I pass by this old hay mower every day on the way to work. Love how they painted it John Deere colors.

Pictured here is Saint Cecilia's School, though it hasn't been used as a school since 1977. I attended this school up to the fourth grade when it closed down due to lack of funding. It is still used for functions such as CCD, bingo and holiday fairs.

I remember going out at recess to play. The school yard was broken up into two sections. The boys were allowed to play on one side, and the girls on the other side. Of course we would spend most of our recess trying to figure out how to sneak over.

After the school was closed, I would still attend CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) at this building. Then in my pre teen/teen years I joined the CYC (Catholic Youth Council) which held weekly meetings at the school. I remember it as a fun time to hang out with friends, probably similar to the boys and girls club that my daughter goes to now.

We use to walk 2 miles, in the snow... no that is another story. We lived two blocks away from the school and the walk wasn't that bad. Hard to believe back then we were able to walk alone at 5 or 6 years old, something unheard of in this day and age. I really don't think it was any safer back then, just information did not travel as fast as it does today. It is amazing the amount of freedom we had as kids. We use to run around the neighborhood from sunrise to sunset, only going inside for bathroom breaks and meals.

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

Barn somewhere in Lunenburg

Pictured here is St. Cecilia's Church found in the French Hill section of Leominster. I've been having a hard time composing this photograph. This church is large and is surrounded by three story tenement houses. Add the fact that there are telephone/electric wires all over the place.

If I remember correctly, my father back in the late 70's photographed this church from an airplane. Maybe next summer if I think about it I will charter a pilot and plane out of Fitchburg airport. From the air I should be able to capture the church in all its glory.

Going through some old photo's that I haven't process and I came across a series from Old Sturbridge Village. I can't believe the amount of photo's I was able to capture on such a short visit to this 19th-century village. Pictured above is one of two covered bridges on the property.

This quiet path was found behind Salem Towne House gardens. It was a wonderful place to take a break and cool down under the shade.

This is a typical single family house that is found through out the village. While sitting in my 10 room house writing this up on my PC I can't imagine living in this era. I suppose we are spoiled by the luxuries that we have.

I've got to make it a point to visit during the winter. All my visits to the village have been in the summer.

Old Sturbridge Village is located in South Central Massachusetts in the town of Sturbridge.

In front of Cherry Hill ice cream stand you will find a retired tractor that has seen its day. I can't imagine that the seat it has is too comfortable.

Went to a photoshop seminar taught by Scott Kelby. I learned how much I don't know about photoshop. Anyways went through some old pictures that for whatever reason I chose not to post in the past. With some of my newly acquired skills I was able to save a few. This one here was taken at Castle in the Clouds in the lakes region of New Hampshire. I think it makes a nice monochrome.

This photo is part of the monochrome weekly theme. Click here to see more monochromes from around the
world.

This past weekend we ventured out to the rail trail again. This time around I brought my family with me. The Mass Central Rail Trail consists of what once was a 104-mile route of the railroad that runs from Northampton to Boston. The area I walked is part of what is known as the Wachusett Greenways rail trail. This is a 30 mile stretch found in the towns of Sterling, West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, and Oakham. This section I'm talking about today is the West Boylston/Holden section going from Oakdale to River Street along the Quinapoxet River which totals 3 miles in length.

Right from the start the area is very scenic. This wall with the ivy growing on it is found on the right side at the Oakdale entrance. On the left side you have the which is either the Quinapoxet River or the Stillwater River (not sure which). The Quinapoxet and Stillwater Rivers are the two major tributaries to the Wachusett Reservoir.

Once of the nice features if you have children is the storybook walk found at the beginning of the trail. Every 100 feet or so you can find a sign post. Each one of these posts contain a page from a children's book. For this visit the title of the book was Danny and the Dinosaur. I haven't walked this trail enough to know if the book changes at all. In any event, Ashley loved this feature.

It is not uncommon to find fisherman along the rail trail. Seasonal fishing is permitted. I happened to notice a few signs warning fisherman that water levels can change at a moments notice. I imaging that this dam and the spillway beside pictured below have something to do with it.

My first visit, this spillway did not have any water flowing through it. I was surprised to see how much water was flowing this past weekend.

A little over 1 mile in you reach the I-190 overpass. Here is where the Sprindale Mill River Walk starts. An interesting thing I noticed is that dogs are not allowed past this point. It seems that a lot of people go up to this point and turn around to head back. Not sure if it has anything to do with the dogs not allowed or just the fact that it makes a roughly 2 mile round trip.

1\2 mile past the I-190 overpass you find the Springdale Mill. This is a historic site dating back to 1865. By 1879, the mill manufactured 250,000 yards of fancy cassimeres (closely woven twill wool, usually used for men's suits), and employed over 35 people, a large percentage of the adult population of Springdale.

Not much left of the mill, mostly empty cellars and a lot of rubble.

Pictured here is not the original turbine used at the mill, but it is the same model.

This site has two locations if you will. Along side the river and on the west side of the rail trail is where the mill was. If you head east and walk up the trail leading up the hill you will find where the village was. An important part of the mill being successful was having able workers to work the mill. This village was owned by the mill owner and had multifamily tenant buildings. In all roughly 35 adults lived here.

About all that is left of the village is these stone foundations. You will find 5 or 6 of these at the top of the hill. Mill operation ceased its operations in 1906. This was around the time that the Wachusett Reservoir was created and there was fear that the river feeding it would get polluted by this mill as well as others.

I'd have to say, I just love the reflections I see here each time I visit.

* Information I gathered came from the following web sites http://www.springdalemill.org/ and http://www.wachusettgreenways.org/. Feel free to visit them to learn more about this area.

