Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
Seen outside a nearby store. When I was growing up in the UK we didn’t celebrate Hallowe’en. This was particularly true in our family as October 31 had a particular significance. It was my father’s birthday. Had he lived he would have been 97 today. Happy Birthday, dad!
My ‘By the roadside pictures’ have all so far been ‘pretty pictures’ of flowers and the like. However, I also come across things, which aren’t all that pretty. It was bulk pickup day on our lake when during a walk I came across this rather large mirror. I couldn’t resist taking a “selfie”.
According to Wikipedia:
Henbit dead-nettle is an annual herb with a sprawling habit and short erect squarish, lightly hairy stems. It grows to a height of about 10 to 30 cm (4 to 12 in). The leaves are in opposite pairs, often with long internodes. The lower leaves are stalked and the upper ones stalkless, often fused, and clasping the stems. The blades are hairy and kidney-shaped, with rounded teeth. The flowers are relatively large and form a few-flowered terminal spike with axillary whorls. The calyx is regular with five lobes and closes up after flowering. The corolla is purplish-red, fused into a tube 15 to 20 mm (0.6 to 0.8 in) long. The upper lip is convex, 3 to 5 mm (0.12 to 0.20 in) long and the lower lip has three lobes, two small side ones and a larger central one 1.5 to 2.5 mm (0.06 to 0.10 in) long. There are four stamens, two long and two short. The gynoecium has two fused carpels and the fruit is a four-chambered schizocarp.
This plant flowers very early in the spring even in northern areas, and for most of the winter and the early spring in warmer locations such as the Mediterranean region. At times of year when there are not many pollinating insects, the flowers self-pollinate
I have a very clear memory of taking this picture. We were in Copenhagen visiting our older daughter and her family. I’d gone with my grandson to his piano lesson. We’d been driven there, but were expected to make our own way home. I recall that we were taking the train so we walked to the nearest station and while we were waiting for the train to arrive I spotted these two pigeons on the roof.
It was taken in May, 2011 with a Panasonic Lumix ZS3 – a compact 10 megapixel point and shoot camera. Yes the images were noisy and the focus tended to lag. In poor light it was next to useless. But it was very small and light and had an excellent 12x zoom. It took more than adequate pictures in good light. I have many pictures that I would never have gotten at all otherwise because: 1) I probably wouldn’t have had a camera with me; and 2) even if I did have a camera a shorter focal length lens would not have allowed me to get the picture.
The Rockefeller preserve extends over both sides of Sleepy Hollow Road. This structure stands between the two parts of preserve, and so I guess that technically it’s not part of the preserve. It is, however, pretty much surrounded by it.
I have no idea what it is other than that it stands on a small tributary just before it runs under Sleepy Hollow road into the Pocantico River so I assume it’s associated with a water works of some kind. The style is very similar to that of structures found along the Old Croton Aqueduct, but I don’t believe that the aqueduct, near though it is passes by this location. It looks a lot like the weirs in Ossining and Yonkers. It is fenced off and bears strong warnings no to enter so I assume it’s still in use for something.
After some more exploration I now believe that this is a relieving/access shaft on the NEW croton aqueduct, which opened on opened on July 15, 1890 and runs roughly parallel to the OLD croton aqueduct.
