Seven below zero Christmas Day in Chaumont N.Y.

7 below zero on this 2013 Christmas morning in Chaumont, NY. This photo snapped with iPhone a couple hours ago. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Ice storm 2013 in northern NY

The photos presented of the 2013 Ice Storm in northern NY were all snapped at or close to my home in the village of Chaumont. I was one of the lucky ones who never lost electric service. I did, however, lose my cable TV because a tree limb landed on that particular wire tearing it from the utility pole. The service remains out on this Christmas Eve. It is my understanding that there are still many thousands without electricity. That will make for a memorable Christmas for those folks. Most of the photos are self explanatory. Tree damage in my front and back yard. A Maple tree in the back split, half falling on a portion of the backyard fence. There is a tall Pine in the backyard that lost a lot of limbs. A view from the front porch. A street scene or two. These photos were all snapped Saturday and Sunday.

The following is an e-mail I sent to my bosses at SMG letting them know how I was faring in the ice. With a driving ban in place and the possibilty of more ice and damge to my home I wanted to give them a heads up in case I was unable to work for them the next day:

Well, I have numerous tree limbs down and one of them severed my tv cable. I am one of the lucky ones whose power has not been lost. However, there is a no driving ban In effect. I spent good portion of today cutting tree limbs from my phone wires and some large branches weighing down the power line to my house. It was a dicey operation as I was worried the power line might break any time. About an hour ago the rain resumed and its below 30 degrees. If this continues I may wake up to some real trouble in the morning. I don't think my power lines to the house can take much more. Gary
Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 22, 2013, at 10:39 AM

IPhone photo of my mother snapped about 45 minutes ago. The Better Half & I stopped in for a short visit after attending Indian River Middle School Christmas concert. The Family Violinist plays in the school orchestra. That's why we were there.

Cold as Hell at our house

Just got home from Syracuse. It is 12:30am and it is 6 degrees below zero here in Chaumont N.Y.

I snapped this photo this morning when the temperature was 1 below zero.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas play in Rochester NY

Where in the World am I? I am at Jim's Restaurant on East Main St in Rochester NY where I snapped this photo. The Better Half & I are with her daughter #2 and her family. We are in Rochester to watch a play version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Cold and snowy lately

Been quite cold for the past week. Just got home at 1:00 am and it is 1 degree below zero. Yikes! I snapped the photo presented here yesterday in Watertown. Took it with the iPhone.

2013 Clayton Christmas Parade

The 51st annual Clayton Christmas Parade, 2013

I present here a selection of photos from the Clayton Christmas Parade.

Friday night I photographed two basketball games, had some software issues while editing the photos and ended up getting home and to bed late: 2:00AM. Yikes! Anyhow, I slept lousy and got up yesterday  at 8:30. Not enough sleep. I went into town and did my guitar lessons. Then in the evening we went to the Christmas Parade in Clayton. This was the village's 51st annual Xmas parade. The Better Half's number one daughter and her family met us there. It was really cold with a strong wind blowing in off the river. (the St. Lawrence).
The parade began about 6:15. We got into the village about 5:00 so as to get some street parking on the parade route. That way if we got too cold we could get into the car for a warm up. We met up at Coyote Moon Winery store on Riverside Drive where we passed the time drinking a bottle of their wine until the parade started.. While we did that the kids went down the street to get some  kid friendly beverages. It all worked out well, we got really cold, watched some of the parade from the KIA van, then watched the fireworks from a vantage point outside the van on Riverside Drive.

The evening finished off with fireworks over the business district in Clayton. 

Snowman and snow scene

Snowman in my neighbors yard, Chaumont, N.Y.                                                                             Gary Walts photo

Went Christmas shopping yesterday with the Better Half and in the course of it picked up our Christmas tree. I'll put up photos of that later. In the mean time the snowy tree in the field was taken in Calcium, NY at the Gracy farm. The snowman is in the front yard of one of my neighbors here in Chaumont.

Snowy tree in a field at the Gracy farm in Calcium, N.Y.                                                Gary Walts photo

Photo from Black Friday

I snapped this photo in Syracuse on Black Friday. The city held their Christmas tree lighting celebration downtown so there was plenty happening.
I got up this morning to find our oil furnace quit working during the night. I called service guy who will be here sometime tomorrow. Fortunately we have a wood stove so we will be ok. I played guitar for a couple of hours today at a craft Shia/sale at the state office building. The event is a. Annual fund raiser for the Watertown Urban Mission. That went really well. From there I went to Parish and made a portrait of a family for a Sean Kirst story. Sean is a writer for the Post-Standard. Just got back home at midnight. Will hit the sack here in a few more minutes.

It's a cold Black Friday 2013

Today is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It is a cold one here in northern NY. The temperature in Chaumont was a mere 8 degrees. That's chilly baby. I am working later today for The Post-Standard and syracuse.com. I will be covering events in Armory Square in Syracuse. I snapped a photo from the downstairs bathroom this morning. The dark mass on the left is an out of focus Maple tree. The wall at the right is the back shed that is need of painting. The morning Sun illuminates a section of the backyard fence. There is also some frost formations on the storm window.

A frosty window here in Chaumont on this Black Friday morning. View of the backyard from the downstairs bathroom. 

If I had shot this photo with the Nikon D300 or D7000 I could have used a small apertutre and increased the depth of field so that the frost pattern on the storm window would be sharp.

Tom and Jerry time at The Crystal Restaurant in Watertown, N.Y.

View of my neighbors house as seen from my front porch through the snow covered Lilac bushes. This is what we woke up to this morning. It certainly sets a festive tone for Thanksgiving and approaching Christmas.

One sure sign of the holiday season is when the Crystal Restaurant in Watertown, NY, starts serving Tom and Jerry's. It's a great, tasty holiday drink. People stop in just to have a couple at the bar. Today I went there with my Celebrity Brother and brother R the Builder. As you can see by the photos there was some snow today. It mostly came last night. It is the heavy, wet, slushy type of snow.

Tom & Jerry drinks served up at the Crystal Restauran in Watertown, NY. photo by Gary Walts

The  Crystal Restaurant sign, downtown Watertown. The restaurant is a landmark in the city and has changed little for many years. 

Go here for a Tom & Jerry recipe
Go here to learn more about this Christmas Cocktail

Snowy Winter weather coming

A dusting of snow on the welcome mat outside our back door in Chaumont, NY.        iPhone photo by Gary Walts

There's supposed to be some foul Winter weather arriving here in northern NY. So far in the village of Chaumont we have had little snow. The recent night time temps have been 10 or 12 degrees. We had a wee bit of snow last night, just enough to put a dusting on the welcome mat outside our back door.