Splash!

I need some color today, something brighter than a gray winter's day. Here's a splash of color from last summer.

Winter colors

This scene on the edge of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge wears green in the spring and summer months. On winter days without snow cover, the grasses are a golden color.

Sunday's coastal wander

I was hoping for a repeat of yesterday's very unseasonable temperatures. I didn't get warmth, but I did get a day that I could use to satisfy my need for a coastal wander. The temperature hovered in the low 40s, the sky wore cloud decorations... ah, a good wandering day!

I headed to Kittery, spending the first part of my time on a road that passes through the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. My second stop was Fort Foster, a Kittery Park that houses World War II era cement forts along with a beautiful path for walking along the water. Many of my fellow wanderers were walking with dogs, most unleashed. When I commented to one couple that their dog looked like he was wet they just laughed. Apparently he loves playing in the water!

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery South coastal Maine - 2012 starting with this photo and ending here.

Angled & straight

Seeing

I think I was lucky; I learned from a young age to look beyond the surface, to see. My mother is an artist, and I'm sure that it was her influence that taught me to appreciate the things around me. It's funny, we had a very recent conversation about that, and today the topic jumped at me once again.

I posted the photo below on Google+ for the theme "Four Seasons Friday", sharing a photo showing off the current season. I chose this photo even though it is from last year, choosing to interpret "current season" as winter. To me that says snow. My photo was accompanied by the text

The ground here is still bare, so I've grabbed this winter photo from the 2011 winter season. This was a magic day... the ground was covered with snow, the air went from totally socked in with fog to a light ground fog. I was very glad I had a camera with me on my morning walk.

I got an almost immediate response from +Gib Goff, another google+ participant:

I guess I'll never understand how creatives can go for a simple walk and see such beauty, while others scowl and never see past their noses. Do they not see it, or just not realize it?

Sometimes I wish I was bionic with a little itsy bitsy camera mounted in my eye - for that split second when I see that one, beautiful shot. Then snap, it's captured, to share.

I can't tell you how many times I wished for the same thing! Sometimes I can capture an image to share, sometimes it is captured as a memory.

What about you? Do you see the world around you?

Thanks Mom, for teaching me to see!

Top 10 images of 2011

Just because...

Selecting my favorite 10 photos out of all of the photos that I took last year was definitely an interesting exercise. It was a time of looking back, of allowing myself to be drawn into the images, of seeing what I liked and thinking about what I might change if I could shoot the image again.

In date sequence, here are my favorites from last year.

Magic in reflecting clouds, Wells Reserve, Maine

Snow & sand, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Newburyport, Massachusetts



Moody sky & reflections, Portsmouth, New Hampshire



Pools of water at the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, Acadia National Park, Maine



Lupine or false blue indigo? At Stephens-Coolidge Place, N Andover, Massachusetts



A simple summer flower, at Stephens-Coolidge Place, N Andover, Massachusetts



Patterns in clouds and reflections, Eastport Peninsula, Newfoundland



Late day light paints rock formations, Bonavista, Newfoundland



Near the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, Acadia National Park, Maine



Just after the sun slipped behind the mountains, Death Valley National Park, California


These photos are collected into the gallery Top 10 images, 2011. If you'd like to view them as a full screen slideshow, click here to jump to the gallery, then click on the slideshow button.

Moon shadows

It's a cold, clear, and windy night. The air temperature was 17 degrees F (-8 C) with the wind constantly blowing, playing music in the trees. As I walked I noticed that I was followed by two shadows. One was thrown by lights from the houses, the other from the moon shining high in the sky.

Canada Goose standing

I was following a trail around a small pond when I saw some Canada Goose standing on the ice. I moved off of the trail, trying to be quiet as my feet crunched through a carpet of dry leaves. Somehow I managed to get close enough to peer through brush and bare branches; the geese stayed standing.

More photos from my close to home wanders today and Saturday can be found in the gallery Winter 2012 starting with this photo and ending here.

Taste treat

Ah, strawberries... my preference is for local berries, but that season is quite short (and long past). I will buy berries year round if they look good and smell good This week's strawberries from Florida are oh so good!

This morning's taste treat was strawberries and Cara Cara oranges tossed with yogurt and topped with a bit of All Bran Bran Buds cereal to add some crunch and a bit of fiber. Yummy!

January warmth

The calendar says the season is winter, but today's weather felt more like late fall or early spring with temperatures warming to the low 50s. The morning sky wore pure blue, adding cloud decorations as the day wore on.

It was a good day to visit the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. Yes, I know, it's always a good day at Parker River!

I started on the ocean side of the refuge, walking, listening to the ocean, wondering why there were no birds playing on the beach. Ah, I see - the birds are all on the salt marsh side. There were large flocks of Canada Goose seeming to stand on water since there was a skim of water covering ice. There were some trees loaded with birds, some robins, lots of black feathered birds.

Here's a quick view of the ocean and inland sides of the refuge.

More photos from today can be found in the gallery Parker River - 2012. This will be a running gallery for the year, with newer photos at the beginning.