Rock Fantasy, Pinball, Middletown, NY

While we were spending some time upstate New York at our son’s place in late June, he suggested we take a ride to Rock Fantasy, about 25-miles away, in Middletown (Orange County). Rock Fantasy is a record/CD/head shop, with the unexpected bonus of having 45 vintage (mostly working) pinball machines scattered within several rooms of a cavernous old store on Main Street.

With a 2010 population of only 28,086 people, Middletown is the last place I’d expect to find such a mind-boggling attraction. Besides records and CDs, there are rock and pop-culture posters, photos, and apparel throughout the place, with black light posters adding additional ambiance.

 

My son, grandson, and I had a great time playing the numerous games, and my son managed to pick up some records he had been looking for. My favorite pinball machine was an early Beatles game, featuring songs and footage from TV appearances and concerts on a small screen, as well as a record spinning in the middle of the playing field that sends your ball careening off in different directions if it passes over it.

 

If you love pinball and are ever in the area, I’d strongly recommend stopping into Rock Fantasy.

Birds of Summer

Last summer, I had a pigeon hanging out at our house. Every time I walked outside, I would see him (or her) perched up on our roof. I figured it might be hungry so I’d throw some bird seed on the garage roof for it. After about a month, it took off and I haven’t seen it since.  

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Then, while we were up at our daughter’s house in Connecticut for a few days last summer, I sat under some trees in her yard, reading zines, and was able to get some good photos of birds at their feeders with my telephoto lens.