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Our destination for day 2 was Hood River. We loved this spot, both because of the view and the convenience of its location, parking and our rooms over the breakfast area.

This photo was the view from one of our rooms. It was not only a pretty view but one that changed all day long, as people at the inlet end point took kayaking, paddleboard and canoeing classes. I'd never seen a motorized paddleboard before but they were in use too, along with jet skis out on the river and parasailers.

We also got to watch birds diving for food, and trains and cargo barges go by on the river. We even saw a cruise ship once!

( Read more... )

puddleshark

( A walk in the July woods... )

yourlibrarian

After returning to the 84/30 we ended up at the Bonneville Dam in search of a bathroom! It was a good stop though as the view (and sound) of the dam was impressive. ( Read more... )

full_metal_ox

Taken on 28 May 2024 at 21:00 US Eastern Daylight Time:

(Warning for flashing lights and shaky camera.)

( Cut. )

(Not included: the sound of passing sirens.)

Taken on 9 June 2024 at 07:21 US Eastern Daylight Time:

Taken on 27 June 2025 at 19:46 US Eastern Daylight Time:

Taken on 27 June 2025 at 19:47 US Eastern Daylight Time:

Taken on 2 July 2025 at 19:43 US Eastern Daylight Time:

This gradually took shape across the parking lot from a local Asian fusion restaurant over 2024; between recovering from Hurricane Ian and the COVID quarantine, changing hands, and changing formats (from the mid-century Cantonese-American the original owners had served for forty years to a pan-Asian combination of sushi, ramen, and Chinese), they’d spent the previous couple years uneasily gaining their bearings.

The garden’s proximity to the street, along with the lack of any obvious receptacle for offerings, makes it clear that this is a more ornamental than devotional site. (A Web search indicates the presence of a local Buddhist temple, but the address is a private residence, and home worship services are for who they’re for, which does not include curiosity-gawking spiritual tourists.)

My guess is that the white-flowering shrubs are Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), aka Confederate Jasmine, Chinese Star Jessamine, and Trader’s Compass, native to warm regions in South and East Asia, and widely planted in the Southeastern U.S. The flowers’ heady indolic fragrance is prized in perfumery, but I’m afraid I haven’t the right sensory range to enjoy them.

Current Music: ”Forbidden Colours”.

yourlibrarian

Our last stop on the Historic 30 route was Horsetail Falls. If you look at the next photo you can see people sitting on the log stretching out into the pool for scale. .( Read more... )

yourlibrarian

Our next stop on the trip that day was Oneonia Gorge. It has a tunnel through the rock in between the trees, though we didn't go through it. Instead, we stopped just before it to take pictures of the creek and gorge.( Read more... )

puddleshark

I have been playing hide-and-seek with the rooks in the sea fog up on St Alhelm's Head.

( Not a glimpse of the sea )

yourlibrarian

We drove down the historic 30, a 2 lane road that wound around the hills and which crossed paths with numerous waterfalls. Our first stop was Latourelle, which was just off the road. ( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

We visited the butterfly gardens at the Charleston Library, on June 19 although this is dated 20 because it's after midnight. They were filled with birds, although I didn't manage to catch any pictures of them.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

cmcmck

We headed up Lime Kiln Lane and over to New Works then into the forest.

Things are now very green indeed although this is always a green landscape being on the west coast side of things:

( More pics: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ere

jesse_the_k

I’m staying near a northern Wisconsin lake at 45.658965, -89.497625, where I’ll be revelling in 15:45 hours of daylight on the summer solstice. The logged-over forest is mostly red pine, and wow they’re pollinating—creating very abstract art near the dock

Pine pollen forms semi-opaque circles over shallow sandy beach described in entry

( two more pics )

pauraque

off-white beetle with dark markings resembling calligraphy

Getting into my car after a walk, I found this elegantly decorated beetle on my shirt. It has the very appropriate scientific name of Calligrapha philadelphica, also known as the Dogwood Leaf Beetle.

When it opened its wings to fly, I was surprised to see its inner wings were red. I guess that could be the wax seal on the parchment. :)

( photo showing the red wings )

yourlibrarian

We were only in Portland for a day but we had enough time for a few hours in the International Rose Test Garden. In fact we didn't even spend that long because it was smaller than expected and some bushes hadn't even bloomed yet (despite what the website said as mid-May being an ideal viewing time). We took about half the time we were there trying to park. It was also the most overcast morning of the trip -- we had amazing weather the rest of the time.

Nonetheless what was in bloom was lovely. ( Read more... )

blackcatofmisery

My mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.

_{Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.}

( Photos beneath the cut. )

Current Mood: relaxed

lizardjay

At the end of last month I visited Indiana for a week, and in that time went on FOUR hikes. There are too many pictures to put here so I'm posting a link to my ~150 picture album: My sister and I are both very into taking pictures so the hikes were very slow :D but I think it really helps in remembering that there's something interesting to see in pretty much every square inch of the outdoors. There is always a bug, or a fungal disease on a leaf, or a shiny drop of water.

The Album

We visited, in order:

Ritchie Woods Nature Preserve
Summit Lake State Park
Shades State Park/Pine Hills Nature Preserve
Southwestway Park

The pictures feature:

many, many insects
a stately gentleman frog, who very kindly let me get within an inch of him
snails
two snakes
cool looking plants/fungi
general landscapes

For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.

( a couple representative photos )

cmcmck

We spent a few days in Conwy in north Wales recently and had wonderful weather for it.

A view across Afon Conwy (the River Conwy) with Conwy castle as a bonus.

( See more: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

full_metal_ox

Content advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.

This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.

This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.

Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )

Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.

Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )

pilottttt

This ~~big and scary~~^{small and not scary at all} spider was discovered on our ceiling. It was my macro lens that made it big and scary ;)

( See the big and scary spider )

puddleshark

( Read more... )

pilottttt

It was their first day out of the nest, which they spent on a branch just opposite our window.

( Read more... )

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1: Hood River
2: July Woods
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7: Sea Fog
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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Recent Entries

Hood River

July Woods

Bonneville Dam

Buddha statue and surrounding garden.

Horsetail Falls

Oneonta Gorge

Sea Fog

Latourelle and Coopey Falls

Photos: Charleston Library Butterfly Gardens

A forest walk

Abstract Art on a Northern Lake

Dogwood Leaf Beetle

International Rose Test Garden

Knock Out Honey Bees

say hello to Indiana

Conwy

A future fossil, and a moment of strange beauty in embotherance.

And now about the spiders

Following a path through the bracken in the rain

Chicks of the laughing dove

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July 2025

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