The Butterflies of Westford

Posted on February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Butterflies, harbingers of spring, gentle bits of gossamer floating on the breeze. Who does’t love those happy bits of color?

Well it seems that not everyone likes butterflies.

Butterfly Place

Our afternoon was visiting the Butterfly Place in Westford. It isn’t as large as the butterfly conservatory in South Deerfield. We’d been to Magic Wings several years ago and Alex wasn’t pleased with the large blue butterflies that seemed (to him) to swoop and dive bomb him. But Alex was older now so it should be ok , right?

Alex and Dawn entered the indoor gardens quickly enough but soon were looking to make their escape. Alex left first and watched from the window.

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Dawn lasted longer but was clearly restless. Both children were ready to leave before my camera had even had a chance to acclimate.

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The camera had been in the trunk of the car to give everyone more room so going from the cool outside air into the humid 80 degree environment the butterflies need caused the lens to fog. That was to be expected and the only thing I know to do is to wait patiently and let nature take care of the condensation.

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I did try to take few pictures with the foggy lens treating it as a diffuser. I was pleased by the result.

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In addition to the butterflies I recognized a Zebra Finch but there were several other colorful birds as well.

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I don’t know what they were. Some children were calling the rainbow birds and that’s as good as anything considering their bright colors.

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The quail were out in force and quite active running between visitors feet.

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There were quite a few people there, many with cameras but it was challenging.

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Butterflies don’t stick around in one place for long and when one lights you need to be quick, jockeying for a chance for a shot before someone else pushes by you.

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They have a “quiet hour” from 9 – 10 am for photographers only. You need to let them know the day before that you are coming. I think I just might try that.I’m adding it to my list!

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The Comet Diner

Posted on February 27, 2016February 27, 2016 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Last weekend was beautiful, almost T shirt weather. The sun was shining and what little snow was left was rapidly melting. Quite a change from the -10 weather of the previous weekend.

So with the sun in my eyes, my friend and her 2 children loaded up the car and headed out for an early spring adventure. It was a nice drive to the little town of Westford in northern Massachusetts. We got there at just about noon so before we went in search of our afternoon activity we decided we should have lunch.

We had just gotten off the highway and expected to see restaurants or fast food places where we could grab a quick bite. We saw one little strip mall with a Chinese restaurant and a Pizza Shop but then nothing. We drove through the little town center with its library and town hall but no restaurants. Finally we turned around and headed back.

Passing the highway we saw another little strip mall but unlike the first one there were a lot of cars in the lot. We slowed down and spotted Comets Diner.

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As we pulled in I saw saw several people heading into the diner. A good sign.

Inside was the wonderful 50’s decor with murals of sock hops and drive in speakers decorating the tables.

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We lucked out with the last booth, only tables or seats at the counter remained.

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Comfort food filled the menu. They even had deep fried chips, a homemade version of potato chips.

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The kids had a side of chili cheese fries that they seemed to love, at least there weren’t any left overs. Desserts consisted of ice cream or strawberry shortcake.

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It was a real traditional short cake too with one twist. There was a layer of vanilla ice cream. Nancy and I split one because they were huge but soooo good!

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Thus fully satisfied and fully fueled for the afternoon we left the Comets Diner behind but I’d definitely recommend it if you get to Westford, MA.

Holiday House 2015

Posted on December 24, 2015December 24, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I started taking pictures of highly decorated houses in Taunton in 2013. I thought it might be fun to see the top 3, in my humble opinion.

2013

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2014

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2015

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The Wild Life

Posted on October 10, 2015October 10, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I was thinking about wildlife. Now if I were still in my 20’s and 30’s it would be reasonable for you to think I was talking about WILD LIFE! You know, crazy, partying and carrying on. But as I left those wild days behind long ago I was actually thinking about animals in the wild.

Of all the things I’ve tried photographing, pets, people, landscape, travel, flowers, and anything else I run across, wild life, animals in the wild are may favorites. Its also probably the most frustrating and truth be told, the style in which I have the most failures.

