Catgirl Stars As Brachiosaurus!

In May, the Kindergarten and first grades presented Dinomotion! for their spring production at school. Nate and Amy, John and I went to see it. I had my new long lens, which was a huge benefit to getting these shots. Catgirl is in Kindergarten and was at times nervous, shy, tired and happy. When Catgirl saw me and John, she waved to us and we saw her relax a bit. She had her first solo part as the Brachiosaurus and her father had helped her learn her part perfectly. She was a beautiful star that night! You have to forgive me posting so many photographs of her . . . she is just so cute that I couldn’t select just a couple shots.

After the show, Amy & Nate treated us all to ice cream sundaes (except John, who doesn’t particularly care for it) at Tim & Doug’s in Newport. We walked on the boardwalk at Memphremagog, where Ironman told us to watch out for whales and dolphins.

Tim & Doug's Ice Cream Stand is the best place for ice cream!

Lake Memphremagog
Bear Mountain (Vermont) on the left.
Owl's Head (Quebec) on the right.

John and I stopped for sunset photos in Coventry

on the way home from this great evening.

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Photo Hunters: Sign on the Hebard Building

The Hebard State Office Building in Newport is relatively new. It is on the waterfront of Lake Memphremagog and houses the Department of Motor Vehicles, a lawyer office, meeting space and the Community College of Vermont (where I teach). Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, 2004 presidential candidate and now Chairman of the National Democratic Committee, dedicated this building in 1999. Below is a panorama photo of the building that I made this past week. The lake is on the right so that our classrooms all have views of the lake and the Canadian mountains. Please click on it to view it full size.

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Technorati Tags: Newport, Vermont, Hebard State Office Building, Howard Dean, Lake Memphremagog
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Photo Hunters: Different Effects

Parallels

Clockwise from top left: color, sepia, black & white, antique

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Wordless Wednesday: A Cold Fish

The granite trout is more comfortable now.
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Technorati Tags: Andrea Wasserman, granite trout, Emery A. Hebard State Office Building, Newport, Vermont
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Heads or Tails: First or Last: Newport, Vermont

Poulin Grain: In the middle of the city

Newport, Vermont is at the southern end of Lake Memphremagog. Memphremagog is a 32 mile (51.5 km) long fresh water glacial lake straddling the international border between Newport and Magog, Québec. Newport is, therefore, the first (or last) American city on the lake. These are photographs of sites and views in Newport taken from the shore of the lake.

Owl's Head Mountain (elevation: 2,450 ft or 746.76 meters), in Québec, Canada as seen from Newport across Lake Memphremagog, viewed in the last light of day (which, with the dark cloud bank, explains the darkness of the photo). Owl's Head is way back in the darkness and can be seen more easily if you click on the photo and view the large version in a new window.

The Gateway Center, site of many social functions in the area.

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Technorati Tags: Heads or Tails, Newport, Vermont, Magog, Quebec, Owl's Head, Poulin Grain, Gateway Center

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Heads or Tails: Newport Vanes

I have been collecting weather vane photos lately. These are two from the Newport, Vermont waterfront. The top photo is the vane on the Hebard Building. It is a salmon, a fish from Lake Memphremagog. The photo below is of a van from the top of a gazebo on the lake front walkway.


Technorati tags: Heads+or+Tails Newport Vermont weather+vanes

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Wordless Wednesday: My Obligatory Perching Seagull Photo

Technorati tags: seagull Newport Vermont
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The Powder Kegs In Concert

The Powder Kegs are one of my favorite groups. I heard them on A Prairie Home Companion in April when they won the 2007 Talent Contest. I immediately bought their album, The Seedhouse at the iTunes store.

Last Thursday, August 9, they appeared in Newport to benefit the Goodrich Memorial Library. About a hundred people showed up for the concert in the Newport police building.

Unfortunately, because of my wet lens and wrong settings, my photos of them are pretty poor. But I found that they have a Flickr account, so go make them a contact (they have none!) to keep in touch with what they are doing.

Sunset over Lake Memphremagog.

It was a beautiful night in Newport. The band was late because of car problems. They set up way at the end of the police gymnasium and then played one song with the microphones. They immediately turned the electronics off and moved up close to us in the audience, which won them tremendous applause. The double bass player was especially personable..

The concert benefitted the Goodrich Memorial Library across from the police station where the concert was held. During intermission, a tour was given of the library. I walked down to the bank during intermission.

The Newport police stations and municipal building. The concert was held in the huge section in the back with the big roof, which is where the police gym is.

The clock tower of the Orleans County Court across the street from the police station.

After the concert, I picked up Mousie at Amy's house and went home to a great weekend.

Technorati tags: The+Powder+Kegs The+Seedhouse Newport Vermont

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Historic Census of Barton, Vermont

I had to compile some census data for Newport City for my class this coming Tuesday night. The US Census site is difficult to use for historic data but Wikipedia had what I wanted. The data only went back to 1900 but it was enough for the exercise that I want the class to do. Whoever wrote the Wikipedia page (and I don't even know enough about Wikipedia to find that information) has my thanks.

DataFerrett is a census tool that I downloaded but it is buggy and non-intuitive and I really don't have the time to read all the docs.

I have made the data public so that we can view it and use it in class. Google comes through for me again: no sending of files, no more making jpeg files from PDF files. I just made it and published it. I still worry about Google being too big for its britches.

Technorati tags: population historic+census Barton Newport+City Vermont Google+docs mathematics DataFerrett

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Verizon and St. Mary Star of the Sea

St. Mary's Church in Newport overlooks the entire city on a high hill. Because of this, Verizon sought a contract with the church to install cell phone equipment in the bell towers around 2003-2004. The diocese in Burlington signed the contract, which would give St. Mary's (or the diocese) an estimated $18,000 to $20,000 in income.


However, when residents in the neighborhood heard about the deal, they objected. They said that transmissions from the towers are detrimental to our health and that Verizon and the Catholic Church could not implement the contract without neighborhood meetings. Which were then held.


Vermont Public Radio also at that time broadcast a call-in show with Scandinavian "experts". These people told us how radiation from the equipment can heat up the fluid within the cells of our bodies. It is a minute amount of heating, but it is unnatural and, therefore, dangerous.

The view of Lake Memphremagog from the church steps.

Verizon was beaten back with testimony such as this. The church lost extra income. There is spotty cell service in Newport. I am not an advocate of cell phones and feel them to be unnecessary (but if you want to give me an iPhone and an AT&T contract for service for one, I will accept the gift valued at $2,500). I think the expert testimony could be challenged and I think the deal with the diocese was a lost opportunity. But I will also fight on to keep cell towers off of Barton Mountain.

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Howard Frank Mosher in Newport

Goodrich Memorial Library

Howard Frank Mosher, author of Marie Blythe, appeared at the Woodknot Bookstore in Newport on Friday, June 29. As soon as I heard of his appearance, Wingnut and I ran up there. I bought his new book, On Kingdom Mountain, and he signed it.

Orleans County Courthouse

Mr. Mosher and his wife both know D and M from school. He didn't remember me from last May when he signed Marie Blythe for me. But he repeated the story of Marie as being true and she is still alive in Brownington.

Orleans District Courthouse

He had returned the night before from a ten bookstore tour in Massachusetts and the next day he was leaving for a one hundred city tour. He didn't want to go because the weather in Vermont is the most perfect that you can find anywhere in the world in the winter.

View of Lake Memphremagog from the District Court

Wingnut and I took the time to take photos in Newport for this post. The courthouses are the scene of Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, an Oprah Book. The view of Lake Memphremagog from the courthouse is mentioned in one scene.

Wash Your Zebra Mussels!

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