Got up before the crack of dawn this morning. Decided to take advantage of it and took off with my camera. I first headed out to Sky View Middle School hoping to capture the last of the fall foliage. I'd have to say that we are now on the down side of peak. That rusty orange is starting to dominate the area. Unfortunately, I found that it was too early for Sky View and the light was not there yet.

I continued on turning on Lancaster Ave driving into Lunenburg. I've been framing this shot in my mind for quite some time now. Funny how things happen like that. The problem I found with this location was a garage that is directly in front of the barn. I had to take the photo from an angle and I was not sure how it would come out. I have to say that I'm happy with the results.

I continued on through Lunenburg to another spot that I've been framing in my mind. Wasn't going to happen though since someone was out mowing the lawn. Imagine that, mowing the lawn at 7:15 in the morning. Hate to be his neighbor.

Heading back to Leominster I figured that I'd take Day Street and go by Cherry Hill Farm. Got this photo for my troubles which needed some post process work. There was a lot of contrast in the original with the sun washing out the barn and the grass in the shade being very much under exposed. Luckily or on purpose I should say I shoot in raw format. Doing so allowed me to change the exposure on this photo and generate a single image HDR photo. I sort of like HDR but find some people over do it some.

I now found myself heading to I-190 to exit 5. From here I took a left and ended up in Oakdale at the rail trail. This trail has been closed since the spring due to part of the trail being washed out. It seems some beavers built a dam which caused this damage. They re-opened on September 26th. At the entrance you find this beautiful row of trees.

Sitting underneath them was almost magical. The sun lighting the leaves was impressive.

I hiked the trail all the way to Holden reaching the Springdale Mill site. The Springdale Mill was built in 1867 and operated until 1905 when the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board took over the property. This was part of the plan when they created the Wachusett Reservoir. Someday I'll have to blog about Wachusett Reservoir, lots of history when it was built.

I found the rail trail to be very relaxing following the Quinapoxet River. After a roughly 4 mile walk I was rewarded with this view below.

I'm not much of a birding person, but I believe these are Blue Heron's. Made me wish I still had my 200mm - 400mm lenses. This was about as close as I could get with my 18mm-200mm lenses.

Been bringing my camera to work this week. I just had to, every time I come around a corner I see something like this.

I'd have to say that the fall foliage is at it's peak. I wish I didn't have to work so I can have the time to do some photography. I hear that Saturday we are going to have some rain so that will be no good. Look like I'm not going to have as much time to capture the colors this year as I would like.

Speaking of work, it's pretty spooky at the office.

We go to town decorating the whole place along with haunted house and all. This is one of those "It's not mandatory that you decorate, but you will decorate" type of deals. I don't mind since we get to see some of the creativity that can be found in the unlikeliness places. The best thing is tomorrow from 3pm - 5 pm we will be hosting some of the local children's homes for trick or treating, crafts and games as well as a haunted house or two.

I will bring my camera to work again tomorrow and hope to get many more pictures.

Photoshop is an amazing tool. I always wonder if I will ever learn it's full potential.

Was a crisp and cool morning this morning. Soccer starts at 9:00 AM and when I left the house it was 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

One of the nice things about fall soccer I'm finding is the amazing colors. A few of these trees looked to be at peak color.

Ashley didn't find the cold to bad. She dressed for it and did not complain.

Today's match was at Coolidge park in Fitchburg. Ashley's team out play them, having the ball in possession most of the game but only ended in a 2-2 tie. For some reason Leominster didn't seem able to kick the ball towards the net. Lots of nice passes but not many finishing touches. Nether less Ashley had fun as usual.

Went out for a Sunday ride today with the hopes of capturing some of the fall foliage. It is not quite peak time yet, probably another week. I did stumble across this abandoned farm though.

Don't know much about this farm. From the sign I did see it states that this apple orchard operated by the town of Hollis, NH. According to the sign they allow hiking on this property with the disclaimer to not pick the apples since this is a working orchard.

As you can see it appears that it has been quite some time since this farm has been in operation. Even the apples have been left to fend for themselves. Most of the ones I did see were all rotted out.

Overall it was a good day. I did find a little of the color that I was hoping to capture. I might even use one of these for the calendar that I'm putting together.

Went to the Sholan Farms yesterday apple picking.

I was amazed at the amount of apples on the ground. This past week has been a very windy week which explains it. We even lost power one day last week due to a tree taking out a power line.

I love the straight lines seen at the orchard.

This weekend happens to be the scarecrow festival. Everyone is welcomed to bring in some clothes and build your own scarecrow. For those of you with a competitive nature, you can enter your scarecrow into a contest.

Plenty of hay to use for your scarecrow. Seems a lot easier than when I was a kid and you had to rake the leaves to gather fill material.

The festival is still going on today. They have music, face painting, hay rides, games and a petting zoo. We picked 1/2 bushel of apples and purchased some apple crisp mix while there.

I noticed these apples when we were heading out. Not sure what kind they are but at the moment they are sure colorful.

We have a bunch of these flowers in our yard. They were given to us by a neighbor. Most of the summer they are green until towards the end of August. At that point the tips start turning red. Being 12" to 16" tall they make a good border or edge flower. I don't remember what they were called but I'll tell you what the bee's surely like them.

Soccer season has started again. Ashley moved up to the U10 travel league. Interesting thing I found is they play other Leominster teams quite often.

Took a whole bunch of pictures but not many of what I've been looking for. These are okay but they don't pop like I would like them too.

This is starting to get more interesting to watch now that Ashley is getting older. Not seeing the magnet ball so much and starting to see positional play.

Used my 18-200 VR lens for this shoot. I was thinking about using my 50mm but I'm afraid that it won't have enough reach. Being outdoor day games makes it a little easier to use a variety of lenses. Plenty of light and I didn't seem to have much trouble freezing the players. Maybe I'll try out my 70-300mm lens next week even though it is a little on the slow side.

