The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee: trees

Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Cushing 2022

These photos were taken during a stroll around Cushing Memorial Park in Framingham where the trees often show great fall colors every year.

Enjoy!

Cushing Memorial Park 2022 - 1

Cushing Memorial Park 2022 - 2

Cushing Memorial Park 2022 - 3

Cushing Memorial Park 2022 - 4

Have a seat...

Cushing Memorial Park 2022 - 5

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Ashland's Mill Pond is a section of the Sudbury river located adjacent to the town center. It contains a trail called the "Riverwalk" along the edge of the pond. This trail is a small part of the Bay Circuit Trail which is a (not yet completed) 230 mile long trail in the Greater Boston area. The Riverwalk became available when the bridge was completed over a section of the north side of Mill Pond a few years ago. See #6 below for a photo of the bridge.

The Riverwalk shows wonderful colors during the fall season. This post contains photos I took there on October 10 and 11.

Mill Pond 2022 #1

Mill Pond 2022 #2

Mill Pond 2022 #3

Mill Pond 2022 #4

Mill Pond 2022 #5

Mill Pond 2022 #6

Mill Pond 2022 #7

Mill Pond 2022 #8

Mill Pond 2022 #9

Mill Pond 2022 #10

This visitor chose to cross the trail directly in front of me:

Mill Pond 2022 #11

Mill Pond 2022 #12

Mill Pond 2022 #13

Mill Pond 2022 #14

Mill Pond 2022 #15

Monday, May 16, 2022

Muir Woods

During my recent visit with my son in San Francisco, we decided to visit Muir Woods. We were pleasantly surprised when he was able to get us a parking reservation, which is the only way one can visit Muir Woods these days. This national monument has became so incredibly popular in recent years, and, especially since the arrival of Covid, requiring reservations keeps the number of simultaneous visitors down to a reasonable amount.

We took our time strolling through the main path of Muir Woods, always looking upward with awe at the incredible redwoods. The environment is lush; one feels completely surrounded by nature. Cameras in hand, we stopped frequently to breathe in the fresh air and enjoy this very serene and inspiring place. Muir Woods is truly special. I felt immediately tranquil upon entering the main grove. It helped that the number of other visitors was low, and so instead of feeling crowded or rushed, with zero effort, all I felt was an immediate soothing of the senses, as a peaceful meditative calmness came over me.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this memorable visit.

Muir Woods #1

Muir Woods #2

The main nature walk is two paths that go along both sides of Redwood Creek. Most folks walk to the end on one side, cross a small bridge, and return on the other side.

Redwood Creek

Muir Woods' Main Trail

Muir Woods #3

Muir Woods #4

Muir Woods #5

Muir Woods #6

Muir Woods #7

Monday, October 4, 2021

Diverse Impressions

As I review my photos taken over different days, sometimes I feel the need to share just a few, even if they're not necessarily related to one another.

Perhaps a photo that speaks to me will speak to you as well.

Here's a cell phone shot taken of one of my favorite sections of the walk around the Res. Whenever I'm there, I feel like the trees are inviting me to walk among them.

Trees Show the Way

Back home, in our garden, bees get speckled with pollen on them as they go about their business.

Pollinator - Top View

Pollinator - Side View

This lily looks a whole lot better than it smells. We had a blossom from this plant inside for a few days, but the smell became a bit strong! Certain lilies are best enjoyed outdoors.

Lily Life

Friday, October 9, 2020

October Leaves

In this post I've included foliage views seen during the same walk discussed in my previous post. I did not expect to see a lot of leaf color yet, as these photos were taken on October 1, and this turned out to be mostly true. However, the nice thing about foliage is that, sort of like micro-climates, there seem to always be rotating pockets of leaf color throughout the fall season. It's just a matter of where one looks.

Here is some of the color I found on that day!

Dancing Blues

Leaves Down 1

Leaves Down 2

High Flying Foliage

Foliage Fun

Deciduous Before Evergreen

Monday, January 27, 2020

Farm Pond and Cushing

Cushing Memorial Park's perimeter walking loop is a favorite among locals, I suppose for its convenience and simplicity. It is paved, which is normally a detriment, in my view, being less "natural." Yet in the winter, the town seems to plow most of it after storms, so the paved feature provides a place to walk when other more woodsy trails require extra dedication to be able to access.

Just across the street from Cushing is an area called Farm Pond. One can walk along the edge of Farm Pond using a portion of the "Aqueduct" trail system, which is a cooperative between the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA), City of Framingham, and MassTrails. It is not paved, and though it is currently winter, I took these photos when the snow had melted just to the point where the edge path was passable wearing ordinary hiking boots.

In this first photo, I'm looking across Farm pond, at the ice, the ducks and other birds, the freight train, and the urban skyline.

The Scene Across Farm Pond

Here's a slightly different view. Notice the ducks have a relatively circular pool of water within the ice in which to swim and fish.

Duck Pool

The next several shots are taken slightly further away from the water's edge within the strip of land between Cushing Memorial Park and Farm Pond.

This small stream is completely filled with green plant material.

Green River

There's a very healthy grove of trees that always seems to pull me in and encourage me to look skyward.

Shadows in the Sky

Here are some patterns in the bark of those trees:

Bark Chips

Try to find the tiny dark sideways (virtually perfectly formed) heart in this next one. Then look slightly above and to the left. You may see people.

Bark Islands

These next two photos are near a small church within Cushing Memorial Park.

Winter Respite

For those that like red and blue...

Red Globes

Finally, this is a window on the back of that church. I'm not exactly sure why there's a green patch near the bottom of the glass. I don't think it's a plant. The photo shows exactly the way it looked. It sets off nicely against the glowing gold.

Mottled Glass

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Autumn at the Res

During the same walking event of my last post, I took several other pictures, presented below. It's almost impossible for me to let the fall season pass without taking pictures of the local color. In my photos, I'm always striving for yet another way to capture the joy of the changing leaves.

From Above

At Water's Edge

Through the Y

While there were actually four cormorants on this rock, I slightly prefer this composition containing just three, mostly because the rightmost cormorant's head is nicely in the same line, and I can zoom in a little closer within the same frame. I had to wait to just the right moment to catch them all relaxing and not self-preening.

Let's All Look Left

For reference, here's a wider view. You can see that the lowest cormorant also enjoys looking left, while the rightmost one has become slightly distracted from the sun salutation.