Eric Green - performing on The Blues Bus (WMEB-FM)

Eric Green performs live on my show The Blues Bus on WMEB (91.9FM).

Catch him this weekend at the Myrtle Street Tavern in Rockland as part of the Club Crawl during the 2009 North Atlantic Blues Festival.

Casual Water

It was soggy enough that it could be said that the entire course consisted of casual water.

These are not water hazards!

At least we finally got sunshine and a warm day. There are far worse places to be than on a soggy golf course!

(oh, by the way... That's not *my* ball.)

Gills. We need to grow gills.

Gills.

Forget viagra, cialis and enzyte!

We need a late night infomercial that sells a Gill Pill!

Good thing it's not February. I wonder how much snow accumulation we'd have had if we'd had this much (and we had a lot, anyway!) precipitation in February.

Sigh.

Heavy Sigh.

Belfast at night

Belfast, Maine on our ride home from Rockland.
Looking over the Passagassawakeag River towards Belfast Bay.

I was hoping there would be moonlight left when we got back to Bangor. It turned cloudy, though, as we drove inland. Then it rained (AGAIN! FOR THE 300,000th TIME SINCE MID-JUNE) just after we got home. Sigh.

Brian Templeton at the Time Out Pub July 6th, 2009

Guest Photography by Jenny Why_Me

Brian Templeton (harmonica) and Enrico Crivellaro (guitar) get down (literally) with the blues at the Time Out Pub in Rockland on Monday night.

These shots are from the first set.

What a difference a few minutes can make! The rest of the band arrived late after being held up by an accident on I-95. Templeton and Crivellaro were traveling in a different car and managed to be ahead of the accident when it occurred, so they held down the fort until the rhythm section arrived.

Just when we've gotten used to the gray...

Mother Nature favors us with blue skies and sunshine (note the shadows!).
Is she trying to mess with our minds?
Maybe we're just hallucinating.
Can we have a few more days like this, M.N.?

Fireworks in Bangor July 4th, 2009

I half expected not to see fireworks tonight. It rained (AGAIN!) much of the afternoon and evening. There were even a few drops coming down during the fireworks. A couple of those odd spots on these shots are raindrops on the lens.

Debris from Orono fire

There was a fire at one of Orono's landmark buildings (The Katahdin Building - built in the 1830s) on June 9th. There is still cleanup to be done. These photos (submitted to Photo Friday's Debris challenge) were taken on June 27th.

Evidence...!

Sunset over the Alfond Arena at UMaine in Orono

...that the sun still exists and the sky is not gray!

It hung around most of the day, even.

I was hoping that sunset would be more of a spectacle, given how long it's been since it's made an appearance in this neck of the woods, but I'll take it!

I've seen many flower beds that look like this lately

With all the rain many flowers can't support their waterlogged weight.
These are my neighbor's flowers.

Gray is the official State Color of Maine for 2009

This just in...

A citizen initiative to designate gray as Maine's state color has been approved by the legislature and the governor.

Mother Nature could not be reached for comment.

Fog! Night! Photo Ops! Bangor!

So, after work last night I was able to catch a little of Eric Green's set and quaff a couple of half-price pints at Luna Bar & Grill in Bangor. As I sat enjoying the tunes and the beer I could see fog rolling in over Bangor. When Eric finished I spent a few more hours (good thing I'm a night owl) roaming Bangor.

Here's a sample of the night's shoot - more on Flickr.

Misty sunset over the Stillwater River

I try and take a walk on campus in the evening, especially when it's nice and I can capture some of that golden hour light. Last night we actually had a sunset - something we haven't had in about a week. Often, it seems, following the evening light takes me over by the Stillwater River.

Last night I was just about to turn back and head for the office, figuring I'd taken enough shots recently of the river. I got just close enough, though, to spy some mist upon the river. I couldn't pass up some different conditions to shoot some familiar subjects!

I had originally planned to post these shots from home last night. My next blog entry will be enough explanation (Night Fog!) as to why that didn't happen until today.

It's been wet here recently. Did anyone notice?

Everything's a little bit saturated.

