A golden glow

Some Autumns are just prettier than others 

This happened to be one of those years

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all other seasons

~ Jim Bishop

Exeter looked particularly lovely bathed in a golden glow as I strolled through town in my flip-flops on a warm afternoon.

In our own yard the leaves fell fast, furious and plentiful. Corralling them as quickly as possible is always the goal of my husband. Leaving a pile for the dogs to run through is a must, at least for a couple weeks anyway.

The oranges, the reds ... oh my! Framed by a blue sky the trees look amazing!

Autumn blazes full speed ahead. Each fleeting day a difference can be seen in color and light. The golds of the leaves can only be matched by the golds of late afternoon shadows.

May Autumn be as beautiful where you live as it is here in New England. 

Though I doubt it ...  ; )

The music of a summers evening

I wanted to share with you a few images from an outing I took on Tuesday evening. The Exeter Brass Band was playing at the bandstand and it was high time I made time to go see them! After all, it's been a tradition in Exeter, NH since 1847 so you know they've got to be doing something right. Wonderful old traditions and New England go hand in hand.



You can't tell from my photo but there was a good crowd filled with people of all ages. The weather was perfect for an evening of outside entertainment.

A fellow reveler of the entertainment

The band was wrapping things up when I decided to stroll around in hopes of getting a few decent sunset images. As I wandered over String bridge I couldn't help but notice the sunset on the river. Purples, pinks, yellows, and golds all meshed together to form the perfect palette.










Then I turned around to look up river but was not expecting to see this . . .



It was a most delightful evening : )

Festival of Trees

Last night my daughter asked me to take her to the annual Festival of Trees in Exeter. I really didn't want to go but knew it would be a nice opportunity for some evening photography. Luckily it wasn't to cold outside, though I did have to step into a store to warm my camera up for a moment. After that I kept it inside the front of my jacket.

The town seemed to have a pretty good turnout. As usual most people were ...

a) waiting to visit Santa
b) waiting for a horse drawn hayride
or
c) waiting in line to get a look at the 50 decorated trees in the Town Hall that were up for auction

The lines were long. Real long. I'm not a big fan of lines. Just as I decided to leave I bumped into my next door neighbor and her sister. We chatted for a few minutes, then along comes my daughter and her boyfriend. He's an Exeter native and told us how to sneak into the Festival of Trees through a side door. He says his family does it every year. Actually it's the entrance to the art show they were having upstairs but it also goes right into where the tree's are.

Yeah, we're bad. We did it. I only stayed about 5 minutes though while my neighbor and her sister lingered a bit longer.

So many gorgeous trees decorated by local businesses and organizations were up for bid! Each tree had a # and a corresponding sheet where you could write down a bid, just so long as it was higher than the previous bid. Most starting bids were around $25-$40 depending on how elaborate the tree was decorated. The highest bid I saw on any of the tree's was $250! All the money goes to help local children in need so it is a very good cause.

The holiday season can be such a beautiful thing

Let's take a walk in Exeter, NH

Here we are in my local town, Exeter, NH, standing on Front Street looking up at the old Town Hall. You can't miss it as you're driving through the center of town, it's an historic old building that really makes a statement.



The day I was there shooting they were working on the cupola. No one was up there at the moment because it was around lunch time so they must have been taking a break. Apparently the bandstand in the middle of town needed a little roof work too! After all, winter is coming and now is the time to get this stuff done.




Headed up Front Street towards Phillips Exeter Academy and the leaves are a changing! Seeing as how this was over a week ago I'm sure they're even more colorful now.



Now we're on the campus of PEA (Phillips Exeter Academy) looking down a long, lovely walkway. At the time the kids hadn't returned to school yet so it was fairly quiet except for all the workers trying to finish up last minute restorations. Did you know PEA is one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country? Kids come here from all over the world.




The oldest dormitory on campus. I'm not sure if it's still used as a dormitory but it certainly is pretty!




Starting in the upper left hand corner and going clockwise:

• A favorite home with a view through the front door into the backyard


• Pink Dahlia in front of The Willow home store on Water Street


• A secret garden


• Yellow Dahlia's on a white picket fence on a back street
  
  
  
  

A sweet Sunflower to punctuate the end of a few moments to myself

I hope you will join Mary and many other for Mosaic Monday!

