McDONALDS - OLD STYLE

Massachusetts Turnpike - This McDonalds in in a rest stop on the "Mass Pike". It has the same style as the original McDonalds when they were still just take out. Of course, this is an eat in McDonalds and recently built.

Oh, by the way, I tried donuts at the McDonalds in Westfield MA,yesterday and they were just OK. To be fair I had them about 7pm so they were probably not as fresh as if I had them in the morning. I don't know if baked good in McDonalds are widespread or just in this area. Let me know if they have them in your area.

JAZZ IS WITH THE ANGELS

Our dog Jazz made that final trip into the light today. Her kidneys failed and we had to put her down.

She will be missed!

BIO FUEL?

I saw this tank that is for collecting sap from tapped Maple trees. It has a sign on the side of the tank that you would see on trucks that has a code that tells what kind of material they are hauling. I thought it would be funny to post a photo with photo of the tank and call it "Bio Fuel?". Well I guess the joke is on me, I looked up the code 1170 and guess what it is, Ethenol...bio fuel.

FROSTBITTEN DAFFODILS

On January 7th I posted a photo of these Daffodils starting to sprout. Then the cold weather came and gave then a bit of frostbite. But, I think they will be fine and will be sprouting flowers soon.

AMHERST MA - MAIN STREET

Amherst MA - Continuing on with my Main Street Photos. This is a good portion of Main Street in Amherst MA. There is more around the corner but you get the flavor of the town.

RED LION INN

Stockbridge MA - The Red Lion Inn has been around since the late 18th century. The stage coaches of old are now replaced by Mercedes and Jaguars. I it is THE place to stay when spending a weekend in the Berkshires or attending Tanglewood.

Over the years it has grown quite a bit, as you can see from the side photo. It seems to take up quite a bit of Main Street.

RED LION

Stockbridge, MA - This red lion is one of two red lions in front of, what else, the Red Lion Inn.

MAKING THE BEST OF IT

A few weeks back my dogs and I were on a photo road trip in Blanford MA. Well my truck has a bad habit; sometimes the doors lock by themselves. I almost always make sure I remove the keys before I get out of the truck...except this one time. You guessed it, the doors locked. So here I am, on the side of the road, it is very windy and cold, and my two dogs are in the back of the truck. Luckily, I was not too far from town and called AAA(I got to get into this century and get a cell phone). So, for about an hour I was standing out in the cold until the AAA service truck came to unlock the door. In the mean time four A-10 "Warthog" aircraft came up the valley and I was able to get my camera out and snap one photo before I lost them in the sun.

MAIN STREET - LITCHFIELD CT

Litchfield, CT - This is a photo of the Main Street of Litchfield, CT. I've decided to add "Main Street" photos to my postings. I have a few in stock from different locations I visit. Hopefully, I will have these photos in the future so I or someone can look back and say, "Wow, look how things have changed".

BEAVER HANDIWORK

A few weeks back I took the dogs for a romp and came upon these trees that had been gnawed by a beaver. I find it amazing that a creature can cut a tree down with it's teeth. I did not see the beaver's lodge, I guess it was further down stream.

AMHERST GREEN

Amherst MA - Well, you might call it Amherst White. I was up in Amherst last weekend and snapped a few photos. This is one of the Amherst Green. Years ago I went here to attend the Teddy Bear Festival; I'm not sure if it is still held.

RISING PAPER MILL

Housatonic MA – This paper mill was built in the late 1800’s as the Rising Paper Mill. It is now owned by the Fox River Paper Company. In 1975 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places because it is a unique example of Victorian Industrial Architecture with its twin towers and mansard roof. I’m afraid the photo doesn’t do it justice; I could not get in a safe place to take a photo. I was struck with how ornate this factory is. On the paper mills website it explains how they draw water from 800 feet down from a limestone water table. Using that water they are able to make pure museum quality paper without the use of alum.

