Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Nantucket 2013, Day 3

America's Cup 12 Meter Boats the Columbia & the Nefertiti

While it rained most of yesterday, I did get out for a jog before it started. Today it was clear at 7:00AM, and 10 minutes into my jog it started to rain! It cleared up during the late morning so I took a walk along the town docks. As usual for August, the docks are full, with some very nice boats. There are two 12 meter America's Cup sailboats that appear to be charters out of Newport, RI, the Nefertiti & the Columbia. I couldn't get a good photo of them because of the sun & because on the dock I couldn't get far enough away, even with my 17 - 35mm zoom lens. Very pretty boats.

I stopped by the Hospital Thrift Shop to look for books. The shop sells the usual "junk" and raises funds for the Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Only found one book that I was interested in. When the Guidos get here we will probably make a "Dump Run" and check out the books at the Take it or Leave it building.

Till next time -

Monday, August 12, 2013

Nantucket Island, 2013

Perseid Meteor Shower
I'm visiting my brother on Nantucket Island, a small island 35 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, MA.  I usually try to get to the island every year (Other Nantucket Trips), but didn't last year because my trip out west ran so long.

I made one mistake - I usually travel mid week, but this time on a Sunday.  I was hoping the traffic would only be heavy going away from the cape, and it was, but it was also stop & go getting from the MA turnpike to 495.  I still made the ferry in plenty of time, a good thing since I made my reservations in April ($450.00 round trip) and all the ferries are full during most of August.

The evening started out fairly clear so I set up my camera aimed towards Perseid, programed the interval timer to take a 30 second photo every 35 seconds, and turned it loose.  While I did get one image that is definitely a meteor (look in the lower right corner of the photo above) I got many more of airplanes & satellites.

Since I like taking night time photographs, I started a page at LakeshoreImages that has a collection of some of them taken over the past few years.

Not a lot going on here on the island.  If I do anything worth posting, I'll add to this. It should be a little more interesting in the future - Don & Anne will be arriving in a couple of days, and the following week my daughter and her family will be here.  I haven't seen them in quite some time since they are currently living in Botswana, Africa.  We will be spreading Carol's (my late wife) ashes in the ocean at her favorite beach while everyone is here.

Till the next post -

Sunday, August 4, 2013

29th Spiedie Fest, Day 3

Sunday Morning Balloon Launch

Another early rise to make the park by the 6:30AM launch. While there were 8 of us for yesterday's morning launch, today it dwindled down to 3. It was a good morning for photos. The wind was very light & the balloons hung around for quite a while before drifting out of the park. Not as many launches as last night, but more than yesterday morning.

As far as the balloons, this is the last launch. There are other activities during the day, but we headed back to Don & Anne's and I'll be heading back to Oswego this afternoon.

The next post will probably be my trip to Nantucket next week.

Till then -

Saturday, August 3, 2013

29th Spiedie Festival, Page 2

Balloons at Spiedie Fest

The iPhone alarm went off at 5:15AM. Crawled out of bed, poured a cup of coffee, and a bit later 8 of us headed to Otsiningo Park for the morning balloon launch. The good - no entry fee to the park and fewer crowds. The bad? It is 6:30 AM! We watched a number of balloons fill & launch, all filled with passengers. By the way, the price for a ride is $225.00, expensive, but it looked like everyone was having a great time.

After the last balloon launched we headed home (with a stop at McDonald's for breakfast).

We went back to the evening launch. Don & I went into the park and the rest of the crew stayed on one of the bridges over I81 to get an overall view. Both locations were interesting - they launched 24 balloons, and while not all at once, there were enough in the air for an interesting picture. Of course, since Don & I were in the park we didn't get one of a large group, but still there were lots of smaller groups & individual images. See them all at SpiedieFest, Day 2.

The plan is to try for the 6:30AM launch tomorrow, so I'm trying to get to bed early.

Till Tomorrow!

Friday, August 2, 2013

29th Spiedie Festival, Binghamton, NY

Inside View of a Hot Air Balloon From the Top

The 2013 Spiedie Festival is underway. For those not familiar with Spiedies, they are traditionally grilled marinated lamb served on Italian bread. Currently, most are either beef, pork or chicken, although for a little extra, the lamb version is still available. Spiedies are popular dish in the Binghamton area & at the New York State Fair. I drove down to Binghamton to Don & Anne's to shoot some balloon photos and attend the festivities. The festival has not changed much since the last one I attended in 2010 - lots of booths, selling food, crafts, and the usual stuff.

The weather was "iffy" for the evening balloon launches, with rain off & on during the traditional time they would be taking customers for a ride. Rather than chance the weather, they stayed on the ground, but did open up the balloons for the "night glow", during which they illuminate the balloons without launching them. I took a bunch of photos, and will add more pages over the next two days.

Lots of balloon photos at my Spiedie Festival Page at LakeshoreImages.