Miscellaneous

Reflections

Photograph taken on Monday, April 13, 2026 by Henry
Reflections

Reflections

Cathy and I went to the property in Pennsylvania today but drove up separately. I went by way of Rural King in Hanover, to pick up a 50 pound bag of red clover seed. We’re trying to get something growing quickly and it germinates faster than grass (which we’ll also plant). We had planned for Jeff’s cousin to be there today with some machinery but he was delayed so I worked with clippers and the chainsaw, clearing some underbrush in one of the fields. These are things that have grown up since dad died. Some were catalpa seedlings of a tree he planted, but they were all much too close together, so I left the large, central tree. Others were sweetgum trees and he may have planted all of them but I took out the two smallest to allow the mower to get in between them all. It was a hot and tiring day and after everyone else had left—Cathy had to drive home to take care of the dog—I took a few photos of reflections on the pond. I spent the night and enjoyed the frogs and even heard a great horned owl (Bubo virginianus).

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White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, April 07, 2026 by Henry
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

Cathy and I took a walk on Cabin John Creek, walking upstream from where the creek is crossed by Bradley Blvd. We went as far as where the creek meets Seven Locks Road, near the Seven Locks Swimming Pool. We heard a few birds but didn’t see too many. I did get a few photos of this white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) that turned out well enough. I’d prefer to get it from the side, but you often see them from this angle, anyway. I got some pretty poor photos of a little brown bird that was working its way up a tree. They were not good enough to share but they were, thankfully, good enough to identify the bird as a brown creeper (Certhia americana), so that was fun.

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Easter Portrait

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 05, 2026 by Henry
Henry, Cathy, Dorothy, and Jeff

Henry, Cathy, Dorothy, and Jeff

We went to the 6:00 AM sunrise service at Fourth Presbyterian this morning. The forecast was for rain but we were fortunate that the rain didn’t come until the afternoon. Instead we had a very pretty sunrise, along with a lovely service. As usual, we stayed for breakfast and then the 8:00 service in the sanctuary, where the music, as well as the message, was wonderful. We came home and then went to visit Cathy’s mom and though I took pictures there, the picture I’m sharing with you is of the four of us, back at home before we changed out of our Easter best and had our Easter feast.

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Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily)

Photograph taken on Saturday, April 04, 2026 by Henry
Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily)

Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily)

As we like to do this time of year—and specifically on Easter weekend—we took a walk on Seneca Creek from where it meets Berryville Road. We call this the Bluebell Island Walk, although from this side, we aren’t actually on what we call Bluebell Island most of the time. We walk upstream on the east/north bank of Seneca Creek. One year we walked on the Seneca Bluffs Trail on the other bank, which is also a nice walk but there are more bluebells on this side. In addition to the Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), there are trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), yellow violets (Viola hastata, more properly the halberd-leaf yellow violet), and, more and more, incised fumewort (Corydalis incisa), a non-native, invasive perennial.

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The Cabin

Photograph taken on Friday, March 20, 2026 by Henry
The Cabin

The Cabin

Cathy, our friend Yvette, and I drove up to Pennsylvania today. We visited the land (commonly called “the farm” by our family, but not really a farm in any meaningful sense). We built the cabin in the mid 1970s and it’s been without any utilities until recently. The plumbing went in and there is now a septic system. Putting in everything related to that required a fair amount of digging so the ground was pretty chewed up. Dorothy and Jeff have spread straw on the bare dirt (a.k.a. mud) so it’s not as bad as it could be. Dorothy also has a few large bags of grass seed that will go down shortly. In this photo you can see the three concrete caps for the septic tank and associated parts. We’ll plant a garden around them and put large planters on top of them so they won’t be quite so obvious, eventually.

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Bird Puzzle

Photograph taken on Monday, March 09, 2026 by Henry
Bird Puzzle

Bird Puzzle

We finished this bird puzzle yesterday. Parts of it were easy, but there were some challenging aspects, as well. We got a number of birds mostly done but then had no idea where they went in the overall design. The birds are numbered, though, and once I figured out that they were arranged in something like numerical order, I was able to start getting birds situated. That only got us so far, of course, but it was big help.

I sort of have the process for taking pictures of puzzles down. We do them on a board in our family room. The board is a 4×4 foot piece of plywood with a small strip of molding along all four edges, which helps prevent pieces from falling off (although they do sometimes stick to the bottom of an arm or are otherwise lifted off). In the afternoon, before or after the sun is shining directly on the puzzle, is the best time to take pictures. The overhead lights have to be off so I don’t get glare from them. Then I use a flash, of course, bounced off the far wall.

