A Sense of Expectation and Wonder

As undoubtedly mentioned before, one of the rewarding aspects of visiting a park on a regular basis is that one can observe nature’s subtle changes as well as the coming and going of various critters that visit the park throughout the year. Many these forays are part of longer urban hikes and are accompanied by fairly low expectations so our gear often consists of…

Frost

It was dark, cold, foggy, and not the kind of morning we jump out of bed to go hiking, but our visiting son from San Diego wanted to hike so who were we to argue. . Even though conditions were right to produce significant frost our initial goal was to see a few interesting birds. However, upon arrival at out hiking destination, Prairie Oaks…

Waiting

. In the clear cold of a December morning, as a last leaf gently floats down from a branch reaching high toward blue sky, while below water battles ice for rule over silver ribbons that mark now too obvious wooded ravines, and a piercing sharp sun leaves behind deep shadows exposing naked trees and fading leaf covered hillsides, the land quietly waits for a…

Richer In Nature’s Moment

Not long ago, after a few days of rain, I found myself walking through an area with numerous wooded ravines. Many of them spoke with their unique faint song as water flowing down from above burbled and gurgled over rocks and logs. Each nameless song affected me as music of the purest kind. Certainly not rich in tonality and melody like that encountered in…

December Quiet

Recently we had an opportunity to spent a few days at Salt Fork State Park. It’s located in eastern part of the state and is Ohio’s largest state park at 17,000 acres encompassing a landscape of forested hills, open meadows, valleys, winding streams and a large serpentine lake. It’s a park that’s new to us with a name that is said to have been derived…

No Expectations

. Walking in the wood’s morning stillness, . on late autumn fallen leaves that recent rain left damp with saturated color, . as kinglets with their quiet sounds teased flitting from branch to branch never pausing quite long enough, . I found myself with no expectations content to listen to the voice of the day. . *** Thanks for stopping by.

Enchanted November Woods

A half an hour before, we were standing in a cold wind just below a dam that has created one of central Ohio’s larger reservoirs trying our best to spot, and perhaps photograph, the Black-legged Kittiwake that was reported in the area. A unique opportunity because it’s a gull not usually seen in these parts. We finally did get a very average binocular view…

A Clifton Gorge Fungi Find

We were hoping for a little more autumn color when we decided to schedule a hike in The Clifton Gorge Nature Preserve but two days of wind and rain took care of that. Starting near the mill we were greeted with splashes of muted color from a few scattered young beech trees. The red of invasive burning bushes was also seen but most of the now…

An Autumn Bouquet

The image of a flower bouquet kept entering my mind as I thought about this post. Something enjoyed only briefly and then gone. Perhaps it’s the realization that today images are everywhere and the best we can hope for is a fleeting appreciation before they pass into time. So no iconic Ansel Adams images here, just glimpses of autumn in Ohio. If the reader…

Passing Through

In central Ohio it’s not quite autumn but with daylight too quickly losing the battle to the setting sun it would be hard, even on a warm day, to mistake it for summer. Plants, animals, insects, weather, and daylight are all in all in a state of flux. It’s as though we’re passing through on our way to somewhere else, to a place that’s…