Different neighborhoods - updated

This is our lake - Pymatuning Reservoir. Quiet. Fishermen in their boats of various sizes with 18 hp motors. Newfies gathering in one of the shelters.

This is the other lake - Conneaut Lake. Full of people in highpowered watercraft of all sizes and types, some not too learned.

And this was Conneaut Lake today after church. I saw a huge black cloud and immediately thought about the dangers of boats, motors and sparks. I doubt you can see it in the photo but you would see blinking lights, an ambulance and people lined up on the road to watch. I don't know the full story yet. I hope nobody was killed. There have been several such accidents very recently - last Monday at the Erie Yacht Club and two weeks ago on Chautauqua. If you own a boat with any enclosed space, you need to learn the dangers of starting the motor and especially of refueling before you ever put it in the water!

The photos are embiggenable.

UPDATE: Apparently nobody was hurt in the boat fire. Whew!

Another Memorial Day parade with Women in Black

The Memorial Day parade stretches up Chestnut Street in Meadville, PA.

Women in Black marched as usual. There are far too few of us to carry a flag for every person killed in the Iraq/Afghanistan war so far. When I first started marching with them, we could carry all the flags. Now there are too many of them and too few of us. I wonder how many more years we will be marching.

We were all happy it was a morning parade. 90° is waaaaaay too hot for May.

The before photos or what I helped do today

 

It is Rummage Sale day in North East, PA. This is at Holy Cross.

Cat ball and clouds

On a cold morning LittleOne looks much smaller. See below.

And a cloud bank on the way home from choir.

Larry's Wedding

A friend got married tonight. He asked me to sing. I agreed tho I dislike singing solos anywhere but in church. Well, it was in a church. He used to sing with us at Christ Church. We miss him. Very nice people. And a competent accompanist made the job much easier! Many happy returns!

Moon

Lovely huge moon tonight. It is so bright that it makes taking photos weird. These aren't great but I had fun trying to take them. Pulling of to the side of the road, turning on flashers, waiting for traffic to clear then snapping before another car passed. These are the best of the bunch with my little Panasonic.

Friday cat blogging on Wednesday

After breakfast...

PuddyTat curls up on top of the boxes.

LittleOne stretches out. He is a very long cat and no longer little.

23 April 2012

Various recent photos

A bit of snow on the church garden on 11 April 2012.

These maples always have gorgeous colors in the fall. I was surprised to see that their buds have the same color variations.

These two tulips appeared this year. I planted a couple dozen of them ten or more years ago but haven't seen any of them for many years. The moles apparently had a feast. These were a welcome surprise.

This clump of daylilies grew too early and have frosted tips. They will be ok tho. The ladder is there to allow access to brush the snow off the satellite dish.

The bluebird has been sitting on the rain gauge stake all morning, flying off to catch a bug then returning. I took this photo thru the back door glass. Our yards are full of violets this year.

More neighborhood stuff

These tiny spring flowers grow in large patches in my neighbor's yard. Each flower is no more than 1/4 inch across.

The oaks don't believe spring is here yet.

This couple is part of a large flock that keeps the landscape clean of carcasses. They've eaten well on raccoon here on occasion. They look HUGE in the yard compared to the crows which aren't exactly small.

A Palm Sunday 2012 walk

The weather this Palm Sunday mirrored my mood so I thought some endorphins would help. I headed down the "tracks" toward the park.

I thought of Elizabeth Kaeton as I saw a flock of mergansers on the bay. You'll have to trust me. They are mergansers.

Fishermen down by the dam. Looking up the bay toward the house which would be on the right but isn't visible.

To the left of the previous photo looking toward the boat livery.

To the left of the previous photo. Looking across the dam.

From the bridge, looking down the "tracks" toward the elementary school.

The path up the hill to the dam road.

From the bridge, looking up the "tracks" toward home.

The path to the road from the "Tracks".

Headed home and looking back at the bridge. This didn't exist when I moved here in 1968. The road across the dam ended at the top of the hill just east of the dam. You could drive in from the east but you couldn't get across the tracks.

The view after I turned around toward home. It's a great place to walk. There is a slight grade which used to slow the trains almost to a crawl. Occasionally one would come to a halt. I would get to meet the crew when they came to use the phone. They always honked when they went by during the day. The trains stopped running years ago. For many months after they stopped, I still woke up around 4:30 am wondering where the train was.

Two fishing boats. The larger one was trolling and dragging what looked like rubber duckies from where I was.

One of the beavers. I like to walk in the evening because there is a good chance of spotting them. I posted a photo of the lodge awhile back.

On a grey day, 50°, a small apple tree in bloom certainly improves the scenery. No dogwood in this neighborhood yet.

The mile and a half or so walk did stir up the endorphins and I felt better.

Blessings to all this Holy Week as emotions tend to be jerked about. 

PS the photos are embiggenable.