Visited the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA today. Took this photo while leaving this afternoon. The sky was clouding up and I thought we were going to get some rain. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part though hoping to see this humidity go away, not a drop fell at all.

Most of my sky photo's were blown out. This one above was about the only one I was able to save by turning the photo into a HDR photo.

Loved this tree out at the garden. As you can see with this photo and the one below the primary flower color this time of year seems to be yellow.

The Black Eyed Susan's are at their peak right now.

Overall a very peaceful place to visit.

As always when Ashley sees that I have my camera out, she looks for places to pose.

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This week the theme at I Heart Faces is bubbles. I'm fortunate that two of my children love the camera. With the subject being bubbles, it was easy for them to forget that I was there.

I shoot in raw format. I've heard arguments on both sides on whether shooting raw is good or bad. It does take extra time to process raw photos but in my opinion it is well worth it.

Lets use the photo above as an example. Back in June I went out to the Wayside Inn specifically to photograph the Grist Mill above. There was a function going on and the area was crowded. I didn't have as much time as I would of liked to setup. This was also a time when I just started getting back into photography and I was a little rusty. Most of my photo's from that day were over exposed as you can see from this past post here as well.

I've been spending time perfecting my Photoshop skills, which I really enjoy doing. Lately I've been experimenting with High Dynamic Range imaging (HDR). HDR is a technique that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene. The tonal range capable with HDR is greater than today's camera's can capture.

Because I shoot in raw format, I'm able to load my photo into Adobe Camera RAW. Once in this program I can do many things like correct white balance. The feature I'm discussing to day though is the ability to change the exposure setting. In camera raw I can go ahead and adjust the exposure to say -2 like this.

While the roof and the sky looks better, the rest of the building is now too dark. I also created a photo that was over exposed by +2. Not really sure if it is needed for the HDR I came up with but when you set your camera to bracket automatically it will bracket both sides of the exposure you have set. Here is my +2 photo ...

Now that I have 3 photo's to work with I open them up in a program called Photomatix. From what I've heard this is the best program out there. The program merges the photo's together. It spends time aligning things, but because the way I created my range of photo's it is not really needed. Keep in mind the proper way to shoot HDR is to bracket you photo's in camera so chances are each photo will be a little different. The last step is to create a tonal map. Within this step there are a few options that you can tweak to adjust the photo to your taste. I did not spend much time here opting to do these steps in Photoshop.

Here is the finished product. The reds came out really bright so I toned down the saturation in PS as well as performed a little sharpening. Still not the perfect picture, but one that is a little better than what it looked like right out of camera. This works well for monochromes also as seen below.

They were in no hurry to get anywhere neither were they scared of me.

Jumped back on my motorcycle and continued on to the center of Princeton where I took a right onto route 62. I followed 62 (which is lousy with a bike now due to construction) to Barre falls. Been a long time since I've been there. Use to fish the Ware river at this spot back in the late 1980's. Not much has changed. I started to walk down to the falls to take some pictures but the mosquitoes were bad and I decided to turn back.

While in the area, there's been this scene that I've had in my mind for awhile that I've been wanting to capture. So I headed over to route 68 and stopped at Brigham Pond. Below is the picture I had in mind, though I wish I had my DSLR with me.

My Canon P/S does not shoot raw and lacks the capabilities that my Nikon D90 does. If I had the Nikon with me I think this would of made a nice HDR image.

I left Hubbardston and headed towards Gardner. From there I jumped on route 101 and followed it into Ashburnham until I reached route 119. My thought here was to follow this into Jaffrey, NH. Before reaching the town center though I saw a sign for the Cathedral of the Pines. Here is another place that I haven't been since the late 1980's. I was hoping to get a good photo of Mount Monadnock but the haze was too thick and the photo's did not look good. I did manage to take this photo of a farm house and barn

I figured at this point it was time to head home. I found my way to route 202, route 101 then 31 which I took into Ashby. In Ashby I jumped on route 119 into Townshend all the way to route 13. Once on 13 I followed this back home to Leominster.

Happen to be at Walmart tonight while the sun was setting.

There wasn't a whole lot of clouds but some of them were interesting.

Can't complain though considering that it was cloudy and rainy most of the day.

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Lumber mill at Old Sturbridge Village

Everywhere you look while at Old Sturbridge Village you have the chance of seeing workers in authentic clothing from the late 1800's. This gentlemen above was responsible for providing weary guest a ride around the property.

Below we have a young woman making her rounds feeding the chickens.

Now this laborer was busy minding the lumber mill

I did not quite figure out what this women was doing. At first thought, I assumed she was doing laundry. The more I think about it though I think what she was doing had more to do with preparing wool.

This happy farmer was glad to take a break

These lovely ladies were on their way to give a demonstration of 19th-century games

This guy here is yet to be dressed. I heard a rumor that dressing is planed for the fourth week of November though

One of the problems I had Sunday while at Old Sturbridge Village was keeping people out of my compositions. My biggest offender though was my own daughter Ashley. She was so exited about being there that she had to run to everything. You'd think we don't bring her anywhere .

This room was almost impossible to capture. It had a steady flow of people coming in and out. I decided to make the most of it and include a random photographer in my capture.

Today we went to Old Sturbridge Village. The village represents a rural New England town in the 1830's. On the property are homes, meetinghouses, a district school, country store, bank, law office, printing office, carding mill, sawmill, gristmill, pottery, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, and cooper shop. Authentically costumed staff are found through out the property.

This photo is part of the monochrome weekly theme. Click here to see more monochromes from around the world.

You get to see something like this!