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Female Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

Photograph taken on Thursday, March 05, 2026 by Henry
Female Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

Female Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

We saw our second bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in two days today, but it was much further away and I really like this shot of a female downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens), in any case. We were at the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve in Alexandria, Virginia, which is a nice little park on the Potomac River, just outside the Capitol Beltway. When I photograph birds, even with my rather hefty 150-600mm lens, I still have to crop them to make the bird larger in the final image. This bird let me get so close that this is the full frame, which contributes to it being so sharp. What a pretty little thing.

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Canada Geese In Flight

Photograph taken on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 by Henry
Canada Geese (Branta canadensis)

Canada Geese (Branta canadensis)

Cathy and I took Dorothy and Jeff to Reagan National Airport this afternoon to fly to Florida for a friend’s wedding. On the way back, we thought we might skip Roosevelt Island but then Cathy saw a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) on a tree at the southern end of the island. We parked and walked around the island but the eagle was gone by the time we got down to that end. It had actually been in a tree on another small island (labeled on at least one map as Little Island) so we couldn’t have gotten very close to it, anyway.

We saw a few birds, including mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), northern flicker (Colaptes auratus), a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), and some Canada geese (Branta canadensis). This shot of two geese in flight could be better, but with my long lens, I’m still trying to master getting birds in flight.

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Dahlia Puzzle

Photograph taken on Wednesday, February 18, 2026 by Henry
Dahlia Puzzle

Dahlia Puzzle

We finished this dahlia puzzle yesterday. It was a relatively easy puzzle, as these things go, but enjoyable. Puzzles with large areas that are predominately a single color such as sky tend to be difficult. This one if full of patterns and it’s easier to find pieces that go with any particular flower. The difficulty is when you have a bunch of flowers started but don’t really know where they go in the puzzle. For those not up on our traditions, we don’t look at the box cover when working on puzzles. Yes, that makes it harder. But on the other hand, it’s more satisfying when you finish the puzzle.

The snow that we got back on January 24 and 25 is finally gone except for a few large piles that are going to be with us another week or more, depending on how warm it gets. The ground it pretty wet still, but at least we can walk places other than on roadways. So, more outdoor photos to come.

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Dost Mahommed Puzzle

Photograph taken on Monday, February 02, 2026 by Henry
Dost Mahommed Puzzle

Dost Mahommed Puzzle

We finished this puzzle yesterday. It was relatively easy, with the hardest parts being the white edges on the right and left and the sky, but we enjoyed it, anyway. Cathy’s father had a copy of this print framed and hanging in their living room at one point, so it’s a familiar image. We thought we had lost a piece but then Cathy found it on the floor. Even with the border on the table, pieces somethings get knocked off and somehow they are hard to find on the carpet. Thankfully we found it, though.

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More Snow Clearing

Photograph taken on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 by Henry
Clearing Snow

Clearing Snow

Sometimes, it’s not the frozen snow that’s a problem. Our church is built basically at ground level on a slab. The problem comes when snow that’s piled up along the walls starts to melt. When it stays cold, it melts close to the building before the rest of the snow and the liquid water has only one place to go. Unfortunately, that’s into and through the walls and onto the floor of the building.

Charlie put out a call for folks to come clear a swath between the snow drifts and the building and this is the finished product at the site of the largest drift. The snow was covered by a few inches of very solid ice that we had to break up with mattocks and spades. Snow shovels were fine after that, but the bulk of the work needed steel and not plastic.

We also cleared some parking spaces that had snow and ice on them even after the parking lot had been cleared. It was hard work, but nice to be out with a bunch of guys getting something done.

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Clearing Snow

Photograph taken on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 by Henry
Clearing Snow

Clearing Snow

Two days in and our neighborhood streets have still not been plowed. By the time I’m writing this, I know that they came later this evening, but until they come, you never know when you’ll be able to get out. We didn’t have anywhere we needed to go, so it didn’t really matter.

We considered ourselves fortunate, though, because a block and a half away a water line broke and there was even more ice and slush than we had. This guy was there with the WSSC folks trying to get ahead of it and stopped to clear the bottom of someones driveway that was being reblocked by the extra water.

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Snow on Norbeck Road

Photograph taken on Sunday, January 25, 2026 by Henry
Snow on Norbeck Road

Snow on Norbeck Road

Because of the forecast of fairly heavy snow Saturday evening into Sunday our church shifted its service to Saturday. That was a good call because this morning we woke up to about six inches with it still coming down quite heavily.

In the early afternoon we walked out to Norbeck Road. There were a few vehicles out, mostly trucks with plows, but an occasional car. The road had been plowed so the snow wasn’t deep on it, but it wasn’t exactly clear, either. And none of the neighborhood roads had been touched, as you can imagine.

