Orange Country Fair - Marvelous Mutts

Here we have the Marvelous Mutts performing at their best.  I was pretty far back in the crowd so I got some white headed 'interference' in the photos.  But hopefully, you get the picture.  Get, it?  Get the picture?  

OK off to work.

Orange Country Fair - Women's Handsaw Contest

Orange Country Fair

Over the next few days I will show photos from the Orange Country Fair that was held last weekend.  It was great fun and wonderful to see the entire community come out.  Below is Karen, one of the co-chairs of the fair and also a congregant at Orange Congregational.  Phenomenal woman!

 I didn't get a lot of photos of the dahlia's and mum's but they were simply beautiful.

Friday at the Feeder

At the feeder is on the road to the Orange Country Fair.  Here in the raptor tent we saw four different types of raptors.  I'll feature one a week for the next four Friday at the Feeder weeks.  This is a Red Tail Hawk Buteo jamaicensis.

With a tail span of up to 4 feet, male hawks come in a variety of browns to white with the distinctive red tail.  They feed on mice, birds, snakes, and insects.  So my little songbirds need to BEWARE.  These are, most often, the hawks you see perched on the light posts of the turnpike or parkway.  They are also the ones that circle open fields looking for their prey.

Moonlight over Mercy

This was the harvest moon rising over Long Island Sound.  I was up at Mercy Center in Madison, CT for a moonlight labyrinth walk.  It was a beautiful evening.

Mad busy at work so I haven't had time to do much editing of the Orange Country Fair photos but starting tomorrow with Friday at the Feeder you'll begin to see what fun the fair was.

ABC Wednesday - The Letter K

K is for Kohrabi.  I first had kohrabi when I lived in Jerusalem and it was delicious.  It's similar in taste to a radish but a bit milder.  Great with avocado and garlic.  The rendering below is mine, graphite 2h.

c. Suzanne Wagner

This may not be reproduced in any form.

To have a look at other "K" entries click over to ABC Wednesday HERE!

Night Time Fishing

 Looking at Beverly, MA from Nahant.

Nahant Beach at sunset.

Boston Cityscape

Taken from Nahant Beach over the Massachusetts Bay.

Marblehead, MA

On one of the streets in the old part of town heading down towards the water.

Children's Artist's School

 Marblehead, Massachusetts

Friday at the Feeder - On the Road, literally

Why did the Meleagris gallopavo aka Wild Turkey cross the road?

From Stan's Field Guide to the Birds of Connecticut:
"Eliminated from CT by the early 1800's due to market hunting..they were introduced in the mid-1970's. Males hold 'harems' of up to 20 females.  Strong fliers they can approach 60 mph.  Their eyesight is 3x better than humans, hearing is also excellent.  Nearly became our national bird but lost by one vote to the Bald Eagle.

Photo taken on Meetinghouse Lane, from the car, with an iPhone.

What about me?

This adorable little guy was peering out a door on one of the streets in Marblehead that we walked down.  He was just watching and didn't blink an eye when I stopped to photograph him.  Remember the stormy weather photos that I posted a few days ago?  Well it did rain and the drops on this door are evidence.

ABC Wednesday - The Letter J

J is for Jade Vine, Strongyloden macrobotrys.  This lovely plant is found in the Philippines but I saw it at the Enid Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden in New York City.

Quite lovely!  There are other "J" entries for ABC Wednesday if you click here.
I've featured these flowers before when I did an entry on the NYBG however they are so beautiful that they bear repeating.

Steam Rising

After the storm in Essex (from yesterday's photo) the skies cleared up marginally and this very atmospheric steam arose from the bay.

An Impending Storm

 I was up in the Boston area over the weekend and stopped at Riverside Bistro in Essex, MA.  Great lobstah roll, fab fries, and a dramatic show out the window.

Mercy Center in Madison

One of the views as you stand on the edge of Mercy by the Sea Retreat Center.

If It Itches

Getting in to it!

Friday at the Feeder on the Road

In the heart of the City of Milford is a park and arboretum behind City Hall or the Parsons Government Center.  There is a lovely pond with an area that you can get fairly close to the Mallards..if they let you.  I was lucky one morning.  One of the congregants at Orange Congregational Church, Edgar Vaughn, was the landscape designer for the arboretum.

Altars in the Sand

As I was walking the beach at Mercy Center in Madison on a quiet day away I came across several altars in the sand.  Altars made of found objects, gifts from the sea were carefully placed and designated as a very sacred space for someone.  

ABC Wednesday - The Letter I

The Itsey Bitsey Spider

went up the chimney spout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Soon came the sun that dried up all the rain.

So the Itsey Bitsey Spider crawled up the spout again.

I met a friend at Mercy Center in Madison and we reflected upon one of his cartoon drawings of the "Eensie Weensie Spider" aka "Itsey Bitsey Spider".  There are many existential questions in this child's rthyme.  Why does the spider keep going up the same pipe only to be washed out?  What is he crawling towards or away from and why is he so persistent in his pursuit?  Is this merely a morbid tale about the futility of life?  Or is it a lesson in humility?  Do we have choices? The spider doesn't have to go up the same spout or any spout for that matter.  Why do some stay on the same destructive path while others make choices that effect change in their lives?  Hmmm, just something to think about on those rainy days.

Arachnobphobes - this isn't for you.
PK - this IS for you.

Both of these photos were taken with my new Canon Rebel EOS T5i camera.  Loving it.  In the second photo the web was drowned out by the white clapboard side of the house.  I rather like it because it looks to me like a natural science illustration of a spider.  He was hanging on by a thread of web as they say.  

SO - this is my entry for the letter I in ABC Wednesday.  I know, I was long winded today.  For other great entries for the letter I please click here! 

Who knew?

It started to rain