This is WAY too early for snow. Blargh!

So, 3.7 inches of snow fell here today.  This is a record here for the most snow ever in October.  It broke a record that had stood since 1925.  If I haven't mentioned it before now, I AM NOT A FAN OF SNOW.  Sure, sometimes it looks kinda pretty, but it is COLD and it is HEAVY when you have to shovel it, and most people drive like (even bigger) idiots when it is falling or already on the roads.  So, not only did this snow cause the cancellation of the annual Mummer's Parade here in town (which hasn't happened since the blackout years during WW2), but it also caused a lot of power outages.  A lot of trees still have their leaves and the snow was weighing down their limbs.  I feel bad for the trees...and myself...because I really do hate the snow.  Also, I noticed that my cherry tree that I planted this Spring is dead.  Somehow, the trunk was snapped.  I don't know if it was some horribly malicious awful excuse for a person or if it was Nature.  I'm sad and really disappointed either way.  I spent a lot of time and effort this Spring and Summer on that tree and I was dreaming of the beautiful cherry blossoms that it would bring forth into the world.  It's SO NOT RIGHT that it's dead. *SAD FACE*  I'm hoping to get another tree and try again.  Anyway, I felt bad for my weeping willow tree.  It was so weighed down by the snow that I was afraid it would be damaged.  I got my winter boots out (again, WAY too early for this!) and went out into the yard to gently shake the snow off the leaves.  Here is a picture of the tree before I went to save it.

The Maryland International Film Festival

I volunteered for 3 hours today for the Maryland International Film Festival.  It is the first year for the festival and I hope that it will be back next year and continue to grow.  I was an usher (taking tickets, passing out ballots and re-collecting them back after the movies) at The Bridge of Life Church in downtown Hagerstown.  There is a brunch tomorrow at Seven Ten which is the revamped bowling alley at Longmeadow.  I think that I'll go because it will be free food and I've been trying (and sometimes succeeding) to save money lately.  It stinks not having endless funds!  Anyway, I got a free t-shirt for my time (it's pink!) and hope enough people came out to make the whole event a success.
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture for this post, but I will try to get a picture of the former theater/now church/used as a movie theater.  I think it's a shame that it is a church now as it would be great to use it as a theather for live theater.  I liked that the doors in the lobby had diamond shaped windows.  It just makes me think of times past.  At least the church is taking good care of the building even if I'd love to put it to another use.

Beautiful weather makes for great photos, but lots of rain makes for beautiful waterfalls.

   Last weekend, I drove to Frostburg to visit my friends Mandy and Frank.  They were generous enough to not only let me stay at their house, but also to come along with me while I attempted to take pictures. 
   On Friday night, I tried to take star trail pictures for the first time...with mixed results.  The moon was mostly full, so that caused some light pollution and once we finally found a nice, dark place, a few cars messed up the shot.  I did, however, capture a few shots that I liked.  I'd like to try the star trails again, and soon, but it really needs to stop raining for a while!  I love how green my yard is, I really do, and I know that it's great for the trees and plants, but I could use a break. 
   So, Mandy, Frank, and I at dinner at D'Atris in Lavale and then came back to their house to chill for a bit.  After it was dark, we headed out looking for dark places.  We tried a couple places before going to this place in Garrett County where there are twin churches overlooking fields and a ridge.  It's pretty there.  One of the churches is no longer an active church and actually looks sort of run down and creepy - which I think makes for an interesting photo.  I had a difficult time getting the settings on my camera and the remote to work at first (lesson learned:  do that before leaving the house next time), but then I tried a few different lengths of time.  I got one picture that is approaching what I'd like to have as far as a circular shot of the stars and then another shot that just shows how pretty the night sky is and how many stars are out there.  It always makes me realize how very few stars that I can see living in the city.  Blasted light pollution!

First real attempt at star trails - you can kinda see the circle that I was going for here.

Just look at all those stars!

The Casselman River Bridge at night with stars.

   So, after the bridge, it was pretty darn late and it was chilly out, so we went back to their house. It was 1 am before we went to bed.  I woke up at my normal time of 7 AM (without an alarm clock!) and got ready to go to Swallow Falls State Park.  I had never been out in that area, so I was really excited that we were going to go there.  We stopped at this scenic overlook.  On the right side, there is a giant corn maze at the farm.  I couldn't make out the design, but it looked neat.  We drove past and next to Deep Creek Lake (which I had never seen before) and it was beautiful. 

   Finally, we turned onto this road that led us to this tiny parking area...and a closed bridge...which we needed to cross to enter the park.  We found out later, on our way back home, that we should have gone straight instead of turning right and we could have driven into the park.  If we had done that though, I wouldn't have gotten the cool shots on the scary metal bridge (that I was afraid to walk on because you could see straight down) or risk my life walking around the construction barrier.  Scary!  We walked up the driveway (for lack of a better word) into the park and enjoyed all the light and the trees on the way there.  I would have missed that if we had driven.  I was really loving the light - it made for some really great shots.

