Kilts

With the sun shining this morning, I finally set out for the St. Patricks Day parade in Hampton Bays. After a brutal winter, it was refreshing to see the sidewalks and parking lots brimming with activity. Green hats, green hair, green balloons, even green dogs bobbed by. Quickly, I pulled out my camera to capture all that Irish passing by. Visions of men in skirts however, still flashed in my mind's eye.

When the parade started, I set my shutter speed to 1/4 second to blur and therefore, accentuate the motion. Then they appeared, group after group in a range of plaids.
Running ahead, I pointed down toward their feet and the green line dividing the street. Afterwards, I selected the image above from the many I had taken. But I couldn't get one little girl out of my mind--the first of many I had seen dressed for the day. A Mexican girl named Zitlaya who complemented the green more beautifully than any other.

Tree Down

After several sunny days in a row last week, when spring seemed to be just around the corner, I planned to attend the St. Patrick's Day parade--a big event in Westhampton this time of year. With green in mind for this blog, I conjured kilts flashing by or four-leaf clovers reflected in store windows. However typical of March's schitzophrenic nature, a major storm gathered forcing officials to postpone the event until next weekend.

As the wind whipped and the rain pounded on Saturday, my fair-weather visions vanished. So I practiced patience (not easy for me) and waited for something, anything to replace them. I was already late in posting. Then just before dinner as the sky darkened, the power went out...
Sunday dawned with nothing new in mind and still no electricity; so I surrendered and reviewed images already taken, particularly those with a hint of spring. When the rain finally stopped in the afternoon, my daughter and I went out for a while. Driving home, we came upon a large tree blocking the roadway.

"Hey Mom," Jackie said, "why don't you just photograph the tree?"