These bicycles are a nice bit of color in a time of brown and gray.
Along a road winding up into the hills and the Finger Lakes Forest.
A largely agricultural area north of Watkins Glen, now being “built up” with houses, summer cottages and of course, more wineries.
And gift shops. I’d thought macramé plant hangers were finally extinct, but turns out, they were just tangled up somewhere and have now reemerged in the world of stained glass candleholders and bracelets made from bent spoons.
Putting this photo on WP, I was thinking how, when I post these snapshots of the Finger Lakes region, or wherever I’ve been, there’s an impulse to try to show the place in a flattering light.
Sometimes the photos have been cropped to remove what seem like distractions or what strikes me as just plain ol’ ugliness.
It somehow feels almost like disloyalty to do otherwise.
But perhaps that’s my sentimental streak creeping in again and something to avoid – -not just to steer clear of kitsch and superficiality – – but also in favor of clarity and honesty.
Well…likely it’s also good to not to overthink this or take it too seriously!
Somehow this crop seemed to stick in my craw, so here’s a photo that wasn’t cropped.
A no doubt tackier scene, kind of fun and definitely a bit weirder.
Although, I think if I ran out of gas, I’d probably knock on someone else’s door, there’s just something about headless mannequins.
UpState & Away - - - - Waterlooseneca.com 
Hey don’t go knocking on the stained glass candleholders, mister! That’s my jam, my people there!
Oh oh, sorry Bill, don’t want to pick a fight with the crafty tribe. I do like sunlight or a candle flickering through stained glass, it’s just when there’s masses of them in a gift shop, makes me uneasy. I guess constantly worrying about knocking them over and breaking them.
Ha ha yeah the macrame people are going to come out of the woodwork and they are a pretty committed people I think. Too funny.
I also stink at tying knots, come to think of it, those folks can run rings around me.
Well there you go, never miss a good opportunity to slip one in there, eh buddy? I love that you suffer from that ailment. Probably some illness steeped in a love of words and humor, amen to that.
Wonderful! Anything with bikes always gets my vote.
Thank you, Sheree.
Pleasure Robert
The photos are great — but that extra click is necessary to show them in all their sharp glory. I think excising the headless mannequins was a good move. I’d move on down the road myself if I saw those. There’s quirky, and then there’s verging on disturbed — especially outside of the Halloween season.
The bicycles are great! And “wheels” brought to mind something I’ve not heard for years. It’s a bit of a shock to realize it was published sixty years ago. Still, there’s nothing better than Chet Atkins’s musically colorful version of “Wheels”
I never heard that tune before, very pleasant, is it for dancing? I’ll try making the pictures smaller on WP and see if that fixes the fuzziness.
You sure could dance to it. Here’s the original version; later, there were orchestral versions, and someone put lyris to it, but I still like the Atkins version best.
Yes, I can understand why you cropped! Recently during an election the Green Party got a load of old bikes and sprayed them green for their party members to display outside their houses. Much more effective than the usual mug shot of the local candidate.
Hi Denzil – Do folks in Belgium put white “ghost” bikes at the sites of bicycling fatalities? I’m guessing it happens less there, you’ve shown us some bicycling routes that are completely separate from
separate from auto routes
Not that I have heard Robert, that’s a new one for me. Is that what happens in your neck of the woods?
Yes, there’s two of them alongside local highways, a few miles from where I grew up. One was a teenager hit by a truck, the other was a competitor in an “ironman” competition, who raced right into the back of a parked truck. I think there’s now several hundred of these memorials around the country, and I believe they’re doing it in Canada and the UK.
It’s a nice memorial, and permanent too, whereas flowers do not last.
I like your adjective extinct in connection with macramé plant hangers. Too bad, from your point of view, that those hangers are hangers-on. And speaking of bent spoons, I thought they went out with Uri Geller’s popularity.
As Linda pointed out, WordPress is having one of its blurriness tantrums with your bicycle pictures; clicking to see the photographs in their own right brings back the sharpness.
I’m all for keeping the weirdness that the headless mannequin (literally ‘little man’ in Dutch) imparts to the scene. Do you know, or can you find out, anything about who created the installation and why?
I don’t know anyone in that town (Hector) to ask, just somebody with a quirky sense of humor I guess.
Next time you’re there you can hector the locals till they fess up with the details.
Those country folks will not be cowed.
That reputation might just be a lot of bull.
Yipes! No way I’d knock on their door, either. Like the bikes, though.
Thanks, Marie, yes the bikes are nice colors.
Bright colors to the rescue!
Thanks Neil, yep, I feel the same way.
Colour is what the eye needs in the dreary landscape of winter. So we will enjoy looking at even the grotesquely painted bicycles.
Thanks Peter, yes, by February we really crave some bright, cheerful colors.
Macrame plant hangers…oh, my goodness. Just run!
haha yes!
Kind of reminded me of ghost bikes at first, only with friendly, outgoing ghosts. Then you added the headless mannequins…
Hi Dave, that’s a nice thought, friendly Casper types. The bikes are kind of a pretty sight until you include the mannequins, then it’s borderline creepy.
Robert! For the future, bring a can of petrol with you!! 😄
Haha, that made me laugh out loud Hanna! 🤣
Maybe the heads headed to a less creepy locale. The bikes do make for a more cheerful bit of sightseeing without the mannequins.
I hadn’t thought about macrame plant hangers in years but I used to make my own. We have a few but bought them. Not sure I remember the knots.
Yeah the bikes themselves I like, very cheerful.
Too vastly different impressions are generated by those photos. It IS interesting when you think about what we crop and why. I think you should keep exploring that. Who knows what you’ll come up with? And how much you’ll edit….
Thanks, Lynn. I’m trying to think more when I take a picture, sometimes, and maybe learn a couple new skills, work and responsibilities permitting. And sometimes also just think less if you know what I mean, just take a picture and don’t edit at all.
There’s thinking and there’s spontaneity, right? It’s nice to make a photo that doesn’t need editing but it’s sad when people feel that one must always get it exactly right in-camera. Editing is fun! But yes, taking more care is a good thing. 🙂
I like the crop, that’s a pretty cool rendition of your original frame. It’s good to not take yourself too seriously, your sensibilities are in the right place; you know what makes a great picture. I really liked the one you took of the branches laying on the ice.
Thanks, Jason. I was worried the picture of the branch looked kind of dark and grim, but for some reason I just liked it that way.