Petals

More photos from today's visit to The Stephens-Coolidge Place can be seen in the gallery Summer days... 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Low tide ramble

A walk on a quiet beach, a low tide ramble...

The Wells Reserve is a favorite place, with a beach that is made for walking. As the trail from the inland portion of the reserve enters the shoreline, the beach to the left is in the reserve and is a quiet place for walking, for sharing space with the birds. I knew I wanted to visit at low tide so for a change I checked the tide charts before I left home. Hmm... low tide today was at 5:16 AM and 5:21 PM. I didn't think too long before deciding on a late day walk.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Wells Reserve - 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Flower in the wind

This pink spiky flower caught my eye.

I found my camera jumping into my hand even though I knew that a light wind was causing movement. Ah, a pink spiky flower jumped into my camera.

Flower unfolding

Seaside

Boats, glittering water, colors... more photos can be seen in the gallery Along the New Hampshire coast - 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Garden hour

More of the images that jumped from the Fuller Garden's flower beds into my camera this afternoon can be found in the gallery Petals pop - Fuller Gardens 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Reflections

Today's forecast was for a repeat of the hot humid weather that has been enveloping a good chunk of the country this week. Temperatures were targeted to rise into the 90s, an improvement over yesterday but still hot. I thought an early morning ride sounded like a good idea, with 7 AM popping up in my mind as a good starting time.

I heard the sound of rain on the windows when I woke up. Uh oh! not my favorite riding conditions.

I opted to wait for warmer drier air, heading out in the late morning. I rode by a falling down shed of sorts, with a piece of aluminum roofing draped down to the water, reflecting. I was sans camera, but I took a chance that the sunshine would still be creating photos - my bike turned towards home, I finished my ride, grabbed my camera, and headed back to Harold Parker State Forest.

A few more photos from my quick jaunt can be seen in the gallery Summer days... 2011, starting with this photo and ending here.

Humid

walking, humid air
sweat sliding into my eyes
destination bright flowers

Chatting with the birds

As I realized that time was flying by and it was (probably) past time to really head for home, a flock of homing pigeons gathered at the side of the canal. They weren't too interested in standing still but sometimes photos in motion work too.

A few more photos of the quickly scurrying birds can be seen here.

A canal of many names

My drive home from visiting my folks this past weekend took a couple of hours longer than the distance required. I've been tempted by a "no unauthorized personnel" sign on the eastbound side of New York Thruway that appears to be the entrance to one of the locks on the canal. It's not really acceptable to pull off on the side of a limited access highway to go wandering with my camera, but the thought has occurred to me on more than one occasion.

Instead of hopping on the Thruway to head home, I headed down routes 5 and 5S, stopping at Lock 19 in Schuyler and Lock 18 in Herkimer. If you look at a map you can see that the roads, canal, and river snake about, crossing each other, crossing back again. There was a railroad bridge just past Lock 19. Oh! That would be an interesting spot to catch a train rolling by. Hmm... I guess I'll need to go back. I was lucky enough to watch a tour boat traverse Lock 18, and to chat with the lockmaster as he worked.

I had to look up the name of the canal when I reached home Sunday evening. I remembered it as the Erie Canal and as the Barge Canal, but I wasn't sure of the official name. It turns out that it was renamed the New York State Barge Canal after it was widened and rebuilt between 1905 and 1918. It was renamed again (recently) as the New York State Canal System. What's in a name?

Curious about the canal? You can read a brief history on the New York State Canals site, and you can gather information to drive your explorations at the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor site.

More photos can be seen in the gallery A canal, two locks, birds.

Pretty in pink

Mirrored landscape

Reflections in two directions

Frogs wearing green

As I walked along the Wiggle Waggle at Bedrock Gardens I heard the sound of frogs. There were several of us listening and looking. Luckily someone spotted the bright green but still camouflauged creatures!

Afternoon roses

After spending close to four hours wandering at Bedrock Gardens it would have made sense to head home. I was close to Fuller Gardens though, and a late afternoon wander through the roses sounded like a good idea.

A few more photos from today can be seen in the gallery Petals pop - Fuller Gardens 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Bedrock Gardens

Today was my first visit to Bedrock Gardens, and I'm sure it won't be my last. A friend came across information on Bedrock Gardens last month and mentioned it to me. What luck! I've found a new favorite place to visit. It's a series of gardens wearing plants and sculptures, a place to walk, to absorb beauty, to share a moment with strangers.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Bedrock Gardens.

Interested in the art living in the garden? Information and a catalog can be viewed at the site Fine Garden Art.

Destination decision

April rolled into May, and it seemed that Denise was walking down the same path she followed last year, leaving a vacation destination decision until late in the summer. She promised me that she would decide earlier this year, but I was really starting to wonder. I didn't see any signs of decision progress other than the thinking about islands in the North Atlantic. I was beginning to think that I needed to look into my "wishing glass" to help her decide.

Denise was looking at two islands in the North Atlantic - three if she was really thinking about returning to Iceland already, and I think that she was. Oh, I know we'll return there, I just didn't think it would be this year unless it's for a long weekend. Hmm...

As it turns out I can save my "wishing glass" magic for another trip. Denise was keeping an eye on air fares, and she made a quick destination decision during the first week of May when she saw some flights that she thought were (somewhat) reasonable. I kept an eye on our email, and I saw confirmations for flights, a rental car, and B&Bs for a week in August. I thought about writing then, but our trip was still too far away. I waited. And I waited. And now? we'll be leaving for our adventure in just a little over 6 weeks so I think it's time to share.

Oh, I still didn't tell you where we're going, did I? We're going to Newfoundland. When we visited there in 2009 we stayed on the west side of the island. This time, we're heaing east. We're flying into St. John's, and we'll be wandering between there and Fogo Island off the north central coast. Denise told me she thinks Fogo Island looks like a good photography spot but I think she chose it because she likes the name. That's a good reason, isn't it?

--- Rover

Early morning light

Sunday flowers

A few more photos from this morning's garden walk can be seen in the gallery Summer days... 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Blue sky, clouds, reflections

When I drove by this reservoir on my way to Maudslay State Park this morning the sky was pure blue, and while the scene was beautiful it wasn't interesting to my camera eye. It was a different story on my way home. Clouds added decoration to sky and water.

A few more photos of this scene can be viewed in the gallery Summer days... 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.

Maudslay morning

Ah, Saturday, a whole day to fill... I chose a morning devoted to walking and camera play, an afternoon of riding.

I headed to Maudslay State Park to satisfy my walking urges. I started down the same path I used on my first visit there at the end of May, then veered onto a different loop trail. It's funny, the park has a nice map but the trail intersections for the most part aren't marked. Today's path wore a name giving me a sanity check that I would remain in the western half of the park.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Wandering Maudslay State Park - 2011 starting with this photo and ending here.