The sky was a perfect shade of blue.  I loved all the colors against it, but particularly the reds.

Muddy Water Falls - hordes of old people descended on us as I was trying to photograph it - and then they WOULDN'T MOVE FROM THESE STAIRS - so we gave up and moved on to the other falls.

I loved this scene the most.  The light was perfect and there are so many details to be seen.

I finally figured out/remembered how to make silky waterfalls at the 4th waterfall we visited.  At least I finally got a couple silky water pictures.

The Youghiogheny River - looking upstream - after our visit and on our way back to the car.

  After leaving the park, we ate a late lunch at a Perkin's in Deep Creek.  It was the best chicken friend steak I've ever had!  I was super hungry after all that walking.  My left knee, leg, and ankle swelled up after all that walking and driving (the clutch kills me sometimes), but it was worth it to experience such beauty.  I hope to return again some day.



The Travel Paradox

I love to travel.  I really do...and yet, I also love to stay home.  When I have time and, more importantly, money, I try to visit places where I've been before and new to me too.  I have a long list of places, countries, sites, cities, etc. where I would love to go with a camera in hand.  One of them is Machu Picchu in Peru (new to me) and another is Paris (been, but loved it enough to want to return). 
  There is one place, however, that I feel that I need to visit again...as much as I love to stay home.  It's not a well known place.  It's a square mile island in Scotland and it's owned by a Dutch family.  They visit one month a year for their holiday, but the rest of the time, it is used by the Findhorn Foundation.  Its name is the Isle of Erraid and it is beautiful there.  I lived there for two and a half months when I was seven years old.  My interpretation of the place is (and was) that New Agey types like to go there to commune with Nature and each other (literally).  Since I was just 7, I spent most of my time playing and doing school work now and then.  My mother is a school teacher, so she taught us while we were there.  I remember doing several chapters at a time of math or spelling just to get it done.  I read my entire 2nd grade reading book and then, lacking more reading material, I read my brother's 5th grade book.  He didn't like that very much as I remember.  I think that this island is where I caught the reading bug.  I probably would have still been a big reader had I not visited there, but that is where the reading clicked for me and I began to enjoy it.
  While playing, I spent a lot of time walking and running on TOP of the walls.  They were stone and had rounded tops.  The tops of the walls reached about where my shoulders did at that age.  I don't think the adults there liked that I (and my siblings) did this, but no one made us stop.  I never fell, not even once.  Some of the walls had a pretty vertical slant to them as they climbed hills.  I also liked to throw rocks off the pier into the water at high tide (well, anytime but when the tide was out because that was no fun) and play in the little pink rowboat that was always tied to the pier at the bottom of a ladder. 
  There was not much that I disliked about living there.  I didn't really like the seaweed when the tide went out.  It looked and smelled gross to me.  I didn't enjoy using the outhouses.  I missed not being able to watch TV, but not a lot.  I remember that they were pretty strict about snacking and I was a hungry kid, but I remember taking apples (probably when I wasn't supposed to) and eating those between meals.
  So, back to why I want to re-visit this island.  First, it is gorgeous.  I'll post some pictures that my mother took.  Sadly, I didn't have a camera back then, but I do now.  Second, I would love to document said gorgeousness.  I adore ridiculously beautiful blue water and painfully lovely landscapes.  Third, I know that it will be different visiting as an adult, but I've wanted to return since I left and it's been over 30 years now.  It's not the easiest place to get to though, so that's part of the problem.  At minimum, it will take a plane, a train, a ferry, and a bus (or some combination thereof) to reach the larger island off the coast of Erraid called Mull.  At low tide, you can walk from Mull to Erraid, but the tide comes in quickly, so I wouldn't really recommend that unless you feel like getting wet and swimming the rest of the way.  Finally, I might have to visit alone since it's not really much of a draw for most people I would imagine.  I'll do my best to sell it as a great place to visit that's off the beaten path, but I'm not sure if I can convince anyone who I'd actually care to travel with to come along for the ride.  I hope to post pictures here from that trip some day soon, but for now, here are some pictures from back in 1981.  They are slides taken by my mother with a 35mm camera that she was learning how to use as she went. We watched the slides over and over many times.  I've scanned them all, but some of them haven't fared as well as others in 3 decades.

Bay of Balfour (I think)

Here is me and my brother.  Just look at that water!



I want to photograph this island!



This is me on Iona.  You can see Iona from Erraid and we visited one day.

This is the water tank behind our neighbor's house.  The Chittys lived next door.