Block Island, Rhode Island
Photo Challenge/Simply Red/Silent Saturday – Lobster Pots and Pilings
Block Island, Rhode Island
Tag: block island
Passages & Pathways Part 2- A Week of Paths/BI and Longwood…Again
It’s day two of the Pathways and Passages challenge, and I’m still walking the paths of Block Island and Longwood Gardens in my imagination. We often stayed in a Block Island Bed and Breakfast called the Sea Breeze Inn. It’s been well over a decade since we spent a week on the island, but we still remember one of the biggest draws of the place, its beautiful location, and the innkeeper, Gabby.
In the photograph, Gabby is standing on the path that leads to the room we always booked for our week’s stay. I wish we had kept in touch and could still withdraw to the wondrous room with its high ceilings and comfortable furniture. Every morning, Gabby brought us a basket filled to the brim with a pot of coffee, muffins, Danish pastries, fruit, and many delicacies to start the day. I often wonder where life has taken her, if she still lives on the island, or if she has moved to the mainland.
This well-dressed lady piqued my fancy one October day while visiting Longwood Gardens. I didn’t know her, and perhaps it is not polite to take a photo of someone just because you admire their outfit, but I loved her hat with its sassy bow, the red coat, and the posh bag she carried. Her long skirt was the perfect complement to the coat. So cute! In hindsight, I wish I had told her how beautiful her outfit appeared as she walked the pathways in the gardens. The photograph was taken in 2009. One of these days, I will attempt to create a watercolor of her. Fifteen years later, there is a lot of time between my first inspiration and getting around to it.
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Passages and Pathways – A Week of Paths/A Few Favorites – Part 1
I enjoy taking part in challenges. I thank Dale Cooper for today’s Cosmic Challenge/Passages and Pathways.
Today I’m including literal paths I have walked and enjoyed.
A pathway near the Bell Tower in Longwood Gardens; I have visited more times than I can count and always come away refreshed by the sights, especially in the winter when the conservatory is filled with flowers.
A perfect tree for climbing on the way to Clayhead Beach on Block Island, Rhode Island. I hope the tree is still standing. I have begun a watercolor painting of the tree, including a figure on the long, low branches with a book in her hand.
Block Island again, the same pathway; carrying beach chairs and paraphernalia to the beach at Clayhead is quite a hike, but it is well worth the effort.
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Photo Challenges – A New Challenge
Judy Dykstra Brown’s Blog offers a unique new challenge. The basis of the challenge is to search your photos with a number and create a blog post with them. This week the number is 126. Post a selection of photos on your blog and link back to her blog. Fun! I thought I would have more, but these are the three photos that had 126/26.
This is my first time taking part in this challenge. I will definitely try again. Why not take part too? What a good moment it was when a photo of my grandparents showed up in my search.
The two beachy scenes are Block Island, Rhode Island. I love the way visitors and islanders alike build rock cairns on the slopes and sand.
I was surprised I didn’t have more photos in the search, but then again, sometimes I relabel the numbers. If you do this also, Judy Dykstra Brown has a way for you to take part, choose a word instead.
Like the Steinbeck quote below, my photos seem to multiply while I sleep. Most of mine are on CD discs for storage.
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
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Phascination & Place – Rocky Surprise & Block Island, RI
Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge this week is the letter Q. I thought at first, I can’t think of anything I have of interest that starts with Q. Then, as I often do, I reread Cee’s post. One of her photos was a beautiful turquoise bag. The Q only needed to be part of the word. (I am hearing my first grade teacher, in my head, at this point saying, ‘You did not follow the directions.’) Yes, I have always had a hard time not getting excited and running ahead with things before I heed the directions.
My quartz is a piece of a larger rock. When I researched it to find the proper identification, I promptly went out and retrieved a second chunk of it out of the border of one of my flower beds. It should be displayed in the house. The large piece has been used as a doorstop on my patio for a couple of years. I think I’m going to clean both pieces up and bring them indoors.
I brought a few pebbles home from the beach in Block Island. We visited a week or two ago for the first time in ten years. The town hadn’t changed much, except for the loss of the Harborside Inn due to a fire this summer. We only stayed the day, so we didn’t have time to explore the outer edges of the whole island.
