Market Square

My Cousin Jeff has been coming from Florida to Akron for the Thanksgiving Weekend for years now - and the last few years our tradition has included a Friday trip to Market Square in Cleveland. We do some shopping at The West Side Market and then grab a few beers at the Great Lakes Brewery. This year we also ate and had a drink at the newish Market Garden Brewery - which I would recommend highly. The beautiful weather helped make it a great trip - afternoon drinking is always fun - and you can be sure Jeff stocked up on Christmas Ale(not yet sold in Florida).

Thanksgiving Walk

Working off some turkey.

A Win is a Win

What a terribly called game...

Towpath Trash

Its not as common an occurrence as it used to be - but every so often you can still wander of the Towpath Trail a bit and find lots of junk. You know the stuff - hundreds of tires, glass bottles, and remnants of various old buildings. Today was one of those days - and I found a sweet Ameri-cola bottle from the 1960s........

Old San Juan

We spent our last day in Puerto Rico wandering around Old San Juan - the 16th century, Spanish Colonial city. Most of Old San Juan is still walled and it is book-ended by two historic forts. We walked through the blue cobblestone streets and came upon Fort San Felipe del Morro(above). Laura commented that we could have spent a whole day just there. We then followed the old city walls along the ocean to Fort San Cristóbal.

Old San Juan from Fort San Felipe del Morro.

Beach Babe and Vacation Photos

The beautiful Laura on the beach in Rincon, Puerto Rico.

I'm Back, Again

Room With A View VII  Rincon, PR

After a long farm season and a week to relax from it all in Rincon, Puerto Rico I'm back to blogging. Starting today I'll have a new post and photo everyday - I'm also gonna add a few photos with back-dated posts from the farm season.

Look for my posts about the "analogue experience" as I continue to fix up and shoot my vintage camera collection as well as finish up my darkroom!

Old and New

Today I drove around the 1949 Oliver Row Crop 77 before we put it away for the Winter. I pulled it next to the John Deere 7830 to take a few comparison photos. I spend a lot of time in the John Deere over the Summer and although it was fun to drive around the antique Oliver I'll take the AC and CD player(not to mention power) of the Deere any day.

Last Load 2011

Today we picked the last load of sweet corn for the season. This is by far the latest 'last load' we've done since I've worked at Szalay's. Every year, for as long as anyone can, they've been taking "last load" photos - its always a great sense of accomplishment to look back on all the hard work that got us to this point.

Left: 'The Field Crew' Right: 'Dave, Double Fisting'

Whiskey Island and Old Coast Guard Station

I've read about Cleveland's Whiskey Island and the development of Wendy's Park many times and finally decided to go and see what it was all about. Laura and I parked near the Whiskey Island Marina and watched some of the boating activity, then walked along the Lake Erie coast to Wendy Park, and finally to the old Cleveland Coast Guard Station. The views from Whiskey Island of downtown Cleveland are really cool and worth the trip itself.

The old Coast Guard Station(built in 1940 and abandoned in 1976) is photographic gold - a beautiful building and location that will hopefully be put to use for something eventually.

It was a a perfect day and a stroll on the beach was an awesome break from the 90 hour work weeks on the farm.

Tears and Roses

Every year this little rose plant on the side of my house bears this one beautiful bloom. When I cut it and put it on my desk it makes the whole room smell sweet.

I used to take it inside for my Grandma who had a hard time getting outside to see it....

Franklin/Tionesta

After day two of canoeing(see below post) Laura and I decided to get a room - or as it turned out rooms. We found a place in the tiny town of Tionesta, Pa - about a ten minute drive from where we canoed. It was only 69 bucks for what was basically a whole apartment - including a front porch swing.

After checking out in the morning we made our way to the small town of Franklin, PA with its beautiful Main Street(below). Its truly amazing to see a town like this with all the storefronts full and plenty of bustle. We got lunch and did some antiqueing....

Canoeing the Allegheny Part I

I can't imagine anything in life that can be more relaxing than floating down a river beer in hand - and that is exactly how I spent Saturday and Sunday. Laura, Kyle, Kristi and I(below) drove to the Allegheny National Forest and rented canoes from Indian Waters for a 27 mile trip. They drove us up to the Kinzua Dam where we hit the water, canoed, and then made camp on an island.

The dilemma on these trips is always about what to do for a camera. Two days of drinking on a river can obviously be a photographer's worst nightmare. In years past I had always brought a cheap, film point and shoot. This year I knew I needed more fire-power to be happy - so I brought my Canon Rebel XT in a freezer bag and then put it in a holster camera bag - just enough protection so that it could be snagged out of the river before any damage(hopefully)but still at the ready enough to capture a moment.  

I think the next time I go I might find a water tight tupperware-style container and bring my Canon 7D.

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday was my first time on the tractor this year.  I was driving the John Deere 6320 down Bolanz Road to dump the produce scraps in a field.  We've been composting more of the waste the last few years instead of putting biodegradable foodstuffs in the dumpster.   

Maybe eventually we could even get our customers to recycle - its amazing how people at a farm surronded by national park refuse to take the simple step of putting cans and bottles in one place and trash in another.  Dummies.  

Farmville 2011

Well, its that time of the year again - back to the farm. I'm going to do my best to continue putting up some posts here - probably mostly about the farm - and many will be with my terrible cellphone camera(like these two).  The image quality may not be great but I'll keep the subject and compositions interesting.  See ya in the Valley!

Solo Cook-Out

My baby is out-of-town all weekend and I've been working lotsa hours - so this morning I had to get out and enjoy a bit of this weather....with some wieners!

Back to Tracks

I go to this spot all the time - the train tacks between Hawkins and Market Streets. Its right there in my neighborhood, the closest little piece of nature without a drive, and I have many, many photos to show for it. This morning I shot my latest batch.

More to come - I'm sure.

Practical Photography

Ever work on drum brakes? Take a picture - it will last longer, really. Its the best way to remember where all those cursed springs go. I found it funny that I was looking at the back of my camera judging the "quality" of my shot - I had to stop and remind myself why I was taking the photo....