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Here and There…Now and Then |
Flower Valley Santa
Santa made his way through Flower Valley this evening. Cathy was visiting her mom but I went out and enjoyed chatting with neighbors until he came. I also enjoyed watching the kids enjoying seeing Santa. I don’t know who, specifically, organized this anymore, but I think it’s a great tradition, eagerly anticipated by most families, or at least all those around us, who mostly have little kids. The parents use it as an excuse to get together and talk, so they like it, too.
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
We went for a short walk on the trails below Croyden Creek Nature Center today. There wasn’t a lot to be seen but it was still really good to be outdoors. Life has been a bit stressful lately and walking in the woods, particularly where there is water nearby, is good for us. This was the only bird we saw on the walk that I was anywhere near close enough to get a photograph. I did take a few of birds (goldfinches) on the feeders at the nature center, as well, but those didn’t turn out as well. This is our common, northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).
Iceland Puzzle
We finished another puzzle in the last few days. This one wasn’t as difficult as some we’ve done, but of course they’re all challenging at some level. The sky, not surprisingly, was the hardest part of this one but the clouds certainly helped a lot. We don’t have any more on deck to do at this point, but don’t be surprised if someone gets one or two for Christmas. The mountain in this photo is called Kirkjufell (Church Mountain) and the waterfall is named Kirkjufellsfoss for the mountain behind it. It’s in western Iceland just west of the town of Grundarfjörður.
Phalaenopsis Orchids
In the 21⁄2 years Cathy’s mom has been in assisted living, she’s been given quite a few flowers including two small, Phalaenopsis orchid plants which were in bloom when she got them. She was able to enjoy them and when they stopped blooming we brought them home and I’ve been keeping them on our kitchen windowsill. Recently both of them came back into bloom at the same time (the second time for one of them and the first for the other). I took the first to start blooming to her but then she was in the hospital for a little while and I brought it back home. They are now gracing our kitchen window with lovely blooms. I don’t remember who gave them to Margaret but I’m thankful for them every time I’m at the kitchen sink.
Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned Hawk
An expert might be able to tell from this photo if this is a Cooper’s (Accipiter cooperii) or sharp-shinned (Accipiter striatus) hawk but I’m pretty sure it’s one or the other. Cathy saw this one and another both flying around our yard. This one landed under bushes on the edge of our yard and I was able to get a few worse photos and this one, that at least shows this much. I turned the on-camera flash on, because it was relatively dark out or this one would have certainly been as blurred as the others.
Dendrolycopodium dendroideum (Tree Groundpine)
We drove out to Annapolis Rock Road today and walked on a series of trails there, part of the Patuxent River State Park. We thought that the trails would overlook the Patuxent River and according to some maps I’ve found, some of them do, but not those that we walked. It’s quite a maze of trails, actually, and since it’s almost all in the woods, it’s not easy to keep a sense of direction.
A few times we came across patches of tree groundpine, (Dendrolycopodium dendroideum), a native clubmoss. It’s a surprisingly green sight this time of year, and very pretty. Other than that, there wasn’t really all that much to photograph. Although we got to these trails on Annapolis Rock Road, this is not the Annapolis Rock off of the Appalachian Trail near Interstate 70 and US 40 about halfway between Frederick and Hagerstown. That’s a place we really should go at some point, but today was not that day.
Thanksgiving Dinner
We had a lovely family dinner for Thanksgiving this year, hosted by Iris and Seth. It was something of a first for Cathy and me, as it was our first Thanksgiving without Dorothy there since she was born. There are two empty chairs at the table, because Danna was a little late arriving but she got there no long after the photo was taken. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and we did have a call from Dorothy so she was able to say hello to everyone.
Rock Creek Bridge
We parked at the Kengla House parking lot this afternoon but instead of walking upstream as we usually do from there, we went under Muncaster Mill Road and walked downstream. This is Cathy coming out from under the bridge. If the water was much higher it would not have been easy to do, but we managed today. It was a cool, overcast and somewhat dreary day and I didn’t take a lot of photos. There were a few spots with interesting color, mostly red oak leaves or berries on the barberry bushes. We saw a few people and heard a few birds, but that was about all. We got as far as the trail up to the Meadowside Nature Center before turning back and returning to the car.