Info: Fox River Paper

SNOW PONY

North Granby CT - Ah, just two guys, a few beers, relaxing building a sand er, snow sculpture. My wife and I were driving by this house and I noticed this snow sculpture, well, I asked my wife to turn around so I can take a photo of it. So here I go, camera in hand, walking into the yard asking if they would mind me taking a photo of the sculpture. They said no and explained that they usually do this with sand not snow. They said they were going to see if the horse could stand on four legs and not held up with a snow underneath; they also said that they were going to add color to the horse. I go by this house every day so I can't wait to see how it looks tomorrow.

Note: Today(03/19/07) I went by the sculpture and it is now a snow machine ramp.

ORMSBEE'S GARAGE

Mill River MA - I saw this garage and it really reminded me of a garage from the 1940's or 50's. According to the sign above the store it is also a gas and bus company.

MARCH STORM

More weird weather her. Last night we got just over a foot of snow; two days ago it was almost 60 degrees. That's New England for you.

IDITAROD NOTE:
Does anyone follow the Iditarod Sled Dog Race?

Lance Mackey won the race which is 1150 miles long, he completed the race in 9 days, 5 hours, and 8 minutes. There are two things that make this even more extraordinary, 12 days before the Iditarod, he won another race that was over 1000 miles, the Yukon Quest; thirteen of his sixteen dogs raced in both races. Plus, in 2001 he had a large cancerous growth on his neck that needed surgery and radiation. He competed in the 2002 Iditarod but had to stop because his liquid food supplement for his feeding tube kept on freezing and he did not have the energy.

I follow the race by watching the Iditarod website and logging onto the Alaska Daily News. I thought that stations like ESPN would at least have some mention of such a historic event, what a human interest story if nothing else.

Well Lance, I watched, congratulations to you and all the other mushers in "The Last Great Race in the World".

CIVIL WAR MONUMENT - STOCKBRIDGE MA

Stockbridge MA - This monument is in the center of Stockbridge. I found a website that has all the names and an inscription transcribed.

The transcription says: To Her Sons
Beloved and Honored
Who Died for Their Country
In the Great War
Of the Rebellion

Info: Stockbridge Men who died

LITTLE CHEF

Stockbridge MA - I saw this little guy standing on the side of the road beckoning people to come to his restaurant, "Once Upon a Table". It was a cold day so it was nice that they put mittens on him.

ROUTE 7 GRILL COW

Not one to pass up a photo of a fiberglass animal, here is a fiberglass cow in front of the Route 7 Grill in Great Barrington MA.

ELM STREET MARKET

Stockbridge, MA - I took a photo of this market because it seemed like the place where all the locals hung out. I was there on Sunday morning and right after church people and dogs(outside) were flocking towards this store for breakfast. I found their website and it is quite interesting. They have a camera on the frozen foods at least at 9:00PM; they even have a poem about the store. Chicken must be big in this store, there seems to be quite the chicken theme on the website.

BEFORE AND AFTER - BLANDFORD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Blandford, MA - This is the First Congregational Church of Blandford. The church was organized in 1735 and this church was built in 1822. I don't believe it is in use any more since there is another First Congregational Church down the road.

This photo is the "after" the before is on the Library of Congress Website.

DOGS DOWN THE ROAD

We have been puppy sitting my sister-in-laws dog Montecore for the last few days. Yesterday we took the gang for a walk. Montecore is on the right, Jazz in the middle, and Sophie on the left. OK, it not exactly how Cesar Millan (Dog Whisperer) would walk them but they had fun.

Not to leave anyone out, the bottom photo is Preston in one of his standard poses looking out the window for birds. He is standing on a sugar canister.

NORMAN ROCKWELL'S STUDIO

Stockbridge, MA - This is Norman Rockwell's studio which was first located behind his house in the center of Stockbridge. This building was originally a carriage barn, conversion was completed in 1957 and in 1962 a wing was added for storage. In 1976 Norman place the studio and contents in trust to the Norman Rockwell Museum, which was originally located in the center of Stockbridge. In 1986 the building was moved to this location on the grounds of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

It was closed to visitors when I was there, I think it is only open during the warmer weather.

For more images and information about Norman Rockwell click link to Artsy.

Info: Plaque outside the studio

LINWOOD HOUSE

Stockbridge, MA - Charles Butler, a prestigious New York lawyer built this house in 1859. This residence was among the first elegant summer homes known as "Berkshire Cottages.

