crocus!

I saw my first crocus of the season emerging today.

Although the calendar says it's still winter, signs of spring are always welcome.

green

A succulent wearing green provides a pop of color.

water and ice

As the air warmed I headed for the coast and Halibut Point State Park in Rockport.

The water in the quarry wore ripples from the wind, the walls of the quarry wore patterns of ice. I'm always amazed at how long ice stays in place as the air temperature starts to warm.

More photos from today's walk can be seen in the gallery Halibut Point :: 2016.

simplicity

A camellia standing alone creates great beauty.

first play

I gave in to a desire for a bit more reach for my Fuji X-T1, purchasing a Fuji XF 55-200mm lens. A quick mid-day walk (with camera) yesterday provided a good first impression.

I'm looking forward to the weekend for time to play, and to learn the capabilities of my new lens.

across the river

Standing in Prescott Park, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery is visible behind a set of docks on the Portsmouth side of the river..

a splash of purple

Flowers feed my need for bright color today.

to Parker River

I planned my Parker River National Wildlife Refuge wander today after consulting the tide chart. The coast beckoned in the morning but the afternoon looked better; I wanted to walk on the beach as the tide was going out.

The air was a little cooler than it was yesterday but it still felt like an early spring day. It was a perfect day to walk by the sea and to listen to the ocean.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery Parker River, and... 2016.

tugboat powered

When I headed to the New Hampshire coast this morning the sky was still wearing gray and the tide was high.

I stopped at the northern edge of Odiorne Point State Park for a bit, then headed on to Portsmouth.

As I got closer, I saw that the Memorial Bridge was in an up position. It was still up when I parked next to Prescott Park. As I stood close to the water, a massive freighter moved by, pushed by tugboats out to sea. I walked a bit, looked around, then walked across the (now down) Memorial Bridge. I reversed direction and was about to exit the bridge when I heard the lift warning. I turned again and walked toward the lift section of the bridge. Cars stop pretty close to the entrance of the bridge but the gate that spans the sidewalk of the bridge has a high section that allows pedestrians to walk closer.

I watched as tugboats maneuvered another large freighter. They pushed it inland, up the Piscataqua River. It moved under the lift section of the Memorial Bridge, then under the lift section of the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge a little further inland.

It was a good day for watching ships, enjoying sky changes from gray to blue, walking in warm temperatures.

tulip dreams

It will be a while yet before I see this year's tulips in gardens near home. Curious, I checked my photo galleries from last spring. I captured one tulip in late April, with most of the bloom showing up several weeks later in a mid-May timeframe.

This solo tulip is from Tower Hill Botanic Garden's flower arrangement competition last weekend. It feeds my dreams of tulips.

product review :: OrganizeMyDrawer.com

The silverware drawer in my kitchen is a bit odd in that it has a divider that slides, halving the available vertical space. That means that the organizer that holds the silverware is only about 1.5 inches tall. The organizer was cracked in places; it needed to be replaced. I looked for a replacement - either a direct replacement of the single piece unit, or separate containers that fit together. Everything I found was too deep.

I put my need for a replacement silverware organizer in the back of my mind. Every so often I'd look around to see what I could find.

What luck! A recent web search sent me to OrganizeMyDrawer.com, a company that constructs custom-made organizers of clear acrylic materials. I measured the old organizer, I measured the available space in the drawer, and then I measured again (since there are no refunds for mis-measured orders). I placed my order on Sunday. My organizer was constructed and shipped on Monday, and it arrived here today.

I'm very happy both with the service and with the quality of the product. It's awesome!

delicate

The structure of a flower can be both complex and delicate.

in a vase

As I looked at the floral arrangements during my visit to Tower Hill Botanic Garden I was fascinated to see some of the containers used for the flowers.

This simple glass vase showed flower stems with the addition of wire rolled into balls sitting in the water. While my focus was on capturing flowers I thought the decorative contents of the vase deserved a photo too.

warm, wet, windy

There was snow on the ground this morning covered with a layer of crunch. The snow changed to freezing rain and sleet overnight, waiting until later in the day to change to heavy rain.

