THE BURLINGTON SCENE

I’m only an amateur photographer, with no sense of artistry. I just walk or ride my bicycle (in both cases, nearly always along the Burlington bicycle path, which runs along the shore of Lake Champlain for about 11 km. If I see something striking, I stop, take out my camera (which is a simple HP Photosmart M417), and shoot the picture. The scenery around Burlington is so beautiful all year long that there is never a shortage of suitable targets. I have arranged this album by seasons, starting in late March and ending in late February. I don’t always remember which year a picture was taken, since I don’t file the pictures on my computer with the dates. Nature doesn’t run according to human clocks and calendars in any case. (For the record, I’m writing this in August 2009.)

SPRING

Spring in Vermont is disappointing to those who have seen what it can mean in Virginia or England. The first month of it is hardly distinguishable from winter. The only hint of spring you get in March is that there might be a crocus or two if you are lucky. You can bet there will still be plenty of snow and ice as well, however. Once the daffodils get started in mid-April, we’re on our way. Then comes my very favorite month of all in Vermont: May, the month of apple blossoms and tulips, which you wish could last forever, even it all the pollen makes your eyes water. You are able to forget the harsh winter that just passed and in no hurry to turn spring into summer.

This picture and the one below were taken along the bicycle path near the Pine Street barge canal on Easter Sunday (March 23), 2008. Early Easters can be discouraging here.

When May comes, the city is a riot of rhododendra, tulips, and apple blossoms, spectacularly beautiful. This year, the wisteria my wife planted in front of our house years ago bloomed lavishly in May, as you see in the picture below. It smelled as wonderful as it looked. If we are lucky, a little forsythia may still be hanging on in early May, as in the second picture below, which shows the front of my property with a flowering crab apple tree.

SUMMER

Although Vermont is not famous for its summers, it ought to be. Lake Champlain beckons you to swim or canoe or kayak or fish. The Adirondack Mountains to the west and the Green Mountains to the east make a cruise on the Lake a memorable experience. The picture above was taken from the Burlington bicycle path on August 22, 2008, just before sunset. The one below was taken a few minutes earlier and about 100 meters farther south on the path.

In August, the Local Motion bicycle club that I belong to, operates a ferry across a 25-meter gap in the railroad causeway linking Colchester with Grand Isle. (The railroad is defunct, and the bridge that once spanned this gap was chopped up and sold for scrap iron.) I always take advantage of this service in order to make the 50 km round trip up to South Hero and back several times. Here are two pictures that I took of the gardens at the Crescent Bay Bed and Breakfast in South Hero on August 9.

And here is a picture of me at the gap in the causeway, returning to Burlington. The picture was taken by a Local Motion volunteer.

AUTUMN

Autumn is the season for which Vermont is most famous. It seems everyone east of the Mississippi River likes to come here during September and October to see the beautiful foliage. For an amateur photographer, it’s like setting the target five meters from the firing line. You are pretty sure to make a good hit, no matter how bad your aim. The picture below was taken in September on the bicycle path, just north of Staniford Road.

Usually in early October, you get the full spectacular red colors that New England is famous for. The two pictures below were taken about 25 meters (and a few weeks) apart on the bicycle path just north of the Ethan Allen Homestead.

Sunsets naturally begin to come earlier and occur farther south on the horizon. The gulls seem more active this time of year, but that may be only my imagination.

“…as they sink downward to darkness on extended wings.” (Wallace Stevens, Sunday Morning)

The local fauna may or may not appreciate the beauty of Burlington’s many trees, but they seem contented as they fatten up for the coming winter, like the chipmunk in the picture below.

WINTER

Autumn has a close rival in winter. Vermont is famous for its winter sports and has produced some Olympic champion skiers and some competitive NCAA hockey teams. You almost have to make sport of winter if you live here. Otherwise, you’re going to have a long, dark wait for warm weather and sunshine. Snow and ice do some fantastic things, even here in Burlington, which is not the snow capital of the state. I usually put my bicycle away as soon as the first big snow comes and take out my cross-country skis. I no longer ice skate, having gotten too old and brittle to risk a fall. The coldest sport I can imagine, and one I’ve never tried or wanted to try, is ice fishing, which is what the hardy souls walking across the frozen lake in the picture below are doing.

Sometimes snow will form sheets like paper on a metal roof, slide off the edge, and just hang there, looking like a melted piano keyboard, as in the picture below, which was taken on Lake Street in Burlington.

The birch sapling in front of the house of my neighbor on South Willard Street was severely tried by a snowstorm in February 2008, but it survived.

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

(Robert Frost, “Birches”)

This picture of the waterfront along the Pine Street barge canal, taken in February, brings my four-season album to a close. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at it as much as I enjoyed taking the pictures and assembling them.