late afternoon walk

I don't know what made me grab my camera as I headed out for my late afternoon walk but I'm glad that it jumped into my hand. Occasionally the wind stopped moving the flowers long enough for me to capture a photo.

pretty in pink

pulled to Parker River

The beach at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge closes each year on April 1st for the piping plover nesting season. The birds own the 6 miles of oceanfront beach until the end of the nesting season when the young birds are walking, flying, and have left the beach.

It's a beautiful place. Today I felt pulled to the refuge to walk on the inland side of Plum Island and to visit the Sandy Point State Reservation at the southern tip of the island.

More photos from today's walk can be viewed in the gallery Parker River - 2013 starting with this photo and ending here.

towers await

It was a good day for a bridge visit.

The towers are both standing tall. An update on the Memorial Bridge web site says that the steel construction of the towers is complete and that the iron workers are completing the vertical alignment of the two structures. I walked past the bridge site to a spot where it was possible to peer into the NH State Pier to see the center section of the bridge under construction on a barge. I believe the construction schedule calls for the lift section to be installed in June.

I'm looking forward to walking and riding on the new bridge when it opens sometime this summer.

More bridge under construction photos from yesterday's Portsmouth walk can be viewed in the gallery Rebuilding a bridge, Portsmouth - Kittery starting with this photo and ending here.

on the inland side

The sky over the ocean was clear. I was happy to find a few clouds gracing the sky as I looked west from the road along the New Hampshire coast.

There are a few more photos from today in the gallery New Hampshire coast - 2013 starting the this photo and ending here.

early (greenhouse) iris

I thought I was seeing things (that weren't there)!

I saw an iris in bloom, and it's much too early here for those beautiful flowers. I thought it was a reflection from outside of the greenhouse (at Stevens-Coolidge Place) but as it turns out there was a planter inside the greenhouse with two iris in full bloom. Beautiful...

solo daffodil

This afternoon's walk took me to the Stevens-Coolidge Place where I found a sea of daffodils in the grass. I like this soft solo bloom against a muted backdrop of more daffodils.

periwinkle

I was delighted to see periwinkle in bloom, decorating the landscape with such a nice shade of purple.

pink

It was a beautiful sight, a sea of cherry blossoms along the Charles River Esplanade in Boston.

looking

Perched on the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge... Doesn't this Canada Goose look like he owns the world?

Maudslay morning

It was clear and crisp this morning, a bit chilly but a good day for a walk. I headed to Maudslay State Park to see if any new flowers had appeared since my last visit.

The color of the day was green with a few pops of other colors. There were daffodils in gardens and scattered in the grass in in the woods, a few early blooming azaleas, lots of skunk cabbage, forsythia, and tiny purple flowers in the grass.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Maudslay State Park - 2013 starting with this photo and ending here.

a Boston walk

The cherry trees along the Charles River Esplanade usually bloom from late April to early May. I wanted to see more spring color so I took a chance that the trees had started to bloom and headed into Boston this morning. I parked along the river in Cambridge, using the Longfellow Bridge as the starting point for my wander.

Pink blossoms graced the trees along the esplanade, a wonderful view. Next I headed to Boston's Public Garden to enjoy the reflections of the willows in the duck pond.

More photos from today's wander can be seen in the gallery Spring! 2013 starting with this photo and ending here.

fast!

Yesterday was the day I switched from having cable service for web and television and (old) copper wire service for the phone. The new world for me is all FiOS, and wow! The difference in upload speed is very noticeable.

My service is the fastest that Verizon offers in my area, 75/35 Mbps. It looks like there are faster (Verizon) services available but not where I live. No matter, this works well for me.

I uploaded a set of photos and was very surprised to hear the ping telling me that the upload was complete well before I expected it.

FiOS fast, I'm happy!

forsythia in bloom

a splash of yellow

Spring is continuing to creep in slowly. The daffodils are in bloom, bringing a splash of yellow to the landscape.

senseless

It should have been a day of joy and celebration, a day to run the marathon, to watch, to enjoy Boston.

Instead it was a day of tragedy, of bomb blasts, death, injury. There is no reason that justifies the behavior of the individual (or individuals) who chooses to harm other people and to cause such chaos. What a senseless tragedy.

---

I found the words of John Tlumacki in his article Tragedy in Boston: One Photographer’s Eyewitness Account to be quite moving.

early opening

Buds are barely starting to pop on flowering trees in the area. Some trees - like this magnolia - surprise with almost open blooms.

emerging

Yesterday's warmth retreated a bit as today brought a gray sky, a little rain, and a chilly feeling in the air. Flowers are slowly emerging as it starts to feel more like spring. I saw a few daffofils in bright yellow, some new tiny purple close to the ground flowers, and tightly wrapped pink petals on soon to be flowering trees.

birdsong

As I walked this evening I heard the birds. They were hidden from view, chirping, chattering, singing. What a wonderful sound!

a bit of green

My eyes were drawn to an edge of green in the vegetation just above the waterline, and area that was likely below water at high tide.

a walk on the coast

Today the ocean called to me to walk along the coast. It was a chilly windy day, a day when I could hear both the ocean on the shore and the wind whipping through the tree tops.

More photos from today's walk can be viewed in the gallery New Hampshire coast - 2013 starting with this photo and ending here.

field of crocus

Somehow I convinced myself that all of the spring flowers should be in bloom now based on last year's warm winter and early blooming. We had a more normal (end of) winter this year with snow and cold weather extending into March so the flowers seem to be back on a more normal bloom schedule. It's the little flowers that are showing themselves right now, snowdrops, crocus, and chionodoxa. Oh, and I've seen some early miniature iris too.

    

I walked to the Stevens-Coolidge Place this morning and found myself in a field of crocus, flowering in white, in violet, and in stripes of the two colors. Beautiful.

simple

A single purple crocus, closed...

shapes, rocks & water

I'm always fascinated by the shapes formed by combinations of rocks and water.

From last Saturday's visit to Halibut Point State Park...