Newport News Park (2/17/2015)

So here I write a blog post on the 27th of January about my experience with snow as a kid, and while I did not really meant to complain, nature had a different understanding and dished out some snow this week.  Just to get even with me complaining; nature has a way to get back at you.  On top of that it is supposed to get really cold.

The photo above is actually from one of the Grafton Ponds out back.  The ponds were mostly frozen over before the snow hit.  However there were enough holes in the ice and the weight of the snow (5 to 6 inches or 12 to 15 cm) was heavy enough to force pond water to intermingle with the snow and turn is yellowish.  This is a good thing, at least you can see where the ice is, because I'm sure that the ice was not hard enough when the snow started falling.  So no wienie roasting on the ice as I did as a kid in Canada.

It was beautiful though, the white world and the sun after a day old cold and cloudy.  I'm also thankful that the boss (or the Governor I guess) gave us an extra day off to dig out and to enjoy the snow.  For me it is a great chance to explore great out doors and nature.

I guess we are slightly different, we get of the beaten path and we "bushwhack."  Knee deep beagle snow was a bit too much for our small (12 year/old) beagle, but she was a trouper.  Like us she enjoys it a lot and that's what counts.  Both dog were smelling every hoof print that all the deer left in the ice, which was hilarious to watch.  Quality of life, enjoying the outdoors, getting in touch with nature and living in the moment are all very important.  And living in the moment we did; there is always something fun and new around every corner. 

Here we are walking away from the edge of a pond, through a wetland; hence the sedges. To the right you can see an area with some recent tree fall (recent being probably caused by hurricane Isabel 12 years ago).  The gap in the forest is now starting to fill in with some small loblolly pine saplings.  The natural succession as we see here is a good thing.  Generally after logging you have a very even aged forest, and it is the occasional tree fall that makes a forest more dynamic and diverse.  Now if we could control the deer, we would even have more diversity, especially in the understory.  Looking back this is what we saw:

Sitting behind my desk and behind my computer, I already miss being outside in nature, and experiencing this beauty.  The virgin snow covers all imperfections and even the litter you sometimes find in these far flung places.  The innocence of this landscape under a white blanket is amazing to me.  It is so peaceful and fun.  This was also evidenced yesterday by this little winter wren which was darting from trunk to trunk over the ice, pecking the bark for bugs and other food items.  The diminutive bird did not care about us and our dogs.  It came close to us and for a while just stood there on the ice and watched us. I generally find them very secretive, but this little guy had no worry in the world and was having fun on the ice.  A fun peaceful place to spend an afternoon.

(this post is part of my contribution to Cee's Fun Photo Challenge)

Yorktown (12/17/2014)

After rain the previous day, it was foggy this morning.  Conditions were just right around sunup and the moisture laden air coming off the land over the cooler water created this wonderful fog.  Naturally not a good thing, knowing there is a bridge hiding in the fog and boaters beware.  I have not sailed under foggy conditions, and reading some accounts it can be quite mystical; especially one of the accounts of a cruise in the northern Pacific/Bering Sea area. 

As usual, I had to drive by the Yorktown riverfront on my way to work, and had to shoot these familiar pictures.  Like it or not seeing the water, especially on days like today, give me this amazing feeling inside that is hard to describe.  It is the same feeling I get when looking at my loved ones; a feeling of pure bliss.  On top of that I saw two bald eagles along the parkway.  They are often there during the winter and early spring.

This morning I got the email of this week’s challenge by Cee Neuner that I sometimes participate in and it asked for seascapes.  Boy do these photos fit in; so here is my entry.

New Kent (12/5/2014)

Guess I should show nice pictures of New Kent County, but this is a picture of my somewhat favorite abandoned building.  I took the pictures as part of an on-line challenge by Cee Neuner; regular readers of this blog know I sometimes participate in it.  This challenge was abandoned buildings, and although I had taken a picture of this building group before (click here to see my favorite picture taken this year in August and my for my somewhat philosophical blog entry) I wanted to come back to it.  In particular since a few weeks ago the recliner was still there.  The County fathers must have read my blog and finally removed the chair.  I hoping it was still there; oh well.

What still amazes me is red metal roof on the side building.  It looks brand new.  It really looks like someone really tried to make something out of this building complex but failed.  Route 60 between Richmond and Williamsburg is very quiet and I think any commercial endeavor in the middle of nowhere would have a hard time.  I love this road because it takes me away from the stress of the Interstate; and truth be told the commute on Route 60 may take 10 minutes longer, but with a lot less aggravation.  Stress management is something I really need, so it is good to take that route.  I read somewhere once that commuting length and blood pressure have a direct relationship.  So the back roads are so much more fun (I remember so well reading Blue Highways by William Last Heat Moon; a book that made a huge impression on me).

But enough writing for today.  Here is my entry to Cee's challenge, my set of pictures of the abandoned building along Route 60 in New Kent.  It is really ashamed that these things are abandoned.  There are many groups that are concerned about them.  Abandoned in Virginia is one of those groups.

 

Yorktown (2011)

Another trip to the archives, courtesy of  Cee Neuner.  I often participate in a challenge that she post on line and here is my entry for the week.  This week's challenge was bark and leaves.

Trees are amazing things.  As you can see here this tree actually appears to have grown into/over the wall.  This is not uncommon, a search on Google gives you this.  However, we have one right here in Yorktown at Grace Episcopal Church.  The church itself claims to be the oldest existing church in the US, and as you can see this eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) has done the job.  I have no idea how old it is but it is getting up there in age.  It really is a magnificent tree.  I am sure this is a combination of growing over the wall and good craftsmanship by the mason.

A lot of people don't realize that trees grow from the outside.  The bark is what is alive in a tree and the inside wood is more or less dead.  Not that the inside wood does not do anything.  This is where water and nutrients are transported up the trunk to the leaves, but all the thickening of the trunk comes from the bark and that is how it grows over and into things as we see here.  Nature is magnificent and powerful.  We humans used to be just a small part of it, although we are more and more taking over.  It was said that nature used to be in control, but we humans have gotten so far that we can control nature.  This seems scary to me, as a biologist I have found that nature is parsimonious (it does not waste anything), humans are the opposite.  Nature is efficient and very adaptable, and history will bear out how we as humans do.  A scary thought say the least, maybe not for me, but for my daughter and grand children.

Richmond (10/29/2014)

The one nice thing about working downtown in a larger city is often the sheer choice of places to eat lunch; although, there seemed to have been less choice when I started working in Richmond 5 years ago.  Yes you still have your Wendy’s, Hardy’s, Subways and Quiznos, but I think I have seen other places open, and then also, there has been an explosion of food carts.  Your choice is amazing, from an Indian food cart, to authentic Mexican tacos, to a Thai cart, a cart with more gourmet-like tacos, to carts that serve all kinds of wraps and salads.  It is really neat.  Contrast this with recent fights they had in Newport News about the placement of food cart placement.  I really wish there were more, as long as they are safe; but that is probably self regulating at least when they don’t kill their customers.

Regular readers of this blog know that I love to go for a walk during lunch time and I am always amazed by some of the big lines at these carts.  It is the social place to be; every so now and then on my walks I run into people I know.  They are patiently standing in a line at a cart and it is fun to talk to them for a bit.  Other times, the people standing in line take up more than half the sidewalk and it is difficult to walk.  But then on the sidewalk on the other side of the street are all the smokers and that’s a pain as well.   Breathing in secondhand smoke has been moved from the work/office environment to the environment where people do their lunch-time exercise or wait in line at food carts.  Somewhat ironic I would think, and it is the reason why I often escape to the park along the James River, or I walk around capitol square.  I need my walk and very often my Starbucks fix. 

Finally, another thing that is fairly common on the streets around lunch time are the beggars.  It is a shame that we still have people that need to collect money on the streets.  There is a lady who sells wilted roses, a guy without legs and your assortment of beggars that sit on the curb smoking cigarettes.  Being an ex-smoker, I do not think I would give to smokers in support of their habit, over food.  Others may say that giving them money support their begging habit and makes them lazy (see the article by Robert Reich that I reference below).  But so be it.  It is just sad to see that in a country as this there is still such a discrepancy in income or maybe a lack of income for some that people still need to beg.  It is a harsh reality, and it still makes me feel uncomfortable seeing them.  It amazes me too that there is such a lack of compassion and empathy (see also the article by Robert Reich).

Anyway, this is my entry to the weekly challenge by Cee Neuner.  This week’s challenge was to photograph feet.  Maybe not the best picture, but all these people are waiting at one of the favorite food carts in the area.  I like to take a picture at the time the challenge comes out.  This is not my best, but it shows what I meant when writing about the carts.  Actually amazing that everyone has their own space in this photograph and that there is obviously very little interaction going on in line.  To me everyone appears to be lonely in a crowd.

Newport News Park (10/19/2014)

Home in Newport News Park again.  The leaves have not yet turned, although they are on the verge.  It is amazing how we are two to three weeks behind the rest of the state.  This serves as evidence that we have such a long varied state, as I often mention in my classes.  We go from the coast and coastal plains to a place like Highland County which is the county with the highest average elevation on the east coast.  Yes, there are higher locations, but still that place is high and cold.  Being a bit of a nature geek, it really is fun at times to make the drive from Yorktown all the way to Abingdon, which is about a 6 hour drive (370 miles) and you are still in the same state.  You see all kinds of vegetation types, rock formations and even birds.  The first time I traveled to the hill from the coastal plains I was amazed to see all the plants I was so familiar with when we lived in Cincinnati.

Back to Newport News Park.  Sunday we took a 2 hour walk.  We went out our back yard into the park, walked all the way on to the Yorktown Battlefield and then followed a trail that take you by a swamp, a heron rookery, an area with huge trees with a pawpaw understory that almost looks like an old growth forest, and Grafton ponds.  You can see forested wetlands, ephemeral forest streams and ponds and all kinds of things that delight the soul.  This is my kind of spirituality!

On our walk we all the sudden noticed these green patches of green moss with bright orange mushrooms popping out of them: nice and contrasting (I know I recently did a mushroom post, but here is another one).  After teaching plant evolution at the college level, I am always hesitant to call this moss; a lot of these green patches may actually be the sexual phase of a fern also known as prothallus.  I experienced this first hand: I try to grow bonsai and here I thought I had a nice moss cover on my soil, until they all turned into ferns and my pot is covered by ferns.  Anyway, this is a picture of the moss.  I am also entering it in Cee's weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is green, kind of a strange subject for fall, but so be it.  

One from last weekend, chanterelles popping out of moss

Beautyberry (10/14/2014)

You can always notice it is fall when the beauty berries in our yard start producing their bright purple fruit.  Beautyberries are a very common native (weedy) species in our yard.  We started with one, just in the right spot, and now two or three years later we have three additional plants scattered throughout the yard.  Since the fruit is a bird favorite, you can guess where we get the new plants: underneath existing shrubs and trees.  Birds eat the fruit and poop out the seed, usually when the sit on a perch.

I saw this when managing on a 400 acre ecosystem restoration project in the Indianapolis area.  We had planted tree seedlings in rows in all these acres of farmland and we were required to monitor the success.  We started to notice that volunteer seedlings were germinating everywhere.  While seedlings of plants with light seeds established were germinating throughout the area, we saw that seedlings from plants with fruits were germinating only at the bases of the tallest seedling we had planted.  This was pure evidence that birds were using the tallest seedlings as perches to look over the field and pooping out seeds.  Great to see nature in action like that.

Honestly, I love beautyberries. Callicarpa americana as it is known in scientific terms is a great native plant, it serves as food for birds during a time they are fattening up for winter or migration.  It seems that the plant has a chemical compound in its leaves that repels mosquitoes, and in our yard we need all the help we can get.

I am posting this picture as part of Cee's Fun Photo Challenge.  This weeks challenge was to post a picture with vibrant colors, and lucky me, I took this photograph this past weekend.

Richmond (10/2/2014)

Every day when I drive home from Richmond I pass by this wonderful mural/graffiti.  Richmond has a few and I see two of them on a daily basis.  Not sure if this one is offensive to some, but I love it.  To me it is a mixture of a caricature of a large superstore that uses the smiley face as their symbol and really neat avantgarde art.  Today I had just read the new challenge by Cee Neuner that I so now and then participate in.  This week's challenge was the color yellow and I thought this fits.  The photo was taken on the fly, through the roof of my car so pardon the quality; I just thought it was fun.  I just wish there was more art like this around where I live or travel, but I always smile when I drive by there on the way home.

Richmond (9/16/2014)

This week I am teaching in Richmond; kind of like a home game, with the exception that it was away from the office in the Science Museum.  I always enjoy teaching there, the place is vibrant with school children and other people who are at least mildly interested in the sciences.  Moreover, I was teaching in the "science room" where the walls have all kinds of details on the geology of Virginia.  I find this very appropriate given I am teaching courses in Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater.  It really is great to be out of the office and to be teaching.

