Life in the Bristolwood

I have so many photos, but for this time, I am not going to comment on them.  I am just going to post them! 

And…..it’s almost Friday!  Yay!!!

Okay….breaking the silence!  Did you ever see the movie It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart?  It is a Christmas movie and it is said the town of Beford Falls might well have been loosely based on the (real) little town of  Seneca Falls, New York.  So…Seneca Falls is proud of this fact.  So…it is kind of sad to see Zuzu’s Cafe (named after the little daughter Zuzu in the movie) up for lease!?

These photos are really random and taken from all over the place.  Just thought you might enjoy….

is that just when you *think* you have them just so…..

Yup.  Mr. and Mrs. Bufflehead gave me the ole “bottoms up”!

Yesterday’s bone-chillin’ miserable weather really was an April Fool’s joke!

We left for Rochester early this morning, escorted the entire way by glorious sunshine AND luscious blue skies! It didn’t matter that it wasn’t as warm as earlier this year, because the sun’s warmth was enough to generate warmth from within! 

So, now that you know the kind of day we had,  here are random photos taken today with the Nikon….

As you can see, the sun was with us the entire day and it really was quite an awesome sunset from the upstairs window!

If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.  Better yet, we know the camera never lies!

Okay.  I confess. It was just this Heron that took off and headed eastward.  I shot the photo toward the “light of day”. (as opposed to the sun!) One must admit, though,  it *does* sorta kinda look like a flying dino! (Pterodactyl)

Naw, not really.  I was only there for a short period of time.

Mark and I drove up to Mark’s mom’s today to take her to another doctor appointment.  While she was at the hospital, Mark and I went over to visit briefly with a friend of ours who lives just a short distance from the hospital.  He has an awesome three wheel motorcycle that he showed us.  It was amazing…..it is a custom build.

After Mark’s mom callled for us to pick her up, we decided to go down to Irondequoit Bay to grab cheeseburgers for lunch.  It was actually a late lunch, but burgers sounded good to all three of us!  The store we went to is located at the bay, so I was pretty excited to see just what waterfowl might greet us (or not) this time.

We finished lunch, then wandered on over near the boat launch.  Wow!  There were so many birds!  It was a great adventure, because it seemed like they were all waiting for me and my camera.  They were all very friendly, posing and just being their beautiful selves!

I won’t comment any further.  The photos speak for themselves.

I told Mark and his mom they could just leave me at the bay for a few hours. I just love being around the water and these birds.  I saw one pair of Swans that looked like they were courting….they kept rubbing their heads together, forming a perfect heart shape!  I totally missed the whole thing because my SD card was full!  DRAT!

I would venture to say that most years, here in the northeastern USA, everyone makes comments on the first day of spring, like, What spring?  Suffice it to say,  our wintry weather generally carries on pretty much into April and sometimes even May. But, not so this year!

I was greeted by a bouquet of Daffodils in the front garden this morning!  I had to smile, as most years, the flowers show up one at a time,  so there are never more than a couple of pretty faces showing at one time.  Not so this year, though!

I planted the Hyacinths a couple of years ago and they are also up and flowering….way earlier than previous years!

When I walked down to the mailbox,  I forgot to take my camera along.  My loss, for sure.  I thought I needed to have my eyes examined as a tiny powder blue butterfly flitted in front of me, landing in the driveway.  I literally ran to the house to grab my camera, but the little bugger had flown off by the time I got back.  Seriously…..butterflies in March?

As the day heated up little by little,  I had a thought that I would like to go kayaking.  Michelle was busy with schoolwork, so I asked Ben if he would go with me.  He reluctantly agreed.

When I stepped into the water in my flipflops to get into the kayak, the water was pretty cold! Thankfully, the kayaks have nice seats that raise one off the bottom of the craft. 

Pretty far out from shore, we came on a group of Coots and Bufflehead Ducks. The ducks are fairly easy to identify with their striking black and white coloration and large heads.

My original thought was that perhaps we should just paddle a little today, it being our first outing and all.  As we paddled out to the mouth of the West River,  we decided to give it a go to paddle to another boat launch along the river. 

Although I was hoping to see some Great Blue Herons,  there were none around.  I did get to see some blinds hunters use all along the river, though.  Some were pretty rustic! We also saw an awful lot of (very startling!!!) fish hopping up out of the water.  One hit my paddle and I yelped!  Somehow,  I just could not get comfortable with the thought of a fish jumping out of the water and into my kayak!  Thankfully, it didn’t happen!