A string of events led me to have this opportunity to take these photo's this morning. Last weekend while visiting the Norwottuck Rail Trail, we saw a hot air balloon. Michelle made the comment on how neat it would be to go for a hot air balloon ride. Fast forward to Thursday and I find my self at Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua looking for a monopod for my camera. I happened to notice a flier for hot air balloon rides. Being Michelle and my 21st anniversary I thought that would make a good gift. I booked a flight and we will be go up weather permitting on October 10th. So last night I search the web to see if there were any local hot air balloon festivals happening. Lo and behold, there is one today in Hudson which is only 15 miles away.

Not bothering to set my alarm I decided to let things roll as they will. I'm not much of a morning person, so a 6:00 AM launch was questionable. My eyes popped open at 5:29 AM leaving enough time to make it over to Hudson.

Well worth waking up early for.

I was home in time to bring coffee and doughnuts to the rest of the family as they woke up .

Today's sunset at Wachusett Reservoir.

Captured a little of everything here. The pink clouds from the setting sun, the moon poking through and the darker clouds rolling in the night.

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Ventured out to the West Boylston rail trail for a walk tonight. Unfortunately our walk was not to happen. The rail trail was closed due part of it being washed out. Seems that about 1/4 mile in from the Oakdale entrance, some beavers built a dam. This caused some flooding which eventually led to part of the rail trail being washed out. The trail is closed until further notice.

All was not wasted on this trip. While there I noticed the fog was rolling in on the Quinapoxet Basin. I was able to capture this photo before it became too dark. The fog gives it an eerie glow, almost looking like ice.

This photo is part of the monochrome weekly theme. Click here to see more monochromes from around the world.

For today's adventure, we ventured out to the Norwottuck Rail Trail. This trail starts in Northampton, MA and ends 10 miles later in Amherst, MA. The rail road was created in 1887 and was used until the year 1979. In 1993 the rail road was developed for recreational use. Pictured above is where we started right at the Elwell State Park.

The view from the old rail road tressel crossing the Connecticut river was impressive. The river was running strong after the recent rain we had.

In all we did a total of 5 miles. A few things surprised me during this walk. First of all it is amazing how flat this area is. Being flat, we saw a lot of farms and fields like this corn field pictured below.

The next thing I noticed was that there were a lot of abandoned things such as houses and old vehicles. Here is what is left of a pickup truck.

It was easy to imagine this area in its heyday. There were a few "track" side buildings along the way. This one here has been left to ruins. It looked like it had a platform of some sort that either allowed passengers or freight to access a stopped train.

Another building that I did not get a good photo of was a multi-tenant building that had a bike shop that you could rent bikes from. Also in this building was a restaurant that sold food, beverages and ice cream.

All in all, this proved to be a nice trail to walk and I can see my family and I doing this again.

Plan was to wake up early today and head to the Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut which is about 2 hours away from us. Unfortunately Marc had different ideas and kept us up most of the night. Just as well because it gave me time to wash my Sportster pictured above.

I've had this bike for 3 summers now. I bought it after selling my boat (only one toy at a time for me). If you were to ask me which I like better between boating and biking I'd have to lean towards the bike. The main reason for that is Michelle enjoys the bike where she could take or leave the boat.

Keep the paint up and the rubber down!

My wife and I have been on a walking kick lately. For todays walk we ventured to the Nashua River Rail Trail for a 4 mile walk. This trail was part of the Boston and Maine Railroad opening up in 1848. The last freight line ran along these tracks in 1982. Paving the rail trail starting in 2001 and 2002 followed by a grand opening in October 2002. The north west end of the trail starts in Nashua, NH and travels south east all the way to Ayer, MA. The total length of the trail from start to finish is 12.5 miles.

Along the trail you see remnants of the old railroad such as these moss covered railroad ties pictured above.

At the far end of the watershed pictured above I saw a Great Blue Heron. Unfortunately my 18mm-200mm lenses that I had with me did not have enough reach to take a close enough picture. Being a protected watershed area, getting closer was not an option. I had to settle for this photo that shows the clouds reflecting off of the water.

Went out on the deck to light the grill a couple of days ago and was surprise to find my neighbors cat resting under it enjoying the little shade it was providing.

Haven't had much time to post the past week or so. Been busy catching up after being on vacation. I've also been gearing up to sell prints. I've tested a few sites out there and out of the 6 or 7 that I looked at I like 3 of them for different reasons.

DeviantArt is the first one I liked. It is not my first choice as a place to sell prints. The community they have built up is great though. I could get lost looking at all the art work posted.

Fine Art America This is the second site I like. I like the way your work is presented. They have a varied selection of prints that you can choose from, but not as much as some of the other sites.

Shutterfly is the last site I'm considering. I like the store front you can build the best out of all that I reviewed. I found that print choices are very limited. It may be that the free account does not have all the features of the account that you pay for. I will have to look into it some more.

Out of the three, I've already decided that I'm going to stick with DeviantArt and Fine Prints America. I'll continue to consider shutterfly as well. I should mention that I also checked out smugmug. For selling I think they had the best as far as the different formats that you get to choose from. I did not like the templates they provided for web layout. If I do change my mind and decide to go with smugmug i will need to spend some time designing a site that I like.

Ashley holding Marc up for a photo...

Look into my lenses ... you are getting sleepy ...

One of the things I enjoyed about last weeks vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee was cruising aboard the MS Mount Washington. This provided a lakeside view of the many residences on the lake. Pictured here is one of my favorite ones.

As an added bonus when visiting the Castle in the Clouds you can stop part of the way up to view the Falls of Song. The Falls of Song is part of Shannon Brook and is 49 feet tall.

Out for a sail on a lazy day.

Monochrome weekly theme. Click here for more.

My 1 year old son woke me up at 5:30 this morning. I happened to look out the window and saw this. I think he was trying to tell me what I was missing.