I never liked walking in the town too much, preferring instead the lesser-known beaches and land. I still felt the same a decade later. The town has busy streets and narrow sidewalks. It becomes disconcerting to feel you are holding back the pace of those walking behind who are always in a hurry.
I hope to get back again one day, but I’m not sure about that drive up 95. We were in an hour long traffic back-up between Bridgeport and Norwalk, Connecticut. We both said, never again are we driving that way, perhaps if we find a better route we will visit again one summer in the future.
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Photo Challenge & Postcards – Pebbly Beach
For this week’s post I’m back to Block Island, RI. I believe this anchor, photographed from Pebbly Beach, is a wind vane of sorts.
Pebbly Beach was one of our favorite spots to visit on Block Island when we stayed in the Sea Breeze Inn.
Visitors to Block Island have enjoyed the Pebbly Beach for over 100 years.
This postcard is postmarked August 29, 1909, almost 110 years in the past. Here’s an easier to read view of what I think Kate wrote to Willie on that long ago day.
Block Island R.I. Aug 28/09
This is how it looks from
the beach in front of the
cottage. From the cottage
we can see over the
point-Tell Annie I’d
rather have ANY trip
than HERS. No more les-
sons at present. I am
where they can’t reach
me – Kate E. Post
I’m not sure of two words, these I printed in capitals. There seems to be some unspoken drama in this post. I wonder what Kate meant about not being reached??? Even today to visit Block Island requires a boat or plane ride. The mystery is a century old. I love old postcards with messages.
Thanks to these bloggers for taking part in last week’s challenge:
Geriatri’x’Fotogallery – Tuna Weather Vane
The 59 Club – Hunter Springs
The Photo Challenge: Each Wednesday, I post a photograph of a Weather Vane with a short description of where it can be found and any history connected to it. The main focus of the challenge is the photo of the Weather Vane and the location. The challenge can be Wordless if that is what you choose. If you would like others to see your post leave a link to your blog in the comment box. You can also tag the post #weathervaneweds. If you place a link to my post in your post you will create a pingback that will appear in the comment section. The challenge is open all week for comments and posts. Thanks so much for taking part in my challenge.
Many thanks to Cee, of Cee’s Photography, for including this challenge in her listing of WordPress Challenges. If you love challenges take a look at this page and while you are there check out some of Cee’s terrific posts. Thanks Cee!
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Photo Challenge – Block Island Weather Vane
Today’s weather vane is an oldie, but definitely a good memory for me. This is early morning on Block Island, Rhode Island, our car in line, my husband waiting to pull it onto the ferry for the ride back to Point Judith. I love the foggy atmosphere. So often, in early morning, when we left the island, the fog would be thick and mysterious. On top of the small house selling tickets is what appears to be some type of weather vane. It surprises me to look at my hundreds of photos of our vacations on Block Island and not find any vanes. Once again, I’m reminded that often you don’t see what you aren’t looking for at the moment.
Thanks to these bloggers for taking part in the challenge:
Geriatri’x’fotogallery – Weather Vanes Above Our City
The 59 Club – Putter Court
The Photo Challenge: Each Wednesday, I post a photograph of a Weather Vane with a short description of where it can be found and any history connected to it. The main focus of the challenge is the photo of the Weather Vane and the location. The challenge can be Wordless if that is what you choose. If you would like others to see your post leave a link to your blog in the comment box. You can also tag the post #weathervaneweds. If you place a link to my post in your post you will create a pingback that will appear in the comment section. The challenge is open all week for comments and posts. Thanks so much for taking part in my challenge.
Many thanks to Cee, of Cee’s Photography, for including this challenge in her listing of WordPress Challenges. If you love challenges take a look at this page and while you are there check out some of Cee’s terrific posts. Thanks Cee!
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Quotes – Rest & Shelter
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” ~Matthew 11:28-29
“Friendship is a sheltering tree.” ~ Samuel Coleridge
I always noticed this tree on Block Island, RI, as we walked the path to Clayhead Beach. Its wide branches seemed to invite me to climb, lay upon the branches, and rest. I easily imagined myself in repose there with a book in hand, a blanket draped over a bough, a pillow beneath my head. This daydream still lives on in my heart whenever I think of the path and the tree. To me, it seems to be a bit of heaven on earth.
