Category: connections

a second look, adventure, bucket list, connections, finding my way, leap of faith, life goes on, perseverance, photography, road trip, travel

Cliches…

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The phrase “Pee or get off the pot” comes to mind, one of my mother’s favorite sayings.  So I did, metaphorically speaking.  Restructured my life with the goal to have nothing to do but have fun for the rest of my days, however many of them there may be.  But in thinking about all the things I’ve longed to do in my life I needed to take it a step further.  I’ve said that I want to travel, to be footloose and fancy free.  And at this moment in time I feel that I’m physically able enough to tackle that lifestyle.  But there can be no more procrastinating, no more ‘somedays’ to look forward to.  It’s pretty much a ‘put up or shut up’ sort of thing.  ‘Do or die’?   

So I did.  Yesterday.  At the RV show.  Bought a tiny little travel trailer so I can take my show on the road, knitting and all.  I hope the learning curve isn’t too steep for me because I’m a total novice at camping of any sort.  I’d let myself get discouraged and overwhelmed at the thought, but then I think of the photo ops and I’m ready for this.  If I hadn’t done it yesterday I’d have wanted to go back today to sign on the dotted line.  Instead of traveling in the weather I’ll be googling places to go.01-20-19geopro

a second look, blessings, connections, death, family, memories, on closer examination, perseverance, photography

My Aunt Millie…

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I’m not sure that anyone in my life has ever astounded me as consistently as my Aunt Millie did.  As a very young girl I lived upstairs from my aunt’s ever expanding family.  At that time I was aware of my aunt as a shadowy figure in the background, always tending a baby.  In fairness to her I remember no parents at all from those days, I only remember the fun we kids were having.  We moved away from that neighborhood, and then I got married and left my hometown, never to live in New England again.  Time passed and the 70s and 80s happened, and I heard that my Aunt Millie had gone back to college and was now a teacher.  Astounding.  I heard about their family summers spent camping, or on ski trips, plus cross-country RV trips, and I found myself amazed again and again.  By now I lived in MD and was happy to have my aunt and uncle as visitors as they traveled here and there.  That’s when Aunt Millie really came out of the shadows to me.  It was then that I really saw her, strong and opinionated (as the Nelsons tend to be), and  it seemed as if I met her for the first time.  I was lucky to have had a chance to spend time with her and Uncle Bob in the last 15 or so years.  If circumstances had been different I might never have really gotten to know her at all.  I’m glad I did.  She died yesterday at 93, and she will be missed.

I read a blog post this morning and the blogger described her lifelong friend as having relocated from her failing body into much better accommodations.  That just says it all…

a second look, connections, family, gardens, live and learn, memories, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, road trip, travel

Armstrong-Kelly Park…

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Armstrong-Kelly Park isn’t the easiest place to find.  The GPS couldn’t find it even when I entered it’s actual street address into it.  I gave up on it the first time I tried to go there, but my sister directed me to it yesterday.  We hoped for a nice picture of the holly tree that is planted there in honor of my brother-in-law, but we’ll come back in the spring to try that again.

My brother-in-law wasn’t a big man.  He was small, actually.  He was about my height and I out-weighed him all the years I knew him.  He.was quiet. Worked all day and came home, had a beer and watched TV.  There was no inkling of what a big man he actually was until he died.  That’s when the crew from Bartlett Tree Experts took over the planning of his funeral, and the stories they told of his expertise at his job astounded all of us I think.  They said that there was probably not a street on Cape Cod that hadn’t benefitted from his hard work.  The story I remember best was about a homeowner who wanted a gigantic boulder moved from one side of his lawn to another.  A Bartlett truck was on the scene, and the crew of workers were standing there trying to decide how they were going to accomplish this task when Neil pulled up.  He got his winches and pulleys out of his truck and got to work.  He had the boulder moved in no time flat, loaded up his tools and left the rest of the crew standing there scratching their heads.  No, he wasn’t a big man, but he had a big impact on his little piece of the world.

This holly tree was planted to honor Neil for his 50 years of hard work for Barlett.  He trained a lot of arborists in his day also, so his influence is still sending ripples out into nature.  Such a quiet little man, who left a legacy behind him.