The science museum is in the old train station, and when I lived in Cincinnati, that exactly where that science museum was as well.  They are majestic buildings and while it is a shame that these buildings are no longer used for trains, or train traffic has so declined and only one or two trains stop there every day, it is great to see them re-purposed rather that being torn down.  Still, it is a pity that this country is so car oriented and anti public transport.  I really love the U.S., but there are things I would want to improve.  I had a long discussion over lunch today with my fellow teacher, and yes we need to keep history and tradition in mind, but that does not mean we cannot improve where we see some inadequacies.  This photo is somewhat symbolic for this, there is a globe in front of the museum; somewhat symbolic of what I mean.  We are part of a greater world and should not be isolationistic in our thoughts and actions.

Eagle in Yorktown (9/6/2014)

It was difficult to figure out what to use as heading here, but this weekend Yorktown has a distinguished visitor: the Coast Guard Sailing Ship the Eagle.  It was docked at the Coast Guard Station in Yorktown and Saturday it was open to visitors.  It is a beautiful boat, but I was a bit disappointed that we only got to see what is above deck and not anything like the living arrangements down low.  But then with all the people coming through it would have been impossible to police, so it is understandable.  The crew was very nice and helpful, making sure that everyone was comfortable and that my 87 year old father-in-law would not fall of the steep ladders.  I think what amazed me were the sheer number of lines (ropes) and blocks.  I did not see any labels on the lines; hopefully someone knows what would happen if you pull a certain line.  I've seen 30 foot sailboats where every line is marked by an overzealous owner with one of those label machines.  Also, where every line could chafe the boat had a piece of copper/bronze to prevent it.  We met a friend at the boat, and he told us that he served on the boat.  His first remark was that there was a lot of copper/bronze to polish.

I have added a couple of pictures here, I think they all fit Cee's Photo Challenge one of the things I sometimes do on this blog.  I love the photo of my wife behind the big steering wheel of the ship (I have no relationship to the others on the photo).  I've also added a photo of the emergency steering wheel, a photo of some small blocks (wheels inside) and last but not least a view of the York River and the Coleman Bridge.  I usually only publish one photo per day, but today I could not choose.

Fort Monroe (5/18/2014 posted 8/20/2014)

I am posting this photograph today as my answer to the photographic challenge by Cee Neuner, one of the blogs I follow.  The challenge was for a black and white photograph of any type.  So back in the archives I found on I took in May of this year at Ft. Monroe in Hampton.  Ft. Monroe was continually active as an Army base since the civil war and it is my understanding that Abraham Lincoln even visited the place.  Part of it is a real fort with walls and a moat.  A few years ago it was closed, made a national monument and parts were turned over to the state.  Absolutely no better place to take pictures.  I have posted sifferent pictures of Ft. Monroe, just check out the "labels" section of this blog.

I love black and white photography.  In my far distant past I had the ambition to become a photographer.  I did an online course, got all the books from Ansell Adams and even bought a second hand copy of the Time Life photo course.  I studied the various photographers of the time and I experimented with all kinds of filters, including red filters to make skies and clouds even more dramatic.  At home my bedroom also served as a dark room.  I landed a few wedding shoots and I taught darkroom techniques when I was drafted in the Army.  I guess I was an instructor in those days already, which is probably why I drifted into the direction I am in right now.  But I’ve never forgotten my love for photography.

While I usually shy away from posting pictures of people, I can’t help myself posting this picture of my beautiful wife.  This picture was taken near one of the access points to the real fort, at a point where a foot tunnel exits the wall inside the fort.  It just felt right for this picture.  If you are in the area, it is a place well worth visiting; a place that drips with history.

Water or Winter Challenge (8/13/2014)

Any regular reader of my blog knows that it somewhat serves as a diary of what I do in life.  However regular readers also know that, so now and then, I participate in a challenge, in particular one from a photo blog I particularly like.  I really do not know what got in her head wanting you to post something that relates to water or the season of winter.  I have plenty of each in my arsenal, but what the heck, to celebrate this mild summer I decided to combine the two.

This picture was taken on January 22^nd of this year, less than 1500 feet behind our home.  It is one of the largest ephemeral ponds (aka Grafton ponds) in the woods behind our home.  In the fall, winter and spring the ponds are typically wet; while in the summer they are dry.  In the summer the area behind our home is teaming with mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers, and to tell you the truth we haven’t gone back there since early May, and I really miss walking there with the dogs.  I guess it is time to spray myself with some poison and venture out.  I kind of feel what’s called “nature deficit disorder” lately.

