Happy Maori New Year

Watch the skies, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

I learned that today is the Māori New Year, celebrated in New Zealand when the Pleiades star cluster, known to the Maori as "Matariki," makes its only appearance in the night skies.

It got me thinking back to about this time of year in 1980. I was a senior in high school and had invited a young woman from New Zealand to be my prom date. Helen was an exchange student and part Maori. She had the coolest accent ever.

It's traditional, for Maori New Year, to look to the skies.

Overfalls

Overfalls, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

The Lightship Overfalls under a perfect early June sky at Canalfront Park, in Lewes.

Come fishing

Come fishing, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

The fishing fleet in Lewes Harbor on an early summer morning.

Our Purple Tree, Spring 2012

There's a purple-flowering tree in our yard. I think, technically, it is called a Redbud. All I know is that each spring it goes through a purple phase before turning green.

A Walk Through Historic Williamsburg

The second part of our Williamsburg visit was a day spent doing the historic part of Williamsburg. It's important to note that a single day isn't really enough, but it is a very nice way to spend a day and we had nearly perfect weather.

We saw the key things we wanted to see and returned in the evening for a lovely meal at the Kings Arms Tavern, where nearly a quarter century ago (!) I proposed to The Lovely Karen.

A Visit to the College of William and Mary

We're in Williamsburg, Virginia, for a few days of spring break. We wanted a get-away and we've taken advantage of the visit to start Christina's college search process with a tour of the College of William and Mary.

William and Mary is a tough place to start, I expect. It's such a lovely campus and seems a desirable place to go to school. I worry it might spoil the game for the other schools.

A Hike at Blackbird Creek

I took time off yesterday morning for a hike at the Blackbird Creek portion of the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR). The hike was led by a pair of coastal programs staffers from DNREC who shared the history of the site, information about the flora and fauna, and restoration plans. The day started out quite damp and foggy. But by the time we finished our walk, the sun was out and it was a very nice day.

On a Clear Day....

ship and new jersey, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

This view shocks me a little bit. It's a freighter exiting the Delaware Bay with New Jersey in the background.

I took this photo from the top of the coastal defense tower at Fort Miles in Cape Henlopen State Park. On a clear day, you can often see New Jersey from Cape Henlopen; and the view is always clearest from on high.

But I think the presence of this ship somehow pulls the Jersey shore closer and all of the sudden the Delaware Bay seems smaller - no less grand, but more understandable.

For Comparison's Sake

Winter beach, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

This is what Lewes looked like one year ago today. We'd had snow enough to lightly cover the roads and there was a dark-sky snow squall in the afternoon when I went to take the Christmas tree to be recycled into mulch at the state park.

At the Lewes Christmas Parade

2011 Lewes Christmas Parade, a set on Flickr.

Last night we watched the annual Lewes Christmas Parade. It's one of the biggest and best parades in our little city. We'd missed it for some years due to scheduling conflicts with the Sussex Ballet's Nutcracker. This year's Nutcracker will come later in the month, so we were able to spend a pleasant, though cold, few hours watching classic cars, fire trucks, church groups, dogs, boats, businesses, politicians, beauty queens, and a marching band file by on Savannah Road.

Coast Day, 2011 - A Photoset

I went to Coast Day, at the University of Delaware's Lewes campus this afternoon. Coast Day is an annual open house at what we used to call "the College of Marine Studies," or CMS. The University has changed the school's name a few times now, and I've lost track of what it's meant to be called; for most people who've lived in Lewes awhile, though, "CMS" still works.

Coast Day is an open house for the researchers that has grown into an environmental and marine culture fair. Many state and local agencies have displays, as do local government and non-governmental organizations. There are boats and food and music and general science-themed fun. I like it and I like to photograph it.

At The Delaware State Fair

My new office is sharing a booth at the 2011 Delaware State Fair with the Public Service Commission (PSC). We're both part of the Department of State for Delaware. As the new Deputy Director at the GIC, I thought I should lead by example and take a healthy number of shifts at the booth. I've been taking pictures when I can.

"The best looking couple in Lewes (this weekend)"

The best looking couple...
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie

I have no idea who these two people are. I ran across them while I was wading in the shallows of Delaware Bay along Lewes Beach today.

