More on my earlier snake post

by Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment
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My earlier post about a snake I saw on the walkway to my front door, provoked a few comments, mostly along the lines of “I don’t like snakes”. Unfortunately, I do as can be seen from the photograph below. It was taken a long time ago (just look at the hair) in Thailand. I imagine that the python was either ancient, extremely docile or sedated. I remember being surprised that it wasn’t in the least bit slimy (as I thought it would be) it just felt extremely powerful and muscular.

I’m afraid I don’t recall what camera was used to take the picture.

Going Up the River

by Posted in Buildings/Structures, Landscapes Leave a comment
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I took a walk up the river the other day. People who read my posts will know that I live near the Hudson River, so what’s so special about going for a walk up the river. Those who don’t live around here may not know that “up the river” has a particular meaning around here.
It’s come to refer to being sent to prison, as in “They sent him up the river for five years”. This phrase originally referred to Sing-Sing Prison, on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. So used from about 1890 on, it was broadened to apply to any prison by the early 1900s.

Sing Sing (now called the Sing Sing Correctional Facility) is not too far from where I live so on this occasion, I was going to walk to Sing Sing to take some pictures. I’ve lived in this area for around 25 years and I’ve never gotten around to taking pictures of the facility.
It was a bright sunny day and somehow the color pictures didn’t look ominous enough, so I tried to make them look a bit more menacing.

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Taken with a Sony RX10 III

Fourth of July Fireworks at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club

by Posted in Fireworks Leave a comment
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A couple of days ago I went with some friends to see the fireworks display at Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Despite its name the club is actually in Briarcliff Manor, not Sleepy Hollow.

I’m not really fond of fireworks displays. My view is pretty much that “once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all”. Also, I once watched a fireworks display from a boat in New York Bay. It was really incredible, and I suspect that a display in Briarcliff Manor would not surpass that.

Anyway, last year my friends persuaded me to go with them to the same display. It was really quite special. The fireworks are let off well away from the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. This is very close to where we were in the St. Mary’s Church parking lot. From this position it felt like they were exploding right over our heads. Unfortunately, last year I didn’t take a camera. This time I did.

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Taken with a Sony A77II and Tamron 18-250mm f3.4-6.3. I haven’t used this camera for some time, but it was the only reasonable modern camera for which I had a remote.