A Hint of Autumn

Monday afternoon. The first "bright" color I've seen in the area. There's still hope for a colorful fall after all.

A day off = A day in the woods!

(Above: Mt. Sophie fire tower framed by Maple trees)

This time of year, if its my day off from work and its a beautiful day, it means that I'm probably going to be spending the whole day out in the woods. And that's exactly what I did today. I spent all day wandering around the local logging roads and looking for fall color and any other interesting things I might come across.



(Above: Maple leaf on fern)

(Below: Fall colors and sun)



(Below: Moon Trees, Woodcock frozen in the headlights from my car)

Walcote circular, via Gilmorton and Kimcote

Led by Barry, with me and Gordon. Pretty flat, good underfoot - mix of arable and cattle country. 7.5 miles. No rain while we were out. At least 26 stiles.


We had a last minute change of plan when we discovered the A43 was closed and that side of Corby was as near gridlocked as I have ever seen it. So we headed back across Corby and past Market Harborough. Thanks to Barry for a last minute alternative to my walk.



I've driven past Walcote countless times on my way to the M1 when heading north, but had never stopped. As so often there is more to these villages than meets the eye of the passing motorist-in-a-rush.



We find a place to park, and set off north along Brook Street, taking a footpath west, to the left just before the road divides. The path soon turns north once more, along the field edge and over a few fields before turning north west and passing the corner of Winterfield Spinney.



The path zigzags a bit through fields north then west, but when two paths meet between Oback and Thornborough Farms we turn right in a northeasterly direction. In the third field we take the left hand option when the path divides. This takes us to the left hand corner of the field, across another one, then along the edge of a third, very smelly today, as it's recently been manured. Good job we don't intend to eat in any posh pub.



We turn left and walk uphill for a few hundred yards along the Lutterworth Road, which is busier than we expected.

The footpath goes off to the right, and heads north north east to Gilmorton. We pass the old motte in a field near the church - no public right of way, so we sneak a peek through the gate.





Our path goes through the churchyard, where we take a break.

Gilmorton Church

An unusual memorial bench.

The church porch was built to celebrate Victoria's diamond jubilee - the stained glass is clearly Victorian, and we think the carved head above looks like the lady herself.





We leave the church behind us and walk through the village.

Grey skies today!

We turn right along the road to Kimcote, and when the road bends to the right we take a path straight ahead. It looks as though there was once a village or similar here - lots of lumps and bumps in the ground, but nothing on the map.



This runs parallel with the road just south of Bruntingthorpe airfield/ proving ground.





We follow the path to the north of The Lodge, and then turn south towards Kimcote, over more fields.

Kimcote church

We walk past the church and cross the road to Poultney Lane, through the village and farms. The road turns into a footpath past sewage works, and then gradually leads southwest towards Walcote.

Globe artichokes - yum!

The not-so-swfit River Swift.

We meet the road, cross the mighty Swift, and at Woodside Farm, we turn left on a footpath which takes us back to the village.



Wildlife note: There are still a few swallows feeding up on the plethora of insects - mainly daddy-long-legs - before they leave for the sunny south.

Little Brick Lichen

Little Brick Island - Grand Portage, MN. We had really nice clouds the whole evening, which made it one of the most enjoyable photography outings I've ever had to the Susie Islands. The sun was at my back and behind the clouds when I made this image, which meant that the foreground was very dark. I used my Singh-Ray 3-stop reverse-grad neutral-density filter to help balance the exposure. I got some nice images of the sunset as well on this outing, but this is my favorite image of the day. This was taken about an hour before sunset.

The Badlands

I have been to the Badlands in South Dakota a few times now, and with each visit I enjoy the area even more. My previous trips were just quick "through-visits" on my way home from other travels out west. This time, however, I was able to spend almost two full days in the area. I arrived in Badlands National Park after spending the day traveling through the Pine Ridge Reservation and visiting Wounded Knee. The whole area is beautiful and I can only imagine what it must look like in the summer, when things are a little 'greener'. The grasses everywhere were still quite brown, nothing had really greened up yet.



