Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary on Wellfleet Bay

 Walked with longtime friends yesterday.

The air is poor.  Smoke from Canadian wildfires has blown down here on Cape Cod.

Fiddler crabs are everywhere.

Sandpipers were among the only birds that were visible.

Still, it was an enjoyable walk.

Why Did the Turkey Cross the Road?

 

To show the cars who's boss, of course.

Edward Steichen

 The noted fashion photographer Edward Steichen lived in nearby Redding for many years.

Steichen's house overlooks this lake.  Steichen owned 421 acres of forested land.  He eventually decided to sell off all but 38 acres.  He offered the rest to the Town of Redding for a park.  A dozen Redding residents came up with a plan to buy the land by selling off some and donating the rest to the town.

Steichen was the chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair.  

These are two of his images.  In 1947 Steichen was appointed director of photography for the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.  Steichen prepared "The Family of Man" as an exhibition.  In book form, The Family of Man sold 3 million copies.

Charles Ives House

 Back in Connecticut for a few days before heading over to Cape Cod to visit longtime friends.  I read that the longtime summer home of composer Charles Ives in Redding is for sale.  So, I had to drive past.

The Charles Ives House (ca. 1913) is the 18-acre West Redding summer retreat where the famed modernist composer lived and created his signature works, including Three Places in New England. The iconic Arts and Crafts estate was designed and built by Ives himself.  It was listed for $4 million and is under contract.

Ashland

 My car is a Tesla.  I had to go to a supercharger to fill the battery before leaving.  That took me to Ashland.

Someone has a business carving and painting large figures.

A bald eagle on a stone column stood at the entrance of the craftsman's business.

Further down the road, I thought an man was standing there.  Nope.  

It was a lovely and typical New England country road.

When I reached the center of Ashland, there was a Civil War monument.

With the car charged, it was time to head back to Connecticut.

Critters

 Loons are by far my favorite wildlife at Squam Lake.  

But there are others.

A huge snapping turtle swam past my dock.  Its carapace alone was at least two feet long.

A chipmunk wanders around my cottage looking for food.  A couple of woodchucks and minks ran past too fast for me to photograph them.

A family of Canada geese and goslings swam past.

Dragonflies are everywhere!

We hear songbirds all day long but chipping sparrows were the only ones I spotted to photograph.

Rattlesnake Mountain

 

A tradition when spending a week or two at Rockywold Deephaven Camps is climbing Rattlesnake Mountain.  It affords a great view of Squam Lake.  RDC is in the forested area immediately below.

Triathlon

 There is an individual triathlon and a team triathlon.  Each begins with a swimming leg, then a kayaking leg, finishing with a two mile run.

The younger nine year old granddaughter swam the first leg in the team triathlon.

Her mother swam alongside for support.  Then the mother paddled a kayak in the second leg..  

And the father ran the final leg.

The older granddaughter is eleven.  She participated in the individual triathlon.  Competing against about two dozen participants -- men, women and a few kids -- she was first overall in the swimming leg.

One competitor caught up and passed her on the kayaking leg, so she was in second place.

By the final leg, two adult men and an older boy had caught and passed her.  

She finished fourth, the first female to finish.  Grandpa is very proud of her.

Fourth of July

 The Fourth of July ceremonies, parade and picnic were shifted to July 6, since most guests were just arriving on the 4th.  

Red, white and blue were plentiful!

In the parade, little kids are carried in wheelbarrows by the staff.

And these musicians have played for the parade and during the picnic for as long as I can remember.

Rockywold Deephaven Camps

 An old boss's family spent time in the summer on Squam Lake at this camp.  It sounded good, so we decided to give it a try.

We first came here in the summer of 1987 when our daughter was 3-1/2 and her brother was 6 months.  We stayed in Porters Lodge, the same cabin we are staying in this week.

A lot of time is spent in the water.  Both granddaughters are excellent swimmers.  (They are both in a competitive swimming program back in Ridgefield.)  But a new toy this year is this big plastic thing.

My children and my granddaughter all learned to dive from the main dock here.  While they were elsewhere, I watched a young man practicing his back dives.  (He needs to learn to keep his legs straight.)

Attractive planters are scattered around the camp.

Loons

 Loons are marvelous and beautiful birds.  There are only about 270 pairs in New Hampshire, with 14 or 15 pairs on Squam Lake, where my family is spending the week.

As soon as I arrived yesterday, I went down to the lake behind our cottage to see if any loons were there.  This handsome loon and its partner were swimming and diving not far from my dock.

A loon checked me out.  It decided I was not a threat.  (I know enough to give them a wide berth, but some other people here crowd them too closely.)  We heard the loons' wails at night before going to sleep and in the morning shortly after rising.  Click here to hear the four typical loon calls.

Today starts this blog's 16th year.  Many bloggers have shut their blogs down or migrated to other kinds of domains.  I post photos occasionally on Instagram and Facebook, but I find that this blog makes me go outside and look for photography subjects, so I continue.  Thank you to those who look at it.