Did you know it's been wet here in the northeast?

And one last time... Has anyone complained?
It's been wet here.

Sweet sentiment

From my father-in-law's 70th birthday.

Submitted to Thursday's challenge for Sweet.

A Nickel and a Nail

With apologies to O.V. Wright and anyone else who's recorded the song...

Submitted to Macro Day's Coin challenge.

It was Good Deed Day here at Whittling Fog

My plan, this evening (and a beautiful evening it was!), was to try and catch a little bit of light from the golden hour to see how well I could turn a concept into a photo. I got outdoors a little later than I wanted to, so I had to head over toward the athletic fields on the UMaine (Orono) campus in order to capture what light was left (too many buildings blocking it by the time I got outside). On the way I happened to walk past the Mahaney Dome.

I just happened to glance over and see what looked like a slit in the material that makes up the Mahaney Dome.

I got close enough to feel that, sure enough, air was escaping.

I figured this was not good.

My plan, at that point, was to continue in search of the light I wanted for my original shoot and then call in the dome damage when I got back to the office (I don't own a cell phone). About 25 steps later I rounded a hedge near the field house and came upon a campus cop. So, I was able to show her the damaged spot and she called it in. That took just long enough that the golden hour light I was originally hoping to utilize had faded westward for another night.

So, this is my good deed for the (pick one) day/week/year/decade...

I'll have to wait at least another day to see if I can turn the concept I mentioned into a decent photo. Stay tuned (or not)...

Oh, Maestro...

Submitted to Unique's Photo Challenge for Play.

Stillwater River in April

The Stillwater River near the University of Maine in Orono. Photographed at sunset a couple of days apart.

Submitted to Two 4 Tuesday's Rough-Smooth challenge.

Stone Step

Stone step (not your steppin' stone).

Entered for Macro Day's Stone challenge.

Monochrome for Photo Friday

Submitted to Photo Friday's Monochrome challenge.

Black & White version of a Cadillac Mountain shot

Lens Day's current theme is Black & White.

This is a shot from our recent visit to the top of Cadillac Mountain.

An experiment

Photo Sunday's theme is also Crazy. Rather than post the same image, I thought I'd experiment. This at least looks a little crazy...

A small oddity

I'm not so sure I'd go so far as to call this crazy (it is, perhaps, delusional), but it's odd enough that I am submitting it to Moody Monday's Crazy challenge.

More Macro practice

After a little rain yesterday evening and before sunset.

A good time to go for a walk with camera in hand.

Stillwater River (hey Kirlin, where were you today?)

Hey Jeff... Where's the person you coerced, er, conned, er, paid, er, just happened to photograph? I needed someone to sit on the bench!

Freshly Splintered

A freshly splintered branch of a tree on the UMaine campus in Orono.

Submitted to Macro Day's Wood challenge.

(well, it would have been if I'd posted this a little earlier - Macro Day has already changed to the next theme)

The Golden Hour started out Silver tonight

Submitted to Unique's photo challenge for the Silver theme.

Vault

My last couple of posts have been sports (golf or golf course) related. In keeping with the sports theme (and because the theme for this week's Who Do You Love? meme is Sports) I'm posting a shot from my daughter's Northeast Regional Gymnastics Meet. It was held in Glens Falls, New York over the weekend of May 15-17th.

Belgrade Lakes Golf Course (Memorial Day 2009 edition)

We took in the Memorial Day Parade in Bangor and then headed south for moose sighting (didn't get the camera ready soon enough before the moose bolted for the woods, though). Then there was more golfing (and geese) at the Belgrade Lakes Golf Course. It was sunny this time, but very, very windy. Still lots of fun. Even managed to play a few holes well!

What a difference (almost) a month makes

Ducks at Bangor Muni's water hole (#2 on the 18-hole course).

Top shot is from April 24th. Bottom shot is from this afternoon. I'm liking the change from brown to green!

Backyard Apple Blossoms

More Macro practice.

We've got two apple trees in the back yard that are blossoming.

