In this case the still life was the bird.  Back in the late spring, I looked out on the deck one day and saw a mourning dove just hanging out.  It was, in fact, a juvenile dove (you can tell it’s not a full adult because it’s all gray, and not the slightly brown color … Read more

Second day in London: I took the bus to Westminster, getting off right near the houses of Parliament.  I first walked around looking for breakfast, and ended up getting pastries (including a pecan roll) in a sandwich shop.  Then I took pictures of some oft-photographed stuff. Like this place: I took pictures of it from … Read more

On my second day in England, I returned to Oxford and took a boat tour of the Thames River (the waterway also known in that city as the Isis). I walked down to the tour place a bit early and bought my ticket, and then walked around until the departure time.  Here’s the river, seen … Read more

Another quick post.  A month or so back, I was out mowing the leaves (and a bit of grass), and I saw something moving quickly out of the way of the mower.  It was about the same color as the grass. On closer inspection, it was a large praying mantis: When I say “large,” I … Read more

On my last morning in Iceland I got up somewhat early so I could return my rented bike (Óli Stef).  I headed for the Reykjavik waterfront along the city’s bike paths, and partway there, I noticed geese in the median strip of the road (click photo to embiggen): I also encountered this little bird at … Read more

On my third day in Iceland, I had a quick breakfast of yogurt and granola, or rather, of yogurt drink and granola.  It turned out that the stuff I thought was yogurt, Skyr, is more like a thin smoothie.  It still worked fine, as I even like having granola with plain milk. Outside, before getting … Read more

September 2 was my first full day in Iceland, and as detailed in my last post, it began with picking up a rented bicycle.  Once I rode back to the apartment I’d stayed overnight in, I packed up my things, including trying to compensate for the broken zippers on my luggage.  I loaded the panniers … Read more

This past summer I attended a Hadley Select Board meeting.  As the meeting had high attendance, I could not park around Town Hall, but had to park a ways away and walk back across the road to get to the meeting.  Later in the evening, when I had left the meeting and was waiting for … Read more

On April 12 of this year, I went to the town of Clinton, MA for a “Golden Spike” event where updates were provided on the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail (MCRT).  Presentations were given on each section of the trail, what had been done so far in terms of planning or construction, and what would be … Read more

Readers will recall that, last year, to celebrate my 40th birthday, I biked to Boston and back.  On the way out there, as well as on the way back, I rode on a small section of what will eventually be the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail, running the length of the state.  The section I was … Read more