Day 14.233: First day of class

Various plants by the beach from our walk on Saturday - for no particular reason:

Today was Exile #3's first day of in-person classes. It involved a trip to Portland on the bus and some time hanging out in the library. I gather the class went well and all the logistics were successful.

I didn't take a first day of "school" photo, but I will try to catch the high-schoolers over the next couple of days.

Day 14.232: Storm timing

Exile #2 and I went for a little walk after dinner. We notice that the sky looked quite dramatic when we were about half-way around the loop:

Soon after, we heard the first rumble of thunder - followed shortly after by several more. We were soon just hoping we could make it home before the heavens opened.

When we were nearly home with the clouds very dark nearly overhead, Exile #2 started to tempt fate by hoping that we would get a decent fall of rain to water the garden - after we got home. At that point I was still thinking how wet we could get before we made it to the door.

As it happens, Exile #2 got her wish - maybe 15 mins after we got into the house.

Day 14.231: Exile #2's Sunday Column #359

Exile #2 writes...

On the beach yesterday, it definitely felt like nature was sending the message that summer vacation is officially over. A few people were gamely swimming, although the ocean looked a lot more like soup than usual (and a hearty one at that).

There have been other hints. The sudden uptick in emails about everything school: schedules, lunch money, school bussing, and the first visit to pick up iPads.

Meanwhile, action has been necessary in the garden, as more tomatoes have fallen to the nocturnal nibbler. The creature has very good taste, going for the delicious German Queen variety. I’m hoping they will be somewhat put off by having to gnaw through a pair of tights first.

Current state of some of the garden - defensive tights not pictured.

Day 14.230: Camp Ellis beach after the storms

Exile #2 and I went down to the beach mid-morning to coincide with low tide. I decided that we would walk along from Camp Ellis, but that turned out to be harder than expected:

The waves were coming close to the rocks (not usual at low tide, but the bigger problem was the very large amount of red seaweed that was several inches thick in places and holds a lot of the seawater and groundwater making it a spongy wet mess.

We saw other signs of the passing of the two tropical storms including some significant beach erosion, so that may be all playing its part.

Other sightings included this:

No, not the gull (doing the one-legged flamingo-thing), but the tiny bird to the right. Here's a close-up:

Definitely a small "peep" - probably a semipalmated sandpiper.

Later these large ducks caught my eye. I believe they are common eider:

It feels like a while since we last walked on the beach. Soon we'll have it more to ourselves as Labor Day passes and most of the tourists leave for the summer.

Day 14.229: Five random things near the Erie Canal

Somewhere between Albany and Buffalo...

We were actually in the town of Niskayuna and here the Erie Canal is also the Mohawk River, but here are - as promised five random things.

A scruffy blue jay:

a heron:

a cardinal:

a wasp nest:

and some wildflowers:

Day 14.228: Birds in Mass.

Here are some birds that E5N1 and I saw as we killed time in Massachusetts last Tuesday.

A green heron:

Possibly a least sandpiper (difficult to see and even harder to photograph):

A mute swan (a common sight in the UK, but much less so here):

A cedar waxwing:

A sparrow (field possibly):

Red-tailed hawk:

Eastern phoebe:

Day 14.227: Cemetery tour

As I mentioned at the time, while Exile #3 and Exile #4 were touring colleges, E5N1 and I found ourselves touring cemeteries. In fact, our cemetery tour stopped after the first three visits, but we were going strong for a while there.

Here are some sights:

A flicker on a gravestone, a massive fungus behind a gravestone, a heron - apparently fishing but also apparently with somethings stuck in its beak, and markers for the family graves of the Files and the Fakes.

Day 14.226: Henri ennui?

Every time we mentioned Tropical Storm Henri's name, Exile #4 thought we were talking about "ennui", which is kind of appropriate since the extended period of somewhat gloomy weather has been getting some members of the family down a little. Later it emerged that Exile #4 was also confusing ennui and umami, but that is another story.

Meanwhile here are a couple more moody photos from Sunday morning:

We're hopeful that the sun will come out tomorrow (bet your bottom dollar?)

Day 14.225: Les oiseaux d'Henri

...the named storms of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season have - for the most part - very common English names, so we'll make the most of this one.

Here are my attempts to photograph the birds dealing with the strong winds yesterday morning at Camp Ellis:

Successful: the barn swallow that landed almost at my feet and the cormorants that found a sturdy pole to stand on.

Less successful: my attempts to photograph the high-speed wind-assisted swallows in flight and the cormorant that - already on a precarious perch - decided to use the strong gusty winds to dry its wings. It was keeping its footing, but only just.

Day 14.224: Exile #2's Sunday Column #358

Exile #2 writes...

As this moment, tropical storm Henri is working its way towards us. It’s no longer a hurricane but is still causing heavy rain and some power outages in other parts of the country. We’re expecting it to do its worst tomorrow, but the rain might continue into Tuesday.

Exile #1 and I briefly popped down to the coast before lunch to see the beginnings of its effects. The high tide made it seem particularly exciting but it wasn’t stopping some of the local kite surfers from having fun. We didn’t stick around for too long , however, as the wind was also doing a great job of wafting the smell of fish and chips from the local restaurant, and we didn’t want to be tempted!

Day 14.223: Three random things from Burlington

Today was a recovery day - recovering from the trip and trying to recover my phone from a corrupted backup after it started misbehaving and I foolishly took the advice to wipe it and restore it (from said backup).

I failed to restore it and it still has the problem I was trying to fix, so I guess we'll call it a lose-lose. Not because losing twice is what a lose-lose scenario would be, but by symmetry with the incorrect definition of "win-win" that advertising professionals seem to be insist on using.

Anyway, because it's more fun than lazy days with a seasoning of tech issues, here are three more random photos from yesterday in Burlington: some flowers in Overlook Park, a speedboat and the mountains of New York across Lake Champlain and a construction vehicle with rail-adapting wheels at the site of an in-progress level-crossing replacement.

Day 14.222: College tour - VT leg

The final stop of our tour was in Burlington, Vermont, and after a tour, lunch and a Ben & Jerry's ice-cream, we drove home via the very picturesque I-89.

Before all that, our first stop of the day was a quick detour to Overlook Park - to see the view and have a little walk to kill some time:

It was a successful trip for Exile #4 and a tiring, but fairly enjoyable one for all of us, but it's nice to be home

Day 14.221: College tour - Fred leg

Today has been wet - thanks to Tropical Storm Fred which has been with us all day. We headed North to today's college visit. E5N1 and I stayed in the car for obvious reasons:

 

so no new cemetery adventures.

Later we continued North into the edge of the Adirondacks where we posed with the I❤NY sign:

before we completed our journey for the day.

Day 14.220: College tour - NY leg

Today we're back in the vicinity of our old life for two more college visits. While Exile #2 and Exile #4 did the campus tours, E5N1 and I toured another cemetery - this time we saw Uncle Sam's grave-site: 

and managed to get a view with both downtown Albany's skyline and one of my previous places of work:

Later, we found where my first marathon course descends the hill near the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory to the trail along the Mohawk River:

and walked a little way along that trail: