Colorful Journey

Sunday, August 16, 2009

New Hampshire, New York, and Ontario

New Hampshire

One room schoolhouse, 1868, Sutton. No longer in use.
Note bell at the right.

Schoolhouse, Route 11, New London.
I think the two doors separated the girls from the boys. A private residence now.

A one room schoolhouse, moved on site to the New London Historical Society Village.

The Inn at Pleasant Lake, New London.
I sat on the grass across the road to draw this long building in order to highlight
the late summer perennial flowers.

Western New York

The home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Seneca Falls.
Part of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
That’s Elizabeth and her seven children taking a walk. I tried to feel her presence when I was there.

Ontario

A four foot (no pun intended) high set of boots covered with velvet maple leaves.
These were in the window display of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

The view across the street from our rental vacation house in Toronto.
The trouble with duplexes.

Corner of Danforth and Gillard Avenues, Greektown, Toronto.
This says Toronto to me....Asian, Middle Eastern, Greek, and Ethiopian store front businesses in one building.
The two guys in front of the Greek Social Club invited me for coffee.

Kingston, Ontario, at the eastern end of Lake Erie.
The defense towers were built in 1845 to protect the strategic Rideau Canal
during a dispute with the U.S. over claims for Oregon and Washington.
Though that crisis is long past, the wind farm on the right is a response to the current energy concerns.
The pleasure boats have their colorful summer canvas roofs.

Strawberries from Spring Ledge Farm, New London.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

New Hampshire

New London, NH. Bill Kidder's car collection. The cars on the lawn are visiting.
Note that the car in the center has adaptations for travel on snow.

Water Street, Bradford, NH - a wood frame house built in the early 1800's.
My grandmother lived here when I was young. So many good memories here, many around the Sunday dinner table.

Water Street, Bradford, NH - Another house of the same era.
My aunt, Anne Wasson, started her medical practice here in 1950.
She often accepted payments of fish, eggs, and bread.

Wedding of my brother Ted and Christine

The MV Kearsarge, a replica of a steam boat from about 1900 that sailed around
Lake Sunapee.
In those days, families would take a train from Boston or New York. Then they took the ship to their summer cottage or one of the grand hotels to spend the summer on the lake.
On this day, we cruised, dined, and watched the Captain marry the happy couple.
That's the new family standing up there on the bow.
The weather was glorious.

Postcard view of an original steamship on Lake Sunapee about 1909, possibly the first MV Kearsarge

The wedding cake, surrounded by wedding cupcakes. The views of the lake are seen through the windows.

Old Orchard Beach, Maine

The Pier at the resort, dating from about 1890.
Note the Canadian flag, as well as the American and the state flag of Maine. Many people come here from the nearby province of Quebec, and the town welcomes them with open arms, and lots of signs in French.
A fun place, for sure.

It's not a beach resort without minigolf.

Our new pet, Hank, whose microchip says he is at least 11.

Monday, July 13, 2009

New Hampshire, Baltimore, and China

New Hampshire

Sunday afternoon at the aptly named Pleasant Lake, New London, NH.
Our kayaks are the last two on the right.
Mount Kearsarge is in the background, with the steep trail heading down the slope.

Baltimore

High Grounds, at the corner of Eastern and East, Baltimore
Brett roasts the beans in the back room, where you see the exhaust pipe
coming through the window.

This is Brett’s roaster.
You can see the reflection of the books and the shelves in the chrome,
as it is in the back room of a book store.

The Pagoda in Patterson Park, Baltimore.
Designed in 1891 by Charles Latrobe. It has been restored and is open
every Sunday in the summer.

The view of the Baltimore Harbor, from the top of the Pagoda.
Key Bridge in the upper left, and Fort McHenry in the far right,
where the Star Spangled Banner yet waves, of course.

The humble sight of the back of the rowhouses next to ours,
all built circa 1910, and added on to through the years.
Highlandtown, Baltimore Maryland

Our walled garden behind our rowhouse.
I drew this while sitting up high on a worn wooden step,
which is the grey object in the lower right of the composition.

China

Family trip to China 2006
This is the view from our hotel window in Hangzhou.
Note fisherman, bamboo scaffolding, and tour buses.
The long red roofed buildings are construction workers’ dormitories.
You see them everywhere!

View from our hotel in Shanghai.
Early in the AM, but notice the school children lined up and doing their exercises with military precision.
The new parts of the city are in the background.

We really had no idea what we were eating sometimes in China.
This meal surprised me. We never did figure out which three items were the “delicacies.”
We were treated to three excellent banquets where we sometimes recognized the foods.

Simon on the red sofa and Ikea pillow

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and more Baltimore

I like to draw on site because I see the scene in a different, more profound way, and the memory is stored in my mind in a whole other way too. My sketchpad is small, and I usually draw while standing. One time I found out that a passerby thought I was a meter-maid and was writing a ticket for her car.

I drew this picture standing inside the gift shop, not buying, because it was raining.