New England Foliage Weblog

Final greetings Foliage Seekers
I won’t make any long teary goodbyes and save room for the last blog entry of the 2007 fall season. I will ask though, that if you read and enjoyed my blog or maybe found it useful then send your feedback to Yankee and let them know so they may invite me back again next year.
Remember that you can talk foliage year round in the forum where the foliage gang hangs out until next Sept…
The final journey
We left Fort Ticonderoga with a promise to come back and spend more time here.
We proceeded south so we could catch 4 east back into Vermont and to start the journey home. We traveled through farm areas

that were as picturesque as any I’ve seen. and at this barn I felt obliged to pull over and catch a shot of the barn with the moon rising in the distance. We started hitting some hilly areas and I finally found a pull out to stop at so I could turn around and catch the color on the hills cascading down to us. It was while I was looking back along the road that I decided to walk along the pull out. I was just enjoying the view when I suddenly saw, between the trees, in the distance, a barn appear. I thought to myself that the farmer must love this place in the fall, if only for the view. I have to admit that these two are my favorite shots this fall!

Most everyone knows that we have four seasons and Lisa informs me that in Vermont there are six seasons. In between fall and winter you have stick season (no leaves on the trees.. get it?) and between winter and spring you have mud season… (self explanatory) She thinks there are a few more but can’t remember them Do you know what they are?
Anyway we were near Killington and spotted the Water Wheel Trading Post (Which is also a Gulf station) And there I saw the biggest teddy bear of all time! apparently the woman who runs the post (her name is January) loves bears and they are everywhere. I will get killed for this but I even talked Lisa into getting into the act. So no one tell her this is here (shhhhh…)
January even has vampire bears just for this season but I fell in love with the old water wheel that was attached to the side of the store.
As most who know me realize, I can’t help but go into a place like this to look around so we went in and talked with January about the foliage season (very quick and all too soon, gone) And we were soon back on the road seeing the store off behind us, we pointed the big red beast (my truck) towards home.
We had lost the light but I took one more shot of the hill that towered above us. and I guess I must bid adieu to all of you for this fall season.
I hope you enjoyed the stories and places we explored and I want you to remember that even if you don’t live in New England you can still get out and explore. How many of you take the same route to work each day because it gets you from point A to point B and you don’t have an alternate route. Well leave early one day with a map and try a few different routes and see where they take you. You may find something totally unexpected… Who knows!!!
Until next foliage season

Jeff Foliage
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Good Morning
Well today we’re heading into Fort Ticonderoga which is, I realize over on the NY side of lake Champlain but it should be looked at as a fall destination for all of it’s history and beautiful surroundings. We were far enough down the lake so that when we did pick a ferry to use to get across it only took us 8-10 minutes total crossing time. We found out that this day is the last day for the ferry to run on the lake (Oct 21st) So we were very lucky there in that we’d have to drive all the way to the south to come up the NY side of the lake to get to Fort Ti. Which would have been real bad because as we found out this is also the last day that the Fort is open to the public until spring… So we were lucky on many counts today.
We paid our fee and found that they take triple A (AAA) and even gave me a $1 off for being retired Air Force. The schedule of events listed several tours and a musket firing this afternoon so we entered the fort and started to look around. The first thing that strikes me is that the fort felt more like a English castle than an early American fort. I suppose this is due to the French and English influence that resulted from it’s capture many times. The forts key location and command of the water way made it a prime target. The buildings have all been rebuilt and give one a feel for what living in the 1700’s would have been like. As you walk through the building you will sometimes hear fife music wafting through the windows and stone halls. I happened to walk out and see the soldier down below playing a tune that would have been played by soldiers during the slow periods.. (between battles). We were up on one of the walls looking out over the fields of fire that these canons commanded and wondered what they would have seen back then. Knowing that these maples weren’t 300 years old, and have been planted by more recent residents. Would there been fewer trees to provide less cover for approaching forces? Lisa wants to get me here when they have an re-enactments so I can get a real feel for the fort and the battles it saw. One of the actors came out with his musket for a demonstration. He told us about the reasons for shooting this weapon (hint! accuracy wasn’t one of them) and then he prepared to fire and at this point you’ll have to believe me that it fired since he walked over directly between the sun and me and making a good shot impossible. I thought it would have been louder but that’s hollywood for you. We’re conditioned by TV to expect certain things…

I’ll continue the final portion of the trip in tomorrows final blog entry.

Jeff Foliage
Got Foliage?

