Short Trip Home

In the last post, I mentioned a short trip home to the US.  It was a whirlwind visit, which included NYC, Boston, and New Hampshire, a birthday dinner, an art exhibit, a conference, two conference dinners, a hike, visits with all three daughters, one of my sisters, and one of my nephews, and catching up with a large number of friends and colleagues, all in about 100 hours on the ground.  (It did not include much sleep.)  It was a wonderful visit, though, and I was so pleased to be able to go.  

One of the highlights was a hike on the Gilman Pond Trail in Alton, New Hampshire, with Kate, Jack, and Shannon.  The hike starts near Gilman Pond, where you can see a large beaver dam.  It continues around the pond, with choices between a high trail on granite ledges above the pond, a low trail close to pond-height, and a trail in between.  We took the in-between trail.  I have been on it several times, but it's lovely and interesting and not too long, so it seemed like a good choice for the morning I was flying back to Paris.  The colors were past peak, but it was still beautiful.

Below (left side of the photo) is the beaver lodge that goes with the beaver dam.

  

Here are some of the granite ledges that you can choose to hike above or below (or on).

We went back to Shannon's house after the hike and had a delicious lunch of green chicken chili with all of the fixings.  

Another highlight of the trip was an exhibit of pet photography at Fotografiska in New York.  The exhibit was filled with a century of inventive pet portraits, some hilarious, some touching, some a little weird.  Below are a few of my favorites (photo credit to Caroline).

It's a little hard to tell at first glance, but the first one is a series of film roll images of a dog with crazy fur.  I love how the images arrayed as they are and viewed from a distance have an unmistakable abstract quality to them.

Here is one in a series of post-bath dog portraits--sweet, pathetic, funny.

And, finally, here are two cat portraits by someone regarded as the world's best cat photographer, Walter Chandoha.  I love how the cats' personalities shine through so clearly (or at least what people imagine their personalities must be).  I would not want to mess with that crew. 

Our time in Paris will go quickly, I am sure, so we cherish it.  But a quick trip back home is sometimes just what one needs.