:: in a mirror dimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

Every chump with a camera and two relatively stable legs can scramble up the rocky cliff to take a picture of the West Arlington covered bridge. It’s one of the most photographed covered bridges in the state I think. Post cards, calendars, book marks, and just about everything else has an image of the bridge in summer or fall.

And so I had my bright idea yesterday. I decided to take a picture of the bridge in the winter. I have never seen a picture of the bridge in winter. Julie said that’s because it looks ugly and barren in the winter, but I dismissed her pessimism.

It had to work. A blue sky, white snow, and the gleaming red bridge crossing the Battenkill River: what is there not to love?

I trudged about the bridge with the wind howling. The cliff was icy, but I managed it. Unfortunately the “classic” shot of the bridge didn’t work because I hit the scene close to sun set. So I hiked along the ridge until I found an opening that afforded a shot of the bridge with the sun on it.

So you miss out on the view of the old church and Norman Rockwell’s house from this angle, but it still got the job done.

Notice how the sun shines through under the roof to the inner wall? Not a bad shot. Not a great shot either, but worth the climb.

I also walked in the fields around the bridge looking for shots. I took a few just to see how they turned out.

Technorati Tags: Vermont - Arlington - photography

There’s an exhibition at the Dorset Library for amateur photographers, and I’m going to try my hand at it. I have hundreds of pictures sitting around on CDs and on our computers; a few of them are quite good–so I’ve been told.

I’ve spent a bit of money on developing prints and matting, not to mention the time spent on formatting the pictures, writing up something for the back, and all of the countless details that go into an exhibition. It quickly became a big project.

My entries are now safely tucked away in a plastic sleeve and ready for transport. All I need to do is make the label cards.

Last night I set up a flickr account with just my photography. I also added a photography page to my writing blog. I think my amateur photography is now officially at “hobby” status.

Here’s one of my entries for the show. I call it Fall Palette.

The Dorset show has an opening reception this weekend from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. I’ll probably be there to beg some of the locals to buy a picture. Should be a good time.

Technorati Tags: photography - Vermont - Dorset

Last week we took a drive to Manchester, Vermont and hiked around the trail system at Equinox Pond. Though it’s a small and shallow pond, it’s a beautiful spot with the looming mass of Mt. Equinox towering above it. Just about the whole pond was frozen and the ice was quite thick in some places. We ventured out onto the ice close to shore. Here’s a little photographic sampling of our time there:

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<%image(20060124-redmountainhike view.jpg|300|225|redmtview)%> Last weekend we did some exploring in our back yard . . . literally. I’ve taken enough pictures of Red Mountain, a 2,800 foot mountain that looms over us, but we have yet to scale it. While we didn’t make it to the summit this past weekend, we did some exploring and found what trails to take and which ones to avoid. Going in was easy enough, but we ended up bush wacking a bit, climbing up some steep old logging roads, scrambling up a steep slope, getting within 10 feet of a ridgeline that would provide a scenic path to the top, and then finding that a HOUSE was already up there!

We apparently had gotten onto some private land or something. We heard rumors of a guy on Red Mountain who has a helicopter, but now we know.

In any case, we doubled back and found some other trails that flanked a beautiful ravine. There were great views along the way and we ended up finding a nice little water fall and stream

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I roamed a bit today as a break during my writing time. I hit a serious writing famine and needed to get out. And now I’m posting some pictures taken along the Battenkill River in Arlington, VT. The first picture is of Julie and myself snow-shoeing in Jamaica State Park yesterday, but the rest are from today. Enjoy!

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Well tour is a bit of an overstatement, but we took a trip on Saturday on the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail south of Route 11/30 in the Green Mountains. It began around 3 pm, so it didn’t last too long, but we had a nice view of the valley with the sun going down, hustled down the mountain, and then braved the crossing of 11/30 amidst the chaos of speeding out of state drivers.

We then came home and brought our Christmas tree over to the Arlington park to burn it with the rest of the locals. Below are some pictures from our weekend, and a random bonus shot of my in-law’s cat:

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<%image(20051127-Maine 05 037 smaller.jpg|252|189|Portland lighthouse)%> A trip to my wife’s ancestral home in the “GRAND STATE OF MAINE” always brings blessings and curses. It’s always a top notch time with family, site seeing along the Portland coast. Yet, the very name of the state prompts tons of puns and the unique Maine accent leaves me in stiches. Going to main st.? Aren’t they all “Maine” streets? What is the “Maine” thing? And so on. The Boston-esque accent throws a spin on names like Brenda and Alta, becoming “Brender” and “Alter”. With my own Philly dialect well in place, my ears always perk up in North East New England. They really do some fancy things with the letter “a”.

And who can go to the Maine coast without seeing some lighthouses and the wonderful rocky shores. Beaches are dotted in between cliffs and groves of weathered rocks, while islands pop out of the distant surf. It truly is a far cry from the familiar beaches of New Jersey that eternally extend beyond the horizon. I took about 80 pictures while in Maine. Some came out better than others. I have posted some below. If you’re interested in getting your paws on the full size jpeg. of one of these or want to see some other shots, just post a comment with your e-mail address. (note: the last two are from a beach in Maine: close ups of red sand and a rock). Enjoy.

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