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Good Morning!
Well did anyone attend any of the pumpkin festivals this fall?? Either in Keene or maybe Boston? Well I saw an ad in Vermont Life for one at the Coger’s Sugar House Gardens in Springfield VT. So I drove out there and got there just as it was starting up. The community of Springfield really turns out for this and it’s a great time for the families. The only cost was one carved and ready to be lit pumpkin. I was expecting to pay for parking at the very least. Just imagine having an event in Boston were they didn’t rob you blind on the parking alone!
Not to mention all the food and drink was free! Now please name me one other place that has an event like that???
As I said the nursery contributes much to the event but many volunteers help out and local businesses donate to the event also. Gayle and Michael who run the place, organize a truly wonderful time for the community.
Here’s a few shots…
Of course it was called Night of the Jack-o-lanterns for a reason…

Jeff Foliage
Got Foliage?

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Good Morning
Well the next day we decided to travel down the Vermont edge of lake Champlain and cross into NY (Yes Yankee territory) and see Fort Ticonderoga: (the 18th century fort from the French and Indian War and American Revolution.)
Then we would head back into Vermont, NH and MA for the trip home.
Our first stop of the day was Isle La Motte with St Anne’s shrine and the site of Fort Ste. Anne which was built for protection from the Indians. Here is a link that you can click on to read more about this subject. As Lisa points out, Isle La Motte is where Samuel de Champlain debarked, declaring the lake’s name.
Samuel De Champlain
Statue of Mary
We had left Isle La Motte on route 2 and continued west. We entered South hero and Lisa spotted this round shed which she felt was most unusual so I stopped to take a photo of it. I have to admit I’ve never seen a round one before. I t wasn’t a great time of day to be shooting (very contrasty) but sometimes you just have to take the shot.
Sometimes you get lucky though and we stopped for a minute to photograph this church on route 2. The trees were all back lit and worked wonderfully with the gray, red and blue of the church. From this angle You can see how contrasty it is since the sun was high in the sky. So always get out of the car and stretch your legs and look at the subject from many angles, since you may find one that works..
Along the way you sometimes just have to stop and smell the hay… And you will know that this is dairy country since you will usually smell the dairy-aire of all the cows in the fields… Lisa grew up on a dairy farm so she’s quite used to this perfume but for a boy raised in the burbs, it’s quite something else…
We stopped at “The Old Brick Store” near the Shelburne museum off route 7 on bostwick road and when we drove over the hill the first thing to catch my eye was this wall clock painting on the outside wall. Inside you can get a sub sandwich with real fresh bread (I mean real FRESH bread) It was awesome. They also have cider donuts from the Shelburne farm which is just up the road and I rate these as good as those at Cider Hill in Amesbury Mass (high praise indeed!).
I’ll wind this up here for today. Tomorrow will be a glimpse of “The Night of the Jack-O-Lantern” in Springfield VT. I’ll pick up again on Thursday.

Jeff Foliage
Got Foliage?

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Good Morning!
I’d like to take a poll on how many of you came up and enjoyed the fall colors. Hit the comments and let me know. Well the word has been given and my time is short as Friday is the last post for 2007! so if you have any questions or advice on the state of the fall season you have till then to let me know. The site will be staying up throughout the winter so you can find the foliage year round.
You can always post in the forum and let those of us in the forum mull over your contributions.
I went up to my sisters to take all the monsters in for the season before todays high winds came through from Hurricane Noel. On my way in and out I saw pretty good color even though peak has come and gone. The sun was setting and was just dropping behind the hills. The darkening sky was a deep shade of red and the trees along my route home reflected the color of the sky.
So when folks tell you peak has gone by just take up the challenge and see if you can prove that there is still color to be found.

the road continues
So many pictures and so little time… We managed to capture three more Vermont covered bridges on this trip, The Howe bridge
The mill bridge
and the Moxley bridge dating back to the late 1800’s. The Gazetteer says that there are six bridges on this stretch of road but only these three were easy to find. Two of the others eluded our search… (This time) and one of them is a newly rebuilt covered bridge, I figure I’ll return in a year or two when it’s a bit more weathered… Right now it just looks too new…
We got back on route 89 only to jump off at Richmond because I wanted to see if the trees were turning around the very unusual round church they have there. The trees around the church had lost much of their leaves due to a blight that looked like the one that we saw last year in maples. But I noticed that there were a few trees a bit further away that did look nice as you can see here.
Later that afternoon the sun did come out, just before setting. As most photographers will tell you this is the most beautiful light to shoot a landscape in. The light comes in from a low side angle and the soft warm glow just can’t be beat.
If you’re lucky enough to be at the right place at this time then you get shots like this.. This isn’t anyplace special and the road is just a small road between two areas of farm land. But doesn’t it make you wish you were there? This shot is for Mary Joe, who is one of the Yankee foliage forum gang since she couldn’t be up here this year (like many others) I’m sending this one out to her in hopes she gets a chance to visit next year.

Jeff Foliage
Got Foliage?

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