Ephemeral & birds

I was going to try to pick a favorite spring Ephemeral and I can't. 

They all are.

The Meadow Anenome is a delightful little white flower and in Tainter Land, they are abundant on the DNR land next to Tainter Creek.

In 'Tainter Land' there are 4 roads which are all in this crazy narrow valley. Tainter East, Tainter West, Tainter Hollow, and Tainter Road.

Tainter Land is infamous for its steep valley walls and narrow valleys, it floods often. It is wild and it is ruled by Tainter Creek which is sought after by Trout Fisherman.

I like it because I can find all the spring flowers within 500 yards of parking my car on the DNR land.

All Ephemeral flowers make their appearance and then fade away. I like to try and photograph them each year.

It's a very short drive from my house, so I can get there and back quickly. I know where the flowers come up from years of exploring the public land. I have yet to ever run into another soul while walking there.

The bees were enjoying the flowers with me.

Most of these flowers are almost 4 or 5 inches fall. I thought it would be fun to try a 'shoot through' shot. Shoot Through is a method of shooting through other plants to soften the look of your flower. It took a bit of positioning to do it.

I was so pleased to find Dutchman's Breeches near the parking entrance. Just a few feet from these flowers Trout Lilies were pushing up. I was really excited to see them.

Here is a Trout Lily from the spring of 2020 in Tainter Land --> hiding in the Meadow Anenomes. 

Last year I found them on a hike at the Reserve. 

I had some toys in my bag. I never leave home without some ...

Ned-B is such a thoughtful Droid. He gives Peazy --- PC 4C0, a flower.

While I was out checking the fence line in the meadow, I heard a racket. I used the Merlin app to ID the bird. I was surprised by the beautiful songs of the Brown Thrasher.

The lighting was really quite poor for this, but I took the shots anyway. At one point there were 4 of these birds in this birch tree.

This one flew to the nearby Hickory tree right above me.

This is the third year that I've heard these birds here [they probably have been visiting all the years I've lived here, but three years ago is the first time I paid attention to bird song]. 

I walked down into the woods to look at the fencing I had to put back up this week. I thought I saw a little bird hopping around in the brush and brambles.

And...

so...

I got a shot of it. 

It was pretty camouflaged so I circled it. Still, it is very hard to see!

I think it is a Palm Warbler.

The things you can observe when you sit quietly in the forest!

I found another plant that I'd never noticed before too. Another reason to just sit still and look around. 

Pennsylvania Sedge. Obviously a little grass I've never noticed. It blossoms also!

One more grass to add to my collection of grasses!

More rain is in store for us so that means the fungi and mushrooms may decide to make an appearance this year also.

I hope to find some Hepatica soon too. I saw a couple of Blood Roots emerging and the Virginia Beauties are anxious to show off their beauty too! 

Hello Spring, it is nice to see you.

Tainter Land Fun

Infrared shots of Tainter Creek

There is a stream called Tainter Creek. The land around it is unique in that Tainter Creek runs through some very steep hillsides. 

Much of the low land in the valley is DNR land. The roads are called Tainter East, Tainter West, Tainter Road, Tainter Hollow. I just refer to it as Tainter Land. There are nicknames given to portions of the little valleys that only the locals know. Hippy Hollow. 
Party Bridge.

The stream is popular with catch and release trout fisher people. In all the years I've been in Tainter Land though, I've only met one fisherman. 
It is a favorite place of mine to go early in the spring to look for wildflowers emerging.

I hunt for the ephemerals that come up each year. Trout Lilies, Virginia Bluebells, and Dutchman's Breeches explode to display their wonders for a short time before they disappear again.

Baby Dragon discovers
Virginia Bluebells emerging!
So much joy!

Yes it was a toy day. 
My hiking pal, Bill got a huge laugh out of this shot.

When you carry superheroes
in your pocket
you can stand in the middle
of the road!

We were very surprised as we walked along the creek to see that a house had been built on the edge of the creek. It is on stilts because in a heavy rain this area becomes submerged.

It looks like a pretty nice little get away!