If you click on the photo below, you can see the windfarm up in the hills, south of Naples.

We managed to successfully flush out a number of Canada Geese as we paddled along.  They scolded us as we went by, then when they felt we were getting too close, they lifted off!

At one point, we ran amuck!  Ben called out to me that he was stuck!  I thought he was kidding until he hopped out of his kayak and pushed it!  The water really was only maybe two or three inches deep in some places!  That’s enough to deter one!

As we neared the end of our journey, we saw turtles everywhere, lying in the sun on floating logs.

I never would have ever dreamed of going kayaking in March. So strange!

somehow, the day just seemed to get away from me! So, settle in with a cuppa and I will fill you in on our (very) long day Wednesday!

The day began by leaving home early…before seven.  We drove to Rochester as Mark’s mom had a doctor’s appointment at nine. We picked her up and dropped her off at the hospital, where her doctor is located.

After leaving the hospital, we hopped on over to a WalMart located only a few blocks away. As I got out of the truck,  there were two men behind it, making it impossible for me to open the back to get Mark’s wheelchair out.  After excusing myself, one man apologized profusely as the other man handed a five dollar bill into his hand.

With Mark in the wheelchair, we began to head up to the store, when the man who had been given the five dollar bill called out to us. He caught up with us and wanted to know if we might give him some money.  He pulled his jacket back and explained he worked for Rochester General Hospital. (The reason for pulling back the coat was to expose a rather ratty-looking shirt with the hospital initials embroidered on the front)  The man, missing some front teeth, assured us he was no “54 year-old bum”, but had run out of gas…diesel, specifically, and he needed to buy a gas can so he could get gas to fill his tank. The tank cost $12.99 and he only had $5.43, which he had planned to use for lunch.

At this point, the man (almost) sounded believable.  However, at this particular point, with the man in close proximity, I could not really inform Mark that I had not two minutes before seen another man hand him $5.00 behind our truck.  Mark is a smart guy, though.  He began to roll over in the wheelchair toward the gas station.  He told the man he would buy him the gas can on his charge card since he didn’t have the money.  The man hesitated at first, then told Mark he wouldn’t want to put him through all that trouble of going “so far”.  It was a nice day and Mark had no qualms about rolling maybe five hundred feet to the gas station.  Finally, the guy said,  “Someone else (fool) will give me the money.” 

What a scheme….panhandling in the WalMart parking lot.  I wonder just how many five dollar bills he nets in a day.  I won’t wonder what he does with them. (Ben spotted the “latebecauseIranoutofgas” employee as we drove from the parking lot….)

We shopped in WalMart for a few minutes, then Mark’s mom called to be picked up. We drove past Irondequoit Bay, on Lake Ontario, on the way to my mother-in-law’s house.  I asked Mark to stop and I hopped out. There was only a pair of Mallard Ducks swimming nearby,  but as I stood taking photos, a couple of Canada Geese that had been grazing quite dangerously near the roadway decided to come on over. (The goose in the previous post was one of them!)

I never tire of photographing Canada Geese.  Although they can be real pests, they are so beautiful. While I was photographing particularly the one goose (who seemed to enjoy my company)  a Swan must have seen or heard us, as it too came toward me!  It was on the lake, apparently amongst the reeds.

This Swan was so friendly.  Although it never left the water, it swam right to me at the water’s edge. 

This isn’t a great photo, but another Swan showed up.  It was out on the water a good distance when I took this one. I love the way the light was filtering through the Swan’s far wing, illuminating it!

I love going to the bay where I encountered hundreds of waterfowl, all at once…..but this little “intimate” encounter was great as I could get some nice photos of the birds, closeup.

I could have spent hours here, right along a busy road, taking photos, but with Mark, his mom, and Ben in the truck, I felt satisfied after several photos.

 We took Mark’s mom back to her house where I walked Murphy to let him do his business.  As we walked in the back yard, I could not believe the number of branches and limbs that had come down in the yard during the high winds we have had.  I told Mark and he suggested I might pick them up. Since Ben was with us, I asked him to help….the two of us worked nonstop for over an hour and we got most everything.  A few small branches were left, but my mother-in-law said she would finish up.

We had to go to Henrietta after leaving Mark’s mom’s house. As we drove down a busy road, Mark commented there were Wild Turleys in the yard of a house on his side if the car.  Of course, we had to turn around.  I bounded out the door and hoped I would be able to catch up with the flock.  Since the birds were right near a house, I didn’t dare close in on them.  I looked and spotted a small stream running behind the house. Quickly, I walked down a small road that lead to an office park.  Directly behind the house with the turkeys was a day care center.  Yikes!  It would be awful to think I might get in trouble for being there…especially with a camera!

