Late winter, Bradley Palmer State Park

Went for a two-mile run at Bradley Palmer State Park this afternoon. The pond at the entrance on the Topsfield side (above) is still iced over, and there was a lot of slushy ice along the roadway heading out to the kiddie pool. Just goes to show that melting lags in the cool woods.

Not thrilled to be doing all the pre- and post-running stuff for just two miles, but I’m glad to be moving again.

Here we go

Centennial Common at Northeastern University, right around 9 a.m. today.

Checking in from the North Shore

The view from our back porch, minutes ago.

Coming attractions

The temperature on Mount Washington at 9:30 a.m.: 19.4 degrees. Wind chill: minus-5.4 degrees. Cog Railway in foreground; Northern Presidentials in background. Visit the Mount Washington Observatory, from whose webcam I downloaded this image.

One for the Fail Blog?

Saw this while riding my bike along Route 1A in Ipswich earlier today. I’ve probably passed by it hundreds of times over the past 25 years, but this time it caught my eye.

Willowdale on a dry summer’s day

I’m not running because I’m trying to recover from a heel injury. I’m not riding because my bike’s in the shop with a snapped gear cable. So this afternoon I hiked through Willowdale State Forest in Topsfield (this link says it’s in Ipswich, but I stayed on the Topsfield side).

Because of the unusually dry summer, I was able to walk along trails that are almost always off-limits, including a particularly nice path that bisects a swamp. The horseflies and mosquitoes were obnoxious, but not overwhelmingly so.

Despite the dry weather, we’ve had some wild storms. Because of flooding damage, the footbridge that connects Willowdale with Bradley Palmer State Park is out — from the serious-looking chain-link fence that’s been built around it, I’d be surprised to see it reopen any time soon.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos.

Chapel* at Gordon-Conwell

I just got back from a 20-mile bike ride in the humid North Shore air. My route took me past Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Wenham, which I had never seen, even though I’ve driven by it many times. So I explored the grounds and got this shot with my BlackBerry of the chapel (which is at the summit of a rather brutal hill). It would have made for a better picture if the cars weren’t there.

*Correction: A friend who attended Gordon-Conwell tells me that the chapel is actually behind this building.

Walking the future Danvers rail trail

I took a walk this afternoon along the abandoned railroad tracks in Danvers from Chestnut Street to Topsfield Road (Route 97), which is supposed to become part of a North Shore bicycle trail. For more information check out Danvers Bi-Peds.

Since I forgot to bring my camera, I took these with my BlackBerry instead. I’m astonished at how good they came out.

Surfs pounds Gloucester coast

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
I headed up to Gloucester this afternoon with my trusty Canon PowerShot SD890 IS to see what the nor’easter was doing along the coast. My first stop was a protected beach. There was so little wind that people were walking in the sand, including a woman and her dog.

Then I turned the corner, and entered a different world. On the rocky coast facing the ocean there were gale-force winds, high waves and surf pounding the shore. Above is my test of flickrSLiDR (hey, I don’t come up with the names), and below, a short video.

I’m glad it wasn’t snow.

More: I should have mentioned that I used the stabilization feature in iMovie ’09 for the first time and was really impressed. I was getting blown all over the place, but in the video it just seems like I’m drifting a bit. I’d also be curious to know whether you like the embedded slideshow or find it distracting — would you rather click and jump to Flickr?

New Year’s snowstorm

Rather than sit in the house and curse the snow, I grabbed my camera and tramped around Danvers this afternoon — along the power lines not far from St. John’s Prep, through Endicott Park and at Glen Magna. Nothing special, but if you like snow pictures, here are snow pictures.