Round and About in Torrington and Woodbury

Torrington, Connecticut

The grounds surrounding our house got quite out of control last year, and this spring I had so much allergy trouble I didn't dare try to go at it with my scythe while the stuff was low and soft. Now the bittersweet, forsythia, and horrible wild roses are too grown up to deal with that way. After some online research I decided to try a cordless rechargeable hedge trimmer that claimed to cut anything up to three-quarters of an inch, at just a hundred bucks. After getting it at Lowe's, I did a little bit of walkabout in town before heading home.

The trimmer, which is light weight and has a 22" bar, works exactly as claimed, slicing through anything that will fit in the bar's three-quarter openings. The battery charge lasted only half an hour which is not a surprise since I was going after the worst stuff to see how well it can do. With the scythe for the grassy weeds and this thing for the nasty, woody, invasives, I think I can get the place back under control in a few weeks spending an hour a day on it.

Woodbury, Connecticut

The path around back of the house. The Joe Pie Weed is there on purpose. Everything else, not so much.

SPARKLE BRIGHTLY

West Newbury, Massachusetts

FIGHT CLUB

Seymour, Connecticut

Floodgate

Ansonia, Connecticut

Digital/Platinum Workshop

Woodbury, Connecticut

Individual workshop going on today and tomorrow. Above, a palladium print from a digital negative based on an original digital capture is draining after processing, ready for transfer to the drying screens. People and motion photograph at Grand Central Station by Alina Bliach.

Alina with a developed print in the first clearing bath. Second day we'll print more captures and make variations of a couple of them with different chemical formulas.

Spring Pink and Red

Seymour, Connecticut

Seen on May 8, 2015

Torrington, Connecticut

Torrington, Connecticut

FENCING

Seymour, Connecticut

It's not actually a self-captioning photograph. The cyclone fence used to surround a building supply and lumber yard.

Decorations

Hartford, Connecticut

More from the Woods

Washington, Connecticut

In the Hidden Valley section of Steep Rock Reservation, the west bank of the Shepaug lies under steep hillsides. On the east side there's a wide flat floodplain before the next set of steep ridges. The forests on the flat and steep sides of the river are very different. (You can get a better view of the pictures by clicking on either of them.

Another Walk in the Woods, with Tree Portraits

Washington, Connecticut

Somehow yesterday's post with some pictures from Steep Rock Reservation and notes about trail maps has gotten deleted, along with at least one comment. Not sure what went wrong, but if I can get around to it I might recreate the post.

Rain

Hartford, Connecticut

Woodbury, Connecticut

A Walk in the Woods

Washington, Connecticut

Early summer around Steep Rock Reservation. After a very late spring, everything is suddenly growing at much faster than normal pace.

From Mother's Day

Seymour, Connecticut

Pretty much what you might expect to find on a small town front porch on this particular Sunday.

Spring Weeds (from May 10)

Seymour, Connecticut

Somehow I don't associate dandelions with the paved, urban, environment. But here they were.

Ed's Cleaners

Seymour, Connecticut

Sometimes even a tree decides to have a go at being a weed.

NOT A THRU WAY

West Newbury, Massachusetts

Rain

Hartford, Connecticut

Meadow

West Newbury, Massachusetts

Monday we stayed at a nice bed&breakfast place, 4'30" from the Library where I gave the drive-in theater presentation. The house was adjacent to a beautiful meadow, which proved to be part of a large conservation land preserve with walking paths leading right to the Merrimack River.

A Couple More Drive-ins

 Mendon, Massachusetts

Monday evening was the first run of the drive-in project road show, a slideshow/presentation based on my long term project on drive-in theaters all across the US. The presentation at the Langely-Adams Library in Groveland, MA, had a nice crowd in the small conference area. On Tuesday we scouted out two drive-in theaters that I hadn't looked at before. In all the effort to reach theaters thousands of miles away, I've overlooked some of the few that remain here in New England.

Leicester, Massachusetts

Spring Weeds

Seymour, Connecticut

Not Graffiti

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Community Garden

Hartford, Connecticut

Three Trees

Ansonia, Connecticut

Sometimes while editing a set of pictures I'll notice pairs or groups that seem to go together well, even reinforce each other. This time the subject-resonance was clear while I was shooting. The first two pictures here were made from almost the same position, one right after the other. Behind the first tree is one of the sets of floodgates built to keep the Naugatuck river from flooding the town in an extreme weather event. Behind the second are the backs of the commercial buildings lining the west side of Main Street. I noticed the third tree less than fifteen minutes later, about half a mile away, behind a shopping center at the south end of town.

Holly

Torrington, Connecticut

NOW LEASING

Hartford, Connecticut

Closed BUT STILL AWESOME

Seymour, Connecticut

FIREARMS

 Seymour, Connecticut

LA Consignment Lower Level

Torrington, Connecticut