Fall, Newtown, Connecticut, USA

"Hark, what light through yonder window breaks." I've always wanted to say that but frankly, it sounds pretty silly. I wonder if people really talked that way in Shakespear's time? The mixed glass window above is in the house below and looks out on the side yard.

Newtown is a mostly bedroom community in southwestern Connecticut. Like much of the area, stone walls are everywhere, many dating back hundreds of years.  It is not uncommon to find a random stone wall when traipsing through the woods.

Some of the stone walls align with modern day property or road boundaries and some don't.

And some have no walls.

At this rather fancy home/estate, the folks went all out decorating for Halloween.

They even suspended ghost like shapes over their property on invisible wires - or, maybe they're real ghosts!

These four friends enjoyed a peaceful walk in the woods at Orchard Hill Nature Center. It was during the calm before the storm because the fury of wind and rain from Hurricane Sandy was due to arrive soon.

The "blue trail" where blue attire is clearly appropriate for a stylish outdoorswoman.

Hurricane Sandy, White Horse Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

High tide at White Horse Beach during Hurricane Sandy.

 

Same view on a pretty summer day (with a lower tide).

 

The rollers kept coming in driven by the 40-60 knot winds, an incoming high tide, and an almost full moon.

 

5-6 hours later, the waves receded with the outgoing tide even though the wind intensified.

This beachfront property sits comfortably atop a 30-foot high stone breakwater wall near Manomet Point and enjoys a spectacular view no matter the weather.

 

I wonder if any of the buoys blew off this shed? Throughout the day, I was surprised by the limited number of objects seen blowing across the ground.  New Englanders are used to strong storms and seem to keep their stuff anchored down pretty well.

Just a mile away from White Horse Beach on top of Manomet Bluff, the wind compressed against the bluff and then raced up the slope and over the edge with an intensity I don't think I have ever felt in my life.  All plant growth was forced to bend parallel to the slope.  The sustained velocity was impressive and a reminder of how small our human presence is in the face of nature's most powerful events. 

And lastly, there were white caps on Bartlett Pond. Unusual but, I've seen them many times during other "regular" storms over the past dozen years.  All in all, I was one of the lucky ones - no death, injury, damage, nor loss of any utility services.

 

So often, we chide meteorologists for flawed forecasts but, this time, they accurately predicted the storm path days in advance allowing public safety and political officials to get out the word and implement sound plans.  Kudos to the meteorologists!!

 

Here is a short video clip at high tide at White Horse Beach.

 

 

Random Images, Fall, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

A small kettle pond in Manomet.

A pond in Plymouth's village of Chiltonville.

 

The main Plymouth Library.

 

Afternoon sunshine on a farm in the village of Manomet.

 

 

Drive Slow

I've always been annoyed by "Drive Slow" signs since I learned in school as a youngster that adverbs should end in -ly. I thought "Drive Slowly" was the correct form because "slowly" was an adverb modifying "drive."  It appears this issue has been ongoing for centuries about adverbs.  So with the power of the internet, I can finally end the confusion in my own mind.  There is apparently something called a "flat adverb," for example: drive fast, shine bright, jump high, take it easy, sleep tight, and of course, drive slow. My conclusion: since all adverbs in English apparently don't have to end with -ly it's time to grow up and get over my annoyance.  Go ahead, see for yourself - Google it quick, er uh, maybe I mean Google it quickly?

 

Fall, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Ellisville is one of the villages of Plymouth and is located on Route 3A along the southeast Massachusetts coastline bordering Cape Cod Bay. There is a beautiful State Park that includes a trail through woods to the beach, a tidal wetlands, and a couple small meadows.  This nice spot to spread out a picnic lunch was surprisingly unused on this picture postcard fall afternoon.

Beach weather in the fall means long sleeves and vests - unless you're a dog in which case it means: no more leashes!!

Staghorn sumac is a common shrub/tree in this area and always provides spectacular colors in fall. 

Ellisville Harbor/marsh at low tide, Cape Cod Bay in the middle distance,  the Cape Cod shoreline portions of Sandwich, Yarmouth, and Dennis in the far distance. 

A house by another of Plymouth's many hundreds of ponds.  Cape Cod Bay is on the other side of the trees.

