This was the only person I saw during a recent three hour walk. I liked the smallness of the figure compared to the height of the trees and the large boulders.
Fisherman on Pelton Pond
Down the Roaring Brook Trail
I’d wanted to do this walk for some time. It runs near our house and is the closest access point to Fahnestock State Park. I’ve often said to friends: “It’s possible to walk into Fahnestock State Park from our house – but I haven’t done it yet”. Well now I have. I got my wife to drop me on Route 301 near the Park Office and then followed the trail all the way back to where it reaches the Taconic State Parkway. It then continues south to who knows where (I suspect somewhere near Peekskill Hollow Road). When I got to the Taconic I dashed across (luckily it was at a time of day when there was little traffic – if it had been during the peak hours I would not have tried to cross). From there it was one block to Lake Shore Road and then another 20-25 minutes to the house. All told the walk took about three hours.
During these walks you mostly see trees (standing and fallen), rocks, stone walls and the like. Sometimes you’ll come across an abandoned building or one of Putnam County’s famous stone chambers. I didn’t see any buildings or chambers (or for that matter any people), but about half way through I did come across this old vehicle. It looked as if it had been there for some time.
Patriots park, Tarrytown, NY
I’ve posted before about Patriot’s park (see:Patriots Park Tarrytown, NY).
Wikipedia describes the park as follows:
The park’s organizing feature is an oval walkway with entrances at the north, east and west, and short paths to a basketball court at the south and North Broadway to the southeast. The main entrance is at the west. It is flanked by two gateposts of rusticated granite blocks. Stone walls in random ashlar with granite copings begin at the posts and follow the sidewalks to create terraces, broken by granite steps to the walkway, on either side of the entrance. They end in granite consoles.
In the north terraces is a stone gatehouse, one bay on each side with walls laid in a random ashlar pattern and topped by a cornice line. Atop is a hipped roof shingled in asphalt, with exposed rafter ends. Its entrance is on the west facade; the only window is on the north.
South of the west entrance is the Captors’ Monument, enclosed by a square iron fence. It consists of two pedestals topped by a bronze statue of John Paulding, one of the local men who apprehended André. The older lower pedestal is a square block of white Sing Sing marble with a recessed panel on the west side. Inside the panel is a bronze commemorative plaque with a bas-relief depicting André’s capture. It supports the upper pedestal, a narrowing concrete block, and the statue of Paulding atop that. South of the Captors’ Monument is a more modern statue of Christopher Columbus.
Opposite the entrance curving stone steps, along with a sloped walkway from the south, lead down from battered stone piers at either end of a retaining wall to a basin where Andre Brook flows out from a culvert that has carried it under North Broadway and the schools to the east. It emerges from an arch with alternating scaled voussoirs and a scaled keystone in the monochrome ashlar retaining wall on the west side of the walkway. Above it is a balcony supported by two consoles.
The brook flows over a dam and west down a concrete-lined channel, paralleled by a stone path on the south bank. Midway along it is a small stone foot bridge, with battered stone piers and an arch, with the same voussoirs as the retaining wall arch but a shouldered keystone. From there it flows over another waterfall and under the drive bridge, similar to the foot bridge but heavier, then into another culvert under North Washington Avenue.
I liked the curved lines, the textures of the stone and the darkness of the water. Reminds me a bit of a medieval castle.
Grasses
As the numerous commuters taking the Metro North Hudson Line pass the post office at Scarborough Station I imagine many of them don’t realize that the building that now houses the post office was once the railway station itself. Right outside the post office is a small flower bed, which at certain times of year has some very imposing, tall grasses.
One night in March, 2010 I was returning home from work when I noticed these grasses illuminated by a spotlight near the roof of the post office. This is the result.
Dog and fish
Taken at the park next to Scarborough Station in March, 2011. I remember that I’d taken the train home (getting off at Scarborough) and decided to take a short walk by the Hudson river to unwind and to see if there was anything worth a photograph. Two men were fishing. They each had a dog. As I walked by one of the fishermen pulled out this fish (I think it’s a striped bass). The dog (I don’t know if it was his, or his friend’s) was really excited. It’s not the best photo I’ve ever taken. I’m not good when things are moving quickly and a lot was happening at that moment: the dog was jumping up and down; the fish was flapping around on the line a lot. But I guess I like the incongruity of it. After all you don’t often see a dog mesmerized by a fish the way this one was – or at least I don’t.