I tried to keep clear of the building and didn’t get nearly as close as I would have wanted. Ah well….

Even though these photos aren’t great,  you get the idea. One male…many girlies! And my, oh my, did he strut his stuff!

There were a lot more turkeys that I didn’t get in this shot…there must have been at least fifteen hens.

Gads, what a bunch of turkeys!

We picked Michelle up at RIT and then we had some time to kill.  The kids had planned to attend a concert at a church in Rochester. We did a little shopping and dropped the kids off a little after six.

Mark and Murphy and I were alone and on our own.  We pulled into a McDonald’s located a couple of miles from the church. Mark had set up his laptop so he could connect to our media computer at home. He then fiddled around until the laptop connected and we were able to watch the Buffalo Sabres game…via his cell phone!

We sat at McDonald’s for several hours…as I gulped, seeing the No Loitering sign mounted across from us!  No one bothered us at all and we didn’t bother anyone either. Twice, while we were sitting there, a young woman suddenly appeared, handing “something” to a person in a vehicle. As quickly as she appeared, she disappeared.  Strange. Mark suspects drugs.

We also watched as two mounted police officers leisurely rode down the sidewalk right next to our car. I have never seen horses on the sidewalks before, and what was really funny was the fact that it was after 10pm and the guys each had a cup of coffee in one hand!

Ah…we picked the kids up near midnight.  There was a big band that performed last and Michelle was so excited to see them!

We got home around one in the morning.  Needless to say, we all dropped into bed!  What a day!!! 

Panhandlers…turkeys….horses on sidewalks….I am so thrilled to live in the Bristolwood!

but until then….

Yesterday afternoon,  I was getting panicky as I didn’t yet have a photo for my daily photo journal. 

As I was adjusting the woodstove,  I spotted a Rose-Breasted Woodpecker sitting on the feeder outside the window.  The whole thing played out rather humorously……he looked at me, me at him, etc. and so on and so forth.

I am guessing that this particular woodpecker is perhaps a juvenile male, as he has the bright red color over his beak.  He is just “missing” a bit between his cap and beak.  The female woodpeckers of this species only have the red to their “foreheads”, not all the way down to the beak.  Of course, this could be a weird female!

Anyway, I s-l-o-w-l-y inched my way over to an end table between the bird and me.  The camera was sitting there and I was sure as soon as I picked it up, my subject would flee.  But, that was not the case!  In previous encounters with males,  (mature) they would fly away as soon as eye contact was made.  This little bird was so brave, he just kept looking at me to make sure everything was kosher.

It snowed pretty hard from time to time and the birds were frequenting the wire feeders with suet inside them.  This little fellow was anxious to get his fill, but was just so photogenic and downright cute! I must confess that some of that “mess” on the window is *not* snow, but gunk from birdie beaks.  It is so hard to keep the window clean. (And I won’t even get into the side of the house below the feeder…..)

As I sorted through the thirty-some photos taken of this bird,  I had forgotten I had photographed another male early in the day.  It wasn’t until this evening when I looked at the photo in its full size that I realized the wee chap was snoozing on the side of the tree!

Or….maybe  someone might be able to explain this to me???  (I am sure after my post about my “date” with Murphy, some might think I am crazy. But what about this?) Let me just say yesterday was a somewhat “strange” day!

I had gone to the City Pier to capture some shots like this:

Coots.  Coots bobbing about in the waves.  You can see that the water was beginning to get a bit “restless” with the wind that was blowing.  I had my telephoto lens mounted to the Nikon.  The lens weighs a good three pounds, and fighting against the wind was a real project.  In thinking about it,  even with my monopod, I would have struggled for clarity in the photos.  The only way I could have gotten clear photos,  I would have needed shelter.

I decided to take a photo of Squaw Island.  I pointed in that direction and thought I saw something rather curious…..Enlarge the rest of the photos….In the first two,  take a good look at the right side of the island…..

Enough said.  Now, let your imagination run amuck.

I do know that it is possible to walk to Squaw Island in the water.  However, that wind was strong!  There were several cars parked beside me on the pier.  People were in the cars, but no one seemed to see what I saw!!!  I mean, wouldn’t you be staring if you came upon something like this?

Oh my.  In the end, I left before seeing if the fellow in question came ashore.  Truthfully,  I half thought he would spread out his arms and mount up in flight with that flock…….