Peacham Bog Boardwalk

Abandoned granite quarry in the Pine Mountain WMA in Groton, VT that I came upon while hiking. I later found out this was called the Benzie GraniteQuarry and that it was opened in 1896. In 1907, when the quarry was measured, it was about 200 by 175 feet and had a depth of 40 to 60 feet. The granite was carted 1 ½ miles to the cuttingshed at Groton was used for monuments and buildings. The granite was called “Vermont Blue,” being of a medium, very bluish gray color with a medium to fine texture. Examples of use of this granite are the Davison monument at Woodsville, New Hampshire, and the Dr. S. N. Eastman monument at Groton, Vermont.

Morning Fog

Wallace Hill Road swamp, Newbury, VT

Backwaters of the Connecticut

Summer's Bouquet

Click the play button! I sacrificed some image quality in exchange for the ease of a slideshow to present my wildflowers pictures. I have been so taken with the wildflowers this year and have spent a great deal of time really looking at them. The designs of each flower, so specific to its needs, are perfect in functionality and beauty.

"I will be the gladdest thingUnder the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one."
~Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"

Four little ducks...

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The cooling hour

After the Rain

Giant Ichneumon

Megarhyssa atrata:
Although not noticeable in this picture, this wasp has a tail that is up to 14 cm. long. This tail is actually an ovipositor that it uses to bore up to 14 cm. deep into hardwood trees where it deposits its eggs into the larvae of other insects.

Catching a ride on the wind

"Hole in the Wall" Newbury, VT

This is what is left of the Ira White paper mill that operated on the Wells River in the early 1800's. White upgraded in 1856 to the mill just east on the Wells River that is known now as the Adams Paper Co.

The beauty, function, and fragility of rainforest canopy ecosystems

Forest ecologist Dr. Nalini Nadkarni has a singular passion for trees. For the better part of two decades she has studied the plants and animals that inhabit rainforest canopies around the world. Her research has taken her to the forests of Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, the Amazon and the Pacific Northwest. Now, she spends much of her time reaching beyond the boundaries of the academic world to engage non-scientists in the preservation of forest species and ecosystems.
Dr. Nadkarni has worked with people from diverse walks of life—poets, artists, and prisoners—on projects that include growing moss, making music about trees, and breeding endangered frogs. You can find out more about Dr. Nadkarni’s innovative work via the TED website, which has a terrific video of her talking about the beautiful, fragile world of rainforest treetop ecosystems:

Loveliest of Trees

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

-A.E. Hausman

Can you see me now?

Photo by: Leto A.
Lots more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianabe/

Farm Trout Following Instincts...

Wildlife photographer Dennis Bright caught an image of some trout leaping 3ft out of the water and into an 8 inch pipe. Apparently, the trout escape from a breeding pond by jumping into the pipe, following it for about 30-40ft, and then swimming into a fresh water stream. This image was captured in Alresford, Hampshire.

Sittin' on the Dock on the Lake...

Wastin' Time...

Bean Poles

Wildflower or Weed?

Final Project

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Spring is here!

Time to wake from hibernation...

Can I get a witness?

On my hike Saturday I came across this witness tree, easily 200 years old and probably more, and was amazed by its massive size and longevity. I used my 4 1/2 foot hiking pole to try to capture the scale but really, you just had to be there. The circumference was 17 1/2 feet!

With the snow melting so fast Saturday, there were many sink holes in the cedar swamp and I landed in more than one. I saw this one coming and was able to get a shot of the vibrant green vegetation under all that snow that is just waiting for its turn to dominate the forest swamp again.

8, 10, and 12 o'clock Light

I think that the most obvious difference in light here can be seen in the different shades of the snow. The snow in the picture taken at 8 am. seems to be whiter than the other two pictures, specially when compared to the picture taken at 10 am. I wish I could have set up the third picture the same way as the first but the warm, 48 degree hike Saturday was well worth it.

Moving On To Landscapes...

I like these two photos because they are multi-layered. The first one was taken in Newbury VT. looking towards NH. Starting at the bottom of that picture we see the fields for livestock, the fertile flood plain used for crops (corn here), the tree line behind that is the buffer zone that flanks the Connecticuit River. Across the river is the lower lying piedmont hills and mountains that lead up to the much larger, snow capped Mt. Moosilauke, and finally, the sky.

The second picture was taken from Silver Ledge in Groton, VT looking down on Ricker Pond and the same NH mountains in the background.