Photo by Bob Hammerstrom

What brought my attention to them was the bloody looking veins. A few days later the red disappeared into the leaves. In fact, I shot the same leaf a couple days later, and it didn’t look anything like this.

Photo was taken with a Canon EOS 1-D, Mark III, and a 100mm lens. Kind of spooky!

-Bob Hammerstrom

I spotted this one and its mate in a Hudson home yesterday while shooting pictures of a couple guys who operate an internet radio station from the kitchen table. You’ll have to check The Telegraph regularly to find that story.

I like the way this one looked at me with his head cocked to the side, as if he or she had just walked out of a bar after a long evening with friends. It didn’t say anything, which was a little disappointing. Who knows where I’ll find the next “strange bird” out there.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom

I was covering an arraignment for Autumn Savoy, who is the fifth man allegedly involved in the Cates murder in Mont Vernon. It’s not easy, nor is it fun to cover hearings in court. There’s a lot of waiting around, and only a few seconds to photograph the defendant ushered into court. Most involved in the case don’t want you there, and few want their photos taken.

-Bob Hammerstorm

While Telegraph photo editor Don Himsel and I were trying to rig up a live camera for our web site www.nashuatelegraph.com yesterday at the scene of the coal train derailment in Nashua, N.H., a toddler ran by me across the open field, donning firefighter gear.

I quickly grabbed my camera and wide angle lens to follow three-year-old Brayden Brower and his mother. After getting the o.k. nod from his mother, I began shooting pictures of the youngster as he wandered near the red police line. Standing still was not in this boys vocabulary.

It wasn’t until I pulled the pictures up on my laptop, that I noticed him leaning, just like the coal car off the tracks in the background.

-Bob Hammerstrom

CUTLINE: Brayden Brower, 3, of Dracut, Mass. looks on in amazement at the fire crews and officials tending to a train wreck with his mother, Bobbi, Tuesday, Nov. 17 in Nashua. Officials said part of an 87-car train overturned while carrying coal on its way to Bow, N.H. around 11 a.m.  No injuries were reported. Bobbi and her son were in a furniture store at the time when they heard a loud noise outside. Brayden, dressed as a firefighter, was wearing his firefighter outfit and has since his birthday, July 22, according to Bobbi. “He wears it rain, shine, hot, or cold - he’s a dedicated firefighter,” Bobbi said. “We can’t pass up the excitement, he lives for this stuff.”

TECH SPECS: f/2.8, 1/1600, 35mm, ISO 100

THOUGHTS: This was the first time I’ve ever seen a train wreck in person. I’m grateful no one was injured. However, looking around, like out of some Norman Rockwell painting, Bonnie and Brayden show up. I wish I could see more of the train wreck and commotion but I think the moment reveals the feeling of the moment.

My limited research has led me through the town history (courtesy of a very kind neighbor, Betty) and now to this online-

“A fourth son of John Senior, Joseph Caraway, was born July 26, 1843, in Franklin, Vermont. He enlisted, credited to Goffstown, New Hampshire, September 9, 1861, and mustered in as a private, Co. C, 5th New Hampshire Infantry, on October 12, 1861. He was 30 years old, was 5 foot 6-1/2 inches tall, had a dark complexion, dark hair and brown eyes. He suffered a gunshot wound in the left hand at the battle of Fair Oaks, Va., on June 1, 1862. According to a deposition in his pension application, “said wound shot away and deprived him entirely of the middle large finger of his left hand causing the whole hand to become weak, tender and number and that he is partially deprived of the use of his hand.” Joseph was discharged for disability on February 14, 1863 from Finley Hospital, Washington, D.C. He enlisted again, June 15, 1863, and mustered in as a private, Co. L, 11th Vt. Infantry, on June 27, 1863. He was wounded March 27, 1865, during the siege of Petersburg. He mustered out on May 13, 1865. Joseph died December 9, 1925, in Epping N. H., and was buried there on December 11.”

Sure it’s a bit drafty. You may be hard pressed to find a straight line in some of the wainscotting and other trim. It’s nice, though, especially today, to feel like you’re a caretaker to history in owning the place.

Lloyd Brown is listed as the last U.S. Navy veteran to fight in WWI.  Brown served on the USS New Hampshire, BB-25 (battleship) which was commissioned in 1908.

The USS New Hampshire BB-25

The site posts its mission as “The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.”

To contrast, here’s something from my own archive on the latest USS New Hampshire-

SSN-778

Do you have the day off today?  Maybe with that free time you’ll follow this link on the oral history project site to see more of Mr Brown, including an interview and more photos.