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'scene' along the way, a second look, connections, ducks, fun, learning, nature, photography, road trip

King Ida…

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I suppose it’s not politically correct to lump people into a group and then talk about my impression of the people who fit into that group.  Like how cat-like and aloof I found the people to be at the one and only cat show I ever attended.  Conversely, my dog show experience seemed to be the opposite.  The people were friendly, like, well, puppies.  But what’s on my mind today is a desire to rave about what nice people photographers seem to be.  What a great activity to re-find at this time of my life when I had figured out that spending all my time alone was probably not going to work out well for me in the long run.  I wanted to get out and do something, and jumped at the chance to go to a photography class I happened to see on Facebook one morning.  I couldn’t have known where that spur of the moment decision would lead me.  The photographers I have met have proven themselves to be willing to share technical information about the camera itself, and locations for shooting.  Not just willing to help, happy to help.

The other morning at the Cape Cod Canal was a good example.  I was standing there with my camera and tripod when several other photographers showed up.  “Have you seen the King?”, was the question.  I think I probably just stood there with a blank look on my face, so he said, “The King Ida.”  I was still lost.  He pointed out that all the ducks I was seeing had just arrived in the last week or two.  The white ones are Ida’s, he said.  The males, he explained, have a blue ‘cap’ over their eye, and he searched the photos in his camera until he found a photo of one.  He had only seen one, but he had heard that there were two with this group.  After our conversation he, and a few other photographers who had shown up, headed down the path to see if there was a King with the group that day.  There wasn’t.  But I smiled through the rest of the time I spent shooting these photos.  A little encounter like this one is enough to totally make your day, even when the King doesn’t show up…12-29canal

'scene' along the way, adventure, blessings, connections, courage, family, finding my way, friends, leap of faith, life, life goes on, memories, perseverance, photography, road trip, travel

New Year’s Eve…

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New Year’s Eve.  I’ve mostly ignored it, the hoopla and poopla I mean.  Never traveled or celebrated, or even considered it a holiday really.  I congratulated myself on being sensible, and not being out on the road and chancing the elements, or the other drivers.  And I never gave a lot of thought as to what the new year actually might have in store.  Never once considered the kinds of changes that 2014 had in store for me, even for those few years afterwards.  But this year is different.  For better or worse I’ve set a path for myself that may be unpredictable, but I know I can handle the bumps in the road.  And I’m looking forward to lots of happy times.  Now that the holidays are behind us I’m planning to light up my new year with the faces of friends that I haven’t seen in a long while.  And some that I have seen but will always need to see again.  It’s gonna be a very good year…12-29wareham.jpg

childhood, connections, friends, kids, life goes on, memories, nature, on closer examination, photography, road trip, simple things, unintended images

The Nip…

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They called it The Nip.  A small pond, as it was described to me by my old friend.  Playmate really, since we were children when we last saw each other.  Until a year ago when a Facebook fluke reconnected us.  We took a ride to the Nip yesterday and I didn’t think it was so small.  He described camping there as a boy.  Canoeing and fishing also.  There was a little beach too, but it was barely there yesterday.  Someone had left a chair at the edge of the water, and they had a campfire set up and ready to go too.  And there is an island out in the water also.  Of course there is, what a perfect setting for childhood adventures.  “Shh”, he said, but there may or may not be several beloved dogs buried on that island, but you didn’t hear that from me.

I moved away from the neighborhood we shared during the summer that I turned nine years old, so the memories made in that neighborhood stood alone to me.  Wonderful memories of all the fun that we had.  People our age know exactly what I’m talking about.  But now I’m getting to hear about how the adventures continued on without me.  I’m still seriously annoyed that I didn’t get to ride an inner tube for miles down the river, but I also missed the having to trudge those same miles carrying the inner tube home part.  Maybe I left at the perfect time.  Soon enough it wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to be tagging along on the adventures he was having.  But it sure was fun while it lasted…12-27thenip12-27thenip212-27thenip4 He made sure I saw this before we decided we’d had enough of the cold.  This was taken right there by the little beach.  Mr. Darling was the principal of our elementary school when we went there, and to find that he was buried there was a surprise, to me at least.  Apparently the fact that kids were out in nature and having adventures didn’t start with us…