It was a good day to walk, to enjoy interesting sculptures. I headed to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum this morning, camera in hand.
While I spent most of my visit outside, I'm glad I ventured into the museum since one of my favorite sculptures was standing just inside and outside of the museum entrance. The sculpture below is two figures, staring at each other from opposite sides of the glass.
Did you ever wonder why such a beautiful flower insists on wearing thorns? Do they discourage animals from munching on the flowers?
This morning I headed to Fuller Gardens in North Hampton, NH for a wander through bright color. It's a delightful botanical garden that houses thousands of roses (according to the web site), a large bed containing a mixture of dahlias, a Japanese garden, and seasonal perennials.
It was a time to absorb the beauty of roses and dahlias.
Today is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, and this year also marks 100 years for Acadia National Park. In honor of our wonderful parks system I'd like to share a few favorite photos.
on the Schoodic Peninsula, Acadia National Park ::
Watching the construction of the new Memorial Bridge between Portsmouth and Kittery was interesting and relatively easy since there were piers right next to the bridge where I could stand. Now the middle bridge between Portsmouth and Kittery is the construction target, the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge.
It crosses a section of the river where there is little access (for me) to stand and watch.
The old bridge was scheduled to remain open until November 1, 2016. That changed on Sunday when there was a mechanical failure of the lift bridge. From a press release on the Maine DOT Sarah Mildred Long Bridge web site:
Repairs were estimated to cost in the $1,000,000 price range so a decision was made to close the (old) bridge now, leaving the lift section in the "up" position.
The mechanical issue in the south bridge tower was discovered on the morning of August 21. Engineers were able to lift the bridge to the “up” position at about 1:00 am on Monday, August 22 to accommodate marine traffic. By keeping the bridge in this position, federal law, which requires a bridge to be accessible to marine traffic at all times, is adhered to.
That's very interesting, isn't it?
With a larger 56’ vertical clearance in its “resting” position, there will be 68% fewer bridge openings. In the normal operating, “resting” position, the bridge’s lift span is at its middle level, allowing motor vehicles to cross the river. The new bridge’s movable “hybrid” span lifts up to allow passage of tall vessels and lowers to railroad track level for trains to cross.
The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful place to walk along the ocean and along inland waters.
The entire beach closes on April 1st each year to support the nesting season of endangered piping plovers and least terns. The biologists determined that most of the protected birds are finished with the beach for the season, with some tern chicks hanging out near the lot 2 boardwalk, a few off of lot 1, and one chick a bit south of lot 3. Yesterday the beach was reopened from just north of lot 3 to the southern tip of Plum Island with some fencing added to protect the chick south of lot 3.
I arrived at Parker River this morning about an hour before low tide, leaving my car at lot 3, following the boardwalk to the beach. I walked south, listening to the sound of the ocean, looking at the water, at the shape of the beach, at the sand dunes heading inland. I watched sea gulls and sandpipers walking near the water's edge. I looked up to see sea birds flying.
Wednesday morning I watched two butterflies flit around the garden, happily feeding on flowers. Not happy with seeing only two of these beautiful creatures, I headed to Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory in South Deerfield, MA.
Standing in the conservatory surrounded by butterflies is wonderfully relaxing.
