Well, not quite the top of Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, but almost. Above some of the clouds, anyway!
Devil Is In
The devil is in the details, as always, but in this case, also the garage.
Lake Champlain Open Water Swim
If you have some time on your hands, you might want to consider swimming across Lake Champlain. About fifty people did it on Sunday in the annual Lake Champlain Open Water Swim. They rode the ferry from Charlotte, VT, to Essex, NY, and then swam back to the Charlotte town beach, a distance of about 3.7 miles. The start, above. Below, into the swim.
It’s more complicated than it sounds. You have to swim the distance and on the straightest line possible, but it’s very hard, at water level, to see where you’re going. There’s a strobe light at the destination, boats lead the way and kayakers help shepherd the flock on the best line. Swimmers wear brightly colored floats so they can easily be seen. All photos taken with a waterproof point-and-shoot, most from a kayak. Click here for short a gallery. Click here for more information about the event. It benefits the Lake Champlain Committee. 
Posted in Lake Champlain, open water swimming, Vermont
Tagged Lake Champlain, open water swimming
Scenes from a Wedding
Some people know how to celebrate a wedding, in this case, two weddings: one traditional Indian, the other American. Or call it one Indian-American wedding. That’s the groom, Akaash, arriving on a white horse, above, with a young relative; below, his bride, Susanna. And the rest is all celebration and the melding of two families. Carnation Farms, Carnation, Washington. Click here for a gallery.
Posted in Carnation Farms weddings, Washington State, weddings
Tagged Carnation Farms weddings
Joy Amid Joy
Flower girl Krisha couldn’t wait to give Susanna a hug as the bride was escorted in to begin the wedding ceremony — one moment of joy in the joyful wedding of Susanna and Akaash at Carnation Farms in Carnation, Washington, in late June. I’ve been working on these wedding photos since then, but I’m not done yet, so I decided I’d just get started and post one. It was a beautiful wedding that combined Indian and Western traditions.
Posted in Carnation Farms weddings, Washington State, weddings
Tagged Carnation Farms weddings
Chaloux Brothers Firewood
I’m just about finished with a multi-month project photographing the Chaloux Brothers Firewood operation in Williamstown, VT. Meet Roger and Hector Chaloux, among the nicest and most hard-working guys around. And meet lots of firewood, 700 or more cords a year, to add up to something more than 30,000 cords over their 39 years in business. They run log-length wood through their processor, which cuts it to length, splits it and sends it up a conveyor belt and into a dump truck for aging or immediate delivery depending on whether a customer wants green or dry wood. Top, Hector’s silhouette as he operates the wood processor. Below, Roger, and Hector and some of the steps along the way to making firewood. Some of the photos will be in the fall issue of Northern Woodlands magazine. Click here for a full gallery.
Posted in alternative energy, firewood, renewable resources, sustainable, Vermont
Tagged firewood, renewable resources, sustainable, Vermont, Vermonters
Lake Crescent, WA
Lake Crescent curves along the edge of Olympic National Park, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, a few miles inland of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca. It basically runs east-west and I happened to be there as the sun was starting to set last week. Spectacular landscapes in every direction in Washington. This was part of a trip west for a multi-cultural wedding near Seattle. More photos to come on that, the Olympics, Seattle and the San Juan Islands.
Camera note: First trip with the Fuji X100F, a small but not quite pocketable mirrorless camera with a fixed 35 mm-equivalent lens. You lose the zoom capability of another lens setup, but you gain a lot in portability. I used it throughout the trip. These were shot in RAW in color and processed into the Fuji ACROS black and white film simulation.
Craftsbury Half Marathon
The Craftsbury, VT, Outdoor Center held its first half marathon Saturday on a beautiful and challenging course that traversed 13.1 miles of dirt roads, ski trails, and single-track through the woods to the Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro. 2,000 feet of elevation gain with beer and lunch at the end. Adam Martin, a nordic skier with the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (above, center) won in 1:16:42; David Sinclair, Waitsfield, VT, left, was second; Patrick Caldwell, US Ski Team (in blue), was third. US Ski Team (and GRP) skier Ida Sargent, below, won the women’s race in 1:37:05. There can’t be many half marathons that can match this one for the scenery alone, not to mention the hills and the beer. Click here for a full gallery. Click here for results.
Posted in cross-country skiing, dirt roads, marathon, running, Vermont
Tagged dirt roads, running, Vermont
Dave Rowell’s Barn Dance
It was all big: the barn dance in Dave Rowell’s big yellow barn in East Craftsbury, VT, last night; the crowd (hundreds); Dave himself (at the mike with the Starline Rythmn Boys); the fried chicken sandwiches served up by the Craftsbury General Store; the rebound in the barn’s wooden floor when the band played Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On. The biggest Northeast Kingdom social event of the spring. To benefit the Craftsbury Public Library and the Craftsbury Chamber Players. Only in Vermont does a rockabilly band play to nurture the appreciation of chamber music.
Posted in barn dance, Northeast Kingdom, Spring, Vermont
Tagged Northeast Kingdom, Vermont, Vermont barn dance
NOLA #2: Wedding, Second Line
New Orleans is an old city with a lot of traditions, one of which is the Second Line parade. In this case it was for a wedding. The parade usually goes from the ceremony to the reception, through the nearby streets. The First Line is a brass band and the happy couple, each of whom are swinging parasols. The second line is the rest of the wedding guests, walk-dancing to the music and often waving white handkerchiefs. In this case, first and second lines have arrived at the reception in the tourist-infested French Quarter and these are the final dance steps. If you’ve seen the HBO series Treme, you’ll know that a Second Line also works for funerals.
Posted in New Orleans, Second Line, weddings
Tagged New Orleans, Second Line wedding