It’s a Banner Year for Fall Colors

Posted on October 19, 2019October 18, 2019 by Dusty Roads

Fall Colors Abound

The fall foliage colors are amazing this year. Being in southern New England they just started turning this week but they began peaking last week in the more northern states. My cousin got to head north to Maine and New Hampshire and shared some beautiful video on Face Book. If you have a minute you can check out her video here. https://www.facebook.com/kathy.collins.7127/videos/10214903348962786/?t=0 In Southeastern Massachusetts we’ve had a no’reaster sitting off the coast of Nantucket all week. Lots of rain and high winds have made leaf peeping locally a bit of a challenge. Now if you like taking pictures in the rain- go for it. I’ve been a little too busy to mess with rain gear but it hasn’t stopped me from admiring the color changes.

Last Chance for 2019

Just as my cousin headed north for her vacation I’m heading south. I’m heading to the Florida Keys so today is the last chance I’ll have to get any fall foliage photos for this year. It looks like it’s stopped raining so maybe I’ll get lucky. I think I can spare an hour to go poking around before I finish my packing. What do you think of these?

: Tree of Red

: Along the water in Norton

: Norton Pond

: Norton Reservoir

: Happy Flowers

: Field of Sunflowers

: Pumpkins and Gourds

: Farm Stand

: Pumpkins and gourds for sale

: Fall Foliage

: Fall Picnic

: New England Colors

: New England Fall

: Along Rt 138

: Colors along 138

: Fall Colors

Leaf Peeping locally

I didn’t plan my vacation very well but it was the only time I could get in at the resort I wanted. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get. The newscasters have been talking about the colors along the Mohawk Trail this year and out toward the Berkshires. I won’t have time to make that drive but these photos from Raynham and Easton aren’t bad if I do say so. This is what I get to see everyday as I commute to work. Not a bad view. Of course I had to swing by the Norton Reservoir. That was always a pretty spot. It used to be on my drive when I worked in Foxboro. I do miss that. I guess that’s all for now. Catch you all on the weekend.

It was a Cold but Sunny Day

Posted on October 25, 2014October 25, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Last Sunday was cold! Good thing it was sunny because if it had rained it probably would have turned to snow. It was windy too but that didn’t slow down Dawn and Alex, my guests with their mother at my company’s annual Customer Appreciation Event.

This year it was at Belkin Outlook Farm in Natick. The farm has apple picking, a play area with little animals and a train to get you around the property.

Each attendee got to pick a pumpkin and there were loads of pumpkins! The grape arbors are gorgeous even if they were past grape peak.

The company served a barbecue lunch with ribs, hot dogs and hamburgers. Well maybe we should call them cold dogs because in spite of the chefs best efforts the food chilled as soon as it came off the grill.

I don’t know if it was special because of the event or if they always feature an animal ride but this time they had a camel ride. Dawn was in line for that in a flash but Alex preferred the warmer inside of the Lego building.

It was cold enough that the battery for the camera died way too soon. The spare was in the car because I didn’t take the cold into consideration.

OOPS! But the photos I got seemed to catch the atmosphere and the fun.

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.

They set up a spectacular display. All those orange pumpkins spread out over the green lawn is a feast for the eyes.

Nancy and I wandered among the rows taking pictures as we went.

Nancy also bought a T-shirt for her grand baby in Ohio. Then it was time to move on. We still had to get to our meeting at the Sailing Cow.

Do you know how to Carve a Jack-o- lantern?

Posted on October 25, 2011October 25, 2011 by Dusty Roads

How to Carve a Spectacular Jack-O-Lantern at Home

Probably the most frequently asked questions about the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular have to do with carving technique – what are the secrets of the Spectacular’s expert carvers? Here are some tips from the experts on how to get crafty with pumpkin carving.

Carve the hole and gut your jack o’ lantern from the bottom of the pumpkin, not at the top. This will provide more stability for your jack o’ lantern as it gets softer and it will make it much easier to light.

Use the features of your particular pumpkin to your advantage. For example, if the pumpkin has a long, curly stem, place the pumpkin on its side and use the stem as a nose.

Use a specialized carving tool, such as those used in ceramics, to peel the pumpkin skin in different thicknesses to make for more detail, rather than just carving holes into the pumpkin.

Practice peeling more or less of the skin away. By peeling different thicknesses of the rind away, you can create a 3-D shading effect when the light shines through.

Use markers to draw your design before you carve and to provide detailing to the finished carving.

To help your pumpkins stay fresh longer, spray the outside with a diluted bleach solution. (Of course, this means there will be no pumpkin pie made from that pumpkin later!)

Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular 2011

Posted on October 22, 2011October 22, 2011 by Dusty Roads

Last year I discovered The Jack-o-lantern Spectacular at the Roger Williams Park and Zoo. It’s a carved pumpkin trail lit only by the glow of thousands of pumpkins.

And last year I went alone to see what it was all about. This year I suggested to my friend Nancy that we take her two young children, Dawn (5) and Alex (7).. The only problem is that since I work weekends we would have to go on a weeknight aka school night.

Nancy decided it was worth it to keep them up so at 4:30 I was pulling into their driveway and we were bundling the kids into the car.

This year there was a new theme: All-new theme for 2011! The theme of this year’s show will be “A Journey Around the World.” It will include scenes from the Seven Wonders of the World (Taj Mahal, the pyramids and Sphinx, Mayan ruins, the Great Wall of China, and others) as well as representations of nations around the world, including a “European Vacation” and a trip through the Great White North complete with falling “snow”! And of course the famed centerpiece of the display, the “Laughing Tree,” will be back in all its spooky splendor. Visitors will be dazzled by hundreds of glowing jack-o-lanterns on the ground and in the branches, from tiny sugar pumpkins to gigantic gourds reaching up to 1600 pounds! (From RW web site)

We stopped at MacDonald’s and the kids were really wired. This was exciting for them then it was back on the road. We made one wrong turn… a slight detour that made me think of my sister’s philosophy…we’re not lost, just sight seeing…and then back on track it wasn’t long before we spotted the swan boats.

A bit farther along and we were being directed into a parking lot. Boy was it full! Even so we didn’t have to wait in line that long and were soon on our way to the start of the trail.

At first Alex was a little whiney..I’m not really sure why and Dawn kept saying she was scared but before too long we got to a section with music and from that point on the kids were in their element They danced the rest of the way.

According to the web site Photography is allowed on the trail when it will not impede movement on the pathway.
EXCEPTION: flash photography, tripods and monopods may not be used out of consideration for other people enjoying the magic of the trail.

I struggled along trying to get pictures with a long shutter without support..a near impossible task, while many people around me used their cameras, flash and all. Last year the No Flash Rule was strictly enforced but this year it seemed everyone was using flash.

I don’t know how long we took to walk the trail. The web site says it’s 45 minutes. It seemed to go fast to me but it was late when we got back to the car.

The kids were out cold before we were out of the parking lot. I had a great time and can only hope the kids did too. They were so tired when I dropped them off that I think they would have said yes to just about anything. 🙂