Trice
I found this ice formation hanging from a branch over the Tuscarawas River during a recent Artic blast Eastern Ohio. Before the cold, the rains came. Whether by lapping flood waters or dripping rain, this ice sculpture remains.
Ice Bauble
Cee’s Weekly Photo Challenge is Dark and Light. I took this photo on Decembers last day at sunrise. The Tuscarawas River was running high and swift. This ice bauble formed as water lapped upon the swamped grass bank. Clear waters are transparent to the underlying bank while the bauble captures morning’s first rays.
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12
The last sunrise of 2016. Unremarkable, as most days are. But we designate an end which simply becomes a new beginning. From my Year’s day hike, I post a photo of an immature Red Headed Woodpecker. Chasing after birds with a camera is a new challenge and this bird is a young one. It seems to be an appropriate choice to start the new year.
My Friday Friend is this song sparrow spotted on the frozen waters of the old Erie Canal bed on the Zoar Valley Trail. I can’t help but think he’s chirping to the tune to Frozen.
My wife surprised me with a new lens for my birthday. One of many surprises this year. So, I’m playing with my 55-300mm. A special thanks to our old neighbor and photo blogger Mic over at landscapes and other abstractions for helping her navigate unknown territory.
The trails have netted four butterflies with the lens in the last couple of weeks. Enjoy.
Great Blue Heron at Lift Off
Wordless Wednesday
Snapper Venturing Out to Lay Eggs
Looking for something spare this week for the weekly photo challenge. This snapping turtle came up out of the old canal bed (Zoar Valley Trail, Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail) looking for some soft ground to lay her eggs. Her toupee was not fooling me.
Snapper Hiss
Dawn’s Early Light
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And its gonna get loud. The 17 year Cicada, last seen and heard in the summer of 1999 is creeping out of there sub-terrain to have a breeding party.
This article from the Columbus Dispatch gives you an overview.
I was nine years old the first time around. Dad took me along to make a delivery that took out into the country south of Canton, Ohio. I remember being terrified as these big creatures crashed into our windshield. I moved out of state by the time the second round came around. But for the third emergence, I was training staff for summer camp. The incessant noise annoyed the senses, especially trying to communicate while in the woods. Like any other novelty, it quickly gets old.
Here we go again. A local radio station announced that May 23rd was emergence day. I found these at the base of a big oak at the towpath’s Zoar Valley Trail today, in the rain…
the Ordinary Hiker 