Autumn in Vermont

Becoming unstuck in time is one thing. Losing control of it is another. In other words, I'm still having a problem getting much of anything done. Perhaps it is a lack of ambition to do things that is at the root of the problem. Perhaps the problem is that my perception of accomplishment is askew. I mean, I did get the dishes done. I could go on in this vein for awhile, which would eventually result in my admitting that I actually do a heck of a lot; it's just that it is so seldom as much as I want to get done. I know I have slowed down. I don't really mind. Perhaps the real problem is that the world seems to be going by faster that it used to, relative to my position in it. At times it feels like autumn has been slowly unfolding. Some days I think it is rushing by too fast. There is so much to note, so little time to drink it all in, to observe, to appreciate, to hold in heart or memory. Autumn, like Spring, goes by too quickly. And the effect seems more pronounced every year. Perhaps it has something to do with aging.

A bit over a week ago, a friend drove the two of us around a small portion of our state. Every now and again it is refreshing to be a tourist in your own area, your own state, on the paths you tread every day. Doing so is like a leaf revealing its colors in the fall.

Therefore, a presentation of totally unremarkable photographs, taken with a small point and click fits in your pocket style digital camera, published here without any adjustments to the originals. In others words (for friends from away) this really is how it looks - as the cheap digital sees it, anyway.

The pumpkin arrangement honors one of our state's US Senators, currently running for the Presidency.

The Connecticut River separates Vermont from New Hampshire - the view is of the New Hampshire side.

Route 5 is the old highway that passed through small towns, superseded by an Interstate that passed them by.



The village center and Common of Thetford. It's typical of this area - there really isn't any there there.
Even so, Thetford has a population over 2,600 which makes it larger than my hometown, which had an active Main Street.

Since the owners were nice enough to perfectly place the pumpkin to balance photographs,
I couldn't find it in my heart to pass up taking the shot.

Just a couple of homes to the left of the above.

At the center of the "T" formed by the shots near the library and the homes with views, the oldest continually used meeting house in the state. The congregation was organized in 1773. The building dates to 1787. It was moved form the other end of the common to its current site in 1830. A somewhat similar story to the Congregational Church in Brattleboro (where I live).

The Quechee Gorge was formed by glaciers 13,000 years ago. We're looking down 165 feet from the roadway. This is just a small part of what is visible. There are many hiking tails. I took a few pictures within about a 4 or 5 minute span of time, and everyone is different due to the changing light. This is by no means a spectacular shot, chosen only for color.

Federal period architecture always gets my attention; the village of Woodstock has it in abundance.
The main business of the town is a very large, very expensive, Inn owned by the Rockefellers.
p.s. I love the smell of money in the morning.



Woodstock's in-the-center-of-town covered bridge.



Just the side of another building by the Woodstock Common.

A hill near Plymouth Notch (which I visited at the beginning of July.)

I can't quite remember if this is Echo Lake or Lake Rescue. One follows the other, both alongside of Route 100.

Okay, I've spent enough time posting, I must get on to other things.

Here's last Saturday's radio show (October 17th), in which songs were played for autumn, and for the birthdays of big band jazz singer Anita O'Day (Oct. 18th), hot jazz era bandleader leader Roger Wolf Kahn (Oct. 19th), and drummer Cozy Cole (Oct. 17th). The aging mental case who hosts the program forgot to credit the 2nd song after the opening sequence - it was Cozy Cole's All Star Band performing "Just One More Chance".


  
 As always, I hope any listeners enjoy the show.
          

Mental Hygiene

The Shorpy site has found another winner. I gather that most of their work is done by a guy named Dave, who searches out old photos from the Library of Congress and other sources. It's the kind of site that is very easy to get lost in - at least for me. There is usually an option to click on to get a hi-res pic which can offer sometimes stunning details. The pic that caught my attention on this morning's internet perambulation:

Washington, D.C., 1924. "Exhibit on Mental Hygiene." As we wash our hands, so must we wash our brains. Much poignantly straightforward signage. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

I've tried something different with this pic - instead of loading the hi-res version so that you and I can click on it (or right click on it to open it in its own window) I've tried linking it to the hi-res version at the Shorpy site. That way, you get to scroll around and have a bit of fun clicking on this and that. I do hope you'll try it, it took me a little while to work this out (Blogger moves the link to the caption unless you add the caption later.)

I clipped one of the posters on the wall; and well, this explains everything! I was a walking danger signal.

In case you're wondering how the site got such a name: it was the nickname of a real boy. He is the subject of the first photograph posted by the site, one of a series taken by Lewis Hine, whose pictures helped change child labor laws in the US.

December 1910. "Shorpy Higginbotham, a 'greaser' on the tipple at Bessie Mine, of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. in Alabama. Said he was 14 years old, but it is doubtful. Carries two heavy pails of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

As the site became established, members of Shorpy's family added comments. (Shorpy shows up in four different photos.) One site visitor used the internet to see what he could find and talked to a couple of Shorpy's relatives, who were unaware of the Hine photos. He found that Shorpy died at the age of 32 in a mining accident. (If you're interested, his discoveries are posted on the Mornings on Maple Street blog.)

Some days, I really love the internet.