Category: American

Late Autumn Ithaca 1

Dredging the past

MichaelStephenWills

This Sunday past I parked the car downtown (free parking Sundays) and walked the walk, carrying the Sony Alpha 700 with the variable 18-200 lens. Today is a contemplation of beginnings. Here is a mural dedicated to the founding of the Cornell Library Association, titled “Ezra Cornell”, completed 2016 by Nestor Madalengoita.

It was the 1779 Sullivan – Clinton Revolutionary War expedition against British Loyalists and allies, the Iroquois confederation, that opened up Central New York to settlement, making possible the 1,400 Dewitt acres that is now the City of Ithaca, named, strangely, after an Aegean island with Hector Street, our road to downtown, recalling the foremost defender of Troy.

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Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Santa Elf Spotted…..

….on paddle board.

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She was captured via IPhone coming…..

….and going on the Cayuga Inlet off Cass Park, Ithaca, New York, on a December afternoon.

Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Our Solo Thanksgiving Feast

We spread our Thanksgiving goodies over three meals for our 2020 solo celebration.

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Breakfast: Homemade Apple Pie (Grannie Smith Apples), Coffee with foamed milk and cinnamon
Lunch: Relish plate, sour cream onion dip, potato chips (avocado oil), Irish cheddar cheese and crackers, Dr. Frank Pino Noir
The roses are the last blooms from our garden.   

Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

A Day at Iron Kettle Farm

We miss you, Mom.

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One Saturday of October 2012 we enjoyed this last outing with my mother Catherine Ann Wills.  She passed away June 2013 at the age of 90 years.  We miss you, Mom.

A display of large pumpkins near the entrance to the Iron Kettle Farm.

Grand Entrance Display

Enter…if you dare….Corn Mazes are popular tourist attractions and are not simply corn fields. The plantings must be made later, planted thinner and fertilized less than those used for crops.

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These small, inedible squash, once dried and hollowed out, become gourds. The plant is in the Cucurbitaceae family of the genus Lagenaria. The squash on this table are too small for anything but displays and decorations, such as centerpieces. Great fun and make and enjoy.

Ornamental Squash / Gourds

These ornamental squash, also know as cucurbita are not are large enough for use as food. When dried, will last a long time.

Ornamental Squash / Gourds

Take your pick of pumpkins….

Take your pick

…the pumpkins are sorted by size and price.

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The pumpkins are sorted....
We chose small to medium sized pumpkins.

Our choice.....
Thankfully, the trees kept to their usual habits and did not talk to us today.

Thankfully, the trees....
My dear wife, Pam, was in her element.  She loves gardening.

Pam, in her element
We left the wheelchair at home and Mom enjoyed exploring the exhibits, watching people and the exercise.

Mom was up and about this day...

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Late May, South Rim Trail

Dangerous Practices

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Today, I have a companion post to “A Summer Flower and Waterfalls” from a time of Coronavirus (COVID-19) from a walk cut short by inconsiderate people not following New York laws.

All photographs and videos are from an Apple IPhone 7.

Here is a long and close shot of Columbine Flowers thriving on the edge of a gorge cliff.

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With a video of the movement of this wildflower against a backdrop of flowing water over a 100 feet below.

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A scan of the upper gorge with some marvelous clouds.

Continuing onto the forest trail I spotted this Jack-In-The-Pulpit. Here is a photograph and short video.

My walk this day was cut short by joggers, unmasked, on the narrow trail. For each I stepped off to put 6 feet between us. So inconsiderate and unnecessary, selfish.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

First Water Trailhead, repost

A desert garden with plans

MichaelStephenWills

….Click me to visit this post of the Sonora Desert in bloom.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Mouse Collection

Happy Mother’s Day

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Here is a project completed for a “Fundamentals of Photography” refresher course. The task is to use a variety of lenses of my choice to document scene from my surroundings. These photographs document a family heirloom, mouse figurines collected by my wife, Pam’s, mother, Patricia Crist, assembled by Pam into two display cases with assorted figures created by Pam’s daughter, Denna.

24 mm wide angle fixed lens, f/22
50 mm fixed lens, f/6.3
70 – 300 variable lens, f/9.0
70 – 300 variable lens used for macro photography
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Kite Encounter

catching the wind

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Awhile after encountering the hydrofoil the same north wind powered a large, eight foot wingspan kite high overhead. Cheri Down Park, my meeting point for lunch with Pam, was in sight as I took a detour to talk with the kite flier.

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Seated in a comfortable beach chair, he turned a one foot diameter reel pulling the kite in. Kite flying was a relaxation for this permanent resident. As the kite descended overhead I caught this short video. In retrospect the beauty is ominous, a metaphor for the approaching novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

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Bright Surf, High Tide

Invasion

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Morning walks through January 2020 were solitary events, more so on stormy morning such as this, January 23rd. Even the dog walkers stayed home. The surf surged to the dunes. Click me for my posting, “Rough Surf.”

Today’s photographs are a sequence of the surf’s high point. Click me for yesterday’s post including a video.

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The sun broke through between clouds to rake with light the beach scurf and wind scud. In the distance, a steady west gale blows surf onto itself as a white curtain.

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Copyright 2020 All Right Reserved Michael Stephen Wills Photography