I wish for you the finest rest on this Sabbath Day.
This post is part of Sunday Trees.
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Photographs – Hidden Treasure
“(Extra) ordinary Mundane and meaningful objects. Beautiful everyday things. This week, surprise us with something or someone (extra)ordinary.”
Block Island, Rhode Island beaches are part sand, part rocky pebbles. The larger stones have been used since the early centuries of our country as cobblestones for New England roadways. I am fascinated by the beauty of these rocks. The amazing array of colors and the wave-tumbled smooth surfaces mesmerize me. Much like Sanibel Island, Florida, known for the famous “Sanibel Stoop,” (a title describing beachcombers searching for shells on the beaches,) Block Island turns beachcombers into rockhounds, creating a posture that could be named, “The Block Island Bend.”
The interesting stone in today’s photograph is a cabbage-sized rock I found on Block Island. I brought it home as a doorstop, and often pick it up to gaze at what seems to be treasure inside. The exterior of the stone is a quite ordinary, but within a zig-zagging crack on the surface, the facets of polished quartz are visible, transforming the ordinary stone, into an extraordinary keepsake.
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Photograph & Place – Block Island, Rhode Island/North Lighthouse
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Quirkiness – Wacky Wednesday/Creating Cairns on Block Island
I recently composed a mantelscape using “beachy” items in honor of summer and the many seashore areas we have visited. I created a cairn (stacked rocks) with a few pebbles I brought home from Block Island, Rhode Island. I have created many a cairn on the Block Island beaches and admired hundreds more of these impromptu works of art built by the talented stone stackers who roam the bluffs, rocks and sand of this beautiful place.
“A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn).” ~ Wikipedia
Here are a few of the cairns I have photographed over the years on Block Island. As you can see cairns can be stacked quite tall…
Or very small…
Some have a picturesque backdrop…
While others adorn the muddy clay at the base of the bluffs…
Some stand alone…
While others stand en masse in a madrigal choir of stone.
There are even a few who have gotten married! (See note about this photograph at end of post)
Block Island cairns are created with the beautiful rocks and pebbles found on Block Island Beaches.
I composed and photographed the bride and groom photograph on Block Island a few years ago. I have used it many times as a wedding or shower greeting card. Please feel free to copy and use the photograph for non-commercial uses. It looks terrific mounted on a piece of black cardstock and then double-mounted on a white 5 x 7 greeting card. The photo is a standard size and should be easy to have reproduced anywhere they print out digital photos. Better yet, try your hand at creating your own bride and groom photograph from natural items…so much fun!
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Pleasures – Fresh Donuts!
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Fresh.”
“For this week’s photo challenge, share with us a photo that expresses something fresh.”
When I think of fresh I think of Payne’s Killer Donuts on Block Island in Rhode Island. They truly are FRESH and capture that “Melt-in-your-mouth” goodness we all crave.
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Photo Challenge – Reward? A Cuppa’ Ocean or Bay Please
“What does reward mean to you?”
Reward to me means a day walking, beachcombing or sitting on a sandy/rocky beach beside the ocean waves. I’ve been blessed in my life to have my idea of a reward fulfilled. Here are some of those ways…a reminder of a day at the beach on a cold Friday afternoon.
STRATHEMERE, NEW JERSEY
CAPE MAY LIGHTHOUSE, CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY
MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA
TREASURE BEACH, JAMAICA
CHESAPEAKE BAY, ELK NECK MARYLAND
BLOCK ISLAND, RHODE ISLAND
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Photograph – Green & Graven Symmetry
Symmetry – “For this challenge, share an image of symmetry. Don’t limit yourself to architecture — you can bend this theme in any way you’d like.”
Symmetry – the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis.
