Beautiful horses and a wonderful contraption

Posted by Photonstopper on March 10, 2013
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Photo: Silhouette of a carousel horse.

A carousel horse stands in silhouette over the museum entrance.

Today we paid a return visit to the Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky, Ohio. The museum occupies a former Post Office and federal office building in the heart of downtown. Its centerpiece is a full-sized, operating carousel which is surrounded by displays of carved ride animals. In addition to the carvings owned by the museum, several pieces on display belong to collections owned by individuals and businesses. Most of the carvings are beautifully displayed while a few are in their original condition. A carver works in a corner of the main exhibit area demonstrating the tools and techniques of restoration and of carving new ride figures. I have always had a love of traditional carousel band organ music and was treated to a performance. A restored and fully-funtioning machine stands in the main room with its open back to a panel of windows. Band organs are usually very loud and to stand so near one in operation was, while a joy to me, a bit uncomfortable. Stepping around to the other side of the windows, however, gave me insight into the wonderful musical contraption. The cymbals, drums, and other percussion instruments were played using compressed air actuators. The organ pipes, of course, also used compressed air. All of the air came from a couple of sets of bellows. And controlling the whole operation … a tiny perforated scroll, just like that used in player pianos! A wonderful contraption, indeed!

Photo: Carousel horse. Photo by James Guilford.

A beautifully-restored outside row jumper. ca. 1915, by Marcus Illions.

Springtime on the farm

Posted by Photonstopper on March 10, 2013
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Photo: Sheep in bed of hay. Photo by James Guilford.

Smiling for the camera? Nah, “Ma” is resting and munching some hay.

On Saturday we visited the Lake Metroparks’ Farmpark in Kirtland, Ohio. This rather unique park is dedicated to giving visitors a taste of farm life not far from their city and suburban homes. The farm has sheep, milk cows, horses, and other typical farm animals. They demonstrate the care and feeding of those animals and maintain a milk production facility. This weekend the park hosted their annual Maple Sugaring event.

Photo: Mother sheep restrains her lamb using her leg. Photo by James Guilford.

“Stay here, little one.”

Typically, visitors can see how maple sap is collected (the traditional buckets and a newer hose-fed system), and boiled down into syrup and sugar. Maple products made at Farmpark are available for purchase. It also happens to be nearly spring. A family favorite was the barn where young livestock were housed with their mothers: kids and lambs only days old, and young piglets. We spent a good long time in that barn and, after shooting many photographs and succumbing to cuteness overload, left pleased to have seen the kids (human and goat) interacting with such joy.

Photo: Piglets pile together for a nap. Photo by James Guilford.

Keeping it Tight

And the lake will emerge again

Posted by Photonstopper on March 9, 2013
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Photo: Snow pellets on ice. Photo by James Guilford.

Snow pellets appear as powdered sugar on an otherwise-smooth sheet of ice.

I took a little midday trip to the Lake Erie shore at Huntington Beach Friday. It was cold but at least the wind was not hard. Still, by the end of my brief session my fingers were stiff and red from holding my Canon PowerShot G11 bare-handed. I could have spent a couple of hours there exploring the scene; the light was gradually changing and there were so many interesting shapes and patterns to discover. My schedule and cold-hurting hands forced me to leave all too soon. The lake was frozen over for as far as I could see. Mounds of ice had piled along the sands, apparently from previous thaws followed by freezing. Ice and snow, recently deposited, gave texture to open areas of ice. Spring comes soon, ice will merge with the waters it hides, and the lake will emerge again.

Photo: Fractured ice sheets piled on a beach. Photo by James Guilford.

Plates of broken ice pile over one-another on the sandy beach.

Memories of the ice-jammed beach

Posted by Photonstopper on February 10, 2013
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Photo: Icy lake and beach in the Greater Cleveland Area. Photo by James Guilford.

View to the east, along Huntington Beach, with Downtown Cleveland in the distance and a wine bottle on sandy ice.

