Delaware Views the Stampede in Hopewell

Took a day to look at more of the Oxen on display around Hopewell Township. They are beautiful.  If you are in the area it is a fun thing to do...In regards to photographing them, they are not all in easy to shoot spots...the one at Nutts down on the River was particularly challenging and required some work in CS3.  We got hungry and then the light was so bright it was hard to continue so I guess Ill have to get out  another morning to capture the rest of them.  Here is a sample.

 

Furman helped by driving me around on the motorcycle.

 

 

It was fun to try and get the image to show the actual location for some of them.

But not the one at Nutts

 

So I went for a head shot and still had to remove distracting stuff...like a wire overhead and part of the motorcycle in front.

 

Went for the head shot.

 

 

 

 

 

In others, I liked the AMAZING details. 

 

Hopewell Valley Arts Council if you wanted attention, I think you got it.

 

Return to the Grounds for Sculpture.

It was a great day at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton with my sister, thanks to my good friend Kathy for the guest passes.  The special Retrospective exhibit is still going on and  I suspect it was due to the overcast skies that there were not too many guests.  The lotus and lilies were blooming in multiple spots.  The meadow was in bloom.  We lunched at the Peacock Café.  Sister had a Cobb Salad, that was so big she couldn't finish and I had the French Dip.  This was cafeteria style so along with our food we grabbed a bag of chips to share and fountain root beers and took our tray outside to enjoy lunch in the Acer Courtyard.  I would say it was reasonably priced at $28. and since it was basically self serve no tip was necessary. 




Funniest of day

Delaware Cruise and Chews: Day 3 Hudson River Valley on the BMW K1600 GTL

Following the same basic route as we did on day 2 we left Haverstraw on another  beautiful blue sky and sunny warm day to venture up to Hyde Park and explore the Roosevelt Estate.  This time after crossing over the Bear mountain Bridge and following 9D north, we arrived in Beacon and hungry and willing to explore. Being a Monday and fairly early it was not that crowded and being lovers of bread, and attracted to the Aroma we decided on the Beacon Bread Company.

 

I had to try the French Toast and although an advertised choice included CHALLAH, which I was of course excited to try, it turns out the challah was all gone and I had my delicious breakfast with Brioche.  Furm had a breakfast sandwich and we were both sated when we finished.  The orange juice was fresh squeezed and perfect.  We were informed by our waitress that everything served was made in house including LOX.  Yup, she told us she did not know how it was done but the in house chef makes everything right on the premises. 

After breakfast we made our way up to Hyde Park only to find that the FDR house and Eleanor's estate where separated by a short drive and incurred wto separate entrance fees.  Since we learned this at the visitor center at the FDR Home and Library of Franklin D Roosevelt we got started there.

 

The tour of the home was fine but limited with most of the rooms roped off so your view was from the hall.  The fascination was in the Library as it was not really a library at all but a full interactive museum that took us several hours to make our way through.  I would highly recommend it.  A final stroll around the property informed us that in a lovely rose garden Franklin and Eleanor were buried together...That left us with a lot of interesting questions to be answered but not enough time to visit Eleanor's Estate. I think I might have to research Eleanor quite a bit more and make time to go visit her home....maybe in the fall???

 

Buried together

 

 

 

 

Delaware Views a Stampede

The OXEN have risen...yep all over Hopewell Township and they are pretty cool.  A project designed to bring attention to the arts, not to mention money to the Hopewell Valley Arts Council, they are MOOOOOOOING all over.  I saw one in Hopewell Borough that looked so out of place I had to "pic" it up and move it across the township to the Washington Crossing Park.  OK I'll tell you how.
But first have a look.

Hahahah they made an OX to look like George Washington.  I like it.  So this is what I did.  Working in CS3, I used the magic wand tool to high light the Ox standing in front of the Pump House in the borough and copied it.  I uploaded one of the bridge pictures from yesterday and I positioned and pasted the ox over the bench.   Just doing my small part to get this animal down by the river where it belongs in Washington Crossing State Park, Titusville, Hopewell Township, Mercer County,  NJ.

 

Delaware News and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission

Had the pleasure of being in contact with the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and will be submitting 10 images to be considered for use in the Commission's Annual Report

 

Delaware Cruise: Day 2 of the Hudson River Valley on the BMW K1600

A few folks told us to ride into Cold Springs for the river ambience and cool stores.  It was not far from our home away from home so off we went.  From Haverstraw we just headed north on 9W I believe it was, and over the very cool bridge at Bear Mountain.  We passed Boscobel, which was also recommended to us.  When we arrived at Cold Springs, it was crowded.  We drove around and around and around looking for parking and finally it dawned on me that we were not hungry as we had breakfast in Haverstraw, didn't want to shop,  had seen towns like this all up and down the Delaware and it was not really worth the search.  We have the coolest communication system in our helmets so I suggested we backtrack to Boscobel and I am so glad we did.  We arrived just 10 minutes or so before the next house tour giving us time to view the informative panels in the visitor center.


