August review, Kentucky to Maine

post #204
         In my very first blog post, almost 4 years ago, I wrote that I hoped this weekly blog would let friends, family, and future fans know that I was at least kicking, even if they didn't get a letter or email from me in a timely fashion.  After the busy summer I have had, I feel especially negligent, so today I am trying to use a few photos to begin sorting through this summer and its comings and goings.  
        I am starting with these finishing days of summer.  While I look forward to the upcoming sustained days of working on my phototgraphy, I also celebrate and appreciate the variety of life and the change of pace I experienced in spades this summer.  So, for now, here is a sampling of words and photos from August, 2014.

1.  TAKING CARE OF THE PLACE, and getting ready for winter (thanks, Frank!):

gathering wood for the wood cook stove, keeping it in the barn until needed

visiting granddaughter's breakfast on the deck, with our barn in the background

cosmos in the garden

 2. FLOWERS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:

at Sandy's, a red sunflower!

more potos from Bonnie's garden, when I delivered to her prints of the photos I took in July

3. DRIVING TO NEW ENGLAND, with a major delay soon after leaving home:

Redoing a section of route 7 - looking ahead

looking behind - stopped traffic can be a good opportunity to take a photo

4. FIRST STOP: WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, seeing our granddaughter again:

the lake near their home, but no one was swimming that chilly morning

5. All of us ON TO MAINE for a cousin reunion:
 

the view from the house where we all gather

deck central, a brief moment of only two talking

older generation, in a renewing energy mode

youngest generation using up energy: two photos of three cousins

early morning in Maine

      Here's to all the teachers and students getting ready to be back at work, and to family we'd drive many miles to be with for a weekend. 

Moving on ... to more trains, mostly in France,

post #203
       Still on track for trains: I just added a photo to last week's post, another view on the way to London.  Today's  post will be mostly France -- I took the fast TGV from Paris to Rennes, spent three nights there, took a somewhat slower train back to Paris where I spent a night with members of the French family I lived with when I was a junior in high school, and the next day I went fast but not too fast from Paris to Mulhouse, in Alsace, in eastern France, the part of the country that kept changing its nationality, from French to German to French again, etc.  Wars can do that to a place.  In Mulhouse I stayed with the youngest of my French siblings, close to where the family lived during that year of my exchange.  (In the meantime, one of their daughters was living with my family and going to my school for that year.)
    
      My trip between Paris and Mulhouse was comparatively leisurely.  Each of the two stops gave the train an excuse to slow down for a bit.  Here are a series of views from that afternoon:

      

getting closer to Alsace, where many houses look like this one

Issue de Secours just means the window can be pushed out should there be an emergency...       

   I took a few other photos during that time, with my iPhone, when I was trying to be discreet.  It may be possible to notice what each camera brings to the moving train photo experience.  The first photo shows how, since I had a French railpass, I sometimes ended up in the first class car.  Very nice.  

that look of blowing in the wind....

I am standing in the exit section, looking out the door we will eventually be using to get off the train.

     I finally found some passengers who didn't mind having their photo taken.  I had gone to the upper story of the train to see if photos from there would be more interesting.  They were not.  But I did have a nice conversation with the guy who had these cats.

          Someday soon I will share my unpublished manuscript of a picture book for children which features photos from a moving train.  Didn't I already say that I love, love, love riding on a train and looking at the world go by?  I hope these photos from this week and last week have allowed me to share something of that pleasure.

England for a change, and trains

post #202
         Most of my May trip to Europe was spent visiting my step-mother -- who is English and she lives in England, near Stratford-on-Avon.  It was often raining, so this time I didn't take that many photos there.  But I did travel by train to France, over and back.  And, both in London and in Paris, I needed to take the "underground" or the metro in order to change stations in each city.  In Europe, big cities have more than one main station.  Luckily I love trains and thank goodness I can speak French!  Even so, it was quite a job to figure out times and platforms and how to be headed in the right direction once I found that platform. 
        I happen to love taking photos in a train AND from a moving train.  Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by what is passing by so quickly.  Back "in the olden days," my sisters and I traveled by train between parents a couple of times a month.  We lived in Connecticut, and my father was in New York City.  These days I hardly ever get to ride a train!  I took advantage of my May trip within a trip to travel on a bunch of trains.
        So, from England to France, it's first a train, 1) Moreton-in-Marsh to London/ Paddington station.  Next comes (goes) the underground (subway) to 2) London/St. Pancras station in order to catch the 3) Eurostar train, the one that zips UNDER the English Channel to Paris/Gare du Nord.  Very speedy, not good for photos.  The metro (subway) in Paris to the 4) Montparnasse station was also not good for photos.  Finally and barely I caught the 5) fast train (TGV), to Rennes, in western France, arriving exactly on schedule at 8:30 pm their time.  (France is an hour earlier than England, go figure.)  This was my first day and by far, so to speak, the most challenging.  I am so grateful the French were very helpful each of the many times I asked someone a question.  Merci de tout coeur!

        After all this verbiage, here are some photos.  First, the train to London:

looking south, from my seat

looking north, across the aisle, afields of rape seeds, for making oil

notice the tops of heads mirrored in the baggage rack above

My seatmate spent the ENTIRE two hours of the trip going from one device to the others. I doubt if he noticed I was taking his picture. He never looked out the window, said a word or smiled. I was busy looking incredulous!

    Next, photos while figuring out how to change stations after arriving at London/Paddington Station:

ticket kiosks at Paddington  -- Travelers are supposed to punch their tickets before getting on the train and sometimes when they get off.

mid morning on a Monday must not be a busy time at Paddington Station

on the way to catch the underground to my next train station

the platform for the trip between train stations -- obviously not underground here, but still part of the "Tube" system.

One of the stops, at "Great Portland Street", wherever that is. Notice the warning just outside the door to MIND THE GAP, which means "remember there is a space between the train and the platform."  However, could they be thinking about income gap as well??!!??

 

FIrst of two views inside London/St. Pancras station. Lots of shops, including a whole grocery store with meals ready to go.  And bottled water.  There are NO WATER FOUNTAINS that I could find in any stations.  Not anywhere, in either country.  But at least there has been great progress toward making it mostly smoke-free!

The front of the Eurostar train which is waiting in the station -- this will be the back of the train on its return trip.  These trains are scheduled two every hours in each direction, and they are full.  Advance seat reservations are needed. They are like a pricey shuttle back and forth between London and Paris.  Some people commute!

        
        More next week, since I have run out of steam today for more photos.... I still want to share a statue with those of you who read children's books and who have met Paddington bear over the years: this statue of him is in Paddington Station.  It was providing a seat to a Japanese tourist at the time I was there, and I didn't ask him to move, even though I would have then had a better photo.  Anyway, this sweet bear sends greetings to all of us around the world, I am sure.