With dolphins

March 24, 2016 by Howard Dale Posted in People, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

Taken on my wife’s birthday in 2005 during a very pleasant vacation in Bermuda. This was during the period where I’d soured on photography and was basically just taking travel and family snaps. The camera I was using at that time was Canon Powershot S-50 – one of the few cameras I’ve ever gotten rid of (I gave it to my grandson).

Still just because I was taking throwaway pictures doesn’t necessarily mean that they were all bad. I quite like this one: the upright dolphin; the faces of the people in the water; and the photographer taking their picture.

Cat in a bath

March 14, 2016 by Howard Dale Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

Illustrates some of the crazy things out cat gets up to even if it’s not much of a picture. It is what it is: a cute picture worthy of sharing with our grandkids – which is exactly what my wife did with it. I’m pleased whenever I get a “half way decent” picture of Gypsy as I find it difficult to photograph her. It’s the old black cat in a cellar at night problem. I recently read that hundreds of black cats are being abandoned in the UK because they don’t look good in selfies – how sad! I hope the selfie craze dies out soon.

Moth

March 14, 2016 by Howard Dale Posted in Black & White, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

We went into NY city to have dinner with our son-in-law, Colin who was visiting from Geneva. The windows at Scarborough Station are right on the Hudson and as I we were waiting for the train I noticed a number of moths on them. As I started to take some pictures my wife noticed, to her horror, that we had left the package of stuff for our grandkids in the car. As this was one of our main purposes for going in this would have been a disaster. I immediately rushed back to the car to get the package, which left very little time for taking pictures of the moths. I have to thank my wife for pointing out this one, as it was one of the few that came out well. It was also about the only one where the moth was on the inside (i.e. my side) of the window. In all of the other pictures the focus had been fooled by the windows i.e. the windows were in focus, but the moths on the other side weren’t. In the case of this one the focus worked fine. I rather like this picture – particularly the feathery antennae.

North Redoubt, Garrison, NY

March 1, 2016 by Howard Dale Posted in Landscapes, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

I’m always looking for new places to walk so I was happy to find out about these two redoubts overlooking the Hudson. Go south from Cold Spring on Route 9d and turn left onto Snake Hill Road. Not too far down is a good sized parking area on the right. If you see the Walter Hoving Home sign on the left you’ve gone too far.

This is the North Redoubt. There’s not much to see, but the views of the Hudson are spectacular from about 800ft up. After I finished there I followed the Old Cannon Trail towards the South Redoubt. Unfortunately It was just a little bit far to visit in the time I had available so I turned back. The South Redoubt could wait for another day.

According to Fortwiki:

A Revolutionary War Redoubt established in 1779 in present day Putnam County, New York. Abandoned at the end of the war in 1783.

Part of Fortress West Point. One of two redoubts and associated gun batteries built as a part of the final expansion of Fortress West Point in 1779. Construction underway by July 1779 included the redoubt with a bombproof, magazine and three associated gun batteries. Included raised parapets on the side facing the South Redoubt for protection if the South Redoubt fell to the enemy. Required a complement of 150 men.

Described by Major General Benedict Arnold on 25 Sept 1780: “built of stone four feet high; above the stone, wood filled in with earth, very dry, no ditch, a bomb proof, 3 batteries w/o the fort, a poor abatis”.

Three external batteries mounting three 18 pounders and three 12 pounders: Battery 1 faced Northeast, Stone scarp wall; Battery 2 faced Northwest, 8′ epaulment on Southwest flank; Battery 3 faced South, prevented assault from South Redoubt.

Trail marker.

The first part of the walk follows this picturesque stream. I couldn’t find a spot that wasn’t to a greater or lesser extend obstructed by branches (see the blurred branches in the foregroud).