We cruised the lake today aboard the MS Mount Washington. The MS Mount Washington is a 230 foot ship that has a capacity of 1250 people. On the ship there are 4 decks, indoor/outdoor seating, a couple of bars, kitchen and a few dance floors. Pictured above is the pier at Weirs Beach where our cruise started. Also had a good view of Weirs Beach as seen below while waiting for everyone to board.

While heading out we were passed by the Doris E which is another vessel in their fleet which offers cruises.

The cruise we took was 2 1/2 hours long. we made a stop at Wolfeboro to drop passengers off. Never been to Wolfeboro before but it did seem like a quaint little town. It is listed as America's oldest summer resort. From what I seen I wouldn't mind making it a future vacation spot.

Got plenty of photos while on the boat. Too many to post here. I'll leave you with this one of a boat passing us out in the broads.

Here is my first entry for Skywatch Friday. Been meaning to participate for awhile now.

This photo was captured somewhere around Conway, NH. We were heading back to Lake Winnipesaukee after spending a day at Storyland. I stopped to take a picture of the mountains in the distance and saw how the sun was lighting up the clouds. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to capture a photo for Skywatch Friday.

See other skys around the world by following this Link.

Today we toured Castle in the Clouds. This castle was the mountain top estate belonging to Tom Plant. Tom Plant (1859-1941) made his fortune in the shoe manufacturing industry, retiring as a millionaire at age fifty-one, having sold his business to the United Shoe Machinery Company in 1910.

After retiring Mr. Plant starting acquiring land. This land totaled roughly 6300 acres of land reaching all the way to Lake Winnipesaukee. In 1913-1914 Mr. Plant had this mansion built consisiting of 16 rooms. One of the unique rooms I enjoyed was a hidden reading room that was accessed by a 3 foot tall door to the right of the fireplace. By the time of his death Mr. Plant was broke and the house was taken by the banks.

Spent the morning at Ruggles Mine in Grafton, NH http://www.rugglesmine.com/. Ruggles Mine is found on the top of Isinglass Mountain. According to the mines website ...

Over 150 minerals are found here including beryl, mica, amethyst, rose and smokey quartz, garnet, etc. Its uranium minerals such as gummite and autunite are prized by collectors and museums the world over.

Being poorly prepared to visit this mine we arrived without any buckets, saftey gear or hammers to chip away at the rocks to look for minerals. I was able to buy a bucket at the gift shop and Ashley gathered a bucket full of rocks. Anybody want to buy a bucket of rocks? All wasn't a waste though, the kids had fun and I got to capture some unique photo's.

Spent the day at Story Land yesterday. Pictured above is Ashley sitting on a tuffett, only thing missing was her curds and whey. Ashley had a blast which is good because I was afraid she may be a little too old for it. She was the perfect height where she can go on all the rides by herself if desired. We found that Marc is a still to young for most activities here. Though he did get to go on some things such as the carousel pictured below.

I've been on vacation since last Thursday. Hung around the house for a few days and finally made it up here to Lake Winnipesaukee. Left my 17 year old home for a few days since work wouldn't give him the full 10 days off that we have planned here at Weirs Beach.

Pictured here is the view from the porch of the cottage that we are staying at for the week. Can't complain about this view. My goal this week other than getting plenty of rest is to capture a photo that I can use to do a gallery wrap. Got a nice spot on one of my walls that I've been meaning to hang one of my photo's. With luck I will capture it this week.

Graffiti seems to be becoming more common around town. Behind many buildings, bridges even fences are being tagged. Growing up we only saw this in the movies or our once in awhile trip to New York city. Rarely did we see any graffiti in Leominster.

Pictured here is some graffiti I saw while walking the monoosnock trail. This bridge allows the brook seen here flow underneath route 2. Seems that this person has more artistic ability than most around town when it comes to graffiti. Then again it could be due to the remote location he/she had all the time in the world.

Went hiking this morning on the monoosnock trail. We did the part that starts at maple street in Leominster and hiked to the top where there is an observation point that overlooks Kmart plaza and parts of Leominster and Fitchburg. It is just over 1 mile to the top and all uphill. Ashley wanted to jog to the top while I was looking for any rock I could find to sit on for a break . To be young again...

I put together a panoramic photo from the top that came out okay. I used 7 photos and the process resulted in a 16049 x 2458 photo. My blogging software was not happy with this photo forcing me to go to plan B. If you'd like to see the pano you can do so by following this link Pano

This past Saturday Leominster held a summer stroll which has become an annual event. I haven't seen the numbers of participants yet, but we finally got a day without much rain and attendance was high.

This event catered to old and young alike. Pictured above were the swing dancing lessons.

The summer stroll started off with a parade consisting of motorcycles, antiques cars as well as the Leominster High Marching band.

Of course if it did get too hot, we had Dunkin Donuts Ice Coffee to save the day

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

This clown had a long line of kids waiting for balloon animals at the Summer Stroll over the weekend.

This weeks theme for I Heart Faces is "Wedding Bells". Not having any wedding pictures handy I decided to do the optional theme "Just for Fun". See more faces at http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

Leominster held a "Summer Stroll" downtown yesterday. Most of the roads were closed off to host the event. Classic car parade, Leominster High Marching Band, a DJ playing 50's and 60's music are some of the events happening during the stroll. For the kids there were clowns, pony rides and face painting. Overall a fun day with the sun out for a change which has been a rare event lately.

Doing a relay for life today/tonight out in Nashua. I'll have more photo's tomorrow when I can see my screen better .

While taking our little history tour last Saturday we stopped at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA. The Wayside Inn is historic landmark, both an old inn as well as a tavern. It has been serving travelers for almost 300 years.

