START A NEW CAREER IN WEEKS - NOT YEARS

 Seymour, Connecticut

Yesterday at dawn the sky was absolutely bald so I didn't get the shots I was planning on. They wouldn't work with no cloud or color in the sunrise sky. Seymour is a Naugatuck Valley town and the business district sits very close to the steep East wall of the valley, so even 50 minutes after official sunrise, only the tallest buildings were getting direct sunlight.

detail

It's worth noting that with the state of our national response to the pandemic, one's allied heath career stands a decidedly non-zero chance of also not lasting for years.

Early Morning, Ansonia

 Ansonia, Connecticut

In 1955 the whole Naugatuck River Valley and Housatonic River floodplain suffered huge losses of life and property in a massive flood. One of the responses by authorities was to create a series of flood control walls which are particularly prominent in the town of Ansonia. I've been working on a series of pictures featuring the flood wall, which proves a little difficult because after all, it's just a poured concrete wall with a few massive steel gates that can close off a couple roads and the railroad tracks on the east side of the river. Recently I thought working with very early morning autumn light might be interesting, and these are some of the results.

Fall

 

Torrington, Connecticut

Suddenly autumn is coming in fast.

Rainy Woods

   Litchfield, Connecticut

Ferns and Trees

  Litchfield, Connecticut

From another section of White Memorial Conservation Center.

Trees in the Forest

 Litchfield, Connecticut

From White Memorial Conservation Center, 8/29/20.

Big Tire Tracks

 

Walkerton, Indiana. 2012

With a threatening midwestern storm sky approaching.

More Wet Forest

 Litchfield, Connecticut

Cloud

 

Washington, Connecticut

High summer light in southern New England with a changing weather pattern.

Cattle and Clouds

 East Morris, Connecticut

Florida Morning Light

 Ocala, Florida, 2012

Picnic Park

 

Jennings, Florida, 2012

I haven't been getting out to shoot this month, partly because of a minor injury, so it's back to the archive for a while. This picture from a strange town park/playground has always appealed to me but I didn't put it on the blog back in 2012.

Two Churches

Jennings, Florida, 2012

The churches were set on opposite corners of a country road intersection.

Swamp with Storm Coming In

Litchfield, Connecticut

Near Little Pond at White Memorial Conservation Center.

Cows and Calves in the Rain

East Morris, Connecticut

During a summer afternoon storm, 7/10/20. (Click on either picture for a bigger, clearer view.)

Summer Storm Skies, 6/29/20

Bethlehem, Connecticut

Mid-afternoon, storm pods wandering all around Litchfield County on the weather radar.

Morris, Connecticut

Click on any of the pictures for a larger, better view.

Storm Clouds

Washington, Connecticut

Got to run around Litchfield County this afternoon chasing stormy skies in a highly variable weather pattern.

WIFI AVAILABLE OUTSIDE OF BUILDING

Norfolk, Connecticut

Autumn Rain in the Woods

Washington, Connecticut

Another two from Steep Rock Preserve's Hidden Valley on Friday.

BEWARE OF THE DOG

SeaTac, Washington

We were scheduled for an eight AM flight Saturday, 9/15, so quite early Friday afternoon we checked in at a Motel 6 just ten minutes from the SeaTac airport and rental car return. I decided to go for a little walk, partly to see if there was a nearby gas station. Our car had developed a not so slow leak in the right rear tire overnight Wednesday, and I'd been having to stop and buy air at least once a day. I wanted to overfill the tire when we went out to find dinner, instead of dealing with a nearly flat tire at 5:30 Saturday morning. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find this place, which I kind of like. Something about the sky and the trees tells me immediately that we're in the Pacific Northwest, not New England or, say, West Virginia, where you also find hilly land with evergreen forest. I pulled up Maps on my phone and saw that I needed to turn around, or walk for several miles through a probably dull residential subdivision to make a loop of it, so back I went.

In the morning, having pumped the tire up to 40 pounds on the way to dinner the night before, the car told me the tire was down to 17 pounds, so I reported this to the efficient and friendly Hertz agent at the rental car terminal. I also reported that the car's trunk didn't lock. Lock up the doors, and you can still go hit the release and open the trunk. I'd left my carryon bag with the temporarily useless, $2K+ MacBook Pro in the unlocked truck for several nights before discovering the problem. Luckily, nobody else did either. Then I told him how the left rear seatback latch was broken, causing the seat to shake and rattle annoyingly. He rolled his eyes and silently mouthed, "whoops," while entering data into his tablet, before sending me my receipt by email. The Chevy Malibu had less than 6,000 miles on it when we picked up—1,616 more when we turned it in. Rental cars lead a hard life, I guess.