What a view....

 

 

What a house...

 

 

The Tour of the house was about an hour and the guide was very well informed and able to answer all the questions posed by the small group.  

Delaware Hues of Red at the Space Farm Museum

Should I or shouldn't I?  Push on with the blog...Delaware Hues?  Perhaps go back and get down to the Corner of RED and FINE? 

More from the farm, since RED will do for now.

Amongst all the cool things about riding on the K1600 is frequent front row parking.

 

 

 

With the collection so wide and vast, attending to detail was not always easy.

 

The tricycle brought back memories...oh how fast little legs could go.

 

Peddle, peddle, peddle.... glide and fly.

 

 

 

Delaware Cruise on the BMW K1600 to the Hudson Valley Day 1

Gotta rethink this blog.  Been doing it long enough to have more than 41 followers and 700 hits a month.

It's Friday and I figure I'll tell you a little about our motorcycle ride and give you a little doggie love and foodie too.

Left the crossing at about 10 am last Saturday, knowing MaraBella was walked and fed, and would be in good hands with dog sitters.  Aaron has been giving her flying lessons.

 

It was a cool morning and beautiful day for a ride.  I found myself peeling off layers at each stop we made.  519 is a favorite route of ours and I have been wanting to stop at Space Farms which is on this route so it was easy to pick out the first leg.  We picked it up north of Stockton, but you can also pick it up just outside of Milford if you want to ride the river a bit longer.  If you decide to follow this route, I strongly urge you to look very carefully at a map before you go.  You can be driving along checking out the scenery and not notice that 519 might require a left turn, or right at a fork in the road.  We ate breakfast at home, but if you get an early start, I can recommend the Alpha Family Restaurant in Alpha, NJ, or Thissoldous Eatery in Belvidere, two places we have enjoyed before, serving good food at reasonable prices.  Meanwhile, if you do what we did and need a place to make a pit stop there is a Quick Check at the Route 80 intersection, that is clean.  519 gets particularly hairy around Newton, so keep your eyes on the signs.

 

Although we had no intention of visiting the Zoo at Space Farm, as it turned out we arrived just in time for feeding and were strongly encouraged to walk the grounds since all the animals would be in full view to eat.  I'm not a big fan of zoos although I love animals so we took the advice and did see some beautiful fox, huge bears, amazing wild cats, the black leopard was stunning, and a bunch of other critters.  The double fence cages were difficult to photograph through so I did not take a lot of animal photos.  The museum was a real treat with the car collection, a spectacular attraction if you are into those kind of things.   Buicks, Fords, Lincoln, a Jewett, wagons and some real one of a kinds.

 

There was also a nice motorcycle collection, toys, lots and lots of farm equipment, a gem collection, doll collection, taxidermy area, and more.  A real place to get a peak into American History.

 

Our visit lasted way longer than we had anticipated. Lucky for us they had a small little restaurant so we split a piece of pizza to hold us over until our next stop for a decent meal at Emerald Point.  BTW you are not far from High Point NJ, so if your only out for the day you can eat more than half a slice and head over to the highest point in NJ, before returning on the same route home.  Since we were planning a few nights out we put Emerald Point Restaurant & Marina into the GPS and were on our way, heading off 519 and into NY.

  What a fantastic setting on a beautiful lake.  Furman had a crab cake sandwich and I went with the home made vegie burger. Both plates came with fries and pickles and we were both stuffed when we finished.  Service was friendly.  I would definitely want to visit this place again.

 

 

From the restaurant it was a short ride to our Airb&b residence in the town of Haverstraw.  We were greeted by our most delightful host, unpacked, and took a stroll down the main drag to see the moon rise over the Hudson. 

 

 

Foody Friday: Delaware Chews at the Witherspoon Grill

Went to visit a friend in Princeton...Hi Jess... for a movie and bite to eat.  After sitting in the Garden Theatre for over 3 hours watching Boyhood, which by the way was very good and kept my attention for the entire movie, we were hungry.  We wanted to eat outside as it was a lovely afternoon. We  viewed the menu at the Witherspoon Grill, found it perfect to meet our desire and were seated outside as requested. Our server, Kennedy, was excellent.   The cocktails were very expensive so we settled on wine for me, and beer for Jess.  We started by sharing an appetizer of Artichokes Francaise. They were batter dipped and served in a light cream sauce with large chunk of very ripe tomato.  It was quite nice.  Jess had a salad, which she seemed to enjoy and I was delighted with a cup of lobster bisque, which was a very tasty, but spare with lobster. 

