Wow, Things aren’t letting up at all. Last weekend I stole an hour or two to head out with the camera. Still trying to get the hang of this “Raw” stuff. I got a few practice shots but I just wasn’t feeling inspired.

Then Sunday, Mother’s Day I left Taunton early in the morning to drive to upstate NY to take my mother out for lunch. I can’t tell you how old she is. I am sworn to secrecy but if I have her genes I’ll be around for a long time. My sister went with us to the 99 restaurant where we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch. I was back home by 8 pm.

During the week I confirmed my Maine trip in July with the Audubon Society and started doing the preliminary research for the Maui vacation in November. Then Saturday dawned sunny and warm. The first really awesome day we’ve had in forever!

I had an appointment for an oil change at 10 am. From there I planned to go to the Norton Reservoir where I’d spotted a family of Swans to see if I could get some fun pictures of the cygnets.

I picked up my car after the oil change  and headed up RT 44. At the first set of lights the car stalled out! Strange it was running fine when I dropped it off. I started it up and off I went again. A bit farther down the road I got a text message and pulled off into a Dunkin Donuts to reply. Stalled again. What’s going on?

The last straw was as I pulled up to the reservoir. The engine started shaking and there was a squeeking, clanging kind of sound so I pulled into the parking lot for Norton Liquors and called the service station. They agreed to send a tow truck. While I waited I took a few pictures of the adult swan and the babies.

Once back at the shop we checked the oil and it was clearly fresh and full. After a diagnostic and multiple mechanics looking it over the car was pronounced in dire shape.

It still turned over so they didn’t pronounce it dead but the prognosis was grim.The “lifters” inside the engine were done for. I needed to either replace or rebuild the engine.

It was time to go car shopping.