Pictured here is a Grist Mill that can be found on the Wayside Inn property. This mill was built in 1929 and could produce 5 tons of flour per year. Pepperidge Farm used the mill as a full-time production facility from the years of 1952-1967.

When looking for places to visit and things to do, one rarely looks in their own backyard. This past weekend I've broken my pattern and found that Massachusetts is a treasure trove of history.

To the right here you see a tour guide at Old North Bridge dressed as a minute man in clothing common in the 1770's.

Old North Bridge is a historical site in the Battle of Concord, the first battle day in the Revolutionary War which started April 19, 1775. The most famous quote that you hear often of this site is taken from a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world."

More information on Old North Bridge may be found at the Minute Man National Historical Park website http://www.nps.gov/MIMA.

One unexpected bonus while visiting the site was "Old Manse" which abuts Old North Bridge. This house was built in 1750 which still to this day contains a lot of the original furniture. I was in awe of some of the prior residents which include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorn. I took a picture of this shed on the Manse property while standing on the North Bridge.

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

As I mentioned in my previous post, in order to get back in the swing of posting regularly I will follow a few weekly contest or themes. One that I have been interested in but have never participated in is http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

This week the theme is sepia toned. Here is a photo of Marc that i converted earlier tonight. I've got to say he is starting to be photogenic.

My first blog was called Leominster daily photo (LDP). All the post prior to this one on this site was from LDP. LDP was part of city daily photo http://www.citydailyphoto.com/ which started with Paris and links many cities around the world that host daily photo sites.

After running LDP for 6 months or so I found it difficult to find fresh content to post on a daily basis. After all Leominster does not have the crowds of New York, the attractions of Orlando, the stars of LA nor the tourist of London. With that thought in mind I was thinking that turning the site into a regional site. I went out and registered cmdailyphoto.com with the intent of change Leominster daily photo to Central Mass Daily Photo.

All was going well until I went to submit the new site to CDP and was rejected. It seems a regional site is not acceptable, blogs must focus on a signal city only. I was disappointed but I understand the rules are what the rules are.

This leaves me with this site Under The Glass. I've had this site for some time now. It's former use was strictly a photo-blog using pixel post for the framework. I guess if I think about it, it was very much a portfolio site showcasing my photography. I found that posting was infrequent at best.

After a lot of thought I decided this was the best place for my blogging activities. I won't say that it will be a daily site, because with other things in my life such as work and raising 1, 8 and 17 year old children are time consuming tasks. There are a few weekly memes that I enjoyed doing like "Monochrome Mondays" and "My World Tuesday" that I enjoy doing. I will also focus on some weekly themes such as the one that http://digital-photography-school.com/ has.

So all in all to sum it all up Under The Glass will be about the world through my lenses ...

I'll leave you with this photo taken yesterday of Old North Bridge in Concord MA which we visited yesterday.

Here we have a Yankee Candle delivery truck.

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This one was quite a surprise around town. Judging by the stack of news paper bundles at the front door it appears that even vendors were unaware. Jackie's has been on the corner of Main St. and Nashua St. for as long as I can remember (I'm talking in the 70's now). My family and I spent many summer nights making a run to Jackie's to get some ice cream. We will surely miss Jackie's!

P.S. Sorry for not posting much last week. I was on call last weekend and also had a sick baby. I just didn't have time to go out and capture photo's.

This farm stand was opened up by the Harper Family. The Harper family has been well known in the city of Leominster. You will see their wagons in many plaza's during the summer months selling fresh produce. For those of you that are old enough you may remember that Ray Harper was the mayor of Leominster for one term in 1980 and 1981.

Here is my littlest one who will be 9 months old in a couple of days. He's our miracle baby in more ways than one. He was quite a surprise to my wife and I. After 20 years of marriage we haven't thought about having our own children in at least a decade. We have a boy and a girl that we adopted which completed our family. So one day all of the sudden we were told that we were going to be parents again.

I stated that he is our miracle baby in more ways than one. The reason I say that is because he had a rough delivery. For the first 8 minutes in this world he was not breathing at all. You can read more about that ordeal here It's a Boy.

It's funny how things work out. I like to tease my wife about this. When I turned 40 I bought a Harley. When my wife turned 40 she just had to out do me and have a baby.

The Monoosnoc Trail is something that I've heard about but never really paid much attention to it. Doing some research I found a trail map though it is not as complete as I would like it to be. The trail is in the western part of Leominster starting on from what I can tell is the end of Maple street. It goes up Monoosnoc ledge which is the hill you see while standing in twin city plaza. From there it continues south through Leominster state forest and what is known as Parmenter road. Continuing south you pass Haynes Reservoir, Bayberry Hill and Fallbrook Reservoir which brings you close to where I was at Sholan Farms. The trail continues on until it ends at Samosett School.

The length of this trail is said to be 11 miles long. My daughter is already asking me when we are going to hike this trail. If only I had the energy of an eight year old

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Johnny Appleseed plaza received a face lift this past year. During the process they lost some tenants as you can see the available space. That particular spot use to be Leominster Animal Hospital. They built a new building on Lancaster street.

The store in the middle called Cutiques which has been a successful business. They started off as Cutie Patutie's at Leominster Plaza as a consignment store for baby clothes and furniture. They moved to JA plaza in order to expand. They now consign all kinds of furniture.

Roughly a year ago Walmart opened a Super Walmart in Leominster. Super Walmarts are ones that combine a department store along with a grocery store as well as a pharmacy. It's an interesting thing seeing where retail stores are going. Many are not making it and it seems that others are going strong. This past year has seen Walmart which is pictured here, a Walgreen's downtown and a CVS which is currently being built on the Leominster/Lunenburg town line.

