Testing

Despite a bank of cloud on the horizon, Friday was deemed promising…

… for a test run with the new tripod.

That is for the person expected to use it.

As I’ve mentioned, I do not get on with tripods which, like umbrellas cause tripping.

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My experience with umbrellas is that they are cumbersome and difficult to manage, liable to blow away in a bit of wind or enucleate the nearest eye. If you employ one, you arrive at your destination in the possession of an inconveniently wet item which you park against a wall where it will get forgotten.

So, I abandoned the idea of umbrellas very early on.

Tripods? My experience was limited to one such device that was more nuisance than help.

The new one was a vast improvement. Which was no guarantee that I’d get on with it.

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Hence the need for a test run.

We headed for the locks at Schuylerville where we hoped to find geese.

The leafy canopy that covers much of the route opens up at this time of year but additionally many trees were felled recently, to clear the power lines presumably. Understandable, but I hate to see trees cut down.

At least this time it was done with a little care and clean-up, unlike last year’s savagery.

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When we got to the locks, the only bird in sight was a Great Blue Heron.

Such a handsome creature.

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Can you tell which photo was taken using the tripod?

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While I was looking at the heron a mallard couple drifted into view.

Just the one pretty pair.

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Since there were no geese at the locks, we wandered through the woods.

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Where the last golden leaves hung on.

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No geese on the Hudson either.

Yet, – hark…

(There’s another word I like!)

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Here they come! Quickly, back to the locks…

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Suddenly they were pouring out of the sky.

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Flight after flight.

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We’d just got our precision timing wrong.

So we made a note not to arrive before 10 am in future.

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With practice, perhaps I’ll be able to capture touchdown?

By now our fingers and toes were frozen.

It reminded me of times, more than 60 years ago, waiting on frigid British railway platforms. When finally my train pulled in, I’d lost all feeling in my hands and feet and my nose was dripping like a leaky tap. Not long thereafter and every winter for many years, I shivered waiting on the celebrated B2 staff bus at Kennedy Airport. Winters were so much colder then!

However, I was a great deal younger in those days and more resilient. Friday, after a short chilly exercise by the locks, I was ready for a cup of (good Yorkshire) tea.

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