Zooming – January 2017

I use the zoom on my camera in so many situations – to look at the details of a façade in McKinney, Texas,

A swan and coot at Josey Ranch.

And then there is the combined strategy of photographing through a window and zooming: crepe myrtle seed pods through the window of the hotel in Grapevine, TX (when it was very cold outside),

Kitt Peak (probably) taken through the window of the plane taking off from Tucson headed to Los Angles, and

A tangle of plum tree branches covered in water droplets in the morning sunshine.

Sometimes the zoom is so great that it makes the picture look more like a painting. I thought this shelf fungus looked like a stylized bird!

Hiking at Belmont

I took a winter hike at Belmont yesterday. The trek went from the Carriage House at Belmont onto the Patapsco Valley State Park’s Ridge Trail – making a big loop. It was a lot of up and down hiking through the winter forest. I had limited time to take pictures….it was a hike not a photo shoot. I liked the very green moss on this fallen tree – that has been cut up after it fell across the trail.

Sometimes the white of shelf fungus catches attention too.

This log had a mixture of shelf fungus, lichen and moss…quite a variety. There are little plants coming up through the leaves as well; we’ve been having some warmer days than usual this January.

Here we were on the trail. The trees with brown leaves still clinging are probably young beech trees.

As we came out of the forest there was a great view of the Belmont Manor House from over the rolling hills.

By the time we got back to the Carriage House, we were all ready for a snack!

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2017

January started out with a burst of travel – driving cross country between Maryland and Arizona with a stop for a week in the Dallas area. There were associated ‘little celebrations.’

Leaf earrings from a local artist in McKinney TX – I celebrated finding earrings I like a lot…and if they are created by a local artist that makes it even better. I find it very easy to remember where I purchase earrings so they are great mementos for my travels.

A day on my own – Usually when I travel, my time is full of interacting with other people and I end up exhausted after it continues for too many days. On this 9-day trip, I had one day that was almost all ‘me time’ and I celebrated the lull!

Getting to the hotel in the snow – One day I was out and about in Dallas when it started snowing. I thought it wouldn’t stick but it started before I could head back to the hotel. Dallas does not use salt and there had not been any time for sand to be out either. I was driving an unfamiliar car too. I white knuckled the drive (overpasses particularly) but made it back to the hotel without incident…and celebrated.

Then there were ‘home’ related celebrations:

Home again – I enjoy traveling but coming home again is always a little celebration.

A good night of sleep – I came home from my travels with a cold so the first night that I sleep well was cause for celebration.

A sunny day – January in Maryland has been full of gray skies and drizzle (no snow) so I celebrated one on of the few sunny days.

A new car – Maybe this is a big celebration rather than a little one. I only buy a new car about every 10 years or so…and I’m still savoring the lingering celebration of acquiring the Prius Prime.

There are instances of little celebrations in my favorite activities as well:

Anatomy of the Abdomen and Pelvis Course – This might be the most challenging courses I’ve taken on Coursera – but tremendously interesting. I am celebrating every module. Kudos to the Leiden University Medical School for producing it.

A hike and finding skunk cabbages – I enjoyed a winter hike and was celebrating being outdoors when I found skunk cabbages already up in the winter muck…and that made for a bigger celebration.

Red-tailed hawks – It seems like I am seeing red tailed hawks a lot more frequently this winter….or maybe I am just becoming a better observer. My daughter and I saw them on our cross-country road trip, there is at least one that is frequently the woods behind out house and I saw one at Centennial Park when I was there last week. I celebrate that the birds are thriving and that I am seeing them!

Skunk Cabbage in January!

I walked down to the swampy areas on the other side of Mt Pleasant Farm when I was there earlier this week (away from either Construction Zone) and looked at a couple of places I knew Skunk Cabbage grows. The first – closer – place was still like winter – no sunk cabbage coming up in the muck. But the second place had lots of new shoots of the plant coming up!

Once I saw the a few plants – I started seeing even more of them. We’ve been having a warmer than usual January so the plants may be coming up a bit earlier than usual. They are some of the earliest flowers of spring. The early insects (including bees) are attracted to their not-pleasant-to-us smell. They often show up when snow is still on the ground but this year it hasn’t been necessary so far.

One of the shoots has been cut (by a mower?) so the structure of the coiled up leave is obvious.  The structure coming up next to it might be a flower.

As I walked back along the small stream (East Branch), I spotted two green shoots in a relatively narrow and rocky part of the stream bed…probably a new stand of skunk cabbage from seeds produced in the large stand a little upstream.

It will be interesting to observe what happens to these plants if we do have some very cold weather. After all – it’s only January…still some winter left to go.