Lost Aussie on the loose

Just A Quiet Day

Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments and emails about yesterday's post.  Glad to know that not "everyone" thinks that I am totally off my rocker.... LOL!

No particular adventures today, the weather being perfect "fall" and a good chance to get some work done in the garden while I can.  Capped it off with a good walk at Caumsett Park just as the sun was about to slide down behind the trees....

Now that the likelihood of hot days for swimming are past I am looking forward to the change in the trees and the autumn tints to photograph.

And as I was heading home, the sun dipped right down behind Connecticut ... and how pretty that was.  Great clouds in the sky today!!

Polo At The Park

Several weeks ago I was meant to join one of my Meetup Photography groups for an outing to Polo At The Park.  I think it was probably while I was away in Germany, anyway, never got to go, so today a little "googling" determined that I could take on this happy adventure independently.  Turns out that Bethpage Park is little more than 7 exits down the freeway and less than 20 mintutes from home!  Who knew?

After days of dreary and dreck weather, today was "picture perfect", even minus the horrible humidity we have been dealing with of late, and just a touch of Fall snap in the air.

Polo At The Park is a nice low key event.  No hoi poloi and plenty of opportunities to get up close to the horses, riders and pick any vantage point around the field that you would like.

It's a long time since I have been to a Polo match.  The last time would have been when I was living in Brunei (many moons ago - circa late 80's) and we would watch the Sultan of Brunei's team practice at his private park in Jerudong (long before it became open to the public). 
We even used to have the Argentinian polo players come and cook fire pit barbequed lamb for us in our garden...!!  Gosh, what a distant memory that is....

Anyway, today was fun!!  It's always a pleasure to watch horses and riders perform with such skill and enthusiasm, the perfect marriage of man and beast ....

I'll leave you with a few other odd snippets from my eye-catching afternoon.....

The Hampton Classic

Today I ventured off to the east end of Long Island to check out the Hampton Classic Horse Show.  Another one of those " must do" events for hob knobbing with 2 and 4 legged creatures of classic style and pace that populate our fair area during the Summer months.

And despite the fact that Day 1 is the beginning of a stellar calendar and with larger crowds to come, I was pleased to be here for the opening, where there was still room to take pictures and walk around and about unfettered.  Further on down the week it will get madder as the days progress....

I'm not much of a sports photographer, in truth, coming lately to the point where I try to make my camera do what I want, but I was pleased with a few of the shots I managed to capture of the horses and riders in motion..... no easy feat believe you me!!

It was really sunny and for the most part the main protagonists are dark which makes sorting out exposure compensation a bit of a nightmare .... yeah excuses, excuses.....

Anyway, you get the picture.... lots of horses jumping around, and oddly enough, lots of shopping, I guess it is afterall the "Hamptons"!!!

Kilts Galore

What to do on a hot sunny summer's day on Long Island? Hop along to Westbury to join in the frolics at the Scottish Festival and Games of course and be darned thankful that it was not you sweltering in 90F in a woolly kilt!

There was lots to see, many pipe bands, live music on various stages - including MacTalla Mor, bagpipe lessons if you were inclined, there was even a nice display of birds of prey ...

and the odd crazy pirate wench gadding about (with her pirate man pals of course!)...

All in all a fun day out and definitely so hot that it left you wishing you had brought a tankard and could have downed a chilled brew!  (Sadly none to be found at the event - not so Scottish afterall - though I did spy some IRN BRU for sale!!)...

Lovely Old Birds

Today what was meant to be an incredibly busy and productive day morphed into something else entirely. 
A change of plans saw DH and I skip along to the American Air Power Museum to check out the hangers of old aircraft that they tend to and rehabilitate. Unfortunately many of the planes were absent, having flown off to an airshow in MA and the remaining planes were all rather jammed into the indoor space, making pictures a bit difficult to take.  However it was interesting and some satisfactory pixels were snapped!

We sidetracked to a local pub on the way home and slaked our thirst with a few pints of cool amber, ordered a spot of lunch and spent the next few hours just "chilling out" and watching the Olympics on the massive dual screens over the bar.
Not that we don't have a nice TV at home but it's nicer if someone else is pouring the beers and slaving over the hot kitchen!

The rest of the day involved a nap - to get over the "strenuous" afternoon, followed by some catch-up reading of some 467 blog posts on my Google Reader....

What can I say?  I'm exhausted :-)  ...and it was rather lovely to play hookie for a day!

Creatures Great and Small

Today I joined up with one of my Long Island Meetup groups to go and take wildlife pictures at the Bailey Arboretum.  There they host a wildlife rescue operation that tends to a variety of birds, mammals and reptiles.  Many of their rescue animals are rehabilitated and set free back into the wild, but others, for one reason or another have been given a permanent home there.

