Holyoke Sox girls open thread

Cold River

My ladies and I took a day trip up north to take a dip. Earlier in the week, I had scouted out a spot in the Cold River in Charlemont. As we pulled up to the area, Brittnie, yelled out, “they’re naked!”

We spent the early afternoon dipping in the cool water of a small river. Rapids sang above us while we waded and chatted and co-existed peacefully with the nudity.

Afterwards, we headed over to Shelburne Falls for an early dinner at the West End Pub.

I have such highs during the weekends that it’s hard to get motivated to get ready for work this morning.

Holyoke Giants… err Sox

I went to the Holyoke Sox opening dinner last night and put up a couple of photos here.

Some things that are new:

- The Holyoke baseball franchise now has its own “dance team.”

- The mascot is a dog. His name is Big Red. The team still seems to be working through the color problem, since Big Red’s jersey is red and white.

- At least the team will be wearing blue. Presumably.

- I get that it’s the socks themselves that are blue, but I don’t get that the dog is still Big Red. I suppose I could have asked at the event, but everyone seemed so excited and happy, I didn’t want to rain on their parade. For the record, I’m wicked excited. Home opener is June 11th. Are you going?

happy marriage license request day

Matt and I headed to City Hall on Tuesday to “apply” for a marriage license. I use quotes around “apply” because although that is the standard way that one might describing going to the City Clerk’s office with the intent to acquire a marriage license, there appears to be no application involved whatsoever.

There were papers to sign, but there was no real need to prove that we’re worthy of a marriage license. They didn’t even ask for any identification, a fact that chilled Matt and me to the bone.

Fact: We are the 100th couple to declare our intent to marry to the city in 2008.

We were way more prepared than I thought we’d be so that may have contributed to the quickness of the experience. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts no longer requires a blood test, so that wasn’t necessary. We did have to raise our right hands and swear that what we wrote down on the application was true. I think I said yes. Matthew confirmed later that he had replied “yup.”

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rainbow reader

Whenever it rains but the sun is still peeking out from behind the clouds, I look up at the sky searching for a rainbow. Matt likes to make fun of me for this.

But look!

Not one, not two, but three photos of rainbows popped up in my google reader this morning.

This emboldens me to keep my eyes on the sky from now on.

brimfield antique show

more photos to come

The importance of today

Today was an important day.

I woke up thinking it was going to be one I would just want to get through and be done with. I had an 8:30 appointment at the oral surgeon to look at a spot that has been on my pallette for at least a year. There was the possibility of a biopsy, but I was hopeful that it was nothing and he’d send me on my way. Then there was the memorial service for a friend of Matt’s.

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Hospital Hill – Northampton, Massachusetts

I took a few photos of Hospital Hill in Northampton last week. I used my 50mm for these shots. Some of them were manipulated and some were not.

• I didn’t mean for the first photo to come out the way it did. I’d had my camera’s White Balance setting on Incandescent (I think) and this is what happened. Pretty cool, eh? My favorite part is the look of the half-open window on the top row. To me it looks like an old photo you find in a history book.
• The second photo’s cyan was punched up a little to bring out the contrast of the sky and the roof.
• Neither of the smaller photos was manipulated, except I did some cropping to the one on the left.
• The 50mm is a beautiful thing.

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in the parking lot

Just this week a new producer started working here. One of her hobbies happens to be photography. Before she started I emailed her about doing some photo safaris on our lunch breaks from time-to-time. She is much more experienced than I am, so I am somewhat shy about showing her my work. Plus, she is a Canon girl who enjoys making fun of my Nikon! But, whatever, it’s just a hobby and I can only get better with practice. We’ve already gone on our first adventure — the MassLive parking lot. Her jawdropping photos are here and a few of my less-than-awe-inspiring photos are below (and after the jump). I really want to learn her little Photoshop tricks. Maybe if I’m nice to her she’ll show me.

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Ashley Reservoir – one more reason Holyoke is awesome

We’ve been taking to walks on Ashley Reservoir (three times in the past week-and-a-half). I’d never been there until this month, which is an unbelievable factoid. Other factoids:

1. Matt and I have devised a rock-kicking game. The object of the rock-kicking game is to kick a rock down the path as we go along. Whoever kicks the rock into the water loses.

2. The one thing I hate about Ashley Reservoir right now is the bug-swarming problem.

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