Sunday, July 29, 2012

Out and About on Sunday

A few things that caught my eye on my Sunday walk after doing laundry: a cloud castle; a little stream way back in the woods; and another Halloween Pennant dragonfly.




I also managed to capture the quintessential soundtrack of deep summer - Cicadas. The woods are almost deafening with the sound of them, although you can hear a Cardinal holding his own in this clip.



© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Thursday, July 26, 2012

It's Raining


It poured down about an hour ago. I ran the shot through the Holga emulator Photoshop action to get this old photo look.

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

More Black & White Studies

Here are some b&w shots created in the past week: a farm on Fish Hatchery Rd. taken on the way home from my visit to the Ridge Church cemetery; a heart spray-painted on an old electrical box back in the woods along the Dykeman Walking Trail; and that footbridge made of old girders over the creek near the trail. Enjoy!




© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sunday Scenes

Taking a walk through the Dykeman Springs Wetland Park after doing my laundry this morning, these particular scenes captured my eye. The twisting, almost writhing vines of the first shot struck me as Tolkien-esque, as if they were in Fangorn Forest, or maybe the Old Forest, waiting for Treebeard or Tom Bombadil to come along and free any unfortunate wayfarer who may have gotten tangled in them. The shelf fungus is here just because I like the colors. And the two bridges over the creek as it runs between the ball fields at the other end of the nature trail caught my eye because they give off an air of ancient times, even though they're probably not even 30 years old. Now that I think of it, all of these photos give off an air of antiquity to me, even the fungus. See what you think.





© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Saturday, July 21, 2012

For Aurora

For the people of Aurora, CO in their time of grief.



Photos © 2008 - 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ridge Church Cemetery


The Church of the Brethren is part of the same German Pietist and Anabaptist movement that produced the Mennonites and the Amish, and the Brethren have tended to settle in the same places in the US as their Mennonite and Amish cousins. They don't dress differently or avoid modern technology like the old order Amish and Mennonites, but they do put a strong emphasis on simplicity and peace. They have a strong tradition of pacifism and non-violence and are recognized by the US government as legitimate conscientious objectors, like the Mennonites and Quakers, and are absolved from military service. They have a strong presence in the Shippensburg area; there are two congregations that I know of, one on Washington St. in Shippensburg and this one out on Newburg Rd. at Ridge Rd.

The Ridge Church of the Brethren's congregation was organized in 1842, and its original church was built in 1853. The current sanctuary was built in 1958; the original sanctuary, marked by the above plaque on the original site, burned down after being struck by lightning not long after. 

The cemetery itself is as old as the congregation, and the stones here go back to the mid 1800s. The farther away from the road, the newer the graves, and I stuck with the oldest section of the cemetery. These gravestones are very simply carved local limestone, much like the ones in the Myers Old Order Mennonite cemetery we visited last year. While not quite as stark and small as the stones in the Myers cemetery, they're still very simple - just name, dates, and familial relationships (Beloved Daughter of, Husband of, etc.) with no epitaph, not even a quote from the Bible. And little or no ornamentation; any ornamentation is simple, and much of it has suffered the ravages of time because of the softness of the limestone from which they're carved. Even the more modern granite stones, which appear here and there in the older section and dominate the newer end, follow the same rules of "just the facts, ma'am" and simple or no ornamentation. For somebody like me, who came from New England with its carved slate stones with lots of carved decoration and pithy epitaphs from the Bible and the classics, this kind of simplicity causes a high degree of culture shock!

In any case, here are scenes from the Ridge Church cemetery:







On the way back I paused at the intersection of Ridge and Newburg Roads to get these panoramic shots looking over the outlying farms and ridges and Shippensburg to South Mountain:



As you can see from the haze, it was a fairly hot and humid day. The hike was four miles out and four miles back, so I was quite happy to get back home and start pouring iced tea into me!

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Plink!

A brief rain shower prickles the surface of a pond in the Dykeman Springs Wetlands Park today.

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Friday, July 06, 2012

A Shady Spot

One of the cooler spots in town is the nice and shady God's Acre cemetery on North Prince St. I wandered around after doing laundry this morning to try and discover where weary wanderers might find cool relief. This looked to be the best bet.



© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Heat Wave


This was the temperature in the Shippensburg, PA Lowe's garden center this afternoon. It's official, we're having a heat wave, and there are at least two more days of this horror yet to come.

Speaking of a heat wave, here's Ella to sing all about it:


Hmmm... That sounded like a request for more Ella. "Summertime" anyone?


Photo © 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Cool Water

It's hot, humid, and generally unbearable here. I'm off today, and I snuck out early before the heat got a foothold. I figured I'd get some shots of water to get the mind cool in hopes that the effect would spread to the body, and I added sound and music to enhance the effect. I hope it works!





Photos © 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger