American Vernacular

This is a private house I have photographed before in the middle of Sea Cliff.  I stopped to mail a letter at the post office just across the street and the sunlight on part of the home and porch seemed interesting to me.  I tried a closer photograph of just the porch but this wider angle, along with the American flag on the lamp post, seemed to complete the photograph.  "Vernacular" architecture I think has been described as particular to the country or region where it has been built.  Stan and I are always looking for "American Vernacular" objects and architecture as we travel around.  Please be sure and click on the image to see all the details of objects that are on the porch.

 

The Ovid Farmhouse

On the way to Rochester we always drive by the abandoned farmhouse in Ovid that I have been photographing for about 20 years now.  This view is looking back toward home.  On the way to Rochester we were looking for the farmhouse and apparently drove right by it!  I couldn't figure out what happened.  I thought that maybe the house had finally been demolished.  So on the way home five days later I looked more carefully and then realized I had found this area full of trees, where the house used to be.  It is still there!  The issue was, we have always traveled to Rochester in the early spring before the trees are leafed out and around Thanksgiving time when the leaves are gone.  If you click on this photograph, in the center of the trees you can see a small part of the remains of the house!

Once I stopped I could see the front of the house more clearly, but it was fully in shadow and all the new grasses were growing in front of it.  No wonder I missed it.  So much of the house has completely collapsed and with all the tress leafed out it was hard to find any good view of what it left.

I walked around to the right hand side of the house, based on the view above, and there was finally something left to photograph, this window against the sky.  How far this has deteriorated in the 20 years I have been stopping to photograph!  

This was the farmhouse back about 6 or 7 years ago, and of course with all the trees bare we can see so much more of the house.  Such an interesting project to photograph this house year after year.  If you are REALLY interested, in the upper left hand corner of the blog page there is an orange "B" and then a white box with a magnifying glass in it.  Enter the word "farmhouse" in the white box and click the magnifying glass and you will see all of my posts  of this house over the years!

 

A Double Rainbow

As part of her recovery from her knee replacement surgery, Kathy has been doing some walking.  Our street is way too steep for this so we drive down to the Dunkin' beach, park the car and walk back and forth on a level sidewalk.  It was sprinkling today as we walked late in the day.  When we were done, we started to drive out of the parking lot and then we saw this!  There was a single rainbow at first and then the secondary bow began to show faintly, to the right of the primary bow.  What a beautiful thing to see and I love the wide view that shows not only the bow and the clouds, but the blue sky as well!  Our lucky day!  This is an extra large post, so please click on it to see more detail.

 

Cumulus Clouds

Cumulus clouds are low-level clouds known for their puffy, cotton-like appearance and flat bases. Originating from the Latin word for "heap," they form on sunny days when warm, moist air rises and condenses. Typically, scattered cumulus clouds signal fair weather, though they can grow into towering storm clouds.  We had a perfect day for our trip home from Rochester. It was particularly lovely to watch the sky all the way because it was full of Cumulus clouds.  Blue sky and sunshine and puffy white clouds .all the way and then suddenly on the Palisades Parkway, we had several downpours which surprised us.  A perfect day for travel!

 

The Condos vs. The Farmland

Back in April of 2024 I photographed a site that was under construction.  It was farmland that was clearly being developed.  It started by my seeing an old farmhouse on a rise next to the road and there were two trees in front of it, back in 2023.  Then the farmhouse was demolished, but the trees were left.  Old Farmhouse So I spent some time showing the start of the construction back in 2024.  You can find those photographs of construction Here. So I have seen these buildings before but not in this way.  When we were driving by today, what struck me was the beautiful green field of corn and the perfectly tilled brown field which awaits planting.  It feels in this photograph that the buildings are marching toward this beautiful farmland. This photograph is the best of this take, but I also shot a panorama so you can see the full extent of the development.

BE SURE and click on this panorama so you can see the full extent of the development here!

I also did a close-up but after looking at all three photographs, it is not as powerful as the first photograph, or the panorama. 

 

The Restored Garden at Eastman House

 

I went out to the George Eastman Museum to see the current exhibits yesterday.  When I was done seeing those, I went out to see the restored gardens on the east side of the mansion.  This garden is known as the Terrace garden.  The bright sunlight was not my favorite choice of lighting for a garden but I made do with what I had to work with.  Because of the sun and shade combination I was unable to take a beautiful photograph of the whole garden, I just tried to find some lovely images of parts of the garden.

This is the closest thing to a wider view of a part of the Terrace garden.  They have done such an amazing job or restoration with complete replacements of all the brick walkways which makes the garden more accessible.  And they have done major replanting of all the flower gardens, and also restored the sunken lily pond in the center of the garden.  It is just beautiful now which is nice to see because it has been a few years now while the restoration took place.

These are Water lilies in the sunken lily pond in the center of the garden, which was completely restored.  I only wish the light was better so that I could a photograph, perhaps from the upper floor showing the entire terrace garden because it is something to behold after the restoration!

A Powerful Family Portrait

We are staying with Vince and JoAnne and in their guest bedroom, this framed photograph is on the wall.  I have been taken by this for years.  Look at those faces!  So the story is that JoAnne's mom, Jean is on the right.  This photograph was taken, get this, one hundred and one years ago in 1925!  On the left in the photo is Jean's sister Dorothy.  In the center is the baby Zoe, who sadly died at age 6 from the measles. What I love about this photograph is that way back when, if you wanted a family photo you gathered everyone up and went to a professional studio and deliberately had a beautiful photograph done.  Not just a quick snapshot, but a carefully composed, beautiful portrait.  The background of this, by the way, with the lamp ,is not a real lamp but rather a painted background. It is such a joy to look at this photograph, even after knowing the sad part of the story.