A Good Morning in Bar Harbor, Maine

All of the photos below were taken yesterday morning (9/10/14) around 6:00 am. Morning sun is so golden and glorious, especially on the water.

This guy was a trouble maker. He seemed to find joy in pulling brochures from the holders and dropping them on the dock all the while squawking, clicking, and cackling.

If you've ever been to Bar Harbor, Maine I hope these images bring back calming memories. And if you haven't been, maybe you'll be spurned on to make the trip. This was our first getaway (brief as it may have been) to Mt. Desert Island and I have to say it was heavenly. I'd highly recommend visiting in September. The weather is still warm, all the kids have gone back to school, and it's mostly seniors  or empty nesters visiting the area. My only complaint is that I couldn't have stayed longer.

I'll try to upload more images from our getaway!

Snowy Tuesday morning

Thank goodness for the time change. Finally I am able to get up and out the door in time to catch the sunrise! 

Since the sky was cloudy when I awoke I didn't really rush, thinking there would be no sun anyway. Thankfully I arrived at the waters edge just in time.

What a great way to start the day! The air was pretty mild compared to what it has been. Eventually reaching the low 50's. 

 A total sweetheart. All she wanted to do was love on me.

After a few pictures at Jenness Beach and Rye Harbor I thought it would be nice to check in on the local resident Snowy Owl. Uh yeah, I think she's still here ...

Sometimes I wonder who's watching who. She seems quite oblivious to all the local paparazzi that visit on a daily basis. Every time I stop by people seem to be giving her a wide berth so as not to cause any stress. 

After shooting for a while then taking a few minutes in my car to warm up I decided to walk back over and see what she was up to. It was quite a sight to see, she was feasting on a bird she'd caught either earlier in the day or the night before. And though I shot some rather graphic images of her eating I felt it might be best to keep them out of this post. 

It's not difficult to tell she has quite a bit of blood on her front feathers, around her beak and eyes. This is all good because it means she isn't going hungry. Something that was of concern for some of the snowy owls along the east coast.

Once breakfast was consumed she started walking around and eating snow, which I didn't expect. A girl has got to get a drink somehow.

Finally, when the snowy was through pruning, snow eating, and scratching she decided to catch a little shut eye. All the while I looked on at how glorious she is, thinking how fleeting her time here will be. Any day could be her last before she heads back up north to Canada.

nap time = time to go home 

Morning light for Mosaic Monday

The colors, shades, and textures of the new day are all around us to be savored and enjoyed. No matter where you live the first morning light is inspirational.

When you arise in the morning,
think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

~Marcus Aurelius

Broken, devoured clams lay out along the beach wall. Evidence that the Gulls have had a morning meal to fill their bellies.

'Seagull you fly across the horizon into the misty morning sun
Nobody asks you where you are going
Nobody knows where you're from . . .'







I'm linking up with Mary's Little Red House for Mosaic Monday

Waking up with the Gulls

Sunday, November 14, 2010
Hampton Beach, NH
Time: 6:08 am

Driving towards the beach, looking at what lies ahead of me, and knowing it's going to be a glorious sunrise

Arriving just in time with my suspicions confirmed. The Gulls were taking flight, ready to start a new day of scavenging.

6:15 am

Can you think of a better view to wake up to as a bird? Or even as a person. Oh yeah, that's the good stuff.

6:27 am . . . and rising

A mirrored reflection to another sunrise. Do you think they have shades?

The surf has so many textures and colors as the sun rises. From deep pinks and purples to radiant golds and browns.

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope

~ Bern Williams

* more to come . . .

Queen Annes Lace

That Queen Anne, she sure is something! The name definitely fits the flower.

After seeing Mary's 'All QAL, All the Time' (lol!) I knew I just had to post some of my QAL. There's plenty more where these came from but somehow I doubt I'll get them all posted this year.

Today was a pretty good day. For some reason it feels like a Sunday though. Tomorrow will be like Groundhog Day ... we'll get up and do it all over again.

We did a little shopping in Kittery, Maine and it was an absolute mad house! If you've ever been to Kittery, Maine you know it's one of the shopping meca's of New England. Kind of like North Conway, NH. Anyway, after struggling to find a place to park, twice, we did some quick shopping and got the heck out of there! Elise and I made my husband stop at DQ on the way home for some sugar therapy.

Do you have any big plans for Sunday?

My husband has to go back to work early from vacation and he's not happy about it. He already had to work Monday on his Birthday. As for the girls and I, it's all up in the air. Sunday is like a box of chocolates!

6:15 AM: See what you missed?

In all honesty, I've been sleeping in myself lately ... until almost 7! All that will be changing soon with the return of school.

My daughters car is being repaired so I've been taking her to and from work this week. One particular morning this week, when she had to be there at 6, I realized I had forgotten my camera after we walked out the door. Something you definitely don't want to do when the sun is about to come up!

Sure enough, the sun was a hot, brilliant orange, and I was thinking about what I sort of magic I could perform with my iphone! LOL! Anyway, I stopped at home, grabbed the camera, and found this wonderful field of Queen Annes Lace with the sun coming up in the background. Just as I was about to leave a Monarch flew down amongst the flowers.

Thank you Monarch for making my day : )

Sanders Poynt

Remember when I said in my last post I was trying to get to New Castle/Great Island commons to take some sunrise photos? Well I was almost there when I just had to stop Sanders Poynt next the Wentworth By The Sea golf course. The clouds were absolutely amazing Saturday morning.

Way off in the distance are two breakwaters. One juts in from Fort Stark on the left while the other one comes in from Odiorne State Park on the right. Though they look like they are almost touching, they are actually quite a distance apart from one another.

I stood there and took picture after picture until finally I decided I better get to the park before the sunrise left me in the dust!

Queen Anne in the Morning

Welcome to my new blog. How much I'll actually post here, I'm not sure, but I wanted someplace special to show my heartfelt images. My other blog has become mostly about New England while this one will be a little more personal.

I hope you enjoy it.

Outbuilding

I've wanted to photograph this little outbuilding for a long time now. Finally we had a morning that seemed just right. Freshly fallen snow was on the ground and the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon as I climbed over a snow bank, filling my shoes with snow, and took a few shots.

This is somewhat how I saw the scene in my mind. When I arrived home and looked at the originals it wasn't as pretty. Really, it wasn't.

Want to see?

Not very exciting is it. To dark, to much blue, no definition of the outbuilding. Just blah!

So I pulled it into Photoshop where I cropped and straightened it, used the Unsharpen Mask tool (Amount 28, Radius 250, Threshold 4) and then added a couple generic light colored textures (found on Flickr) to expose the building and tree a bit more, not to mention get rid of the blue color and highlight the snow. After the layers are flattened I lighten the photo just a little more.

Yes, it's a bit of work, but to me, in the end it's all worth it. I hope you like it too!

Snowy Morning Moon

Okay, I have a serious affair going on with the moon lately.

When I woke up this morning at 6:10 AM and let the dogs out this was what I saw:

Full Cold Moon

Yesterday MORNING (Wednesday) as I drove my daughter to the bus stop at 6:45 AM, I was floored by how beautiful the moon was. Big and golden, just amazing.

I didn't have a lot of time before it would be gone so I grabbed my camera, and Lily, and off we went to Great Bay, the only place I could think of with a wide open view.

Sure enough, there it was with no obstructions.

As the moon sunk down to the horizon it began to lose it's golden shine, but still, my goodness it was a sight to see.

Did you know if there are two full moons in a month the second one is called a Blue Moon? It doesn't happen very often though, hense the saying, 'Once in a blue moon'