Sunset on the Exeter river

I can't lie, I love a great sunset! Especially one that takes me by complete surprise, like this one.

I had to go into town to drop off my daughters friend when I noticed the colors in the sky. I was afraid by the time I dropped off the friend and made it back to the river, it might be too late. Sunsets, sunrises ... they change and diminish so quickly. Brilliant one minute, gray the next.

When I see a beautiful Great Blue Heron I can't help but think of the horrid photos of the Pelicans/Gulls in the Gulf, dripping in oil. My heart goes out to them and the people who are doing all they can to save such delicate birds.

I've added a special place on my sidebar for blogs/websites I'm following that are all Gulf related. It will be interesting to see where the wildlife/fishing industry/tourism industry stand 1 year from now. Will they survive? If they don't stop that damn oil soon, who knows. The current situation frustrates me to no end.

Okay, enough of my rant . . .

Wow, that was on gorgeous sunset! I just love this time of year, don't you?

By the way, thanks for all your input on my watermark! It's officially kaput. LOL! Guess simple is the best for now.

For more Water Wednesday posts, click on the photo below:

Fly fishing on the Exeter river

Although I don't fish, I think this looks like a pretty decent, and relaxing, way to start the day.

This gentleman is in good company with plenty of Herons and Gulls. They're pretty prolific on the river in the morning, coming in for the first meal of the day. It's one of my favorite places to look for Herons, but you have to be early. In another hour or so all that's left are the Gulls.

Photos taken on the backside of String Bridge

As many times as I've seen guys fly fishing on the river I've never seen any of them catch anything. Luckily the birds seem to be slightly more successful.

As I leaned out over the railing to photograph the fisherman I noticed this House Sparrow nearby, contemplating his fate.

Happy Saturday all! I'm so glad this week is finally over!!

*If you haven't stopped by the International Bird Rescue and Research Center blog then I highly recommend it. They just published a video showing exactly how they clean oiled birds. Poor things are scrubbed down pretty intensely, but it's all for their own survival. Quite frankly I'm really surprised more birds haven't come into the facility. Only 27, so far.

**Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my previous post, Seaside Inspiration. I had a lot of fun working on the photo's and hope to publish similar posts in the very near future!

Snowy day in Exeter

This post is a continuum of my other recent Exeter posts, Stillness and String Bridge views on a Winters day.

Downtown Exeter looking towards the Town Hall (center) and the Inn by the Bandstand on the left

It seems an appropriate post since we're due to get 4"-8" of snow today. I'll believe it when I see it. School has already been cancelled and we haven't even seen a flake yet. In fact when I looked out the window a few minutes ago I could still see blue sky!

Turning around and looking the other way towards Loaf and Ladle

The girls are happy though because it means they can sleep in.

Outside the Loaf and Ladle, a well known and frequented sandwich shop

All I know is that it better look like this by the end of the day!

A view of the Exeter river and String Bridge waaaay down there in the center of the photo.

The Sweetest of Days: Phin

Stillness

This beautiful snow is all but a memory. We've had rain and warmer temperatures the past couple days causing much of it to disappear.

Normally I don't take many pictures of park benchs but I know people enjoy seeing them, and this seemed like a scenic shot, so I took it. I don't like it though. The bench and tree should be more to the left and it irritates me that I didn't have the foresight when I shot the bench to know that. I've taken enough photos that I really should have known that.

Quite often I look back at the photos I took and think the same things ...'why didn't I shoot it differently? Lower, more to the right, left, more sky .... yadda, yadda, yadda'

Let's try this one instead:

Hmmm ... I think I like the second one best. What do you think?

Both images have the Rapture texture applied, provided by Shadowhouse Creations

*******

After publishing this post earlier today I went back and recropped the top photo. I could crop it much though or I would lose the house or part of the bench. A little better?

String Bridge views on a Winters day

About the time I took these photos I was supposed to be at a doctors appointment. Needless to say I forgot. Oops!



String Bridge is located in the heart of Exeter. It's just a small, old bridge built in 1935 and the view is pure and simple small town New Hampshire.

(looking up river towards the dam)

Settled in 1638 Exeter became a busy mill town. Though most of the mills have since disappeared, many of the colonial homes remain.

(below photos are looking down river)





Some prefer an afternoon dip ....

others would rather go with a nap

The sign below provides a little more information about the historic gold building that resides in the middle of String bridge.