Spring looks like it's springing

While waiting for my daughter to transact a few things at the credit union this morning, I got the camera out to work on macro skills (or lack of them). I had not yet checked for the new theme (Spring) at Thursday Challenge before taking these.

Wide - Narrow

One of the bridges between Bangor and Brewer.

Submitted to Two 4 Tuesday's Wide - Narrow Challenge.

Another photo from the top of Cadillac Mountain

Posted so I can submit it to Unique's Photo Challenge for the theme (squeaking in under the wire as it's due to change soon) One is the Loneliest Number.

Rockland, Camden, Lincolville Beach and Frankfort in night fog

Harbor Park in Rockland

Camden Harbor

Lincolnville Beach

Bridge in Frankfort

'twas foggy on the ride home from Rockland (we were there seeing Lucky Peterson at the Time Out Pub for Monday Night Blues). If Jenny Why_Me hadn't been with me, I might've spent a lot more time looking for things to shoot in the fog.

I've been wanting to shoot this bridge in Frankfort for some time. I was hoping to catch some 'golden hour' light at some point, but it was really cool to capture these misty night photos.

Cadillac Mountain at Sunset

It's been a while since I've been up on the top of Cadillac Mountain. After spending the day in Ellsworth we headed further coastward and caught a wonderful sunset. It was much warmer on the inland side of the mountain. Very blustery on the ocean side!

Blades of grass at the top of Cadillac Mountain

I've been wanting to go back to Acadia and Cadillac Mountain for a while now (it's not far, but we haven't made it for a while), since getting into the digital photo thang. After my daughter's gymnastics meet this afternoon we went to the top of Cadillac for sunset. More to come. This shot submitted to Macro Day for the Blade theme.

Walking along the Stillwater River at sunset

Taken on Friday and Sunday at Sunset.


The (not so still) Stillwater River near the UMaine campus on Friday April 17th.

Very choppy and not all that interesting. Might as well look up.

Fast forward to Sunday (April 19th)...

The Stillwater River living up to its name.

No leaves growing yet.

Oddly enough, it was colder at sundown (the days being otherwise rather similar) Sunday with no wind than it was on Friday.

The following two photos are from almost the same vantage point as the first photo in this set. The stillness and reflection make for a much better photo, in my opinion.

The Loch Ness beaver?

Hard to capture a good shot of this guy. He was briefly on land, but I didn't have an angle to get a decent shot. When I moved and he heard me, he took a dive. He didn't go too far underwater, though. The light was receding, but it was fun trying to get a shot until he drifted/swam too far downriver.

2009 Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race - An Aerial View

I wish I could say that I took these photos. It would have been a blast to have this vantage point. Maybe next year I won't be working on race day and I'll volunteer my camera (so long as I get to operate it)!

Anyway, here's a bird's eye view of a brief portion of the 2009 Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race.

Photos provided by and courtesy of the aerial canoeists and photographer Gary Soucy at...

Down East Emergency Medical Institute (DEEMI)

Thanks Gary and DEEMI!

Pleasure Craft

I could probably have had a better angle to photograph this, but I think the plane and the visible grounds are suitable enough to submit this to Photo Friday's Wealth Challenge.

The good news is...

...that no one was hurt.

If the last act of my 12-year old Nissan Sentra is protecting my kids and a friend, then I can live with that. The ironic thing is that my daughter was pulling to the side of the road to let the windshield clear (sunlight on a still frosty windshield and a gray van parked in deep, early morning shadow do not make for a good scenario) when she hit the only vehicle on the street.

We were talking about retiring the car, anway, as it had reached the point where it needed more repairs to keep it on the road for another year than it was worth. The bad news is the accident accelerated the replacement process.

So, while I was out searching for a car to replace the Sentra, Jenny Why_Me and Judy traipsed off to Baxter State Park to take some late afternoon/evening pictures of Mt. Katahdin last Saturday before the snow cap could melt away completely. Had I not been in car search mode, it would have been nice to accompany them.

Guest photography below courtesy of Jenny Why_Me.






More photos from their afternoon are posted on facebook. I believe one has to be logged in to facebook in order to view them.

Here's the Public link.