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
As mentioned in the previous post, we walked upstream along the Potomac River from Great Falls today. After about a mile on a trail down by the river, we returned to the towpath because a stream blocked our way. We could have returned to the river’s edge above the stream but we were ready to head back, anyway. A short way back towards Great Falls we saw this great blue heron (Ardea herodias) on the canal, posing very nicely for us. I like him (or her, I have no idea which) against the green of the duckweed on the surface of the canal.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with the 150-600mm Sigma lens I got a couple years ago. It’s a lot to carry but it certainly allows me to get pictures that I wouldn’t get otherwise. This one was taken zoomed all the way out to 600mm, which when you multiply it by 1.6, gives an effective focal length of 960mm compared to a full-frame 35mm camera. This one was taken with the lens on a monopod, which is how I generally carry it. The exposure was 1⁄100 second at f/6.3.
C&O Canal, North of Great Falls
We went to Great Falls today. We started by going out to the Olmsted Island overlook, as we usually do. The water was quite low. Nevertheless, I took quite a few pictures. When we returned to the towpath, we walked upstream to just above the aqueduct intake and then onto a trail down near the river. We walked that for about a mile before returning to the towpath where a large stream crossed out path. This shot is from around where we left the towpath. Down by the river I took a few pictures of geese but not a lot else.
Cathy with Operation Christmas Child Boxes
When Dorothy was little, Cathy would help her and Amy, who lived next door, put together boxes for Operation Christmas Child every year. They would fill them for girls the same age as Dorothy and Amy. Dorothy and Amy are grown and Amy doesn’t live next door any more (we both moved in different directions) but Cathy still puts together some number of boxes. She’s done as few as two and as many as 12. She generally plans to fill six. As you can see here, her six turned into eight, which is not at all unusual. She had bought one extra box, knowing she often goes over, but then took an empty box from church because she had enough things for one more.
Clearly, Cathy is a big fan of Operation Christmas Child, which is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, an organization founded in 1970 by Robert Pierce (who also one of the founders of World Vision International) and with Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham as president.
Puzzle: Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’
Our latest puzzle is one of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’, a wonderful painting and a challenging puzzle. It was easier than some we’ve done but hard enough to occupy us for a while. Cathy was worried that we didn’t have any more after this but her birthday’s coming up so she’ll be fine in a few days.
We were at a friend’s house and he has a board that he made for puzzles that has a slight rim all the way around the edge, which is a good idea. Then he has another board that he can set on that so the table can be used as a table even if the puzzle isn’t finished. We have a card table with a 4′ by 4′ piece of MDF that works well, although the idea of adding a edge pieces is a good one. Maybe I’ll add that to ours. We have, on occasion, lost pieces off the edge of the board and they are sometimes hard to spot on the carpet.
Beech Leaves
After visiting Cathy’s mom this afternoon we drove to Woodlawn Manor and walked to Sandy Spring and back. I carried my camera, as I nearly always do, but only took a few photos. It was late in the day, overcast, and fairly dark. Even if I had seen birds, I don’t think there would have been enough light to get a good photo in the woods. I took a few pitures of horses before we went into the woods but they aren’t very good. I considered not posing any picture from today. I’m not bound to post a picture for every day as I was from 2011 through 2020, but I still try to post a picture from the days where I take any. I do make exceptions when the only pictures I take are not for sharing for some reason. But in general, if I took one or more pictures, I’ll post one.
I love beech trees this time of year. Our woods have quite a few American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and of course we also see the European or common beech (Fagus sylvatica) especially in yards, parks, and gardens. Most of the varieties available in nurseries are F. sylvatica. One that I love in the spring is the tri-colour beech, F. sylvatica ‘Roseomarginata’. There is one at Asbury Methodist Village and in the spring it’s a vivid scarlet. Its leaves can’t really take our summer sun, though, so it’s not really an ideal tree for our climate.
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
As mentioned in the previous post, we went to the Rachel Carson Conservation Area this afternoon. We walked a fairly long loop, in a counterclockwise direction. The section down by the Hawlings River is our favorite part, along with the boulders in the previous post. I carried my long lens but we didn’t see much to photograph with that. Towards the end of the walk, though, we came across this hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) who would move a little bit further down the trail as we got close and I was able to get near enough to get a pretty decent photo.
Cathy and Henry, On The Rocks
We took a walk at the Rachel Carson Conservation Area in Brookeville this afternoon. It was cool and fairly quiet but really nice to be out and about. There is a spot with a large outcropping of huge quartz boulders and I took a few pictures there, first of Cathy sitting on the rocks and then of the two of us. I balanced the camera on another rock and got it reasonably level and aimed about right. Then I turned on the self-timer, started it going, and ran to get into the photo. The first try didn’t work out well because when I jumped up onto the rock it tilted down in the back and I fell over backwards. That photo just shows Cathy and then me with my legs up in the air. This one turned out better.
