Playland in Ocean City, New Jersey

It was a blast checking out the rides at Playland, one of the two amusement parks in Ocean City. As the rides twirled, even the relatively sedate ferris wheel created beautiful nighttime patterns.

I don't know what was going on inside the Gravitron, but this thing was really spinning.

The Hurricane was one of the craziest. It is this long row of seats - with impressive looking shoulder harnesses - which is suspended and then twirled from two axels.

Finally the Cyclone is this big claw which swings and twists crazily. Not my cup of tea based on the screams I heard.

Ocean City New Jersey...

We had a quick visit to Ocean City New Jersey over the weekend and were able to visit the boardwalk with our camera and tripod. It was somewhat cool and damp but there were still lots of folks out enjoying the sights, the food and the rides.

The rides close down at 10PM even on a Saturday night and we were too interested in trying to get some fun shots of the neon lights and we didn't get to go up in the ferris wheel.

Spring Clouds...

Peeping...

Snow Crystals...

Crystals from one of the last snowfalls of the season on one of our windows...

White Throated Sparrow

These guys are not too typical around here but for a sparrow they are really quite amazing - and quite tame. You can definitely see where they get their name from but it's the yellow patches above the eyes that are my favorite!

Spring is finally here in Vermont. We were gone for a single day and everything ins different upon our return.

Bluebird...

Gerber Daisy

A gerber daisy taken with a short depth of field and with a dash of styling added. 

Iced Maple...

Yesterday's ice storm was one of the worst I've seen in years. Trees, bushes and even the house are covered in a thick coat of ice. Near the sunset yesterday, the skies cleared and the sun came out.

Snowy Morning Drive...

Winter Panarama...

Snowy this morning in Vermont...

Deer...

Deer visiting our front yard on this very cold morning. This guy was enjoying one of a couple old apples we put out for them.

 

This is one of the younger visitors...

 

Kickin' Back...

Flying Clementine...

Meg snapped this picture of a clementine lodged in the crook of a branch in the woods nearby. We had put this slightly moldy fruit out the day before and apparently an enterprising squirrel managed to carry it out the tree and secure it from his main competition: the deer. Impressive!

By the next day, it was gone relocated to an even more secure location no doubt.

Red Winter Apples...

These little rugosa rose apples brings some color to an otherwise white world during yesterday morning's snowfall.

Roaring...

I caught our cat Deva yawning the other day, proudly showing off her missing tooth. I remain intrigued by the incredibly shallow depth of field attainable with the 50mm f1.4 lens. I tried but missed getting her eyes into sharp focus here but the effect is still kind of interesting. 

I've read at times that you should never leave anything in the foreground out of focus but like most rules, I think that one is demonstrably bogus.

Brrrr...

The December mornings are stark indeed. No real snow on the ground to "warm things up" so the branches and stray leaves are spiked with morning frost.

November Rugosa...

November in Vermont is monochrome. It is a stark follow up to our colorful summer season. One of the last bits of foliage to succumb to our black and white winter season is our rugosa rose leaves which briefly flare up from their summer green.

So long Venice...

In Venice, you take a water bus to the airport. This is where the "bus" dropped us at Marco Polo airport.

Rialto View...

Here is a view from the Rialto Bridge in Venice of commerce and pleasure boating along the Grand Canal.

We're nearing the end of the journey through Italy. Thanks for bearing with me!

The Pescheria near the Rialto Bridge in Venice

 

Venetian Night...

As we walked back through the night from St. Mark's Square to our hotel, we crossed several small canals such as the one below. 

Cruise ships in Venice...

The cruise ship phenomenon in Venice is somewhat unfortunate. There is a tide of people sweeping into the heart of the city in the morning and a flow back to the giant ship in the afternoon.

Venetian Traffic...

Gondolas of Venice...

St. Marks Square

A shot of St. Mark's square in Venice from the #1 water bus.

Jack! You home?

I've fallen down on regular blog updates but will restart with this years crop. We had such a blast carving this year!

Gondoliers...

Later in the day, we wandered down towards the touristy side of town near the Rialto Bridge. The day was improving but remained a bit unkind. This did not seem to dampen the enthusiasm folks had for riding around in funky boats powered by a man (during the whole trip we saw only one woman gondolier and she was clearly in training - brave woman!) using a single oar.

The camaraderie and cooperation between these very macho gondoliers was something to see. At times they seemed to be actively ignoring each other on the water but always the gondolas danced gracefully around each other and the other obstacles of the canals.

