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Showing posts from 2010

Self Portrait

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A frosty Christmas wreath after the December 27th, 2010 storm on Salem Armory-Visitors Center Essex Street, Salem, MA Author appears below.
Related articlesTop 5 Christmas Wreaths (beso.com)Sepia Saturday - Department Store Santas (crazyasacoolfox.blogspot.com)Sepia Saturday - Boston's Official Christmas Tree (crazyasacoolfox.blogspot.com)
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Location: National Maritime Historic Park, Salem, MA, USA
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In the Shadow of a Cold Warrior

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A lone sentinel stands guard over the graves of
Salem's Civil War dead on a cold winter day.
For more Shadow Shots click the link in the side bar.
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Location: Green Lawn Cemetery, Salem MA
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Sepia Saturday - Department Store Santas

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It seems everywhere we look there is a Santa Claus. Look there he is in a parade! Look there he is riding in on a horse to light the Christmas tree! Look there he is sitting in a mall listening to children's wishes!

Once there was only one Santa Claus that I knew of which was the department store Santa Claus. This Santa Claus was extra special because we would ride the train into the city of Boston. That in itself was a grand occasion for me.

Jordan Marsh Department Store was in the middle of the downtown shopping district. I don't remember how we got there from North Station, perhaps we took a cab. If we took the subway I would have rememebered that. Jordan Marsh is now owned by the mega store Macy's and the tradition at the Boston store continues as it does I'm sure at every Macy's in the around the world.

My mother made her own collage with these photos on red felt and had surrounded the photos with a gold fabric border. I recently found them cut from the collag…
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Location: Jordan Marsh Department Store, Boston, MA, USA
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Long Winter Shadows

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Lonesome head stones cast shadows on fresh blanket of snow


For more Shadow Shots click the link in the sidebar Related articlesWhite Christmas a 'foregone conclusion' say forecasters who expect snow blanket to cover Britain on December 25 (dailymail.co.uk)
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Location: Salem, MA, USA
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Sepia Saturday - The Mile High Mountain

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There is a mountain in Maine called Katahdin. The name comes from a local the local indian Penobscot language meaning "the great mountain." It's summit is the northern terminus of the 2180 mile Appalachian Trail that stretches from Maine to Georgia. I have climbed this mountain that has beautiful views from the top.


The height of Katahdin is 5260 feet above sea level just 20 feet short of one mile. This is according to official statistics by US Geological Surveys.


But what is Mount Katahdin's unoffical height? For years hikers have added stones to a summit cairn. A legend is that the summit cairn adds 20 feet to the height of the mountain making it exactly one mile high.


I was reminded of this legend by a movie I recently viewed "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain" staring Hugh Grant. This movie is a hilarious story about a quaint Welsh village that takes pride in its local "mountain." But to officially qualify as a mountain …
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Location: Mt Katahdin, Baxter State Park, ME, USA
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We Are Now Mobile!

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CrazyasaCoolFox is now available in mobile format for your iPods, iPhones, and other smartphone devices.
 Go check us out and bookmark us there! Thanks Blogger for this early Christmas present!
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Theme Thursday - World's Largest World

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This week's theme is MAP.

IF you're ever in the Freeport, Maine area, famous for the LL Bean headquaters and flagship store, stop in to Delorme. They are famous for their atlas and gazetteers of all 50 US states. Their headquarters also houses "Eartha," the World's largest rotating and revolving model of the earth. Rather than repeat those stats here are the links.

Delorme
Eartha
Eartha in Wickipedia
LL Bean
Theme Thursday
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Location: Delorme World Headquarters, Delorme Ave. Yarmouth, ME
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Theme Thursday - T1 R13 WELS

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Image via Wikipedia This week's theme is MAP.

What and where is T1 R13 WELS? The State of Maine has some very strange place names for their cities, towns, and MCDs. MCDs? An MCD is a Minor Civil Division. Of the 911 MCDs in Maine 380 have place names with nondescript letters and numbers. This is how the State of Maine keeps track of areas that are not populated or the population is to low to pony up the taxes to run a full fledged town. There are many areas in Maine that are not populated. In fact the State of Maine is known to have the last great wilderness areas in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

Would you like to own your own town? Buy up all the property in a MCD and you can be the mayor and name it whatever you would like.
There is a road in Maine called the "Golden Road." The Golden Road is a private road owned and maintained by the paper companies. It is mainly used to haul logs to the paper plant in .
The paper companies allow the public to use the ro…
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Location: Maine, USA
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Christmas Cats

Would this blog really stoop that low to get more hits
by featuring a cute cat Christmas video?




Answer: YES!
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Sepia Saturday - Snowbound

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At the beginning of last summer I featured John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, "The Barefoot Boy." With winter rapidly approaching it's time to feature his "bookend" poem entitled "Snowbound." Whittier grew up on a farm in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His poem evokes a vivid picture of what life was like in the early 19th century rural America. The raging snowstorm outside seems to suggest a looming death which is negated by the family's nostalgia. Below I have excerpted a portion of "Snowbound." The poem can be found in it's entirety here.