Andrew, Rachel, Katharine, Dorothy, Anna, and Jeff
Sadly, Cathy and I missed the fifth Rat Gallery because we were in Oregon when it happened. But we were back on the scene this time for what we expect to be the final Rat Gallery at the 52 O Street location. Katharine is moving her studio so we don’t know where or when the next show will be, but good things are bound to happen, so keep an eye out on the Rat Gallery Web site. If you don’t already know, Rat Gallery is sponsored in large part by The Hartley Residence and you’re going to want to follow them, as well, because they have more going on all the time.
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)
One more bird photo from our walk around Lake Frank today. As we crossed the dam at the south end of the lake we saw this bird on a tree with fall colors reflected off the water behind it. I’m assuming it’s a double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum). Regardless, I’m fond of this photo. Looking back I didn’t take many pictures in October and those I took were concentrated on just a few days. Our lives are just that way right now, I guess. I take what I can get.
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
On the southeast part of Lake Frank is an old boat ramp from when the lake had road access to vehicles. Near that is a very tall oak tree. We’ve see one or the other of our local bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in that tree on more than one occasion. We saw it today, first from across the lake and then, when we got to that part of the trail from below. It was easier to spot, frankly, from across the lake. When you get close, you sort of have to know where to look. The best view turned out to be through the crook of this closer tree.
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
As mentioned in my previous post of the red-shouldered hawk on the street sign, we went to Lake Frank this afternoon. We hadn’t planned to walk as far as we did but ended up walking all the way around the lake. We saw two great blue herons (Ardea herodias). The first one was across the lake so I wasn’t able to get any good photos of that. Shortly after stopping to look at it, though, this one flew across in front of us. I didn’t have much time to focus, zoom, or frame the shot and was glad to get what I did. The very blue color of the bird has more to do with it being in the shadows than it’s natural coloring (per its name).
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Four days ago I posted a photo of what I identified as a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) or possibly a broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) taken in our back yard. Today I got a photo of what may be the same bird on a street sign. This is a much better view of the bird and I love the colors with the green of the sign and the yellow leaves in the background. Anyway, I still think it’s a red-shoulderd hawk but still am not sure, being no expert. We were getting ready to go for a walk when we saw this, so I’ve got three more bird pictures to come, both from that walk. Stay tuned.
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
We had heard this hawk a few times and early this afternoon it flew past our house and landed in the tree in our back yard. I got a few shots from the front but was shooting through branches so those photos aren’t very good. This one isn’t great, because of the shadow across part of the bird’s head, but it’s still pretty good, I guess. I think this is a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) and Merlin agrees with me, although I’m not certain about the identification and if anyone seeing this knows better, let me know. It could be a broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus), as well. According to Audubon, neither is common in our area.
We enjoy seeing animals in our yard and of course it’s those animals that attract birds of prey. I certainly don’t mind giving up a rabbit or two for birds like this. I’m only sorry they can’t carry off the deer that do so much damage to my roses.
Croyden Creek
We went for a walk on Croyden Creek today. It isn’t necessarily the prettiest time of the year, but it’s great to be outdoors. We’ve had a dry summer and had a particularly dry September, when we normally get a good bit of rain, so the creek is quite low and there’s a fair amount of brown everywhere. Of course by the second week of October, things are starting to turn brown most years, but this year more than usual, I think. Still, there’s a fair amount of green on the trees. We didn’t see any birds or other wildlife, but mostly it’s about being in the woods.
Northern Red-bellied Cooter (Pseudemys rubriventris)
Cathy and I walked to Blockhouse Point today and then drove to Pennyfield Lock and walked downstream about a mile. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife but did see a few ducks and turtles, including these northern red-bellied cooters (Pseudemys rubriventris). From Blockhouse Point we saw a State Police helicopter circling the Potomac River. We learned later that they were looking for some stranded fishermen. Everyone was successfully retrieved, mostly be boat. It’s not the most dangerous part of the river but there are some significant currents if you aren’t careful (and depending on the height of the river).
David and Erin at RCA Banquet
We were happy to attend a banquet this evening for Romanian Christian Enterprises. Our dear friend Erin, pictured here with her husband David and their tablemates, has recently joined RCA as their Director of Development. This is a wonderful organization that’s been around since 1992, bringing “help and hope to poor families and abandoned children with special needs through its education, poverty prevention and placement programs.” If you’re looking for a charity for some year-end giving, please take a look at their Website—https://www.rcenterprises.org/—and give generously. If you want more information, there are email addresses and phone numbers on their Contact Us page. Feel free to tell Erin I said hello.