These ponds are wonderful for amphibians such as frogs and salamanders.  Since the ponds dry up in the summer, they cannot support a fish population which would eat all the tadpoles, and yes the only things we see at times are a few wood ducks and an occasional heron.  So, yes they are great for these critters.  I know I have mentioned that before; but because of this, our ponds are the home of the endangered Mabee salamander. 

A few years ago I walked over to this pond every Sunday at 3 pm for two years in a row (rain or shine), to take a photograph from the same spot.  It is amazing to see all the changes that occur from week to week.  In particular the Sunday after hurricane Isabel hit our area.  No trees down, but the week before there was no water in the pond, and the Sunday after Isabel the water was easily 4 feet deep.  My wife and I are still toying with the idea of producing a picture book about the ponds behind our home.

As you can see, I miss the ponds and I think it is time to brave all the insects and go out back!

 

 

Yorktown (7/10/2014)

I am on the wetland board of our county, and had a board meeting last night.  Being in Yorktown 15 minutes early I took a very brief walk in the downtown (down village) area, and shot this photograph.  It was not as crowded as I expected for a Thursday evening, there is usually an event called "Shagging on Riverwalk", but that was cancelled because of the rain.

Being on the wetland board is interesting.  We are one of the steps that any construction activity that is near the water need to go through for a permit.  It is always interesting and ranges from bulkheads, to riprap and all these other things.  Yesterday we dealt with one permit for the repair of a bulkhead and actually a violation.  I really feel good about these meeting.  We are not against development on or near the water, but we are protective of the environment and for sensible and environmentally sound development.  Yes there is always politics but as a board member you need to go through these things without a personal agenda.  I honestly try to leave that at home; although it seems that the board's decisions are often interpreted as motivated by politics and personal ideology.  York County is very political and it is amazing to be on the periphery of it all.

I guess this picture might be symbolic after what I just wrote.  No this is not a loose canon; it has been tight down with a chain!  It is located downtown, a great place to walk, with some reasonably good restaurants.  But you can see, it was quiet last night.

p.s. I entered this photo in a challenge ... I actually shot is for that purpose but waited if I could find a better one, so it's a bit late.

Fairfax (7/7/2014)

From the annals of the wacky.  When visiting all these exotic spaces in this great state of Virginia, I try to eat at local restaurants and avoid the chains.  Not that I have anything against particular chains (if you need me I can probably be found at the local Starbucks, and while traveling, Panera is a likely lunch stop); but why not experience the local cuisine. 

This week in Fairfax I had a chance to do just that and ate at a local Indian restaurant called the Bombay Bistro.  While I am usually a lamb vindaloo fanatic, I decided to go for something different and when for the tandori rockfish.  I took this photo after I took care of the poor animal (I'll be entering this fish into a photo challenge that I love to participate with).  The meal tasted great, the service was good, it was an overall very pleasant experience. 

We were teaching a stormwater class in Fairfax and the other days I spent with the team in more chain like restaurants, but then I am a bit more adventurous.  We had a good time, watching Germany win against Brazil and my team (Holland) loose against Argentina on the big screen.  Oh well.

Yorktown (6/18/2011)

Yes you have not gone back in time, but I have.  I am reacting to a photo challenge I saw on the one of the photo blogs I follow.  They asked for pictures with squares, angles and triangles.  Now it happened that we are working on a photo book for a specific year.  We are using blurb, and slowly working on year books for our family.  We've got so many photographs that we figured we might as well put the good ones in a book.  Working on the 2011 book I found one of my favorite pictures of June 2011 that shows all the things that the challenge was looking for and then some.  Even the bikini bottom of this (unknown to me) lady has triangles in it.  I'm sorry but I love this picture.  It also fit in to the theme of this blog, pictures from the area I live and from my travels throughout the state and general area.  But yes it is a look through my photo archives.
Summers in Yorktown are amazing.  We have a fun beach, close-by restaurants and even a dock, where you can park your boat (to go eat).  During the summer it can get really busy during the weekend, and we tend to stay away from it at that time, maybe with the exception of the farmer's market on Saturday morning.  Just in summary, this is a good place to live.

Richmond (6/25/2014)

One of the photo blogs that I follow (Cee’s Photography) posted a challenge of wanting you to dig through your achieves and post a picture showing straight lines.  Working downtown Richmond this is not really such a huge challenge, with all those tall buildings.  So I decided to photograph some straight lines during my lunch-time walk today.  But nothing really stuck out.

Sitting behind my desk, it just occurred to me that I have a straight line overdose just looking out of my office window.  So that is my photo of today; the view from my office.  An oddball photo, but fun for a change.