Monday, September 30 - Saturday, October 5, 2019. I went to Martha's Vineyard to visit my sister who was there for a few weeks to close up "the cottage." We did a little bit of hiking and exploring, and I helped her with some lugging. The weather was quite nice. Plus we always get really nice sunsets from the deck. 000-DSC_3983-header: East Chop and Vicinity 000-DSC_3983-headertext:
We walked from our place to East Chop Drive, looking at the houses by the water, and continued to the lighthouse, which was under rennovacation. 000-DSC_3983: Some silver dollars next door which were catching the light from the sun. 001-DSC_3986: There were a bunch of birds on the wires by the telephone pole, chirping away. I suppose a video might have been more appropriate. 002-DSC_3987: A house on East Chop Drive, facing the water and Cape Codd (I don't know what that body of water is called...maybe Vineyard Sound). 003-DSC_3989: A house across the street from the beach. 004-DSC_3991: East Chop Light House (under rennovation). 005-DSC_3992: East Chop Light House (under rennovation). 006-DSC_3993: Looking down East Chop Drive past the lighthouse. 007-mvy_sunset_Panorama-header: Sunsets Part 1 007-mvy_sunset_Panorama-headertext:
We got a nice sunset on Monday night. I took a few pictures. 007-mvy_sunset_Panorama: A panoramic view looking out by Beach Road and the drawbridge at sunset on Martha's Vineyard. 008-DSC_3995: More sunsets. Note the crescent moon. 009-DSC_3996: Sunset on Martha's Vineyard. 011-DSC_4004-header: Felix Neck Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary 011-DSC_4004-headertext:
We went to a nature preserve run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Felix Neck is on the east side of the island. There are a number of short, flat trails that go through woods and some end up by Sengekontacket Pond with Beach Road on the far side of the pond. It's a nice place. 011-DSC_4004: Just beyond the parking lot was a little clearing with some cool areas. 012-DSC_4005: Marlene posted at the end of a triangle of branches (kind of looks like an arboreal chest cavity). 013-DSC_4006: Beyond the wooden rib cage was a garden with various colorful flowers. 014-DSC_4007: Note the bee going to town on the flowers (tey look like asters). 016-DSC_4009: And there's a butterfly garden too! 017-DSC_4010: Beach Road on the far side of Sengekontacket Pond. 018-DSC_4011: One spash of color from a mooring buoy on an otherwise gray day. 019-DSC_4013: A picture of Frank. 020-DSC_4015: A 45° facing photo of Frank. 021-DSC_4016: Marlene at the end of the trail by Sengekontacket Pond. 022-DSC_4018: The straight, red-topped trees stood out against the shore. 023-DSC_4019: A marshy area just beyond the trail that's used to measure sea-level rise and global warming. 024-DSC_4020: Marlene and Frank by a bird watching hut at Felix Neck. 025-DSC_4021: The Labyrinth was a concentric circle maze path made of low stones. 026-DSC_4022: Enter The Labyrinth...if you dare... 027-DSC_4026: A shadowed stranger stands before the Labyrinth's entrance (it's me). 028-DSC_4028: Worm's eye view of the labyrinth's path. 030-DSC_4030: Even more wormy of an eye view of the labyrinth's path. 032-DSC_4032: A side view of the labyrinth's entrance, with a moon and star on each side. 035-DSC_4035: The bark of this fallen tree was stripped—perhaps from many little kids. 036-DSC_4036: The roots of the fallen tree. 038-DSC_4038: A low fence of small tree stumps. 039-DSC_4039: The small tree stump barrier. 040-DSC_4040: Rental kayaks at the end of the trail by the pond. 041-DSC_4041: A tree that looked like it needed to be in B&W. 042-DSC_4043: The shell of a horseshow crap on a picnic table. 043-DSC_4044-header: Low Tide, High Tide 043-DSC_4044-headertext:
The tide comes and goes twice a day, so roughly every six hours are the extreme high tide and low tide. The stream that runs through our back yard can be pretty low and sandy at low tide, and at high tide the grass a few feet away from our patio can have puddles from the overflown stream. I took a few pictures at some of the extreme points. 043-DSC_4044: The pond by us at high tide. The swampy areas can be grass at low tide. 045-DSC_4046: The stream near high tide and the Lagoon Pond beyond it. The small flow perpendicular to the stream going left from the center of the picture is the overflow. And a bit of water in the grass can be seen on the right below the brown line of sea-grass. The beach by the Lagoon pond is mostly just a sand bar now. 046-DSC_4047: The stream at low tide (mostly sand and mud) and the beach by the Lagoon Pond is now visible. 047-DSC_4048: Looking to the right as the stream goes to the pond. 048-DSC_4050: The same view of picture 045 at low tide. 049-mvy_museum_Panorama1-header: Martha's Vineyard Museum 049-mvy_museum_Panorama1-headertext:
The Martha's Vineyard Musueum in Vineyard Haven, opened maybe a year ago. It has various things relating to art, history, and culture connected to the island. It's visible to us from the patio. 049-mvy_museum_Panorama1: The Lagoon pond seen from the front of the musuem. 049aDSC_4111: Hey, it's the museum! 049b-DSC_4051: Looking out at the Lagoon Pond form the front of the museum. 052-DSC_4055: The lens from the Gay Head lighthouse in Aquinnah. 053-DSC_4056: The Gay Head Light in Aquinnah used a first-order fresnel lens. 054-DSC_4057: The view of the Lagoon from the museum cafe. 055-DSC_4062: In the back of the museum is some artful stonework. 056-DSC_4063: And a stone watering trough. 057-DSC_4065: And a stone stage? 058-DSC_4067: A close-up of the texture of the stone wall. 059-DSC_4068: More stone textures. 060-DSC_4069: Stones in the wall. 061-DSC_4070: A bit of blue sky poking through clouds above a stone wall. 062-DSC_4082: Marlene. 063-DSC_4091: Stained glass windows in the museum barn that has extra stuff. 064-DSC_4092: Extra stuff includes a wagon wheel, tavern sign, saws and more. 065-DSC_4094: Plus boats and a model of a war ship. 066-DSC_4095: Frank and Marlene outside the museum. 067-DSC_4096: Frank and Marlene outside the museum. 068-DSC_4104: The front of the Martha's Vineyard Museum. 069-DSC_4105: There were mushrooms in the lawn that looked like stones. 070-DSC_4107: More shots of the Lagoon Pond...by the drawbridge... 071-DSC_4108: ...and the hospital 072-DSC_4109: 073-DSC_4110: The colorful red and blue markers stood out against the water. 073a-mvy_museum_Panorama: Panoramic shot of the musuem (former Marine Hospital). 073b-lagoon_Panorama: Another Lagoon Pond panorama from the edge of the museum. 075-DSC_4117-header: Sunsets Part 2 075-DSC_4117-headertext:
Like I said earlier, we get a lot of nice sunsets. On Friday, there was a lot of orange colors and clouds, so I took more pictures. 075-DSC_4117: The sun is setting behind the clouds. 076-DSC_4118: The setting sun just starts to peak out below the clouds. 077-DSC_4119: The sky by the drawbridge is a brilliant orange-yellow. 078-DSC_4121: The clouds separate the orange-yellow colors of sunset from the sky. 079-DSC_4123: So orange. So yellow. And the tips of the clouds are also illuminated. 080-DSC_4124: The sun has almost set, the bottoms of the orange clouds are limned with yellow. 081-DSC_4125: More sunset colors. More limning. 082-DSC_4126: Meanwhile, the half-moon is clear of the sunset. 083-DSC_4127: More deep orange and yellow colors and warmer blues on the pond. 084-DSC_4128: The last bits of sunset glowing over Vineyard Haven.