Our Last Farewell, Goodbye

Goodbye to America, more specifically the east coast, more specifically Pennsylvania, more specifically Lancaster County, and most specifically Ephrata.  You will be missed.

Ephrata.  At The Crossing of Main and State

 Night time in Ephrata.  Goodnight. Goodbye.

I will be on a plane at this time tomorrow night.  I will be in the process of getting on that plane for the first half of the day.  The next time I will be posting will be when I am settled in my Northern Ireland apartment. 

Not Much Time Left

With just two days until we leave for Northern Ireland, my wife and I have very little time.  We went for an extremely quick bike ride today, though, and I grabbed my camera...thinking it might be my only chance for a picture of any interest...

Biking at Warp Speed

What looks like traveling at a great speed is really just a pretty slow speed on a bicycle.  Apparently motion lines/blur can be deceiving.

 Holding the Walls Up

These ladders appear to be holding up the walls of an old building.  They are not.

Farewell To Middle Creek

My internet keeps dying so I'm going to make this quick and hope I am actually able to post today...

This is my farewell to Middle Creek, my home away from home.  This upcoming year of overseas traveling will be the longest amount of time that I will have gone without making an evening drive or weekend bike ride to this wonderful little place filled with wildlife and great hiking trails.  Longest sentence ever.  Tonight was a nice farewell...we saw some beautiful stars over the water and a mink bounding past on the little driving loop.

Dipping into the Water

It looks like the Big Dipper is dipping into the water.  The evening clouds really helped keep this picture from being too standard.

Golden Fields and Purple Skies

The way my car's headlights lit up just the field allowed me to get an interesting contrast between the sky and it.  The end result seems like a painting of sorts.

Ode To Irene

Disclaimer: My wife and I are very lucky to have been in an area that was not hit terribly hard by Irene.  Don't get me wrong, just driving around you will come across some wreckage...and last I heard there was at least one death related to the hurricane in our area...but really, it was just a bad storm that created significant flooding in our area.

So I shall do something slightly different today...I'm going to let Neil Young take control of this post...let his song loop in your head as you check out the interesting side of nature's awesome power.

"Like A Hurricane"

Once I thought I saw you
in a crowded hazy bar,
Dancing on the light
from star to star.
Far across the moonbeam
I know that's who you are,
I saw your brown eyes
turning once to fire.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer
where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but
I'm getting blown away.

I am just a dreamer,
but you are just a dream,
You could have been
anyone to me.
Before that moment
you touched my lips
That perfect feeling
when time just slips
Away between us
on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer
where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but
I'm getting blown away.

You are just a dreamer,
and I am just a dream.
You could have been
anyone to me.
Before that moment
you touched my lips
That perfect feeling
when time just slips
Away between us
on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer
where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but
I'm getting blown away. 

The Rain Begins

We got hit with some rain this morning...it may have been the beginning of Irene, or it may have just been some regular old rain.  Around 5:00 pm the real rain started.  It hasn't been crazy heavy, and it's been off and on, but it seems like we may have a good bit of falling water ahead of us.

Falling Water

Here is some pretty falling water.  This was taken just as Irene made her presence known in my mother's pool.

Staying Inside

The rain has kept us inside today.  This cute kid was made tired by the incessant raindrops that kept beating themselves against the window panes.

Spider

While walking in and out of my house, a few people mentioned something about a massive spider.  It was only this evening that I bumped into it.  It was right outside of our door and was barely illuminated by unnatural lighting.  Ive never seen a spider like this, slightly orange and extra hairy...any ideas?

 

Web-Slinger

It was probably a good inch and a half long and had about a three foot web...this made it quite hard to get in and out of the house without getting web on you.

Quantity Over Quality

Getting home from work late as well as intending to continue the attempts of emptying/cleaning an apartment got in the way of putting much time into today's photography.  So I gave myself 15 minutes and went for a walk.  Nothing that I came up with is anything special, but I figure if I post three pictures, the quantity over quality rule makes everything a-okay!

Positive Graffiti

Apparently some punk was feeling that the world wasn't out to get him on the day that he signed the wall with x's and o's.  Or perhaps he just doesn't know the rules of tic tac toe.

 

Balancing Act

I only like this photo because of the clutter in the bottom left of it.  It helps to balance the photo, having a natural thing (birds) on the opposite side of the clutter.

Bicycle Built For Two

My wife's bike and my bike had to spend some time together, chained up.  Here they are, making the chained life appear to be a pleasant, perhaps even loving one.