A little jaunt to the Lake Erie shoreline this morning gave us dramatic vistas of sky and ice! The lake is only partly frozen and great plates of ice have been driven into piles near-shore off Huntington Beach in Bay Village, Ohio. Lighting conditions were constantly changing with the sky. Clouds overhead were white while those low to the horizon took on a brownish hue. Temperatures hovering in the upper-30s (F) allowed me to explore the area a bit and take it all in. By afternoon our overcast had returned. We have, still, memories of the ice-jammed beach.

Photo: Shattered ice offshore on Lake Erie. Photo by James Guilford.

Shattered ice piles off-shore from Huntington Beach.

Gorgeous surprise of a day at Nature Realm

Posted by Photonstopper on February 9, 2013
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Photo: Fallen wood with green lichen and snow. Photo by James Guilford.

Layers of decaying wood fiber decorated by lichens and snow on the forest floor.

Surprise! Instead of a cloudy and cold day, we received a cloudless and mild (~ 30 degrees F) Saturday! It was a fine occasion for a little walk at Akron’s Nature Realm park. The woods were loaded with Black-Capped Chickadees that were being hand-fed by some visitors. I was most fascinated by snow and shadow. What, to my eye, really stood out was a pinwheel of decaying wood capped with lichens and snow — an amazing touch of color in a seeming monochrome landscape.

Photo: Bright spots in the shadows illuminate snow formations. Photo by James Guilford.

Spots of light fell on snow formations in the shadows of the woods.

Midwinter color comes in patches

Posted by Photonstopper on February 3, 2013
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Photo: Winter landscape at Hinckley Lake, Ohio. Photo by James Guilford.

Dry reeds in a wetland area add a touch of color to a winter scene.

I haven’t been outdoors for much photography this winter. So when we made a brief foray to Hinckley Lake this afternoon, even a few snapshots were better than nothing! The lake was, except for a wet spot or two, completely covered with snow over a thin layer of ice. The sky was mostly cloudy with gaps providing brief interludes of bright sunshine between long periods of dull light. Among the fields of white and gray woodlands, there were splashes of color. I hope to get out and spend some real time exploring the winter scenery. Til then, these little visits will have to do.

Photo: Boats covered with snow and ice. Photo by James Guilford.

Boats wait, covered in snow and ice, for spring thaw.

A cold celestial dance before bed

Posted by Photonstopper on January 21, 2013
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Photo: Close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.

Close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.

Despite the fact it was 9 degrees (F) and just before 11:00 PM, I simply had to go out and try a shot of Monday night’s close conjunction of the Moon with Jupiter. Skies had cleared and the day’s occasional snows stopped, so I had a good opportunity. I stepped out on to our sidewalk and, tolerating the frigid breeze as long as I could, shot several exposures, bracketing the shutter speed. I only got one or two that were acceptable to me, mostly due to focus being off. The image I’m sharing is sharp enough that (in the uncompressed original) it even shows hints of Jupiter’s cloud belts, diagonal here in its tiny disk. None of Jove’s moons show due to the short exposure needed to record Earth’s Moon. Pictures done and shared here, on Twitter, and on Google+, it was off to slumberland having witnessed a cold celestial dance before bed.

End of a lovely day, the beginning of hard weather

Posted by Photonstopper on January 19, 2013
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Photo: Cloudy sunset portends a change in weather. Photo by James Guilford.

End of a Lovely Day, Beginning of Hard Weather

It was a lovely day today, considering it’s mid-January. The sky was mostly-clear and sunny and, though very windy all day, the temperature hovered around 50 degrees (F). It really did look and feel like a fine day in March. We are expecting a rather dramatic change in the weather around here. The temperature is expected to gradually slide from today’s high to single-digit lows over the next few days. We may also get another dose of snow midweek. This evening’s sunset was lovely, even as it portended the coming changes with a lovely burst of sun, a patch of blue sky, and encroaching quilted clouds. Tonight’s sunset was the end of a lovely day and marked the beginning of hard winter weather.