In Search of Angry Seas

Posted on October 31, 2012October 31, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Ok I was a good girl. I did not go out in the hurricane looking for storm photos. I stayed home. I was bored. But every time I’d think about venturing out I’d hear another horror story about tree limbs hitting cars or even whole trees falling… but one day is about my limit.

Hurricane Sandy: Tree crushes car

I was thrilled when I got up this morning and saw the sun trying to peak through. By 9 am it was shining brightly. There was a breeze but no major wind gusts. There was no reason for me to stay in today.

I had lots of places I could check out..The cape, Falmouth, Scituate, Jamestown and Newport RI??? No way would I get to all of them they were too spread out.

Scituate was on the news. Photos there looked pretty tame now so I headed south to Mattapoisett. Neds Point Light is pretty easy to get to and I figured it would give me an idea of what the ocean was like today. Getting there turned out to be the challenge. The Neds Point Rd. was closed with a huge tree down but one of the residents gave me directions to get around it. Those took me through a residential area with a lot of pine trees. It was easy to tell when you would see down branches because you’d smell that wonderful pine sent before you even saw them.

Once I got to the lighthouse in its little park I couldn’t believe it. It was like nothing had happened.

The sky was blue, there was no damage and the seas were calm.

I enjoyed the ambiance for a bit then decided to head to RI, specifically Beavertail Sate Park. That place can kick up a surf without any storm. I was sure I’d find some big waves there.

To get there I had to go over the Claiborne -Pell Bridge. It’s a beautiful bridge. It’s huge!

When I got to the toll booth I asked if it had stayed open during the hurricane. The collector told me he was only going to tell me once…they need SUSTAINED winds of 69 miles per hour. He said they only had sustained winds of 45 MPH during hurricane Sandy.

I mentioned that I’d seen quite a few boats moored in the harbor as I came over the bridge, did they ride out the storm out there? He said yes, not the smartest thing to do.

Then my time was up. Another car was behind me. I wished my toll collector a good day and continues on my way.

Along the shore you could see the debris left by the storm so it was easy to judge how far up the waves had come but the road was clear and before I knew it I was tuning down the road to Beavertail State Park. That’s when I saw the blue lights. Oh oh road block. I made a left and parked, grabbed the camera and headed down the hill to the corner. A women coming up the hill said I was a day late..I should have seen it yesterday. As I suspected the road had been completely under water. (This is what it normally looks like)

Today they were cleaning it up and had the road closed so the workmen could complete the chore.

On a side note I was told that IF I was able to get across to the other side I would see a car floating in the bay. A woman had run 2 police barricades because she didn’t want to be trapped on the “wrong side” of the bay. When she got to the low-lying section the water was too high and carried her car into the bay. Here the story changes depending on who is telling it. Some says she swam to shore and was rescued by the police others say she got out before her car went in the drink. Either way what she did after that was walk to the nearest bar and get drunk. Most of the folks I spoke with said they hoped her insurance turned her down. They were pretty irritated by her irresponsibility.

I hung around for a bit but by 1:30 it was pretty clear it would be several more hours before they opened the road so I headed back across the bridge to Newport, RI.

Hurricane Sandy

Posted on October 29, 2012October 29, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Well here I am stuck inside. Fingers crossed the power will stay on. Hurricane Sandy is pounding the East Coast with high winds, storm surge and extremely high tides helped along by the full moon.

AT SEA - OCTOBER 28: In this handout GOES satellite image provided by NASA, Hurricane Sandy, pictured at 16:00 UTC, churns off the East Coast as it moves north on October 28, 2012 in the Atlantic Ocean. Sandy, which has already claimed over 50 lives in the Caribbean is predicted to bring heavy winds and floodwaters to the mid-Atlantic region. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

The power went out for about 3 hours but there hasn’t been too much hard rain …at least not where I am anyway.

I don’t live right on the ocean and I’m not on the first floor. We have a lot of rivers that crisscross our town, some are tidal rivers and we do get flooding from those sometimes but it never reaches my area of town.

(Waves roll in at Winthrop Ma)

Photo by: David Brazier, Winthrop, MA.

I have the sliders to my deck open and can hear the wind blowing and gusting but it’s very warm. If it weren’t for the drizzle you wouldn’t even need a sweater.

They say Hurricane Sandy is the biggest storm to hit the Northeast since a hurricane in the 1800’s. New York City is flooding even now and there is expected to be major shore erosion on Cape Cod.

