The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee: October 2015

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Local Color on a Blue Sky Day

Given my last post, you might be wondering what the Res looks like on a blue sky autumn day? See the answer below. Hint: It looks like fall colors at their best.

Better than Silver Dollars

Tower of Color

A Closer Look

Another Angle

Prime Colors

Reflections of Autumn

A Friend's Self-Built Rowboat... Nice Job, Jeff!

Mostly Yellow Forest Ceiling

Reflections Two

Water Colors

Not to be outdone by "Western MA", this post demonstrates that my usual hiking/walking spot for photos is no slouch when it comes to showing off local color.

Interestingly, these photos at the Ashland Res. were taken on a mostly cloudy day.

Leaves Everywhere

Even More Leaves Everywhere

A Bit of Blue

This Section of the Res is Separate from the Main Body of Water

Through the Trees One (crop of Two)

Through the Trees Two

Squiggly Branch

Wall of Yellow

Path Leaves

Another Wall of Yellow

Yellow Everywhere

End of the Res

Amherst Campus

The Amherst area is host for five colleges. Of these, I chose to spend some time at Amherst College itself. This was my first visit and I came away impressed with the beauty of the campus and in the architecture of the buildings. I try to capture that in these photos.

The Beneski Museum of Natural History really caught my eye. I'm not usually an architecture buff, but I love the lines of this building.

Beneski Museum Lines

Campus Grounds

Clock Tower

Even Still Green Leaves Have Their Moment in the Sun

Amherst Town Hall

Soccer Practice

Architectural Shapes

Bricks and Shadows

Beneski Shines

B&B Birds

We stayed at the Fox Crossing B&B while in Williamsburg. In addition to being a fantastic cook, the owner, Bobbie, has the most wonderful set of bird feeders on a high squirrel resistant pole, complete with a rope and pulley arrangement to lower the feeders down to replenish them. When Bobbie saw I was taking pictures, she lowered the feeders and put new seed in them. The birds, especially the chickadees, are not shy and stayed quite close; they knew exactly what was going on. I was able to get off a few shots of them while they waited for the feeders to be refilled.

Blue Jay Monitoring the Proceedings

Orange Overhead

Watching Me

Poser

Screen Shadow

Natural Surroundings

B&B View

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

That Colorful Time of Year

Columbus Day weekend Deb took a class at Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA, which is located just slightly northwest of Amherst. I took the opportunity to tag along and visit the area, doing some hiking and picture taking while she was learning new pottery techniques. The weather was absolutely perfect all three days. The skies were a clear autumn blue.

This is my first post of photos for that long weekend.

A Scene from Becket

On the way back from Becket:

Textures

Moments Before Sunset

Chapel Falls 1

Chapel Falls 2

On the hike from Chapel Falls up to Bullitt Reservation.

Overhead on the Trail

Bullitt Reservation turned out to be a worthy destination:

Flowing Tresses

Garden Color

Across from Chapel Falls there's a substantial ledge that rock climbers use to test their skills. Fortunately, there's also a hiking trail up and I was rewarded with this:

View From the Ledge Top

Chapel Falls is in the town of Ashfield, that happened to be holding its fall festival that weekend. I walked around the festival for a bit. I like shiny highly polished metal cars, creating, in this case, yet another selfie.

Parked at the Ashfield Fall Festival

Part of the Ashfield Fall Festival

Streetside Orange