My best work seems to be birds. Why? Because there are always birds of some kind around. I can stake out a bird feeder and have all the “models” I could ever wish for.

But wildlife doesn’t always cooperate. First you have to find them. Then you have to wait for them to do something. A perfect example is the great blue heron that summers at the Herring Run. I have spent hours with this bird and over the past 5 years I’ve seen him catch 1 fish. Normally he stands as still as a statue for hours. I finally got this picture this year. But he’ll be back next year and I’ll be waiting.

It occurred to me that I haven’t been out to photograph any deer in the last couple of years. I take that back, I photographed deer

and elk

on my vacation in Tennessee but not around here since I got my first camera. According to a photographer friend of mine, now is the perfect time to try to get more deer shots for my portfolio.

The weather is changing there’s crispness to the air and the bucks are looking for love. He got some really fun shots in RI this week but you have to get there early.

Now I’m not an early riser. Must be a throwback to all that “Wild Life” when I was young so even though I had the best of intentions this morning I missed sunrise. Yup, overslept.

I took a run down to the Wildlife Sanctuary anyway so I can be sure to find it in the pre-dawn light. I’m going to try again tomorrow.

Since there wasn’t any action going on there I headed to my old faithful sanctuary in Marshfield, MA, Daniel Webster. I’ve never been there without seeing deer but this afternoon I came up empty. The reason is that it was crowded with families walking the trails. Kids were whooping and yelling. I stayed until after 5 pm and I could still hear them. My previous schedule allowed me to explore mid week so it was always quiet. Often my car was the only one in the parking lot. So note to self, try after work mid-week.

So cross your fingers. I’m heading back out to the RI sanctuary in the morning and this time I have set the alarm.

Food, Fun and Sun

Posted on September 20, 2015September 20, 2015 by Dusty Roads

The Scallop Festival opened up at 10 AM. Now I may love scallops but I don’t know about eating a plate at 10 am. Somehow my tummy just isn’t ready for it at that time. Besides, we’d just had a big breakfast at I HOP so I wasn’t ready for anything more to eat right away.

The Scallop Fest has been going on for 40 years or so but this was the first time I ever went. The weather forecast this morning was cool with chance of showers and thunderstorms. They lied.

I bet it was mid 70’s when we parked at the fairgrounds in Falmouth at 11:30 and well on its way to mid 80s, The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue with white fluffy clouds. Not a thunderhead in sight.

There were loads of vendors and even though we were taking out time we were both soon soaked with sweat. Sandy made a new friend of the Geico gecko.

Sandy was wearing one of my black T Shirts so you can image how that got hot pretty quickly. She found a T Shirt stand and bought a lighter colored and it so happened lighter weight T shirt. There was plenty of room in the rest rooms so she did a quick change there.

I located a hematite jewelry kiosk and couldn’t resist a double strand magnetic bracelet. The stall owner went on and on about the healing properties of the hematite but I bought it because I liked it. If it eases joint pain that’s just a bonus.

I also found a little black cat head, like it was peaking around a corner, that I will mount on the kitchen wall as soon as I get a ladder.

There were bands playing on the main stage. They were all pretty good but I liked The Reminisants the best. They sang oldies by artists like the Moody Blues (Knights in White Satin), Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline), Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and even The Beatles. I could name every song and every artist. Fun.

And then there was the food. Of course there was the main attraction, Fried Scallops but if that wasn’t enough there was ice cream, fried dough, strawberry shortcake, fudge and on and on. No one will go hungry here today.

There was a huge “Bouncy Park” for all sizes. Sandy and I pulled up chairs and watched the little dare devils jump from the ramparts of one bouncy house.

The younger kids were fearless but as they got older they got more hesitant.

We even saw a drone hovering nearby. Look up in the sky….

We ate our plates of scallops in a shaded picnic grove. It was a relief from the sun. The heat wasn’t too bad when the breeze blew but it was sure warm when it stopped.