With all these store you would think that I could go out and find what I need. My 8 month old son has outgrown his bath tub. This is one of the those that you place in a sink. So last week I went out on a quest to purchase a bath ring tub seat. These are seats that have suction cups that stick to the bottom of the tub. Until my son gets better at sitting on his own this is the best way to go. An easy task to find one I figured and why not we have a Super Walmart after all.

Well Super Walmart does not carry them. Next I figured I'd go to Baby's R US. I mean if anybody would have this item designed for a baby they would right? I mean that is the whole concept of the Baby's R Us Store , selling baby stuff. Of course I wasted my time again, they do not stock these items but I can order it online from their website I'm told. Next I go to Bed, Bath and Beyond only to find out the Beyond part of their name must mean beyond my reach. Another store that does not stock these, but lo and behold I may order it from their website. My last stop was at Target and as you can guess they have it online only.

This really gets under my skin. I research my purchases before making them. Going into a store I know what I want. Price for the most part does not bother me. When I decide I want something I want it yesterday. Might not be the best approach to shopping but that is the way I roll. I hate nothing more than being told we don't stock that item, you need to purchase it over the web. When it comes right down to it if I need to purchase it from the web it is certainly not going to be from one of the local stores. I can guarantee that I can find a better price than the big box stores online. If it needs to be shipped and I can not satisfy my need to get it yesterday you can be sure I will find the best deal out there and wait it out.

I'm fortunate to have a tax refund this year. I decided to do my part and stimulate the economy. I got to thinking though, why waste all my gas driving to these stores only to be told that I can only order things online?

Instead of buying my new Nikon D90 body at circuit city I ordered it from a well known company in New York. Best thing about it? It was $150 cheaper delivered than the 20% off going out of business sale that CC had. It was at my doorstep within 24 hours of placing my order.

I bought a plasma TV roughly 6 years ago when they were incredibly expensive. It's probably run the 10,000 hours they claim it will last so I'm okay with needing to replace it. Again didn't feel like driving to Best Buy only to be told that I would have to order my new TV online. I skipped that step and ordered it from where I work. This worked out good because I got to use my employee discount.

Well a new TV means I need HDMI cables as well as a new surround sound system. See I told you I was doing my part to stimulate the economy. Did my home work again and got the cables dirt cheap. Even got a good savings on the sound system.

Oh and I almost forgot, bought a new printer to print those nice photos my D90 is capable of.

To sum it all up savings by shopping online rather than local retail stores ...

Camera ~ $100 savings
TV ~ $700 savings ( I mentioned I got a employee discount on this. My discount was $250)
Cables ~ $125 savings
Surround sound ~ $75 savings
Printer ~ $50 savings
Bath ring tub seat ~ Haven't gotten this yet. Might be time to teach my son how to swim

All in all I saved $1050 by shopping online. It's a global economy now and these chain retail stores need to adapt. I don't mind paying more money for something that I can get my hands on immediately. If you make me go online to find it chances are I will find it somewhere else much cheaper. The way we do business is changing in front of our eyes. It wouldn't surprise me to see more and more items only available online.

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

Like black and white photography? If so visit other maniacs that participate in Monochrome Mondays at this site Monochrome Maniacs.

It's been nice to see some trees without any snow on them. Even nicer looking at these blue spruce trees that are evergreens. Toughest part of New England winters are the lack of colors in my opinion. Tomorrow's forecast calls for temps reaching up to 50F. At last some of this snow will melt.

As I mentioned earlier this week I did not have much of a chance to capture photos over the weekend. The reason for this was because my daughter turned 8 years old. We had a birthday party at Mason's bowling alley.

Candle pin bowling is somewhat unique to this area and not found in all parts of our country. The more popular form of bowling is 10 pin where you have a much larger ball and shorter pins. At one point in time in my life I was very involved in candle pin bowling. I use to run a league that consited of 12 four person teams. We would bowl once a week paying a minimal fee. At the end of the season we would have a banquet with the fees collected and award prizes to the winners.

Growing up we had five candle pin bowling alleys between the towns of Leominster and Fitchburg. Two of them have closed down for good. Birthday parties and bowling leagues are about all that are keeping these open. Mason's in my opinion does a little better than the others. This is due to the fact that they also have arcade games and pool tables.

My generation would use a bowling alley as a place to hang out with friends. These days it seems that kids hang out at places such as facebook.com and world of warcraft. With sms you no longer need to go to a place such as a bowling alley to interact with your friends. With all the gaming console systems out there who needs a bowling alley with pool tables and pinball machines. I'm afraid that these bowling alleys are going to continue to be a dying breed.

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Who was this person that has this prominent spot. Maybe he was a community leader or a parish priest. Maybe he was a quiet and simple person. Whoever he was he has a beautiful monument that keeps me wondering.

The Haunted Mansion is a business in Fitchburg on water street. They sell halloween costumes and are open year round. I've never stopped at this store but judging from their website it looks like a fun place to shop at.

The city of Fitchburg has been hit harder financially than Leominster. They have had layoffs in both the police and fire departments. There was even talk about turning off every fifth street light to save money. Many citizens spoke up against this measure and it appears for the time being they have prevailed. The crime rate is high enough as it is without providing more dark areas.

One of the hardest hits though is shown here. This is the Fitchburg Public Library which can be found downtown Fitchburg. The section on the left is the children's wing and the section on the right is the main section. In order to balance the budget the mayor has drastically cut funding to the public library. Due to this the library had to reduce their hours. They went from being open 7 days a week to being open 3 days a week. With limited hours it is believed that they will lose their accreditation. Once lost the library will not be able to participate in book exchange programs with other libraries. This is a great resource that stands to lose a lot.

Unfortunately, I believe things will get worse across the country before they get better. This will be a common issue in many communities.

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

Like black and white photography? If so visit other maniacs that participate in Monochrome Mondays at this site Monochrome Maniacs.