As I arrived in the Badlands I started noticing a lot of standing water in the low-lying areas along the side of the road, and some patches of snow here and there. When I got to the park's visitor center the staff informed me that they had quite a bit of moisture in the past couple of weeks, in the form of both rain and snow. Consequently, there were lots of puddles and in some places larger pools of water. In the larger pools, choruses of frogs were croaking and singing to their heart's content. These pockets of water really made the visit interesting for photographs, as I was able to make several exposures of the hills of the badlands reflected in these pools of water.

While making the image above, about half an hour after sunset, a car pulled up alongside mine on the side of the road. A voice came from the window... "Great spot, huh?" I turned and voiced my agreement, then got up (I had been sitting on the ground with my tripod set low to get the above shot) and walked over to the car to chat some more. The friendly voice in the car belonged to Carl Johnson, who is currently the artist-in-residence at Badlands National Park. As it turned out, he's a photographer, too. He lives in Anchorage, Alaska but explained that he was a guide for a while in the Boundary Waters, up the Gunflint Trail. I said "No kidding... I'm from Grand Portage." To which he responded "I used to work as a security guard in the Grand Portage Casino during the winter, in between my summer guiding job." What a small world! It turns out he worked at the casino back when I was managing the marina in Grand Portage. At any rate, we had a nice visit and we swapped website information. If you'd like to visit Carl's site, go to http://www.carljohnsonphoto.com/ and if you'd like to see his work from the Badlands, click on the "Blog" link at the top of his main website page. He has some nice work, and its worth a bit of your time to visit his site.

(Above: My car's shadow on the painted hills of the Badlands....)

Tomorrow, I head for home. The Badlands marks the last of my "tourist" stops for this trip. I am staying in Duluth tomorrow night, and tuesday night I am scheduled to give a slide show and a talk about my trip and my photography in general to the Duluth-Superior Camera Club. Hopefully they will like what I have to share!

Cokinos Brothers on H Street

Here it is - the oldest photo so far of the Cokinos Brothers Ice Cream and Confectionery owned by my grandfather, Peter George Cokinos (pictured right) at 11o3 H Street Northeast. This photo was taken probably around 1919- after his brother, Alec (pictured left) came over from Agoulnitsa, now Epitalion, Greece. All that is left now in this spot is a convenience store - in a new building.

Knitting Cyclists and Cycling Knitters

Last week I finally got back on the roadbike enough to start marking miles on my calendar again. Birds were singing, legs were spinning, flowers were pushing through. Then yesterday, this happened. It's still on the roads today. And it's supposed to happen again tomorrow. I lost my temper and did something I hadn't done in some time: I knitted.



I am not a committed knitter, but I learned as a child and do it whenever the fancy strikes. Or when I'm frustrated. The winter of -11 was terrible for cycling, but great for knitting. I made myself an entire new wardrobe, made presents for friends, and did a brisk trade in hats for bicycle components. I must have knitted over 50 hats that winter; it was pretty bad. I can never just sit there and knit, so it's always done in conjunction with another activity, like reading, or talking, or watching a film. I did try knitting while cycling on a trainer a couple of times, but the rhythms are too different for it to work well.



It's been a surprise to discover how many women who ride bikes also knit. They seem like such different activities on the surface: one is domestic and stationary, the other exploratory, active and physically draining. Maybe it's the contrast that's attractive. Or the rhythm. Or the element of independence and self-sufficiency that both provide.



Apparently Lyli Herse was a prolific knitter. She would knit before bicycle races and brevets, because it kept her from getting nervous at the start. She made matching sweaters for her tandem partners and randonneuring teammates, their patterns distinctly recognisable in the historical photos.



Today, there isEmily O'Brien, who is not only a knitter, but also a spinner (can make her own yarn out of fleece). Bobbin and Sprocket knits and crochets. Knitting Lemonadeknits and embroiders. There isRoseread, whoknits lovely socks. The writer Sally Hinchcliffea bicyclist and knitter.There is alsoThe Knitting Cyclist. AndThe Knit Cycle. And Knitting by Bicycle. And more! Some are predominantly cyclists who are also attracted to knitting. Others are predominantly knitters who also ride bikes. Either way, it's an interesting convergence of interests:Knit your own wheeling costume (or a handlebar flower?). Get on a bike. And ride where you like ...once the snow melts a bit.