Goodbye Summer Hello Fall

Posted on September 22, 2013September 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

It’s here. The calendar reads: Autumn Begins

The nights are getting cooler even though the days are still warm and pleasant but the air has a different feel. It’s raining buckets right now. A fitting start to a new season.

Leaf Peeping time is just about on us. Here in southeastern MA. it comes a little slower than in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont but I spotted a little bit of color starting when I was outside yesterday.

I hope I get the chance to do some leaf peeping myself. Take the camera along for a work out. There are quite a few harvest festivals that roll around in the fall but I always miss them. They hold them on the weekends and I work. The cranberry harvest should be underway soon and the Cranberry Festivals. The bogs will be deep red. It’s a beautiful time of year in New England.

To me this is the best weather all year. The heat and humidity of the summer is gone but there is still enough warmth that we don’t have to deal with bulky coats and boots. Driving is still pavement…no ice and snow, which if we could just look at would be pretty. Unfortunately most of us have to go out in it and drive in it and shovel and…well I’m making myself depressed thinking about all that white stuff. Lets just get back to the lovely colors of fall.

Apples are fresh and apple picking is a wonderful pass time. Massachusetts has a number of wineries and they are bringing in the last of the grape harvest and pressing the wines. There is just a different feel this time of year.

Yes, fall is a nice time of year, a fleeting time of year. And the wheel of time keeps turning.

Not Fall Yet!

Posted on September 8, 2013September 8, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I know I did a post on Meteorological Fall but fall, as the rest of us know it, isn’t until September 22.

The Red Sox are still playing, even beating the dreaded Yankees. But mostly the talk is about football and tailgating , apple picking and leaf peeping.

Yankee Magazine, Outdoor Photographer, Adirondack Life and National Geographic’s Traveler magazine all have top drives for seeing foliage or articles on how to take the best pictures and capture the colors. (You mean there’s more to it than luck!?) I’m sure there are others, I just happen to subscribe to these. 🙂

My Southeastern AAA publication even got into the spirit of it even if the did concentrate more on the Hudson River Valley than New England.

The Adirondack Balloon Festival is coming up, another sure sign of fall.

We had fall-like weather the last few days with evening temps getting down to the 40’s but daytime was nice, sunny and mid-70’s even low 80’s in some places. No doubt about it, the Wheel of Time keeps turning and the air is starting to have a touch of fall. My allergies can swear to it as the Rag Weed crop was a bumper one this year thanks to all the rain. I’ll suffer until the first frost but please don’t hurry here, Jack. I’ll put up with the runny , itchy eyes and sneezes .

Another beautiful sunny day beckons beyond my windows so enjoy your Sunday everyone.

Oh No It’s The “Brrr” Months

Posted on September 1, 2013September 1, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Meteorological Fall is now here. While fall doesn’t officially begin till September 22nd, the weather begins to shift a couple weeks before the arrival of each new season on average. For data purposes the National Weather Service calculates the season statistics from the beginning of June through the end of August. Since the first day of each season can vary, this makes it easier to calculate statistics and compare them from year to year. I admit, hearing the weather forecaster announce that last night made me sit up and take notice. It can’t be fall already. I never got to enjoy summer!

Around here we refer to September, October, November and December as the “Ber” months or more commonly the “Brrrr” months because they herald the onset of cooler and eventually colder weather. By December the shivers have usually really set in.

I remember when I was growing up in the Adirondacks that to go Trick or Treating on Halloween we had to be bundled in snow suits. More than once our costumes wouldn’t fit over the winter gear so all anyone saw when we came to the door were our masks.

After I moved east to Massachusetts the weather seemed to mellow and kids could go trick or treating without snowshoes but then in 2011 we got hit with a Halloween Nor’easter, the first significant snowstorm in October sine 1972!

Today I’m enjoying a rainy Sunday. There’s thunder and lightening and steady rain. It’s not too cold but at least I haven’t put the AC or heat on yet. I know a lot of people are hoping the sky clears and the sun comes out to give everyone a last taste of summer on this holiday weekend.

This summer was gone too fast, filled with changes and distractions but now children are headed back to school and vacations are over. I’m hoping my work schedule can settle in so that I can enjoy the fall. Maybe get to take some day trips leaf peeping with my camera. Anyway I’m going to chalk this summer up to the one I missed. Happily they come around once each year.

Oh I almost forgot…the Old Farmers Almanac is predicting a cold winter…BRRRRR.

A Terrible Thing to Waste

Posted on August 17, 2013August 17, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Seems to me there was a phrase about college…something about “a Mind is a terrible thing to waste”.

Well lately I’d just like to have the “mind”. Seems like mine has turned to mush!

Don’t know why or even really when but it just doesn’t want to work. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I’m hoping the brain fog will clear soon so when I share my thoughts here they will ,once again, make some sense . 🙂

A Whale of a Day

Posted on August 9, 2013August 9, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Monday past was a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold and not humid. The weather forecast for Tuesday was more “iffy” so I made the always difficult decision to go to Boston on Monday.

Boston is a great city. I used to love going in to spend the day. That was before the “Big Dig”. No matter where you live you’ve probably heard a lot about Boston’s Big Dig. It was supposed to make travel into Boston easier and quicker. After years of traffic delays while they worked on it, it is now finished and traffic is worse! The expressway never clears out. 1 1/2 hour drive before is now 3 hours. The MBTA is crowded and hot. Not a pleasant experience and not much faster.

After much deliberation I prepared to drive into Boston and pay the exorbitant parking fees ($40-$50 for the day depending on which garage wasn’t full) but as I neared RT 128 I turned on the WBZ traffic on the 3’s and learned that even at 10:30 am the expressway was still tied up. The residual backup was all the way back onto RT 128. So change of plans, I went to Quincy Adams station on the Redline and took the “T” in.

To get to my destination, Aquarium station, I rode the Red line to Park St. where I changed to the green line to get to Government Center Station where I changed to the Blue Line to get to the Aquarium stop. Arrival time…1pm. 2 hours from parking at 11am to arrival at 1pm.

I had a combo ticket for a whale watch at 2pm and admission to the aquarium. I had to dash into the Aquarium where I had 1/2 hour before boarding.

I grabbed a hot dog as I ran out the doors to get in line to board the catamaran.

That was an expensive 30 minute visit to the Aquarium. I won’t do that again.

They crammed a lot of people onto the boat. There was minimal seating outside. Most seating was inside so everyone tended to line the railings. A family with very active children offered me a seat. The mother said “you might as well take it, they will never sit still.” That gives you some idea of the atmosphere. 🙂

As we left Boston Harbor we passed Boston Light, with a glimpse of Graves Light beyond it.

Then came Minot Ledge light.

We also saw the Nantucket Light Ship.

We were on our way to Stellwagon bank, an underwater ledge that is a prime feeding ground for humpback whales. The southern end of the banks is near Provincetown on Cape Cod. That was where we went with Captain John’s Whale Watch and saw the fin backs.

I’m hoping since the New England Aquarium Whale Watch stresses the humpback whales that we’ll actually see some this time. If we do, I wonder if I’ll get close enough to the rail to get any pictures. In the meantime I will enjoy the boat ride.