Misty morning

When not in pursuit of elusive birds or Fall foliage, Grant’s hobbies frequently see us on the road and sometimes at odd hours. Odd for us, anyway. When possible, we avoid going anywhere in the dark as that’s when wild creatures are apt to wander onto roads.

6 am is not early for us but these days it is still dark, however Grant had agreed to collect the item he needed from a man in Schenectady at 8 am, so we set off at the first glimmer of dawn.

There was, of course, no requirement for me to go along, but as I’ve said often enough, I like observing the dawn and I don’t often get to see it while on the road.

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For the first 20 minutes, it was too dark to take photos from a moving vehicle, but as we got onto Wright’s Road, the Sun crested the eastern hills bathing the land with a rosy light.

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Driving due West, we could only watch the sunrise in the sideview mirror but when we saw deer we paused for a moment and I got a token snap.

In the past two days, all remaining crops here had been harvested. The bare ground was covered with a thick layer of frost which could almost have been mistaken for snow.

The air had a sharp chill, but in the absence of wind, it was not unpleasant.

For short periods, I enjoy the freshness of an icy morning.

Waiting for the staff bus in the parking lot, during the days of my employ at JFK, I was not a fan and back then winters were frigid – and windy!

Nor had I cared for the cold dormitory at my English boarding school.

It was unthinkable back then that I would ever become a fan of Winter!

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From a vantage point on Wright’s Road, we’d seen a snake of heavy mist above the Hudson River. We encountered this on River Road.

How I detested seeing mist in the forecast when I worked in airports and when it caused aeroplanes I travelled in to divert. Three times I ended up at the wrong airport due to fog, which was most inconvenient.

On another occasion, after my flight touched down at Heathrow, I was horrified to think we’d been flying in such poor visibility. It is wonderful to have the facility of automated landing, but I was glad I hadn’t realised the challenge it was up against on that occasion.

Landing elsewhere that day would have seriously upset me as I had a rendezvous and this was before the advent of cellphones. Transatlantic relationships could be very stressful!

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These days I have no such concerns and I like a little mist.

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It improved the look of Stillwater no end, I thought.

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By the time we got to Clifton Park, the new day was establishing itself…

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…with a warm wash of red.

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Now that I’ve noticed it’s just Dunkin, I can’t seem to stop seeing it.

There seemed to be a lot of people about for early on a Saturday morning up here.

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But we were going to Schenectady – a big city as far as we’re concerned.

With a population of 70,000, it is the 9th most populous city in New York State.

from Wikipedia:

Schenectady is home to WGY, the second commercial radio station in the US, (after WBZ in Springfield, Massachusetts, named for Westinghouse Broadcasting). WGY was named for its owner, General Electric (the G), and the city of Schenectady (the Y).^[31] In 1928, General Electric produced the first regular television broadcasts in the United States, when the experimental station W2XB began regular broadcasts on Thursday and Friday afternoons. This television station is now WRGB; for many years, it was the Capital District’s NBC affiliate. It has been the area’s CBS affiliate since 1981.

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The few times we’ve been to Schenectady, we’ve gone direct to destination, transacted business and departed forthwith, so I cannot really comment on the place except to say that I noticed quite a lot of fine-looking new construction.

The roads are crap like in any other city I’ve been in here.

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Only because we had a little further to go this day and because it included a dog, I noticed this statue on a corner of Erie Boulevard and Union Street.

The woman is Dr Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Gillette (1874-1965) who was a pioneering surgeon who was dedicated to vulnerable children. In 1919 she became the first woman to be elected to the New York State Assembly.

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Leaving the city, I settled back to watch the sky which was full of contrails.

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There was also a sun dog, or parhelion.

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Descending back toward the Hudson, we saw that the mist had not lifted.

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A chance for some fun photos.

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If you like that sort of thing.

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Mist, bridge, reflection – what’s not to like?

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All those straight lines!

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The only colour in the scene a hint of rust in those leaves.

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In Stillwater there was a tiny bit more colour at the river’s edge.

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Back on the other side of the river, we passed the sod farm which was still frosty.

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Road workers recently hacked away trees and bushes that had concealed the river here.

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While I enjoy the view, I don’t like seeing trees chopped about.

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Soon we were back at Wright’s Road. We turn past this tiny farm taking care to avoid whatever animal/s is in the road. We’ve often seen the corpses of chicken lying beside the road and not long ago there were two dead goats in the gutter, yet the owners still make no attempt to contain their livestock.

Incomprehensible.

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A quick stop in Greenwich for supplies, then we were home.

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