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Mendenhall Glacier Puzzle

Photograph taken on Saturday, January 24, 2026 by Henry
Mendenhall Glacier Puzzle

Mendenhall Glacier Puzzle

The water in the foreground, the mountain in the background, and the glacier itself were the three easiest parts of this puzzle. The rest, especially the trees on the two sites, was pretty difficult. We did get through it, although, as you can see, there’s a piece missing, which is always sad. It’s especially sad in this case because it’s a photo I took back in August 2004. The glacier has receded some since then but it had also receded then from where it was when we lived there in the 1980s. Of course, that’s not the catastrophe that some make it out to be. Glaciers come and go and then come again. It may not be in our lifetime, but it will be back.

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The Cabin

Photograph taken on Friday, January 16, 2026 by Henry
The Cabin

The Cabin

We stopped by the cabin today to take a few photos for the insurance company. There is work going on, so it’s not looking its best and of course the grass isn’t green this time of year. But the big thing shown in this photo are the tops of the septic system tanks that have been installed. After literally 50 years, the cabin finally has plumbing and electricity. When this was taken, the well hadn’t been hooked up yet and not all the wiring was done, but since then it has been and the cabin has heat, as well as water.

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New Fence

Photograph taken on Friday, December 12, 2025 by Henry
New Fence

New Fence

We’ve been talking about getting a dog, but before we do that, it would be good to have a fenced in back yard so it can be let out without having to have it on a lead all the time. Last month we were asked if we could keep a dog for a little while. This is the dog of a brother of one of Dorothy’s friends (we know the friend). He is moving to the area and staying temporarily with his sister but can’t keep the dog there. So, until he’s found a new job and a place to live, we have Margo with us. We had decided on the fence but when she first came the fence wasn’t up yet. Now it is. The back and one side of the yard already had a fence, so we only had to put one in on the remaining side and then connect the two sides to the house. There are gates on both sides of the house and we’re pretty happy with the results.

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Another Mural by Dorothy

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 06, 2025 by Henry
Mural by Dorothy

Mural by Dorothy

Last year Dorothy was commissioned to paint a series of murals in the children’s Sunday School part of Fourth Presbyterian Church. Those were very well received and recently she was asked to come back and paint two more in the two nursery rooms. The designs she came up with and which were approved both feature sun or stars and moon images and this one has the stars represented by a quilt-like pattern. This one is not quite finished, but you get the idea. The other one is a day and night design, which I also like. In addition there were a few quotes painted on other walls.

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Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 29, 2025 by Henry
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Having walked around at McKee-Beshers and seen only a few things, we decided to continue out River Road. Eventually it ends and you have to turn onto Mt. Nebo Road, which in turn becomes W Offutt Road. We followed those and then turned left on Edwards Ferry Road. There is a boat ramp at Edwards Ferry and near that we saw (and I photographed) three killdeer (or is it killdeers). We used to see them fairly often and remember a few years where there would be one nesting on or near the parking lot at Thanksgiving Farms on Buckeystown Pike in Adamstown. We haven’t seen them much in recent years, but now this is the second time in less than three months, having seen one at Redgate Park on Thursday, September 11, 2025. They are ground-loving birds, building their nests right on the ground, but of course they fly and are good flyers. Most of the birds in the plover family are shore birds and the two we’ve seen this year were on bodies of water but the killdeer is fairly common in upland areas, as well.

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Mushroom Puzzle

Photograph taken on Monday, November 24, 2025 by Henry
Mushroom Puzzle

Mushroom Puzzle

We finished this mushroom puzzle yesterday. The text at the bottom, giving the mushroom names, was the easiest part of the puzzle. After that we were able to put together a lot of the mushrooms but without knowing where in the grand scheme of things they went. That’s part of the challenge of doing puzzles without the lid, of course. Otherwise it’s too easy. I’d rank this about average in difficulty and we enjoyed it. We’re also partial to mushrooms in food, so it was interesting to see all the varieties (not that these are all necessarily edible, of course).

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Rembrandt Puzzle

Photograph taken on Friday, October 31, 2025 by Henry
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

We just finished this puzzle, which is of Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The original oil-on-canvas painting dates from 1633. It was purchased by art historian Bernard Berenson and was displayed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston until its theft in 1990; its whereabouts remain unknown.

Cathy, Dorothy, and I really love that gallery and it’s very sad to me that this isn’t there. 1990 isn’t that long ago but I still wonder how something so recognizable can remain secretly hidden. My guess is that one day it will turn up, but I think it’s unlikely I’ll ever get to see the real thing. The museum has left the blank space on the wall where it used to hang.

This was quite a difficult puzzle. The ship itself wasn’t too bad, but the sky and sea are all very much the same color, so it took us a good while to complete.

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