 The human presence sometimes enhances and sometimes mars the natural world. It's disruptive enough just to pave this road alongside the marshland. I wish the line painter had followed the previous lines........



Fall, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Can beauty be objectively absolute or, is it always skewed by the lens of  individual perspective?  Manomet seems like a really beautiful place but, is that because I live here and like to think of it that way? Does an outsider say: "...it's pretty but, nothing special?"

 

Fall is entering the last gasp stage before the grays and browns close-in for the winter months. 

 

A sundappled classic cape cod style house (with an un-classic attached two-car garage).  Did a couple ever have two-buggies back in the olden horse days, or, did they buggy-pool?

A winding road to a farmhouse and barn.

There are few exterior finishes as visually interesting as the random weathering patterns that occur on cedar shingles after a few years in the elements.

 

 

A Manometian (Manometan? Manometer? Womanetian? Womaneter?) poses in front of a house, windows already boarded up and closed for the coming winter.

 

Pedestrian crossing - the beach is about 100 yards/meters to the right of this view.

A bluff top view over Cape Cod Bay. 

 

And meanwhile, in "downtown" Manomet, the final coat of asphalt is coming soon!

Brand new traffic signals, yet to be turned on, await completion of the final paving work on Manomet's "downtown" intersection. It will be a bittersweet addition to a complex corner where random uncertainty formerly defined the behavior of automobile drivers - and many folks preferred it that way.

 



Bad Day for Golf, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I never really learned to play the game of golf but, I'm guessing that throwing your golf bag cart into a marsh is probably indicative of a bad day on the course. Many of my co-workers and friends through the years were, or, are golfers.  And judging by the enthusiasm they display when discussing the game, anyone of them could have done this.

 

 



Fall: Nature's Favorite Show, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

On a cloudy, shadowless day, nature continues it's annual fall performance in the quiet, seaside, bluff top village of Manomet.

 

 

 

 

 



Goats, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I don't know much about goats but this one seems friendly enough and irresistibly cute.

I never before noticed they had mustache-eyebrow-shaped slits for pupils.

Perhaps this is where the children's story line was inspired: ".....not by the hair on my chinny chin chin."

Like I said, I don't know much about goats but, it looks like if you pen them up in a small enclosure they will eat almost every living green thing within reach.  Perhaps this doesn't rise to the level of animal abuse but, it certainly doesn't seem to me like the right way for thoughtful humans to treat an animal.  If the goat eats everything then maybe the enclosure is too small - seems like a no-brainer. Of course, I'm one of those radical people who thinks animals have rights.

 

 

Pines, Light, and Shadows, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Pine and oak, pine and oak, pine and oak, pine and oak - a lot of that around this area.

Afternoon sunlight diffused by pine needles.

Shadows in a kettle depression. Kettle ponds and kettle depressions are common in southeastern Massachusetts, attributed to the glaciers receding ages ago. Either that or a really big divot from a really big club.

 

 



Country Lane, Fall, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Sometimes I just wander with no particular purpose, no destination, no goal. (Except to maybe find or create  blog material).  This little pastoral gem of a location in rural Plymouth brought to mind an old James Taylor song, "....walk on down a country road."

As a retiree, I've gained some perspective from my former working life: it seems there was way too much hurryin' and scurryin' around. I like the more leisurely pace for man and beast alike suggested by this scene.

And speaking of leisurely pace - that's as good a definition of retirement as any. Retirement is like taking a really, really long vacation - and who wouldn't like that?  Retirement in my case is also about the release from duty - duty to the air traffic control mission, duty to the job, duty to the public, duty to my co-workers.  It's a hard habit to break - sense of duty. I still miss it - and them -  I suspect I always will.

But now, the pull of a simple life is hard to resist.

And since I invoked James Taylor earlier, I am also reminded of another of his tunes, "....the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."  I enjoy the luxury of having carefree blocks of time to simply wander about, explore randomly, neither agenda nor fixed purpose to drive me - just simply "be" - like I was as a kid in the 1950's. Back then there were no play groups, no electronics, barely any television - kids had to create their own things to do by themselves - and it was almost always outdoors.

Today, it seems that everything must be scheduled and planned. It just leads to more hurryin' and scurryin'. I think I'll just sit a spell and think on it.