When I got home I found that my Guard Pony was laying down on the job.
He and the goat were enjoying the sunny hillside.

Lil Richard sleeping on the job!

He and Sven are my automatic weed eaters, yard mowers, that mow and fertilize at the same time. 

Looks like a nice weekend is in store for us. My honey do list is long and includes fencing and working on brush piles. No burning in our area the fire danger is really high and the humidity is very low.

Finding Peace

It is a strange world out there and I imagine so many people are fatigued by the daily news which has overtaken every which way we turn.
Daily death counts.
Maps of infections.

Worries. Isolation Fatigue.
And I wonder how long social creatures like ourselves can stay un-social. I know my husband hasn't been bothered and I have found a work around sort of.

Yesterday early morning, I did some work in the pasture then some work in the little new garden.
By the time late lunch rolled around I was ready for something different.

I loaded up my back pack and headed the two miles down the gravel road to the DNR public land. Tainter Hollow or I as I call it, Tainter Land.

I was hoping to be able to find some of the more incredible spring emphemeral plants like the Trout Lily and the Virginia Bluebell.

At first I walked along the stream and noted the cow parsnip that was coming up in the areas that would be in full shade once the trees got their leaves. A reminder that come mid summer the best way to explore this place would be to stay on mowed paths due to the wild parsnip and cow parsnip.
However, spring is one of those times that a person can venture off path without much harm.

I found white anenome flowers spritzed in with the cow parsnip.

I didn't find Bluebells.
I didn't find Blood Root.
I didn't see Trout Lilies.

I turned and head downstream along the worn footpath. In some places it is worn from trout fisherman and in other spots, it is worn from the beavers.

I walked on towards the place where Bill and I had seen the Bluebells coming up earlier this week. I also vaguely reminded myself to keep an eye out for Charlie's camouflaged leash that I'd dropped somewhere.

I'd brought my mini tripod along and an ND filter. I thought I'd grabbed the proper polarized filter, but I hadn't.

I thought I'd experiment with the filter anyway and take some long exposures. I should have had my tall but very heavy tripod. But I didn't want to carry something that cumbersome while skipping along beaver and deer trails.

So here are some efforts just for fun.

These were okay, and sort of fun to do.

But nothing worth displaying as my best work at all. Just fun. In the last photo at least you can see the swirls in the streams current. I thought that was pretty neat. Come mid summer, the grasses and the weeds will be about 8 feet tall on the banks.
Perhaps it would be worth it to come back with tall boots and stand in the shallow parts of the stream. Heck, I wouldn't mind getting wet as hot as it gets in this steep valley.

Anyway...on I went.
I found the Virginia Bluebells! Some blossoms were just beginning to open up.

 

The stream slows down and widens out at the base of this cliff. I was fascinated by the almost pure reflections in the waters.

I came around the corner where the stream took on a new course and I spent a while exploring the new twists and turns.

The stream cuts back and forth in a zig zag pattern here. I had to climb through old log jams and piled up brush from previous flash floods to follow the bank.

I eventually got to where I really wanted to go. IF I'd been wearing high waterproof boots and had a walking stick, I'd have crossed the stream at this point.
Instead, I stayed on the bank and did what was sensible.

I've seen this spot more than once and just felt I needed to come and take a long exposure of the stream bouncing along these rocks.
I am pretty sure I can cross safely here and get another angle. However since this is a cell phone dead zone and a fairly remote area, I should wait until I have someone with me. Or next time I just will bring my stick...and cross.

Something about this spot. The angle of the twisted tree, the rocks, and the opposite shore makes this a spot begging to be 'shot'. Well, at least in my mind.

I spent a lot of time here just watching and listening to the water music.

I hiked back out to the gravel road and put everything away in my backpack and walked the short distance back to the parking area.

I swear! Someone tricked me!

Not 10 feet from my Subaru I found Trout Lilies hiding in the Anenomes!

Well now....

Seems I had to go the whole route around the stream to come back to where I started to...
find
what
I had been looking for!

As I pulled out of the parking area, I glanced towards the opposite side of the road and spotted Dutchman Breeches and Blood Roots.

