September 21

I tell a wonderful story at National Novel Writing Month events in Boston. It's a ghost story called, "Merlene, the one-heeled drag queen of Waxacatchie County." The story is in the best oral tradition and really doesn't translate well to written form, so I'm not going to try to force it on you here.

Paradoxically, the story has become popular at our events, which means I get to tell it several times over the month of November. I can make longtime NaNoBoston participants laugh by merely going, "whump WHUMP!" So this year, Anna and I decided that Merlene should make appearances at various NaNoBoston events. As her only remaining corporeal remains of Merlene are one high-heeled shoe, this necessitated a visit to a shoe store.

The story itself is entertaining, and it lends itself well to small-scale merchandising aimed at our local participants. Thus, I took this photograph, possibly to be billed as Merlene at the site of her biggest hit.

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September 19 - 20

A unique set of circumstances kept me from posting my photos this weekend. I was on a trip and didn't have reliable Internet access for most of it. I'm combining these posts in order to play catch up.

September 19

My friend Anna and I took a whirlwind trip to Upstate New York this weekend. Anna's family lives there, and happen to be only a few minutes from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, one of the premier museums of early aviation, and one that puts on airshows in their vintage aircraft. It was the perfect opportunity for me to go visit the Aerodrome, which has fascinated me since I first heard of the place, and for Anna to get a free ride home to visit her folks one weekend. (More on this later.) It was also the chance to visit my friend Mark, who moved from Boston years ago and lives just down the road from Rhinebeck.

With National Novel Writing Month coming up, it also gave us a chance to sit and begin planning our schedule and events, since its a four-hour drive out there and back. It also gave us the chance to pick up the only remains of Merlene, who will be attending our events as well as featuring on NaNoBoston merchandise in our CafePress store.

I got the above picture of the Mid-Hudson Bridge in Poughkeepsie while returning from the mall with Anna, where we had picked up Merlene. It's beautifully lit at night, and the lights change colors in an intricately-synchronized routine.

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September 20

Sunday, Anna and I, along with her father, headed over to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome for the airshow. It was remarkable, and less airshow in the traditional sense than pure showmanship and old-fashioned entertainment. Old Rhinebeck has a large collection of flyable vintage and reproduction aircraft, and they put on a fine program.

This is the business end of their Albatros D.Va, a reproduction built in 1975 by the museum's founder, Cole Palen, and his associates. It's simply beautiful, and watching it in flight was a delight. It was also nearly impossible to photograph clearly because of my lack of a fast lens with a long-enough focal length. When the airshow was over I hied it to the display to get some shots, including this one, which is my favorite.

It was a long short weekend, if that makes any sense to you. I was gone about 37 hours, and spent 12 of those hours in the driver's seat. Still, it was absolutely worth the trip, and with the most perfect weather imaginable, a great way to spend the last weekend of the summer.

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