It's a beautiful estate to walk on and it was a fantastic opportunity to be able to work with the volunteers and take some wonderful pictures of the animals they care for.

and then there was...

and last but not least....

Created From A Walk On The Beach

The temps have broken here the last few days.  It has actually been COLD!  And I am missing my opportunities to swim in the pool!

Instead a lovely long walk on the beach today.  No stellar pics but enought to make Photoshop Whoopee with, as for some reason I have abstract junk on the brain.

The image above is concocted from a picture of some sand ridges and then "messed about" with texture layers and various other tools.

I hope it's in focus for you to see as I am having nightmares with prescription glasses again.  I am up to the third re-do on two new pairs and seem to have better luck with the $10 ones procurred at the local pharmacy!  Go figure.

I should have been in bed ages ago as I'm off to a Wildlife shoot of "saved" animals in the morning!

Seems there's always one more pixel to tweak and sleep takes second best.... what's new?

Chasing Sparkles

We had it all planned out.  Eat dinner at 7pm and then head off to Bayshore to catch the "National Standard" firework show over the water - which promised to be nothing short of stellar.  Arrived in good time, found a parking spot only to be told by the local constabulary that the event had been cancelled in anticipation of further thunderstorms and lightening which had been plaguing the Island all afternoon!

Ugh!

Quick "google" on the iPhone an a brief conversation with the "copper" turned out that they were still hosting another event a few miles up the road.  So into the trusty mobile we hopped and scurried up the parkway to find mayhem and police cordoning off the approach to Bald Hill, where we were aiming for.  They'd shut it off as well, worried about the lightening there too.  So we joined a fair number of other folk who were waiting in various odd spots to wait and see if the sky would light.

After a little eye spy and reconnaissance the closest we could get to the hill was at the back of a TD bank parking lot, half way up a knoll with a massive bank of trees (unfortunately) obscuring 90% of what went up ...... but in the end there were a few decent snaps to be had.

I've not really shot pictures of fireworks before.  There's a little bit of a learning curve in that department evidently - a fine line to walk between capturing light and color and ending up with too much bleed and blur.  And a decent vantage point would also be a bonus for sure!

There are quite a few firework events hereabouts over the next month so perhaps there will be another chance to try my hand at shooting sparkles again fairly soon!

A Tale of A Tall Ship

Today I nipped along to Port Jefferson to take a peek at the Tall Ship - HMS Bounty that was in dock there.  Magestic and magnificent in all her glorious splendour and perfect for a little picture taking!

It was interesting to take a peek above and below decks and even though this version (built in 1960) is slightly larger than the original, she is no less impressive.  Built to film the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" and later used to film one of the Pirates of the Carribean series, you can't help but admire the authenticity of the vessel and imagine what she would be like under full sail and heaving under heavy seas.

Checking out Tall Ships rather floats my boat as at the ripe old age of 13 my Grandfather "ran away to sea", embarking upon a voyage on just such a vessel, making his way from Tasmania to England ...many many years ago.
He spent the rest of his life sailing the seven seas and to the best of my knowledge, loved every minute of it, eventually becoming a merchant seaman and later a cruise ship Captain for the well reknowned P&O Cruise Lines.

I can't help but wonder what he would have thought of my day out today and how he might have felt if he had been able to come, and take what would have been a walk down memory lane.

I think about my Grandfather often and miss him a lot.  He was an interesting character.  Having spent most of his life at sea he never learned to drive a car, relying on my Grandmother for that and many other aspects of "real life" connection to the world.  When he was "on land" he gardened, did the Times Crossword Puzzle before lunch and watched the wresting on TV at night.  He had the best compost heap ever and likely in today's terms would be considered a "plant whisperer".  An adventurer and a gardener ...bit like me I guess ...or is it the other way around and I'm a LOT like him!???

So.... "Ning Nong" (and don't ask why I call him that, that's a whole 'nother story!) ... today was for you!

xoxoooxo

Mellow Yellow

 

The sunshine has finally been out again and dozens of these lovely little yellow butterflies have been adorning the flowering plants and shrubs.  They seem to dance around the garden in pairs to an unheard symphony of movement and grace and are a delight to watch.

Rather tricky to capture with the camera with any great success as they flit and fidget almost non-stop but I remembered that someone had said to me recently that insects often like to go back and visit the same place so I just waited patiently with the camera on the tripod and sure enough, back they came!

Btw ... If anyone knows the scientific name of these little beauties, I'd love to know.  I suspect they might be Little Yellow Sulphurs (Eurema lisa) but I'm not sure...