The gentleman said, "wanna take a picture of the best looking couple in Lewes this weekend?" Putting aside for a moment the fact that the best-looking couple would have to, by definition, include the Lovely Karen, I said, "sure," and snapped this picture.

They thought I must be a newspaper photographer, because they asked about where the picture would appear. I promised them that I would post it with this title so they could google it and find themselves.

And so, I did.

Walking Up A Pair of Waterfall-Filled Gorges

I had a day to kill in Ithaca, New York, this weekend. Daughter #1 had a day of training scheduled the day after pick-up from Villanova. We drove straight from Radnor in PA to Ithaca on Friday and I spent Saturday wandering around two of New York's Waterfall-themed state parks.

First up was Taughannock Falls State Park, north of Ithaca and above Cayuga Lake.


Just south of Ithaca, and distressingly close to a Home Depot and other big-box retail, is Buttermilk Falls State Park.

We Bid a Fond Farewell to Sanibel Island

We're sitting in the airport at Fort Myers, Florida, waiting for a flight back to Philadelphia and home. We've just spent a pleasant four days on Sanibel Island, just west of here.

We stayed at an older beachfront resort called The Island Inn. It's a small and very laid back sort of place. The main activity here was none at all. We sat on the beach, we collected seashells, and did some very minor shopping. I threw in one exploratory bike ride out to the east end of the island to Lighthouse Point.

A word about seashells and beach-combing. Sanibel Island, and its neighbor Captiva, are awash in shells. I imagine they formed from shoals of shells deposited by currents unique to the area.

Sanibel is a quiet spot. The beach was not crowded and many of the homes, rentals and resorts seemed slightly populated. The Island Inn folks told us they were full, however, and said that the weeks around Easter are often the last big push of their tourist season.

Soon it will get too warm here and most of the folks who winter in Sanibel will head north. Probably some of them will be in Lewes this summer.

A Winter Walk on the Beach

We had sunshine and blue skies today, so I took advantage of the change in the weather to walk the beach and the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach this morning.

I was out early, but the tents and signs and flags were already going up for the Polar Bear Plunge to take place in the afternoon. By the time I was done and headed out of town, the town was filling up with plungers and their friends. But I still got some quiet alone-ish time on the beach.

A Lightning Trip to Wilkes-Barre

Karen and I made a fast trip to Wilkes-Barre with our eldest this weekend. We'd planned it a while back around a hockey game our daughter's boyfriend would play there. His game was cancelled, but we made the trip anyway, giving the two of them a chance to see each other and us a chance to spend time with them as well. And Wilkes-Barre is a place we had not yet seen.

Daughter #1 is a freshman at Villanova and her young man is at a prep school in Kingston, PA, across the river from Wilkes-Barre. He's a talented hockey player, and a good kid. We missed the opportunity to watch him play, but took the pair of them out for excellent steaks at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse that is part of the new Mohegan Sun Casino at Pocono just outside Wilkes-Barre.

And we had a bit of a walk-around in Wilkes-Barre in a gentle, pretty snowfall. We were surprised by what we thought was a grand-looking mosque, but turned out to be the Irem Temple, designed in the "moorish" style more than 100 years ago as an auditorium for the local masonic lodge. It has a wonderfully-decorated front door, but appears to be deteriorating badly.

Snow-Related, Panoramic Time Series

9:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

When Hobbies Collide

I like beer. I like to take pictures. I like to record the minutiae of life. Therefore...

Over the years, along with Lewes, Dover, nature, vacation sites and events in family life, I've been taking pictures of beers I've enjoyed. Not all of them, but beer on vacations and special occasions, beers enjoyed for the fist time, and sometimes when I just feel like it. It often embarrasses my daughters, but I like it.

Panoramas

I've been playing around with the "panorama" mode of my cellphone camera. I only recently discovered it. I had not really taken my little Samsung Rogue seriously as a camera when I first got it. But I've come to rely on it more and more for those "saw something while walking uptown for lunch" pictures.

The panorama mode is tricky and doesn't always work. But when it does, I like the results. It is also the case that, because it is a cellphone and has a low resolution level, these images work best in their smaller forms.

Panoramic miniatures.