The temperature when I woke up was below freezing; now it's a warm 54 degrees. It was a good evening for a walk in non-winter conditions. It was warm, wet, and very windy.

fading

A flower, fading, captures beauty.

winter in bloom

This morning I headed to the Tower Hill Botanic Garden to enjoy the second weekend of their Winter in Bloom celebration. I spent time in the two indoor garden spaces that house plants during the cold months, and I enjoyed the individual designers and garden club exhibit in the gallery connecting the indoor gardens.

If you need more color to brighten your winter there are more photos from today's visit in the gallery Tower Hill Botanic Garden :: 2016.

temperature variation

By the time I headed out for my early evening walk this evening the temperature had "warmed" to 21 degrees. There was no wind, and my layers and movement kept me quite comfortable. The next two days are going to test my winter dressing skills - with the high temperature tomorrow is predicted to be 18 degrees with the high on Sunday only 8 degrees. Along with the cold air the wind is supposed to be howling.

The wind chill warning is posted from 4 PM Saturday through noon on Sunday. The words in the warning call for "life threatening wind chills and strong wind gusts with wind chill readings between 20 and 30 below zero". It goes on to state that wind chills in this range can bring on frostbite in as little as 10 minutes. Brr!

Something jumped out of the forecast at me though. While the non-wind-assisted predicted high temperature on Sunday is 8 degrees, a high of 50 is predicted for Tuesday. That's just wacky!

forecast courtesy of the National Weather Service, Taunton, MA

waiting

A study in green, a lady slipper is waiting to bloom.

impressionist reflection

The water in the canal was quiet. It provided a perfect canvas for a reflection of trees in front of a building that was draped in plastic, under renovation.

The reflection reminds me of an impressionist painting.

portrait of a flower

On this snowy day a portrait of a white camellia makes me think of spring.

mill buildings

My walking destination this afternoon was a bit out of character; I looked at buildings instead of natural beauty.

I visited the North Canal Historic District in Lawrence, MA. I was treated to the sight of reflections of the pure blue sky and the mill buildings that line the canal.

The Washington Mills was once the largest woolen mills in the United States. The building has been renovated; it now houses loft apartments.

a blanket of white

Snow-covered trees glistened in the sun this morning. The layers of white were beautiful against the blue of the sky.

on edge

I visited the Lyman Estate Greenhouses this morning to satisfy my need for color.

There were a few camellias in bloom. This one in bright pink gave me a chance to capture the edges of the flower petals.

The estate's web site shows camellia blooming season from February 16th through March 13th. I think I'd better return there in a few weeks to visit with the flowers.

storm end

Today's winter storm warning was posted until 5 PM. At precisely that time I looked outside to see clear sky colored by the setting sun. It was amazing to see a cast of pink thrown across the snow.

The winter storm warning has been replaced with a special weather statement warning of possible black ice as the temperature drops this evening.

snow

The weather forecast for today changed yesterday afternoon from a little bit of snow - less than an inch - to the current prediction calling for 5 to 9 inches of the white stuff. It was still raining when I woke up this morning. It's snowing now, and the National Weather Service shows the current condition as "snow fog".

It's white outside.

winter green

On a gray winter day the needles of an evergreen provide a pop of green.

a walk in the rain

The temperature edged up to the mid-50s by late in the afternoon. Light rain fell all day, whipped by a strong wind.

I headed out for my evening walk clad in light layers topped by a rain jacket, snow sneakers on my feet. I didn't need the insulation but the second plus to those shoes is that they are waterproof. It was good to be dry while walking in very wet conditions.

sunshine

Today's forecast calls for sunshine; even on gray days last summer's flowers bring color and smiles.

Did you hear that Punxatawnery Phil, the official groundhog (spring forecaster), did not see his shadow this morning at his home in Pennsylvania? He is predicting an early spring. Of course the groundhogs here woke to see pure sunshine. Ms. G, the official state groundhog of Massachusetts predicts 6 more weeks of winter.

I wonder...