I have my own snowbound memories. Only 15 miles from Whittier's home these photos show my childhood home. I can vividly remember trudging through this snow that was up to my waist. Of course I was a little one at the time, perhaps 5 or 6 years old. I never noticed this until now; those footsteps in the snow lead to who I believe are myself and my father at the front door. The last photo is me on …
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Location: John Greenleaf Whittier Birthplace, 305 Whittier Rd, Haverhill, MA 01830, USA
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Theme Thursday - Test

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Just a warning, this test is evil. lol
Stupidity Test - Find out how stupid you are by taking this test
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Cat in the Courtyard

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I was walking by the Peabody Essex Museum one day. They have this beautiful Japanese Garden surrounded by on iron fence which can be seen from the street. I was shooting some photos through that fence. As I looked I saw this cat. Looking for mice maybe?


Photos: CrazyasaCoolFox
Related articlesBonsai at The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (mysweetgreens.com)Theme Thursday - Fence (crazyasacoolfox.blogspot.com)River Surfing (crazyasacoolfox.blogspot.com)
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Location: Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St, Salem, MA 01970, USA
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Theme Thursday - Salute to the Old Stone Face

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This week's theme is Stone.
"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men." Daniel Webster
This is a subject I have always wanted to blog but never found a good ending.
Now there is one. It involves a natural stone profile image of an old man on the side of a mountain. If you were to look at this at the right angle and perspective his image would appear. It was a very popular tourist attraction for centuries. It was so popular that it became the symbol of the State of New Hampshire. The state uses the image on their license plates, state road signs, and it was chosen to be the image on the obverse side of the state quarter. In May 3, 2003 it came crashing down into the valley below. This was never witnessed as it was foggy the morning after the fal…
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Grave Reflections

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Location: Salem, MA, USA
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Sepia Saturday - Freedom From Want

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Thanksgiving
Norman Rockwell's "Freedoms" series was painted by the artist during WWII. He wanted to help out the war effort but was to old to enter the military. He did four paintings being inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech on freedoms presented to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941.
Freedom of  Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear were the titles of the work. Rockwell's series of four paintings. which included this painting entitled Freedom from Want were produced in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943.
Hope everyone had a nice
Thanksgiving!


Related articlesAn Easy Take on Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving Classic (thekitchn.com)Norman Rockwell Museum celebrates Boy Scouts 100th anniversary (timesunion.com)Thank You ~ Happy Thanksgiving (allmilitary.com)Exhibition of Norman Rockwell Study Photographs and Paintings At Brooklyn Museum (prweb.com)
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Location: Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge. MA, USA
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We Gather Together To Ask The Lord's Blessing

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Thanksgiving
Norman Rockwell's "Freedoms" series was painted by the artist during WWII. He wanted to help out the war effort but was to old to enter the military. He did four paintings being inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech on freedoms presented to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941.
Freedom of  Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear were the titles of the work. Rockwell's series of four paintings. which included this painting entitled Freedom from Want were produced in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943.


Happy Thanksgiving Everyone




Related articlesAn Easy Take on Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving Classic (thekitchn.com)Norman Rockwell Museum celebrates Boy Scouts 100th anniversary (timesunion.com)Thank You ~ Happy Thanksgiving (allmilitary.com)Exhibition of Norman Rockwell Study Photographs and Paintings At Brooklyn Museum (prweb.com)
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Location: Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA, USA
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Turkey? No Thanks... But Happy Thanksgiving!

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You can keep your turkey...
just give me nuts for Thanksgiving! I need to get ready for winter.
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Sepia Saturday - Bridge Transformation

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This week's post may over lap another post I wrote about the bridge you see on the right in the post card view entitled Bridge of Death.

I wanted to show the transformation from the 1902 "Green Bridge" to the 1972 Gillis Bridge to the 2010 Clipper City Rail Trail. The Green Bridge is now gone. It carried US Route 1 over the Merrimack River. The Gillis Bride now serves Route 1.
The 4th photo is taken from the same vantage point as the postcard. The Gillis Bridge was built to the left of the Green Bridge in a curved flyover fashion.
In the lower left of the 3rd photo and the final photo you see a piece of sculpture which is part of the Clipper City Rail Trail and East Coast Greenway that crosses the Merrimack River at this point on the Gillis Bridge.

Rear of the postcard is transcribed here:
Postmark; Cushing, Mass (Salisbury Beach) Aug 10, 1908 4 PM. Addressed to; Miss Alice Warren, Proctorsville, Vermont. Message; Am at Salisbury Beach for a few days + this view is about 6…
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Location: Newburyport, MA, USA
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Theme Thursday - Food Fight!

This week's theme is Food.
I don't know why this came to my mind when I saw this week's theme. As I state in my profile, my therapist reads this blog. With that said, this is a scene from that 1978 classic movie Animal House. It's a wild comedy of a fictional fraternity house that is in a "battle" with the Dean of Students. This is the beginning of the "food fight" scene.
Enjoy!



Hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving

Have a food fight over at Theme Thursday by clicking here.
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This Cat is My Hero

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A Car With More Horse Power

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Springtime in November (our 400th post!)

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A "spring" high tide covers the end of Derby Wharf November 8, 2010, 12:08 PM





Related articlesStorm Damages Tree Branch - The Aftermath of Hurricane Earl (crazyasacoolfox.blogspot.com)Inbound or Outbound: Your Choice (crazyasacoolfox.blogspot.com)
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