On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s not unusual for us to have so many On the Road submissions in the queue that you don’t get to see your pics published for a month or two. If you have been thinking of sending in some pics but haven’t done it, this would be a great time to send them in and get to see your pics published with a short turnaround.
BretH just sent in a set of photos from when he was in the Peace Corps years ago. Maybe we should have a Peace Corps week? I have seen BJ peeps mention here or there that they were in the Peach Corps. Is there any interest in a Peace Corps week? I think that would be really interesting!
It seems like it’s been over a year since we had a First Timer’s week – so if you’ve never submitted to On the Road before, please think about sending some pics in! I think I might have one set already. Are you guys up for a First Timer’s week? Say the first week in February?
JanieM
Time to venture beyond the barn, but we can’t leave it behind entirely. The first picture in this set features Luthien, the youngest and most recent acquisition among the barn cats who have tolerated our human presence in their domain over the years.
The last is also a barn pic – another take on the sliding door to the milking parlor.
In between we have central Maine in all seasons and a variety of guises, town and country, forest, lake . . . and mall.
As always, I took the pictures and Steve from Mendocino did the post-processing.
Luthien likes to keep an eye on things when people are busy in the barn. She’s one of three cats currently living here, the latest in a long line that started with a feral cat that came with the old farmhouse. That one turned out to have feline leukemia and had to be put down – my first experience with a vet, since I didn’t grow up with pets – but not before the circumstances surrounding its care revealed that my daughter, who was only fifteen months old at the time, was a cat person to her core.
Since that first cat, which was unnamed, we’ve had Mickey, Chair, Bandit, Rose, Trouble, June, Pugsley, Poodie, Squirt, Sky, Tinker, Belle, Calico, Rumple, Socks, and Luthien, plus two kittens that we gave away before naming them. I’m not the one who thinks up the names; I only enjoy them.
Springtime at the town beach, on the shores of scenic Lake Minnehonk.
Late winter thaw.
The Marketplace at Augusta.
Near the dam on Wings Mills Road in Mount Vernon.
Late winter near St. Joseph’s College.
Highbush blueberries in the fall.
What’s behind the red door? (Reprise.)
Elizabelle
Sense of place in your photos. Luthien. Great name.
Never been to Maine. Several of us from BJ were hoping to trek there to canvass against Senator Furrowed Brow Collins, but, covid.
Benw
Great pics! My only trip to Maine we stayed in Wiscasset and had a great time.
WaterGirl
@Benw: I just got up and my eyes are bleary, so I first read that as your having stayed in Wisconsin during your only trip to Maine. As you can imagine, I was momentarily confused.
Albatrossity
Personally, I think Peace Corp photo essays would be wonderful! I vote for that!
Rachel Bakes
Coming back to Maine this summer. My favorite place to be.
Rick
@Albatrossity: Me too! Peace Corpse week! (that’s how the military called the ‘Peace Corps’ when I was in and being run through the military health system (botched of course).
WaterGirl
@Rick: Do you have photos and stories? That would be awesome.
MomSense
OMG Readfield? I spend a lot of time at Lake Maranacook. It’s one of my favorite places.
frosty
Peace Corps and First-Timers would both be good. I think I can put together a half dozen from state parks we saw in the last couple of years to add to the queue.
JanieM
@Elizabelle: Thanks for the “sense of place” comment. I think that’s always been the most fundamental motivation for my picture-taking, even in the earlier days when I wasn’t as aware of it.
JustRuss
Nice pics. I liked your story about the cats. The house we moved into when I was a toddler came with 3 cats, and we had quite the collection over the years.
J R in WV
Barn cats… our cats all loved the barn back when we kept livestock. The feed drew in rodents, which the cats loved about the barn. After we took the last pig to the butcher, a rat the size of a racoon came out from under the pig’s shelter. Fortunately we had a giant cat, who killed the rat and left it lying in the bottom.
Now the cats are pretty much house cats, being elderly. We’re good with that, being elderly ourselves.
Nice photos. Even of the mall…