I wanted to go down to Beavertail State Park in Rhode Island to see if I could get some “angry sea” photos. I changed my mind when I saw pictures on the news of the waves on Narragansett Bay.

wpri-couple-watches-ocean-hurricane-sandy_20121029125057_JPG

There’s a section of the road to Beavertail that is very low with Narraganestt Bay on the left and the tidal flats on the right. I’m sure that’s underwater right now.

Photo By Steven Senne A woman reacts to waves crashing over a seawall in Narragansett, R.I., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools a

But here in my little corner of the world it hasn’t been as intense as Hurricane Irene which dumped torrential rains along with the winds. My neighborhood had huge trees come down during Irene. I watched them from my deck but there’s been nothing here this time. Not to say there aren’t trees and limbs down other places…just none near me.

(Taunton MA)

Danforth Area

We still have a number of hours to go and the longer the wind blows the weaker the trees will get so we may still lose a few. Tomorrow I will venture out to see what I missed by staying inside today.

Kinda Quiet These Days

Posted on October 15, 2012October 15, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Life seems to have slowed down a little. Cooler weather is starting to move in. We had a touch of frost a couple of nights ago but then temps rebounded back to the 70’s. We haven’t had much sun so far this October…no “October’s Bright Blue Weather“. Maybe the poem could be called September’s Bright Blue Skies.

The first half of 2013 looks like it may be quite busy for travel. On the books is a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico; a few days in Florida to visit the Everglades; and an 11 day cruise to Alaska in May. Because of all those fun but expensive plans, I’ve been staying close to home since I got back from the Balloon Festival in September.

Doing a bit of overtime at the real job while I can get it. It all helps with the bills and travel expenses.

Friday I posted some food pictures. I didn’t have time to say much about them then so I’ll update you now. When we went down to meet with the owners of the Sailing Cow Cafe it was on a Tuesday and the Cafe was closed for business because it was on it’s “Off Season” schedule. Since we couldn’t get lunch there we decided to go to the Kreme and Kone in Dennis.

There is also a 2nd restaurant in Chathem. This would be one of the last chances to enjoy a visit there this season as they are closing Oct. 21. until next summer.

Just about everything at the Kreme and Kone is fried, a typical seaside style restaurant, but as long as it doesn’t become a daily habit it can’t be too bad, right. The weather was nice (It was still in September when we went) so we took advantage to sit outside on the deck.

We watched kayakers and water birds in the tributary behnd the “Kone” while we enjoyed lunch. A light breeze made it comfortable in the sun.

Nancy had the Fried Shrimp.

Nancy ordered the shrimp as a “side dish” because we knew from past visits that there was more than enough french fries and onion rings on the “plate” for two or more people. So the picture of the Onion Rings and Fries is my “plate” and all that deep-fried yumminess is hiding the best part of the “plate”….fried scallops.

The hardest part of food photography in my opinion is remembering to take the picture before you dig in!

Summer Shack Food

Posted on October 12, 2012October 12, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Crazy week this week so I didn’t get a chance to write anything for today. But I haven’t been slacking. I’ve been practicing “Food Photography”. I can tell you the hardest part is not eating the subject…at least not til you’ve captured the photo.

These food pictures are from those wonderful, greasy, soooo good summer places that deep fry everything on the menu. With one exception…a healthy turkey wrap…

I’ll tell you the stories behind the pictures another time.

Fall is Pumpkin Time

Posted on October 10, 2012October 10, 2012 by Dusty Roads

I think I have discovered the perfect Pumpkin Patch for Linus (Of Charlie Brown Fame) to find the “Great Pumpkin”.

Back from New York and the Adirondack Balloon Festival I’d barely had time to unpack when my friend Nancy told me she had arranged a meeting with one of the owners of the Sailing Cow Cafe in Dennisport, MA. They were interested in seeing my photos and cards to possibly order some for the restaurant. So here we were on a beautiful Tuesday morning driving down to Dennisport, MA.

At Nancy’s suggestion we were traveling down Rt 28 instead of the Cape Highway (RT 6) . The sun was shining and the sky was a deep blue. There was a touch of fall in the air, a perfect day. That was when we spotted the carpet of bright orange and green. Pumpkins everywhere. We had to stop.

There were big pumpkins and small, white ones and green gourds.

There was even a T-shirt stand with T-shirts, of course but also cookbooks with pumpkin recipes. The event is The Pumpkin Patch and it is well named. It’s a fund-raiser for the local church.