HOME

Living in the woods brings some problems with it. When the leaves fall, they infiltrate the house. They come in through the door, attached to the dogs' coats. You find them everywhere, in places you can't imagine them getting.

Trees produce pollen. Lots of it. Even if you aren't normally allergic, the air is so full of pollen it can look like it's snowing ... and that much particulate stuff in the air is going to cause irritations to the breathing apparatus of anything that breathes.

Pollen is one kind of particulate, but there are plenty more. It adds up to a level of dust and dirt that's hard to imagine. You can't clean fast enough to keep up with it, even if you clean all the time. Eventually you give in and adopt the attitude that dust is a protective layer provided my nature.

Between the dog hair, the pollen and the dust ... your standards have to come down to earth. Reality bites, but comes the Autumn, for a month and some, it's so beautiful for once, you lose your breath to the beauty, not the stuff floating in the air.

SUNSET ON BARNSTABLE BEACH

RED, WHITE AND BLUE

The colors of the day in Hyannisport. 

Flags, boats and people, all in combinations of red, white and blue. 

The water and the sky were blue; the clouds were white.

Primary colors, like a world drawn with crayons. 

GOING HOME

Not sorry to leave this place, but sorry to be leaving Cape Cod. Nice, though, that it's close enough to come anytime on a day trip. Sometimes we forget it's just a little more than an hour away ... with no traffic. And it's good to be "not at home" no matter where else it is. A change of scenery is good for the soul.

I'm always afraid what I'll find when I get home. A thousand pounds of junk mail, hysterical dogs, half a foot of matted dog hair, urgent messages on the answering machine, scary messages on the answering machine. What will be will be. I just hope that nothing awful is waiting for me. Please, let there not be something awful.

PUMPKIN PATCH IN YARMOUTH

We went exploring, not knowing where we would wind up. Never has this failed me. There always something and today was no exception.

Driving along Route 28 through South Yarmouth was the biggest, most luscious pumpkin patch I've ever seen. I've seen a few. This was the best yet.

The pumpkin patch belongs to the church. They grow pumpkins then sell them in October to raise money for the church. An interesting variation on the classic bake sale. They have one of those, too. Next week.

Charlie Brown would definitely approve.

GARRY ARMSTRONG'S CAPE COD

I take pretty pictures. Garry makes art. 

A lifetime of John Ford movies have had their effect. 

His eye seeks out pictures that are more than pictures, that are evocative and elegant. 

Many are perfect right off the SD chip. 

Please, look, enjoy, and make your own evaluation. 

EVENTIDE ON THE CAPE

One of the more entertaining challenges for photographers is venturing out of our comfort zones. To try taking pictures under conditions which are less that ideal.

I wanted to do sunsets -- always problematic on this piece of Atlantic coastline. From anywhere on the east coast getting a clear view of the western sky can be tricky. Or impossible.

So it proved. I had hoped by virtue of a hook of the land the view from Barnstable's beaches might provide a partial view of the setting sun, but a rise of land blocked it. We got colors, but no sun.

The other places from which we might have gotten the picture were universally located on properties that forbid stopping for any reason (you can get a ticket -- or hauled to jail -- for getting flat tire and needing to change it), much less parking and trooping around with cameras. The very rich like their privacy. I'm surprised they let us drive through at all. Ultimately, we wound up -- as expected -- on one of Barnstable's public beach areas. It was lovely, duney and included parking. Even a lighthouse and a view of the ferries ... but no west facing view of the sky.

Our next photographic issue was shooting handheld in very low light. We continued shooting after the sun was gone. I'm surprised so many pictures came out so well. We are better than we think we are, and so, apparently, is our equipment. It rose to the occasion.

It was twilight and light fades fast. We needed to get started if we were going to grab a piece of the light. There were other luscious views to shoot. I think Garry grabbed the best pieces, but mine aren't so bad. I'm going to present Garry's pictures in a separate post since they demand their own space.

These bunch are mine, the type of pictures Tourist Boards like to put on calendars and postcards. Pretty. Cape Cod is definitely very pretty.

KINTSUKUROI - RESTORED TO A STATE OF GRACE

Kintsukuroi is a Japanese noun meaning “to repair with gold”; the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.

These Sui Dynasty musicians are very old. They were originally made sometime during 581 to 617 -- one of China's briefest Dynasties and was immediately followed by the Tang Dynasty, one of China's greatest periods for art, but especially pottery which reached extraordinary heights during that reign.

Porcelain pieces, especially people, made during the Sui period are elegant, but lack the sophisticated details developed during the Tang years. If you look, you can see how simplified the hands of the musicians are. 

All these Sui musicians have been reconstructed ... restored. If they had not been restored, they would be missing heads, hands, pieces of their instrument. They would no doubt have been tossed out as rubble. I'm very strongly in favor of preserving these ancient pieces. Nor does restoring them ruin their authenticity, not when you buy them knowing they have been extensively restored.

If you don't know what to look for, you'll never see the restoration, but taking a spray bottle of water and lightly spraying the pieces -- not drenching them -- willl expose where the clay is not original. 

The restoration is old too, hundreds of years -- maybe as much as a thousand. Their culture is old and reveres art. Most of my ancient Chinese porcelain pieces are original but these beautiful musicians are a piece of the past who were saved from destruction. They bring me joy every day I see them gracing my mantle. Are they better for having been broken? I don't know about better ... but they live and surely such treasures are better for being part of our world than being lost forever.