White, worn and weathered beauty

A secret wishing pool and weathered white picket fence...



A white shingled house with cheery blue shutters...

....and another pair of shutters against baby pink...

A happy bird sunning on her own private ocean terrace...

and this beautifully weathered boat in a field on Cape Cod...



Autumn Under Water.

More photos in the spirit of Autumnal Acceptance! (it helps to accept the end of summer when I have my camera around.) Leaves floating and buried under shallow water...

And I'm loving subtle Autumn reflections that still have lots of green in them...

And finally, I love the super-dedicated beavers building their winter homes in the shadow of the changing colors.  Look at this one....on its way to being a mansion, right? Who's the lucky lady?

Happy Monday...(if there is such a thing..) It is supposed to rain every day this week, but the weather hasn't been accurate in months so I won't get my hopes down for nothing...my camera's coming everywhere I go despite the predictions...:) 
Also I redesigned my blog for the 137th time this year. I think I have banner obsessive compulsion. Someday I'll write a post with all the banners I've created. (it would take me hours, though.)
ALSO....last week two of my photos made it into Explore on Flickr. I got lots of nice feedback and visitors. That's always super fun! If you're on Flickr you can visit me here. ; )

"Autumnal Acceptance" and 4 Free Textures for Fall

Ok, Ok. I understand the magic of Autumn! I just wish it would be followed by another summer...instead of the New England winter. That's all. That's my only problem with the season.

The golden and light orange colors are everywhere now. You know that golden hour just before sunset? It suddenly seems like that is every hour of the day. Also I am noticing a lot of Monarch butterflies around here. I'm assuming they are on their yearly migration down to Mexico. Sure wish I were going with them...maybe having a few Margaritas..

So I'm giving in to the season, reluctantly, like I do every year. In the spirit of Autumnal Acceptance, I have decided to keep my camera busy this season. Some of the things I'll be doing...if you are interested and/or in the New England area:

• Taste of Block Island weekend, Block Island, Rhode Island. Our first time going.
• Cranberry Harvest festival, Wareham, Massachussetts.  This one we went to last year and it was awesome. I plan to bring my new lens and get better pics of the Owls/ raptors they have on show there.
• International Oktoberfest, Newport, Rhode Island. This one's a maybe; this is a busy weekend, and depending on how the foliage report is I may want to go up further North and do some leaf- peeping!
• Scituate Art Festival, Scituate, Rhode Island. We go to this every year, usually on Columbus Day. I buy lots of my Christmas gifts here and the foliage is usually peaking around this time; the village of Scituate is gorgeous during this time of year, with old churches and lots of maples, natural lakes and the reservoir. Warning- don't go if you don't like crowds!

Here are also a few more textures I made in Photoshop for autumn...you can download them here by opening in a new window: (and I will be adding them to my Flickr textures set as soon as I can.)

Peak Autumn texture

Blush Bokeh texture

Vintage Sepia Bokeh texture

Warm & Grungy texture

All textures are for your personal use or for use in finished creations. :)

Enjoy.....:)

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester is a quintessential New England fishing town North of Boston. Home to America's original seaport and a huge arts colony,  it's also home of the huge "Fisherman's Memorial" and plaques depicting the ships and people who have never come back from sea since the early 1800's.

Pretty sobering stats.

Above is an old paint factory which is very aged and picturesque and sits on the edge of town. I've read a few blog posts that indicate it may be demolished soon, so I snapped a few shots of it!

Yep, that's the Gorton Fishermen Man. Pretty good stuff for ready-made meals. Try it sometime.

A beautiful schooner and the sparkly water.

A beautiful lone tree on a hill. :)
If you're in the area you can learn more about Gloucester, events, directions and more here.

My Trip to Brimfield - the largest antiques & collectibles show in the U.S!

I thought I would share some of the photos I took while I was at the Brimfield, Massachusetts antique show this past weekend. The show has multiple fields, each one with several tables of its own. The whole show is one square mile worth of old, antique, or vintage goodies, as well as random collectibles like trains, signs, postcards, dolls, etc....I posted more info at the bottom!

A huge collection of Jadeite. The top row Sugar & Flower containers were priced at $75-95 each.

Texas Dairy buckets!! and an awesome, swiveling drawer storage thingy! If I had a bigger carriage I would take this home.

I loved these file drawers. Imagine how organized I could be with this...

More awesome storage!!

I loooove this old Red Cross container. Super cute in a vintage bathroom.

 Here is my breakfast- egg burrito and cranberry soda. P.S.- what is a "crantioxidant?" ..

People started to show up in droves by late morning...

Also....Jesus was there...along with that creepy mannequin in the background...

A huge Pez collection; old baskets painted pretty colors.

A chair from the 1870's was selling for $650; an old stove.

Lunchtime!

Gorgeous cobalt blue bottles would look great in the window.

Gazing ball atop an old pillar. That's me there in the middle...

 Pretty scrolled old doors.

The Crystal man. He had all crystal vintage chandeliers. I had to take these pics at a distance so as not to be rude. I would have loved to have gotten closer photos of the detail though.

 This vendor had tons of funny signs. He repurposed old doors and windows.

I would hang this in my basement....if I had one.

So, hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my day of Brimfield shopping. If you want to visit, hotels book a year in advance for tourists for this gigantic show. (I maybe did one-eighth of the show in 6 hours!) If you're within a few hours, take the drive up. It's worthwhile if you are a collector.

Visit their website here for information. The show happens three times a year in May, July and September. Hope to see you there next Spring!