I ventured out to Fitchburg this morning. Fitchburg is a neighboring city to Leominster and both cities are at times referred to as the twin cities. Fitchburg is and old mill city utilizing the Nashua River that flows through the center. Most if not all the mills are closed now leaving behind many old brick buildings.

This summer coming up will be the 50th Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, a bicycle race that is held in Fitchburg every year. The race is named after Fitchburg native Art Longsjo, who competed in the Olympics as both a speed skater as well as a cyclist.

Leominster and Fitchburg are rivals in many sports but none bigger than football. Each Thanksgiving day the Leominster Blue Devils football team faces the Fitchburg Red Raiders football team. This rivalry dates back to 1893 which is the longest running rivalry in the state. Only 2 years have these teams not played during this span. Each year the location of the game changes. When Leominster is the home team they play at Doyle Field, and Crocker Field is used for Fitchburg home games. Results after all these years? Fitchburg leads Leominster with a record of 59-57-9.

I saw this mural on the side of a parking garage a few weeks ago. I decided to head downtown again to take this photo.

Back in 1995 the original fifth street bridge in Fitchburg was closed. A state inspection of the bridge found it to be unsafe. After a lengthy study it was decided two years later in 1997 to replace the bridge rather than fix the old one. Bidding was started to determine who will be demolishing the bridge and building the new one. The bridge was finally demolished in 1997.

Construction of the new bridge did not start until the year 2000. It was decided that a twin-tower cable stayed bridge consisting of 52 cables would be built. I vaguely remember the project being stalled for multiple reasons, but do not remember the exact reasons. Finally in September of 2003 the bridge opened. It was named the Arthur J. DiTommaso Memorial Bridge, in honor of Arthur J. DiTommaso who served the city of Fitchburg as a police officer for many years.

Here is a photo of the bridge taken last night. As I pulled up to the spot I've been scouting for some time a train happen to be approaching. I did not have time to set up my tripod, but was able to capture this image as the train was going by.

Over the weekend I bought my wife some flowers. Once upon a time this was at least a monthly ritual. Why did this ritual stop? I don't have any reasons or excuses except maybe life's fast pace. Even that is not a good reason for I find time to do the things I like.

My wife's first reaction to these flowers was joy. A big smile across or face wondering why I bought her flowers out of the blue. Then the question she had is ' what do you want' and 'what did you do'. Fifteen to twenty years ago when I was buying flowers on at least a monthly occurrence I never heard these questions. It's easy to forget the small things in life.

So why did I buy my wife flowers?

Because my wife gave up her career to be a stay at home mom (The hardest job in the world).
Because she wakes up early and goes to bed late, not stopping all day.
Because I never have to worry about stuff at home regardless if she is sick or not.
Because we've been through it all and she stays strong.
Because I don't say thank you enough or that I appreciate the things that she does.

So Michelle if you happen to read this and you are still wondering why I bought you flowers...

Just Because

This past Saturday the city held it's first clean up day (unfortuntaly I found out after the fact). Leominster has 25 miles of hiking and walking trails. Monoosnoc trails and Leominster state forest have been closed until they can be cleaned up. These areas are heavily used year round. In the winter they are used for cross country skiing and snow shoeing and for hikers and walkers when we have no snow.

I'm sorry I missed the day but will keep my ears open in case another group event occurrs.

I personally did not vote for President Obama. My views are very conservative and I do not agree with a lot of Obama's views. I will have to say though I do like some of the things he has done already. He has surround himself with moderate people. Then naming Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State was a surprising move. I suppose it falls into that adage 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'.

For me the scariest thing is having a one party system. Massachusetts has been a liberal state for a long time and is currently a one party state. A good debate needs two sides in order to be good. Lately it seems all my state has been good for is producing felons.

Life experiences that I've been through has aligned me with the right. It does not mean that I can't have an open mind or liberal tendencies and thoughts. Even though I do not agree with Obama's views, I think he is a very intelligent person. I believe he will do this country good. I would not want to be in his shoes.

The President has a very difficult task in front of him. Last night I went to our local mall and counted the empty stores. There was a total of 5 retail spots already vacated and 2 with going out of business signs that will be closed soon. There were also 6 empty kiosks throughout a normally full mall. Every week we hear of major corporations being in trouble. The economy is in the worst state that most of us has ever seen.

Enough of the politics for today. This is not a political blog nor do I want it to be. We are living history today and felt I had to write about it.

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

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Good or bad, hard to say. I'd have to say good in the sense that it keeps some kids out of trouble. What do you think?

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On a side note....
We are in for a cold spell. Just looked at my thermometer and it is 3 degrees Fahrenheit, -16 Celsius outside. I will need to warm the car up before leaving for work today.

Traditionally kindergarten in Leominster consisted of a morning session as well as a afternoon session. Your child would go to either one of them but not both. Three or four years ago Leominster decided to try full day sessions. In order for your child to attend this full day session you needed to enroll your child. If there was room in the classroom your child would be accepted. My daughter was accepted to this program, but it came at a cost. We had to pay a monthly fee for her to attend.

Two years ago the town voted to make all kindergarten classes full day sessions. I couldn't believe the people that were upset over this. A lot of parents protested stating their children were not prepared for this amount of schooling. One of the benefits though was because all classes are to be full day sessions the state picked up the total cost and parents no longer needed to make up the difference. I guess the ironic thing about this is these parents that were complaining actually have the choice of not sending their children at all. Kindergarten attendance is not mandatory in Massachusetts. However, Massachusetts requires all public school districts to offer a kindergarten program for their residents.

To see the world through others eyes, visit That’s my World, a weekly meme sharing photos and impressions of all the world seen through the participants’ eyes.

Like black and white photography? If so visit other maniacs that participate in Monochrome Mondays at this site Monochrome Maniacs.