“No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film” — Robert Adams

Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week, it helps keep me inspired.

Sunday, 01/30/2022: Posted photo — Squire Dustin House.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/640 s, 35 mm.

This is the first in what I hope will be a weeklong series of some of the historic houses around town. I will look for any information I can find on these houses. I have done a search of these housed prior to my starting my blog. There might me more information on them now.

The Squire Dusting house was built in 1810 and is located near the town commons.

Monday, 01/31/2022: Posted photo — Upton School.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/250 s, 35 mm.

“Westminster philanthropists Charles Upton and Frank Fenor donated the money and land to build the school, which opened in 1912 and taught all grades for the town. In 1927, it became crowded, and the last three grades were taught in neighboring towns, like Fitchburg and Gardner.

The grades got cut back again when the Oakmont School was built in 1960 for grades 7 through 12. The Upton School was supposed to close in 1993, when the Meetinghouse School was built. However, the roof of the new school building leaked and classes went on for an additional three months.” — Fitchburg Sentinel @ Enterprise, October 13, 2012.

Some of my relative remember going to school in the Upton Building. There still is some talks in town about what to do with the building. Should they renovate it, donate to some charity or organization, move a town office into it? Only time will tell.

Tuesday, 02/01/2022: Posted photo — Broken.

Settings: Google Pixel 2, ISO 604, f/1.8, 1/40 s, 4 mm.

Last night was my weekly Monday night Wachusett Mountain hike. Snowshoes were not needed but did help on the hike. Without the snowshoes there would be some “potholing”. I made it to summit and part of the way down before the heal strap on my left snowshoe broke. I did not expect it to last that long on the hike. The strap broke once already last year, and I was able to make some adjustments to make it last longer. The good people at the Tubbs will be sending me replacement straps to install.

Pays to spend some money on snowshoes of you used them as much as I do in the winter. These are the pair that I am using hiking to work; on Wachusett Mountain and other local mountains; and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Wednesday, 02/02/2022: Posted photo — 1815 Reverend Cyrus Mann House.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 100, f/8, 1/125 s, 38 mm.

Year built: 1815

Here is a continuation of my historic houses around town week.

The view of Wachusett Mountain from the Rev. Cyrus Mann House in on the Westminster town seal.

One of the houses in Westminster Village-Academy Hill Historic District in Westminster, MA. The district was founded in 1734 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. I just love the look of this house along with the other houses in this district.

Thursday, 02/03/2022: Posted photo — Philip Bemis House.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/1000 s, 33 mm.

This house was built in 1759 by Philip Bemis who owned the Old Mill nearby. The Old Mill is now the Old Mill Restaurant. I go to the Old Mill often to photograph the duck and geese that live in the duck pond year-round. They have covered walkways at the Old Mill that frame a waterfall.

“History of the Old Mill:

From its earliest beginning, the Old Mill has served a useful purpose in the community. Originally a sawmill where logs were processed for the new homes of the neighborhood, the Old Mill and its whirling saw sang a song of progress and industry through five generations of ownership before its wheels were stilled and it fell into disrepair in the late 1800’s.

In 1921, the sawmill was converted into a tea-room and operated as such during the summer months by Miss Keough, until 1942 when war restrictions forced her to close. Upon his return from serving in World War II, Ralph Foster and his wife Ruth bought the Old Mill and reopened it as a restaurant, making it a year-round operation, thus the mill was reborn.” — http://www.1761oldmill.com/about.html

Friday, 02/04/2022: Post photo — Freezing Rain.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/50 s, 64 mm.

Once again, I need to pause my photo tour of the historic houses around town. We are in the middle of a rain/snow/sleet/freezing rain event, and I want to do as little driving as possible.

During a storm, I like to walk into work. Today I did not walk into work since the storm was mostly a heavy rain event in the morning and I wanted to get to work before the sleet and freezing rain arrived. If it is raining heavy and I was going to do a five-mile hike in the wood, or hike up a mountain, I would not mind the weather. Walking to work in the heavy rain is another story.

Other colleagues told me about all the accidents on the road when they arrived. Cars were off the road and a few of my colleague saw cars speeding down the highways and slipping off the road when they hit a patch of slush or ice. They came in after the change in weather. There was about an inch of slush in the parking lot at work. The maintenance people did a great job of keeping the parking lot clean.

I will wait for the rain to slow down before I go out and clean out my driveway and walkway.

Saturday, 02/05/2022: Post photo — Black and White.

Settings: Google Pixel 2, ISO 252, f/1.8, 1/120 s, 4 mm.

Cool morning today. I left the house early to run some errands. I was planning on hiking Wachusett Mountain this morning and it turned out to be an afternoon hike.

During the day I liked the way the sun was glistering off the ice-covered trees, so I took this photo. I needed a black and white photo for a photo project I am working on, so I converted the photo to black and white.

That is all for now. Until next week, be safe.

For more photo of other project I have work, visit my website: https://photobyjosephciras.weebly.com or visit me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PhotobyJosephCiras/.

My Weebly website is back up and running. I am looking of suggestions on how to make it look better.