Anna, Carolyn, and Chuck
Having spent the night in Pennsylvania with Dorothy and her housemates, we went to a show of Anna’s art at Waldo’s in Gettysburg this evening. She’s a talented artist and has done work in a wide variety of media. I especially likes some ink drawings she did and a piece of wood burning, an image of a tree on a slab of maple. Her parents, Carolyn and Chuck also came and we always enjoy seeing and chatting with them. She also had some very nice stained glass creations. If you’re interested in her work, you can contact her through her Instagram account or through The Hartley Residence.
Dorothy at Ploughmans
Cathy and I left work early and drove up to Gettysburg this afternoon. We went to Dorothy’s house first and then a little later to downtown Gettysburg where Dorothy and Andrew would be playing this evening at Ploughmans Taproom. There were to be two sets, with Dorothy on stage by herself for the first and then with Andrew joining her for the second. She played two covers (Miner’s Lullaby, by Utah Phips and All My Tears, by Emmylou Harris) but the majority of her songs were original. I recorded all of the first set but only a couple from the second, when I took a few pictures instead. This image is a frame from a song called Lemon Creek, which we really enjoyed.
Grand Tetons Puzzle
We’re back from Oregon, having had a really nice time. We enjoyed being with Brian and Lisa, we enjoyed the scenery in Central Oregon, and we enjoyed not being here. But of course it’s a vacation and it cannot go on for ever. Back home, we finally finished this puzzle. It’s a familiar scene if you’ve seen photos of the Tetons. The T. A. Moulton Barn, located in the southern part of Grand Teton National Park, is what remains of a homestead built by Thomas Moulton and his sons between 1912 and 1945 on what is called Mormon Row. I would really love to visit the Tetons at some point, whether or not we actually go to this barn.
Crooked River
Crooked River
Flowing north into Prineville, Oregon is the aptly named Crooked River. Along it runs Oregon route 27, named the equally aptly named Crooked River Highway. Cathy and I drove out to Prineville this morning and headed south along this beautiful road. We stopped quite a few times to walk down to the river and enjoy the cliffs on the far bank, the beautiful, clear water, and the cool weather we’re having. I have to say, we hit central Oregon at just the right time, temperature wise.
This is a lovely drive and I imagine it gets quite a bit of traffic during the summer and on weekends. I can definitely see coming here to camp and fish. We were doing neither, but still enjoyed it greatly. The first of these images, the panorama made from 10 separate exposures, makes it look like the river is forming a big, horseshoe bend. In actuality, it’s running pretty much straight and then bending the other way in both ends in the distance. The apparent bend is a function of the way the panorama was taken. Still, it’s a pretty nice view, I think.
Valley Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi)
As mentioned in the previous post, Cathy and I drove up to and walked the Ray Atkeson trail today along Sparks Lake, northeast of Mt. Bechelor. We really enjoyed the walk, although at one point, fairly early in the walk, we came across this valley garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi). Cathy’s not a huge fan of snakes and although I tried to warn her, I had a hard time getting it out. She saw it, screamed and did a little dance. Although garter snakes have a mild venom in their saliva, which may be toxic to the amphibians and other small animals on which they prey, they are pretty harmless to humans. Also, they are not at all aggressive. This one let me get a few pictures before retreating into the rocks beside the trail.
Sparks Lake, Oregon
Sparks Lake, Oregon
Sparks Lake, Oregon
Cathy and I drove up into the mountains west of Bend today. We drove the 25 miles or so to the Dutchman Sno-Park Trailhead, which is also the trailhead for the Tumalo Mountain trail. It is on Southwest Century Drive (OR 372), basically across the road from the Mt. Bachelor ski area. We weren’t sure about hiking that, because Cathy’s hip was bothering her a little and she didn’t want to overdo it and take a risk of making it worse.
As we came back down to the car, Cathy happened to ask me how much gas we had. I hadn’t noticed so I’m glad she asked. We checked and we were well under a quarter of a tank. The nearest gas station was back in Bend so we drove the 20 miles to that, coasting as often as possible, which was not too hard as we were coming down out of the mountains. We made it without incident, filled the tank, and then drove all the way back up and past where we had parked the first time up.
We continued to the four miles to the turnoff for the Sparks Lake Day Use Area. The gravel road going in is very rough, but we were able to avoid the worst of it and made our way to the parking area near the beginning of the Ray Atkeson trail. If you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend this trail. It’s a fairly easy walk with a little bit of it actually paved so it is very accessible. Even after the paving ends, it’s not a difficult hike. We did have some rain, which was a little worrying since I had my camera and long lens, but I was able to keep it mostly dry.