Bird’s Nest Fern – Longwood Gardens Conservatory
This beautiful Bird’s Nest fern while not being perfect in its symmetry, is still a good example of a plant growing in a symmetrical manner. Growing a Bird’s Nest Fern is easy. The plant is more resilient against dry conditions than the more feathery ferns. An added plus is a Bird’s Nest Fern is a low-light plant.
Another example of symmetry is a gravestone. This one, weathered by years, wind and sea salt can be found in the graveyard on Block Island, RI.
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Photograph & Praise – Serenity through Song
Sunset – West Beach, Block Island, RI
“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” ~ Psalm 147:2 (NIV)
This post so exactly fit the Serenity challenge for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, I was compelled to edit and enter it also.
I have been singing more. My daily to-do list has a smiley face with a big O in place of the smile, a reminder to me to sing, sing, sing.
I don’t want to let one day go by without singing praises to God. In the past year I have been reading a Psalm a day. They are filled with verses about music and song. In these days of ever-quickening changes the songs I sing give each day stability and remembrance of the awesome and mighty nature of the Lord God.
If I am anxious or troubled, I sing, and the load seems lighter. When Jesus and his disciples finished his last supper here on earth they sang songs of praise together. (Hallel Psalms) Even knowing what lay ahead for him, Jesus praised the Father. In all I do I want to lift a song of praise to his name every day.
“When they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Matthew 26:30 (NIV)
This post was originally posted October 30, 2011.
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Praise & Pleasures – Singing Stones
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12
I love the sounds of nature. On this Sabbath Day I am remembering the joyful singing of the rocks on Block Island, Rhode Island. The pound of the surf across the sand is followed by the gentler roar of the waves receding. The stones seem to sing as the water flows back into the sea. I might be inland, but in my heart I am hearing the briny symphony of those New England waters.
Try to take some time today to hear the clapping of the trees, the singing of the rocks, the chirping of the birds. Take a walk and listen to the Lord’s gentle symphony. A blessed Sabbath to you.
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Place, Peculiarities & Phun- Block Island Mud on Clayhead Beach
One of our very favorite beaches on Block Island, Rhode Island, is Clayhead Beach. The bluffs on this beach are one of the first sights you see when you approach on the Point Judith Ferry. Within these bluffs is a clay that gives the beach its name. Those who pass by often take a handful of the clay and spread it on their bodies. Clay packs draw out toxins and are beneficial to your body. These girls were so sweet and allowed me to photograph them as they applied the clay. 
Here are the girls again before their walk back up the shoreline to Mansion Beach. Cute!
Here is a bit of information about Clayhead Beach and Preserve: Clayhead Beach and Preserve
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Photographs and Place – Block Island Getaway
My husband and I have just returned from our yearly vacation to Block Island. Block Island is a gorgeous island off the coast of Rhode Island. This beautiful butterfly was photographed outside of the cottage we rented on the island. You can find more information on “The Cottage” and “The Upstairs,” at this link: The Upstairs at Block Island. We love this spot on the island, secluded, yet the center of town is only an easy walk or bike ride away.
This butterfly bush on the property kept me fascinated. Each time I passed by I found a beautiful winged creature to admire and photograph.
This gorgeous hummingbird moth visited the butterfly bush every day. What an amazing sight, imagine my delight when I spied two of these beauties on the same bush. Here’s a bit of information about Hummingbird Moths: Hummingbird Moths
Sweet little skipper butterflies also stopped by the bush.
Although their season is almost over, the wild roses are still putting on quite a show. This one was photographed beside “The Cottage” where we stayed the week.
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Peculiarities and Projects – Hanging Basket Hook
In the photograph above you might think you are looking at a typical hanging basket…and you are of course! Look a little closer at how the basket is hung and you might see the purpose behind this “Peculiar” post.
Yes, what you are looking at is a gigantic fishing lure. I found this a few years ago while beach-combing. After I carefully picked it up off the rocks of the Block Island coastline, I dropped it into my collecting bag. It hung alone from the rafters of my porch ceiling for a few years, a reminder of a happy day. This year, however, while looking for the ever elusive S-hook for attaching my hanging baskets to the chain, I came up with the idea to use the lure. It worked great, but just to be on the safe side I wound a bit of floral wire around it too. I’m very pleased with my unique hook!