I headed home anyway happy with my adventure and a longing to come back in a few days to explore again.

The land is so peaceful and comforting.

Shallow waters tumbling
over the rocks
Drown out today's news
and sorrows....

...and I didn't find the leash!

It's okay not to be okay....

The other day I got an email from our CrossFit coach, Josh, that was a mini read by a man named Jon Gordon. I looked him up and he is an author of what I would classify as 'Self Help' promotions and books. You can read about him at the link if you like.

But the email addressed the fact that it IS okay not to Feel Okay right now. Of course he offered words of encouragement that really struck a cord with me. I've gone back to read those words more than once in the past few days.

Because with the mounting death tolls of the Coronavirus, the politics, the demonstrations, the economic outlook, and then the possibility of staring this thing in the face for a very long time...
well, it seems that there is no more normal.
Everything I thought I had planned out for our future is no longer our future.

I texted my neighbor and CrossFit friend who I haven't seen for weeks and we met up on a back road to take a walk. A Distancing Walk with Charlie to just talk and just walk. We used to kid each other that we were the Elderly CrossFit people.

I stopped Bill and said I needed a photo of him in Tainter Land. He quipped that I'd ruin the scenery and the photo of course.

No, it didn't Bill.

We talked about our futures and ideas. He has worked for a nursing home so we have no misconceptions about aging and futures but only to try hard to stay healthy and fit. We talked about 'at what point' do we give up our homes?
In light of recent events we discussed our luck in living a rural area. At the same time rural wouldn't be so great as we aged.

We didn't talk gloom and doom our whole time. Most of the walk was spent marveling at the scenery. Bill kept commenting on how amazing Charlie was with his tiny legs and seemingly boundless energy.
Bill talked endlessly about his grand children and how much he enjoyed having them around. The things he still wanted to show them and do with them.

We discovered the 'first' violet coming up on the valley floor. We spotted Virginia Bluebells all over the valley as we walked. We marveled at how the floods in recent years had wrapped trees around other trees, changed the flow of the stream, and piled boulders and rocks in so many odd places.

I took photos with my Infrared Converted camera and explained light spectrums as best I could with some limited knowledge.

We did as two people would do. We walked ... distanced... and talked. We enjoyed the outdoors and sunshine.

Maybe in that time we learned a lesson from Charlie.

Just live in the moment for right now...

And it is okay ... not to feel okay.
But we are trying not to let it bring us down.

Why do you do that?

Black and white photos in the winter versus color?

Well, let's say that black and white just is something winter is great for. Winter is stark in its beauty. Leafless trees, stark shadows, clear skies, overcast skies, white and black.

or...this version...

The color version is beautiful. Look at that gorgeous sky with a wisp of a cloud drifting through. 

The monotone one [I choose a bluish tint just well...just cuz.]

Another friend of mine can't always understand why I love the winter so much. 

Lines.....

I love the lines and shadows the sun and trees create.

I mean just look at those lines! The tree shadows create geometric shapes on the road in the winter.

Here is this road in the summer...

Not quite as striking is it?

Tainter Creek from the west bridge.

Tainter Creek from the west bridge in color....in the summer:

[I used a painting technique on this....]

The red rocks...well I don't do those red rocks ever in black and white. They just don't deserve it!

I love these rocks. I stop and admire them every time I take this road.

See? This is with the new 'Ru.

This is with the old Chevy my son gave me....years ago.

No way I'd ever photograph these rocks and make them black and white...well...

Well...

Um.

Let's see:

Okay, to me that could work as the light colors are accented. But I do like the color version much better.

Last two shots from yesterday. Color and black and white:

Whoops. 

I lied.

And although I loved the colors of the creek and hillside, I thought it was too distracting so ....

When I go through my photos, it is just a matter of what tickles my fancy.

Storm photos of drifts and blowing snow...that was today's adventure.

I can pretty much assure you that those shots will be almost naturally black and white.

Looking back on my blogs...I had this very same arguement with myself before in 2015. Tell me should it be color or black and white?

And it was all with photos from Tainter Land.