on the river

Clouds and blue sky were painted on the waters of the Piscataqua River today.

flowing water

Walking in the woods today really highlighted the amount of rain that has fallen. The trail on the east side of Collins Pond in Harold Parker State Forest had a stream of water flowing up the middle, and Field Pond was outside of its normal boundary in some places.

a sense of calm

The water can be quiet or calm, at high tide or low. I find that walking next to the ocean provides a sense of calm.

recipes!

Someone referred me to the website Forks Over Knives a while ago. It's a site focusing on a plant-based diet, offering recipes as well as articles and some fee-based courses / planners. I wandered through the recipes when I first connected with the site, bookmarking it for future reference.

Last week I tried my first recipe from there, a split pea & cauliflower soup. It was interesting; while the split peas were softening (cooking!) it said to "sweat the vegetables... until the cauliflower starts to brown and the onions become translucent". The term was explained, and the directions were quite clear.

The soup was tasty! I know I will be playing with more recipes from Forks Over Knives; I need to decide which recipe is my next target.

If you're interested in trying the split pea & cauliflower soup, click to the recipe.

photo courtesy of Forks Over Knives

a very high tide

High tide on Plum Island this afternoon was at 12:38 PM.

It was an unusually high tide. I passed over the Parker River on Route 1 on my way to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge at about 1 PM. The river was swollen, with water flooding areas that are normally dry.

I entered the refuge a good half hour after high tide. Water approached the edges of the road on the inland side of the island. What an amazing view!

bright

It was a picture-perfect outdoors day today, a wonderful day for walking outside. Before I headed out walking I decided I needed a visit to the greenhouses of the Lyman Estate; floral color beckoned.

I was delighted to find some camellias in bloom. While the camellias in the greenhouse are in full bloom during one of the winter months, some of the plants were wearing flowers today.

A brisk afternoon walk followed my visit with the flowers.

a cold wind

While the winter solstice is still a month away today feels like a winter day. When I headed out for my exercise walk this morning the air temperature was 12 degrees and the wind was howling.

My second walk today was in the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. Although the temperature was up a few degrees, reading 18 when I stepped out of my car, the wind was even stronger than it was earlier. I felt the wind pushing me. Walking south was almost reasonable; walking to the north was very difficult. My wind- and temperature-dictated beach walk was shorter than I had planned.

I shared the beach with sea gulls. Some were flying, some walked the beach, and some were floating in the water. It's always a good day to walk by the ocean!

afternoon light

While the winter freeze has started on this pond there was enough open water to create a peaceful reflection of trees and blue sky.

squalls

This morning's first surprise? Snow squalls!

Based on the forecast last night I expected to see rain mixed with a bit of snow this morning. Instead I opened the door to heavy snow squalls. Snow continues to fall, coating the grass with a layer of white and leaving slush and puddles on paved surfaces.

It's going to be a messy morning walk!

gray

It was a cool gray day with rain filling the morning hours.

Raindrops were still falling when I arrived at Harold Parker State Forest for a bit of camera play. I found water overflowing the banks of Field Pond; the small circle I often walk was inaccessible today.

Dodging raindrops was easy; keeping my feet out of the mud was a little harder.