photography

December Nature in Johnson Park and Native Plant Reserve

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It’s cold out there! I took a walk through Johnson Park last week; I couldn’t find much other than these ducks. Then I headed over to the Native Plant Reserve to see brown remnants of last spring’s joyous perennials. You can see more if you click on each thumbnail above.

ducks in Johnson Park
In the above photo are the ducks with the colorful reflections around them (the image in the thumbnail is a cropped version).

In other nature news, my daughter taught me that the New Jersey state bird is a goldfinch and the New Jersey state flower is a violet.

For more Nature Notes:
Nature Notes

Thursday Challenge: Sneakers

sporting detailed sneakers with bright pink laces in the woods
sporting detailed sneakers with bright pink laces in the woods

This week’s Thursday Challenge is “SHOES” (Boots, Sandals, Dress Shoes, Wooden Shoes, Stiletto heals, Horse Shoes,…)

Next Week: LIGHT (Candle, Street, Business, Fireplace, Glitter, Sparkle,…)

And, yes, I did post these Twinkle Toes Skechers sneakers two weeks ago. Déjà vu. I have lots of candle photos from previous years – maybe I will do a Chanukah candle photo essay. We shall see.

Red Carnation

red carnation blooms in a backyard
red carnation blooms in a backyard

A red carnation: nice to have a warm fall photo to grace the top of my blog after this week’s upsetting local news (I just updated that post with a well-written letter by Mayor Steve Nolan – “All people who respect the rights of their neighbors will always be welcome in this town”). I won’t have much time on Monday to post (I will be busy with a work project), but I am planning to submit this pretty flower to Ruby Tuesday.

red carnations
Update: I added one more photo of red carnations.

Ruby Tuesday

Sneakers with Pink Laces

sporting detailed sneakers with bright pink laces in the woods
sporting detailed sneakers with bright pink laces in the woods

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving: happy Thanksgiving to all those that celebrate. A nice excuse to post some sneakers in the woods.

  • Thank you to everyone who reads and/or comments on this blog. You are so appreciated!
  • I have been enjoying working on a project for a client that is done with responsive web design. This means it will look good on your desktop, tablet or browser. This blog is responsive – if you move your browser to be small and then big again, you should see what I mean.
  • I would love to post more creative works on this blog: for example, maybe I could do something interesting with those sneakers? A few months ago I started a project with roofs – I never got back to that one. Lots of starting and stopping. One could easily blame it on outside influences (work, family, laundry, the weather), but the creative process seems to be one that invites “stuckness.”
  • If you are looking for a Thanksgiving recipe, you might want to check out the Stuffed Squash Workshop.
  • I am thinking of stuffing my turkey tomorrow with rice, dried cranberries, celery and onion (maybe one egg to stick it together). Do you think it will work? Any suggestion?

Are you cooking this week? What is in the plans, cooking or otherwise?

Nature Notes: Washington Valley Park

Washington Valley Reservoir
On Sunday we visited Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Our friend found the hike on the website njhiking.com; I had never heard of the park before. Pictured is the lovely reservoir at the bottom of the hiking area.

red trail at Washington Valley Park, Bridgewater, New Jersey
We decided in advance to follow the red trail – it wasn’t always easy to see these markings for the trail on the trees.

plants at Washington Valley Park
I saw a variety of plants growing – no idea what this striped little plant is called.

Red berries barberry bush at Washington Valley Park, New Jersey
I recognized these red oval berries from my childhood – I looked up the bush (red berries with thorns is what I looked for in Google Images), and I learned this is called a barberry bush.

moss washington valley park
I rather liked this plant inside moss that I found on the trail.

stream at Washington Valley Park
There were various streams on our hike that led into the reservoir. The girls (my daughter and friend) had fun hopping over the rocks.

hawk at Washington Valley Park
When we got to the top of the hill on the trail, we were rewarded with views of hawks flying overhead.

washington valley view
You could see quite a distance from the top – the fall colors have faded, but they are still varied, though muted.

For more Nature Notes:
Nature Notes

Nature Notes: Foliage 2011

Foliage in Highland Park in early November
My daughter and I went for a walk to the library today, and we enjoyed looking at the brightly colored trees. She was off from school because of some teacher enhancement enrichment something-or-another day.

oak leaves
The oak leaves are certainly multi-colored.

blueberry bush with foliage
I really enjoyed the colors of my neighbor’s blueberry bush.

high school with red foliage
The local high school looked pretty with the adorning red maple in front.

snow on the ground with red foliage
Hard to believe a week ago we had snow on the ground – this has been a varied fall for foliage 2011.

For more Nature Notes:
Nature Notes

Whirlpool Bridge on Niagara River

Niagara River Bridge
This is the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge on the Niagara River – I am revisiting photos I took from our trip last summer to Niagara Falls. The Whirlpool Bridge is about a mile from the falls.

Niagara Whirlpool Bridge
The Whirlpool Bridge crosses the international border between the United States and Canada. You can learn more here about the Whirlpool Bridge and the earlier suspension bridge it replaced (the world’s first working railway suspension bridge).

jet boats on the Niagara River
Here’s a jet boat one can take on the Niagara River. We just stood high on the cliff above and took photos.

For more bridges, visit San Francisco Bay Daily Photo:
bay bridge

Pomegranate Seed and Rhododendron Leaves

pomegranate seed among canning jars
I took a piece of pomegranate and put it amongst my canning jars (and there’s a water bottle in the back). So it looks like a pomegranate seed among glass. I have a lot of canning jars because I’ve been pickling and more recently I sprouted some lentils.

rhododenron fall leaves
My original First of the Month was the rhododendron shrub – above is rhododendron leaves in late October. Below are May, April and February.
rhododendron mid may rhododendron buds in April 2011 rhododendron february snowy

For more First of the Month:
first of the month

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