Venice in B&W

Our rainy walk around Venice was a real eye opener. Despite the wonderful colors, I tried converting some of our images to black and white. I like the way it captured the wonderful textures and also the mood - it was indeed a slow, dreary morning.

 

  

At one point we got totally lost and hit a watery dead end. Navigating in Venice is appropriately an art form even if you have all the necessary address information!

Fall Panorama.

Yesterday morning was a beauty of a fall morning. I was too late in capturing the pink sky that hung over the low fog but did manage to snap a few shots which I put together in this panorama.

The colors are a bit muted - most of the maple reds have moved on it appears - but it's still a gorgeous sight.

Rainy Canal...

The rainy led us along some amazing passageways and canals...

The Canals of Venice

As we continued our walk through the drizzle, we started to really understand the fact that the Venetian streets are made of water. We watched this boat come down the narrow canal towards us, with the other boats looking so much like parked cars.

  

This city is like nothing I've ever experience before.

Venetian textures...

As we made our way through the drizzling streets of Venice, we ran into scenes with colors and textures that are so different from what we see in New England.

This building, with its textured face, tiny balcony and bright flowers, was one of my favorites.

Rainy alley...

Our first full day in Venice started with continuing drizzle but this did not stop us from getting out and about. We started by walking out our window past the enormous Queen Victoria which had docked outside our hotel. The whole Venice / cruise ship thing is kind of a bummer. Crowds rush off the ship and a wave of tourists sweep towards St. Marks square for the day. At dusk the tide goes back out and often as night falls you see the ship being towed out to sea as we did on our first night.

It is what it is I guess and one thing is for sure: it is huge.

Given the influx of tourists on this rainy morning, we headed away from St. Mark's and into the nearby residential neighborhood. We had found dinner at a family place the night before. The food was simple and delicious and the entertainment was great: a gentleman and a guitar who got much of the local clientele singing along before he was finished.

As we wandered away from the great canal through rainy streets we found many alleys like this where clothes had been unsuccessfully hung out to dry.

Venice!

We finally left Florence, taking a fast train to Venice. We pulled into the station in Venice, walked outside with our bags and found the city "bus" that we were to take to our hotel. It was a cloudy day but this did nothing to dampen my astonishment at seeing a city truly built on water.

By the time we arrived at our hotel, the day was brightening a bit and we were treated with this view. Our hotel was wonderfully located with a true residential area behind us and in this direction an ever increasing density of tourism, culminating in St. Mark's Square under the tower in the distance. The building with yellow trim in the foreground is out "bus" stop.

Our first site upon exiting the hotel was the towing of a giant cruise ship out to sea. This shot was taken from our fourth floor hotel window and gives some idea of how this behemoth dwarfed the buildings surrounding the canal.

Lovers Locks...

As we returned to the hotel from Boboli Gardens, we passed one of many instances of lovers padlocks that we saw in Florence.

A naked fat guy on a turtle...

As we prepared to exit Boboli Gardens, we stumbled upon one of Boboli Garden's most whimsical statues...

A naked fat guy riding a turtle? Really? The sculpture dates from the 1500's (have you heard this before?) and apparently depicts the Court jester, (a dwarf) as Bacchus, the God of Wine - definitely one of the more humble Gods I would say. It's whimsical, odd, strangely engaging and hilarious as the same time.

And what is he saying? "Stop! That's close enough! What are you looking at?!"

 

Presumably today, such a commission would be considered pork barrel spending by a bunch of artsy-fartsy liberals. I'm glad the court of Cosimo I sprung for it though as it proved to be a giddy last memory from Boboli Gardens for us.

Now we headed back to our hotel, packed our things and prepared to take the fast train to Venice...

The Grottos of Boboli Gardens.

Making our way out of Boboli Gardens, we stopped at one of the two amazing grottos that the garden contains. This one which dates from the 1500's was home to the original the Prisoners of Micelangelo and now contains replicas.

Grottos are basically caves that have been turned into art in some way or another. This is a view of the main interior which shows the replica's of Micelangelo's Prisoners struggling to release themselves from the stone.

If you peer into the depths, you can see that the statues extend well back into the cave.

Late Summer Dahlia...

[We'll again take a break from Italy this weekend and enjoy a bit of the summer sights from Vermont]

This year's dahlia struggled a bit for much of the summer but has recently really come into it's own. We caught it this morning apparently lit from within.