Western Mountain snow

I took a break from life and had a visit with a friend up here. To say I feel better is an understatement. A day trip out to Richardson Lake was on the docket, it's one of my favorite places to be. It's big,wild and beautiful.

And before we went to Richardson, we headed out to a local trail on a very cold morning.

Sorry, it's my secret.

Once in a Blue Moon

December 30, 2009

So this is Christmas...

Hope you all have a great one.

The Winter Solstice

Winter begins tomorrow, December 21 at 12:47 pm (EST). Go out and celebrate.

Tracking along.

It's been a while since my last post. I have not forgotten, nor have I been wrapped up in the holidays. My mother has Parkinson's and so I have been here primary caretaker,helper and support. It's hard. Watching someone you dearly love not able to do her normal daily routine and just changing. Incredibly hard. I don't get the time to run off,don't get the time to spend with friends, and don't have a life.

It's done out of love. I desperately need time off, away, to recharge. Posts will be down, she's had a hard week, there had been a trip to the hospital, medicine has been missed and trying to get back on schdedule has been difficult.

Thanksgiving

I started this blog as a way to keep me motivated and to share with my friends both here and aboard. To that end I think it was successful. But as I've gone more into this, I see it as trying to educate people. Let's face it, there is a lot of ignorance about nature out there. By posting photos I hope that it does several things, makes you open your eyes to the beauty around us, makes you question and to seek answers.

How many of you can with a high degree of confidence name the plants (native) in your yard?Your neighborhood? How about birds? Rodents. How many know the insects? Even the experts are still confounded. We know, but we don't know.

Love what we got, get to know what we've got. Protect it, fight hard,question,wonder. Give a damn.

Be thankful some do.

Edward Abbey worked as park ranger for a big chunk of his life. He liked to tell when someone asked him about a plant, he would respond, "What it is ma'm, no one knows, but men call it..."

There is so much to know, so much to see, so much to do. Start small,learn something new everyday. If you know something, you are more inclined to protect it and to love it.Or at least respect it.

And thus we give Thanks.

Friday morning.

A few miscellaneous photos for today.

This time of the year, the cluster flies are demanding to get in. Some years their numbers inside make for a setting that almost rivals a horror flick. Bernd Heinrich wrote about vacuuming up thousands in his camp here in Maine. And on those last warm days of autumn, the ones left outside,(and the ones inside,now clamoring to get back out), it's enough to drive a man nuts.

I noticed this one the night before. Holding fast and when I poked and prodded it, there was no sign of life.

I have seen numerous flies in the same position, stiff legged, abdomen raised, head down, wings canted up. Inside and out, I'll come across them. even on the windows, where if you look carefully, you will see a white bloom around the body on the glass. A hmm moment. It appears the flies have a fungus that has taken their life. I had read that recently, and now I can't find the source.

And the Snowshoe Hares are changing to white. It's not a problem when the snow is here, but they stick out when it's not.