Norman Rockwell would ride his bicycle to this house daily and became aquainted with the Musgrave family, the house was passed down to Marguirite Butler Musgrave.

The grounds are where the Norman Rockwell Museum is now located.

NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

Stockbridge, MA - This is the Norman Rockwell Museum which houses most of his paintings. The paintings are displayed on a rotating basis so you can go more than once and see different paintings. What struck me was the quality of his oil paintings. You have to see them in person to really appreciate how good they are. I found out that the early covers of the Saturday Evening Posts, where he made his mark were limited on how many colors could be reproduced; I think they could only print black, white, and red. This influenced his choice of colors in his illustrations. More about Norman Rockwell and the Museum




Trivia Alert: Norman has famous children, these statues are created by his son Peter who resides in Rome and works as a sculptor. His other son Thomas is the author of the book, "How to Eat Fried Worms" which was made into the movie of the same name. In the background is the Linwood House which is the administrative building (more about that house at another time).

MILL RIVER GENERAL STORE

Mill River MA - I stopped by Mill River one Sunday afternoon but the store was closed by the time I got there. Attached to the General Store is the Mill River Post Office.

Since the store was closed all I could find out about it was that you can buy your Massachusetts Hunting or Fishing License there. Purchase Chester Hill Wines, High Lawn Milk, and it is on the Southern Berkshire Bicycle Loop from Caanan CT to Stockbridge MA.

COAT OR NO COAT?

Horse with Coats



Llamas - No coat necessary.

ICE STORM

I don't mind the cold in the winter but here in southern New England the winter is not very nice. I just hate when people say, I just love winter. Here in southern N.E. we don't get then nice snow like other parts of the country get. Sometimes we will get two feet of snow, after you shovel yourself out and think you can enjoy the snow, it will rain and ruin what you have. Also, most of the time we get the heavy wet "Heart Attack" snow. It weighs about thirty pounds per shovel full and is so wet it clogs the snow blower.
Well here is another thing we have to put up with in the winter...ice storms. As you can see the ice has just littered my yard with downed trees and branches. It wouldn't be so bad but these are all from my neighbors trees. My wife and I spent Saturday morning cleaning up the back yard.
Also, on Friday night the ice weighed down out power line over the road and a truck hit it and pulled the wires out from where they were connected to my house. OK, not too bad, we called the power company to come out and reconnect the wires to our house. BUT, in the mean time another truck came and hit the wires and ripped all the wires from my house including the electric, cable, and phone. The power company connected the electic Friday night so we had power (thanks power company) and Sunday the cable company connected the cable (thanks cable company). Now I was lost without the cable, the cable is for television,PC,and phone. So if you wanted to know why I didn't post for that last few days, you know now.

FARM COUNTRY SOUP

Southfield, MA - I was traveling through the Berkshires and was getting hungry and came upon this sign post. The bottom sign caught my attention; mmmmm soup. So I followed the signs found where this soup was located.




It is located behind an antique mall that was a former Buggy Whip Factory; oddly enough it is called the Buggy Whip Shops. So I walked up to the store front, a blackboard sign with soups written on it such as Tomato Stilton, Farmhouse Lentil, Apple Butternut Squash, and White Bean Provencal piqued my interest.




I walked in to find a self serve store where they had all these handmade soups in refrigerators. I was kind of disappointed, I did not need a quart of soup; they did have a microwave where I could have heated up some soup but being extreamly cheap I wasn't going to buy a whole quart, so I walked away hungry. I would like to go back there someday and maybe split a quart with my wife. They did sound like they would be very tasty, and they are even hand made.

If you want more info, (((click here)))

OLD FACTORIES RUSTY WATER TOWER

Housatonic, MA - I passes through Housatonic last weekend on a road trip and stopped to take a photo of these old factories. I am still predicting that Housatonic is going to become a spot where people will go to visit the galleries and shops; just how long it will take is the question. I believe some of the old factories are being turned into galleries and studios. So you people visiting Stockbridge, get away from the crowds and take a short ride to Housatonic.