Delaware News: Can't Say I Did Not Try

Got the response from the gallery and other than learning that I did not have the majority of the member's votes, I did not learn much more.  They do not provide critique.  In fact, I was told it is just a vote and no discussion.  It would have been a lucky surprise if I was voted in and I am certainly glad I tried.  It would have been nice to know if it was a slam dunk NO, or I got any votes at all.   It also would have been nice to receive a WHY. but you cant say I didn't try!
Meanwhile, I submitted a story to the Uptight Suburbanite and I think it might be published. Unfortunately, the pictures I took were in a cave and too dark for the little newspaper. Now I need to find something that will work.

The Foils Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me

Got into a little fight with MaraBella.  I commanded her down and she defied me.  I could not think of any good reason for her to disobey.  After all I was only asking for a few minutes of her time.  Just a moment to comply before I let her drag me on our walk.  I thought about the importance attached to me being boss, dominant dog, alpha and all that stuff.

 

This is how it ended.

Delaware Issues Common Cents

Went to Parx Race Track to celebrate a friends 48th birthday and place some bets on the horses.
Common Cents would dictate that you cant pick your winners by the likes of their names.  I didn't use any common cents at all.  When I saw a horse in the running with the name Moe Larry Curly, I had to take a chance.  No common cents I tell you.  But we had a good afternoon out with friends and I played with Olympia Omde, and it was all well worth it.  So let me revise.  If you are going to place bets or gamble with your hard earned income I suggest you set your limit and stick to it.  We had a few cocktails, an enjoyable lunch with friends, placed a few $2. bets and had an afternoon watching the horses flex their muscles and run, for less then our pasta dinners last night at Plan B.  NOW THATS COMMON CENTS.

 

 

Delaware Hues Anew

I have been snapping away at the hummers that come to the honeysuckle.  Decided to play around with this one.  First step was to crop for the composition and add back dpi to be able to increase the size.  Then working in CS3 I selected the water color filter.  I liked the look but felt a pop was lacking so I played around with the sliders in adjustments to change the brightness and finally the level of saturation.  Wanted to make sure I brought out just a bit of RED. 

Sunday Funday at the Michener Art Museum

I became a member of the Michener Art Museum last November and have only managed to get there three times since then.   I was hoping to go more.  This visit, I brought my sister as my guest and I think she enjoyed it as much as I did.  It was a beautiful blue sky day.  Not too hot and not too cool, so we took some time to enjoy the outside sculptures.  Being a wordy, you can imagine how much I enjoyed what I am calling the LETTER TREE. 

 

 

 

Not so easy to photograph images with the light from behind so had to do a little work to brighten the tree and not blow out the sky on this one.  Windows Live is a great place to start.  All I had to do was work with the sliders in the exposure section and I was able to keep my sky blue, clouds mostly white and lighten up the tree.  I tried this image with and without a polarizing filter and decided to keep the filtered image.  In fact, I have now decided it would be best to remember keep the polarizing filter in my bag on bright sunny days. 

Foodie Friday: Delaware Chews at Cafe Alessio in Doylestown

Had a lovely day with my sister, starting with a light lunch at Café Alessio and ending after our visit to the James Michener Museum in Doylestown
In regards to the restaurant, It had a rather large and diverse menu so it took a while to narrow down our selection. We started by sharing Joe's Bangin Shrimp, which were delicious little one bite off the tail shrimp, smothered in a buffalo sauce and served with blue cheese for dipping.  To follow, we each ordered a soup and to accompany them, we got an order of Crostini with garlic and melted brie.
Sister ordered a Seafood Bisque and I chose the Tomato Basil.  Although our host did everything he could to compensate for the errors, once the errors were made well...they were made.
We asked for our Bangin Shrimp to come first and our soups and crostini to come second.  We sent back the soups that arrived first.  As indicated the Shrimp were delicious.  The soups...not so much.
Mine was bland and boring.  Sister indicated that hers was more potato than seafood. 
Mine came with a dirty spoon...EW.  We had to ask for fresh napkins because the ones that wrapped our utensils were icky/dirty.  It was nice to spend this time with my sister and the setting although on a street corner with lots of traffic was nice due to the wonderful weather we had.  There are enough restaurants in Doylestown to explore that I'm not sure if I will be trying this one again.  Those shrimp were pretty good though...so maybe.