Author Archives

sgtwolvehttp://blog.burrillstrong.com/

Photo of the Showing a Little Ginger Now: 21 May 2011

The Chelsea Monitor Base Ball Club was a real baseball team that played back in the mid-19th century, when baseball was called base ball, nobody wore gloves and hits could be fielded on one bounce for an out.  The club was recently resurrected by a determined group of local citizens, and after a short break of more than a century, the MBBC played base ball once again when the Royal Oak Wahoos came to town.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the post title, the very helpful game program explains:

“Should a ballist [player] lack effort, implore him to “Show a little ginger!”

Also, before I get to the photos, let me add that vintage base ball is wonderfully entertaining.  You can find the club’s schedule on its website; if you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend going to a game.

And now, on to the photos.


Hank the friendly English bulldog enjoyed his afternoon at the game.

Continue reading →

Photo of the Walkin’ Around Chelsea Now: 21 May 2011

Chelsea has seen very little sun and very few clear skies this spring, so when I spotted that bright hot sphere thing in the sky and saw something other than clouds, I took a walk around Chelsea to get a few photos.  I expect to do more of this as more clear skies make the apparently grueling commute to Chelsea.

Yeah, yeah, I know everybody takes pictures of it…

…but I think I’d be exiled to Dexter if I didn’t take at least one photo of it.

Just outside the library I encountered a man who was installing clay tiles that were created by Chelsea middle schoolers back in October.  He, too, had been waiting for a sunny day to start work.

Photo of the Softball Now: 20 May 2011

Chelsea softball faced Manchester.

At Chelsea’s softball stadium, there are few good open vantage points for photography: there are no breaks or low points in the fence, and the umps often aren’t excited about having a gate open even just a little.  (That also puts me in the way of players entering and exiting the field.)  The best answer, then, is to shoot over the fence, which leaves one real option: the roofs of the dugouts.

Though it would be nice to be able to shoot the game at field level, the dugout roof does offer two advantages: first, some players are hilariously startled when they see a person in a usually unpopulated location; second, I get a little bit of a different perspective for some interesting photos.  This is one such photo:

The other such photo — one of my favorites of the year — is later in this post.

Here’s the other fun photo I got thanks to my spot on top of the dugout:

Continue reading →