way around the bay and got a few shots before the night had closed. It was beautiful and this picture just gives a sense of how amazing it was on the water!

School Activities...

So Liz had some "ladies" laying ceramic tile this week, and were doing a super job of it when I took the first shot. What fun and it really makes the wall look cool!

Also, we did a "Tie Dye Tuesday" after school workshop, and got several teachers and a bunch of students preparing clothing for the weekly "tie_dye Friday" that the Art Department does at MDI. George and I even did dress shirts in tie dye.

And, finally, we've been doing tessellations in Fiber Arts and I shot one of a student on my iPad. Yes, it does tessellate!

Tall Chairs

These two photos were taken at USM and I thought the tall chairs sculpture was an amazing piece. Just got around to posting these photos. It's about the shadows after all, n'est ce pas?

Fall Is Definitely Here...

The Hostas (used a slow shutter speed and the zoom lens on that one) are folding up and turning brown as is about everything... those colors that exist between the bright reds and yellows we so often associate with fall and the November browns that presage winter are beautiful in all their subtleties! Here are three shots from this weekend.

It's a "Wild Thing"!

For the last two days the weather has been "blustery", as the meteorologists are so fond of saying, but it looks to me like it's just windy, very windy! The westerly wind has been blowing right at the front of the house, so it has been more obvious than usual with all the whistling and rattling. Usually we don't hear the wind as the house is pretty tight, but when it's "wild" out, we do! Here's a photo of the "Wild Thing" in all the wave action...

Grasshopper

Is a grasshopper in the grass redundant?

Apples, Mushrooms & Weathered Wood

I did a "photo walk", picked a half bushel of apples, and tasted a little piece of mushroom this afternoon before finishing the cutting of the grass. I also got a cool picture of a little grasshopper hanging onto a blade of grass but that's for another post. Here are the photos without much comment, sorry!

Ok, so I liked the "old" look of the apples and the boarding on the playhouse, the roughness of texture and visual quality... with the mushroom it was just about the camera angle and "getting under" the cap.

Surreal Banana

We were having a discussion wrapped around surrealism and humor in my Digital Media class this morning, and one of the students found a site where bananas were used in numerous and humorous ways. What a chance for a "teaching moment" and discussing the juxtaposition of reality and what one might call illogical fantasy! Where are the concepts of the Surrealistic movement connected to this sort of "setup" of imagery? Dali's "paranormal critical" method of observation took the "shape" of finding the "real" within negative space of objects, but this seems much more direct. Here's my banana.

Right Out Straight

... and as my colleague Leah Olson put it, "Lovin' it!" There has been so much to do at the beginning of this school year that at times I feel overwhelmed, but just keep busy (time passes quickly) and somehow get to the important things. Teaching kids to prioritize requires being able to do that myself! Here's me this morning!

The Right Light

So the apples were a good "shot selection" as we used to say in the basketball world, but often times it is really the light that makes a photo. The apples were just something I came upon after shooting a few shots of a sunset on the bay. I had a telephoto lens on the camera, and often it seems that the wrong lens is sort of stifling. I had looked at the clouds over Cadillac, but the telephoto was too "big", so I turned toward the apple tree and got several shots of the apples, lit by the sunset, and I think that subtle light with the dark background is what made the apple shot work. The sunset is here below.

Tonight's Sunset Over Frenchman's Bay

One picture can be worth a thousand words...

Turkey Family

On the way to work this morning, going through the "Mud Creek Road", just before I got to the flats, there were a dozens turkeys in the road. I'm posting a "family portrait" from the group!

Schoodic Sculpture Symposium

The look and feel of stone fascinates me, and I took these shots this afternoon at the Sculpture Symposium  in Prospect Harbor. A nice day, but dry, so the colors and such from anything that was really in progress and not polished up a bit were dust laden. I did grab a few pieces of scrap as mementos and something from which I might make a piece of jewelry or such. The bulk of the pieces this year is amazing, and a couple of the "post and lintel" pieces are very imposing. I especially like the more finished piece that was done in a basalt stone with the hands, face, and bird.

An Afternoon in New Harbor

We went down to to visit with Jen's sisters and a few of their children (and children's children) and so we "caught up" with how and where and what is going on with everyone, stopped to see Cary in Damariscotta on the way back and had just a wonderful afternoon and day. Very good to see family that we haven't seen in a while! Here are a few of my favorites, and I may post a few to my web album for the family!

September Shells

Here are a couple of pictures that I put up from materials I gathered from the shore after I got home from school this afternoon. I found my "close up" case that I made for my iPhone and so laid the small shells on a piece of paper on the dining room table and just got the camera close to them with available light.

It seems like a while since I've done anything with a vertical format, and the phone kind of "eases" me in that direction.

Accident Within a Mile

I was on my way home tonight and I got held up in traffic less than a mile from my door. Ambulances passed me on the way to Sullivan from Ellsworth, and then as soon as I got past the high school there was a long line of stopped traffic. I took a few pictures as I went by after probably 30-40 minutes in line, and it looked like someone on a motorcycle was pretty seriously injured. Scary, and so close to home! Here's an approach shot and one of the scene.

Irene at Schoodic

Beautiful waves, ugly (beautiful) waves, and the setting sun's effect on the view. All these combined to make yesterday's trip (no power until recently today to post these shots) to Schoodic Point memorable for Jen, Matthew and I. Here are a few.

Shelter From the Storm

A pretty big "ketch" rigged boat came into the bay this afternoon , maybe even 80 feet or so, and dropped an anchor over near Treasure Island. Tough shot of it as it was almost dark!

Getting the Boat Out for Irene

I've had motor problems anyway and it seemed like a good idea just in case, so David helped me with hauling the "Sea Sprite" out of the water and got it backed in next to the loam pile out back. C'mon Irene! I may take Matt down to Winter Harbor Sunday afternoon to watch the fifteen foot waves break ashore. Definitely some photo posts there!

Rough Seas Coming? They're Already Here!

It's been blowing pretty hard for the last couple of days, and so my posts this morning were taken down at the water's edge with the tide on its way out! Saw a Nova video on fractals which was awesome and suddenly have a new appreciation of waves. We will definitely get to Winter Harbor and Schoodic Point to capture whatever strikes from Irene.

Tandberging to Augusta

The new technology is almost like the StarTrek shows in the "old days", where one could be "beamed" across vast distances. Our Commissioner of Education, Steve Bowen, met with the Teachers of the Year Association today and discussed a wide variety of topics on the plate for education here in Maine. He is attentive, up front and frank in his responses to questions, and seems to really appreciate and more importantly, listens to those of us in the field and working with kids every day.

There is a change coming in education here in Maine and elsewhere in the country, and I hope it is with students, parents and communities as part of the solutions to improving our schools. My school principal told me yesterday that he thinks Bowen and the "powers that be" want to "dismantle" school systems here in Maine, and he may be right, but it is up to those of us in this profession to make our voice heard, to monitor progress, and to make sure than the needs of kids and communities are foremost in the thinking and the changes that will inevitably take place.

Anyhow, my photo post is a shot with the iPhone of the Tandberg monitor as we were meeting. Real time and very good picture and sound... it was amazing! And it saved me a four-hour drive and a whole day's worth of time to work on my classroom.

A Wild & Windy Rain Last Night

I got up in the middle of the night to close up the windows a bit more as the wind was blowing a gale and I was afraid of rain coming into the house. Then early this morning I was glad I did as it poured! I could hear "Intermittent Stream" just rushing water down the field and the waves were enormous for right here in the bay. I waited until it stopped raining to go out and take some pictures, but I missed the best part of the storm!