Mention “New England foliage” to most folks and they think of our autumn spectacle.
The spring-time “foliage show” is much more subtle.. mainly shades of green and yellow with a few muted reds of the swamp maples thrown in.
In my view, the vernal show is as pretty as the autumnal version.
[scrollGallery id=354 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
We keep a few bird feeders out by the greenhouse, just off the deck in back of the house. Watching (and occasionally photographing) the birds the feeders attract is a source of great pleasure in our lives.
However, the feeders are also the cause of great consternation… the neighborhood chipmunks seed thieves have decided that the sunflower seeds in the main feeder have been put there for them.
I keep telling them that the devices are called bird feeders for a reason but they do not seem to listen at all!
The best I have been able to manage is to train the critters who live under our shed to run for their lives when I open the doors leading out to the deck.
The individuals who live in the woods (judging from the direction they run when I chase them off) are still very brave… I have to walk up to the feeder and give it a whack to get them to jump off!
The “fellow” in the photo below sat atop the big rock by the deck and vocalized for some minutes last evening. I am not sure what it was saying (my ability to communicate in chipmunk-ese is poor; see above), but I imagine that s/he was warning all of the other chipmunks to stay away from the feeder.
[singlepic id=2597 w=600 h=480 float=none]
Yesterday afternoon I took a walk “down back” intending to make some photos of the upper beaver meadow.
It turned out that the light was lousy and the skies boring. so I turned my attention to the details of the new springtime growth.
Eventually the blackflies won out and I hie-tailed it back to the house,
[scrollGallery id=352 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
I arose from the dinner table last evening, took a look out the front door and noticed that we had a suppertime visitor.
This “fellow” was rooting around for supper in the leaves on the inside of the stone wall down by the road; I am unsure as to what it is eating.
Of course, I took the camera and headed out the door. Porcupines are pretty easy to photograph. Their sight is not particularly keen so if one moves slowly on can get pretty close. I stopped and set up the camera/tripod about twenty or thirty feet away.
I made eleven exposures before I was noticed. At this point the critter ambled down across the road and into the woods.
I do not believe that concept of “hurry” exists in the porcupine universe!
[scrollGallery id=351 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
I was glad that I took my camera with me on Saturday when I headed out to do some errands. The skies were interesting for the first time in a long while.
[scrollGallery id=349 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
Spring is trying mightily to arrive.
The weather has been “changeable”. Some days are warm; some are distinctly chilly. The skies are brilliant blue one day and slate gray the next. The snow and ice are hanging on but also rapidly diminishing.
Spring will be here any day week.
[scrollGallery id=345 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
Spring is trying its damnedest to sprung.
These days, the daytime highs are mostly above freezing and we are even getting a few nights with temperatures just above freezing… other nights the low temperatures are in the teens. This means that the sap is running and there are signs of activity around the local sugar shacks.
There is still much snow on the ground. However, it is rapidly receding, especially on the south facing surfaces. The lakes and ponds are still well iced over but puddles of water (or hard, clear ice depending on the temperature) have appeared on top of the old crusty snow.
Along the roads, there are also (literally) signs of spring.
[scrollGallery id=344 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
Mid-March… A time of great change in southern NH.
The local birds, as they begin the mating season, are much more vocal than they were only a week or two ago. A few early robins have appeared.
And, the landscape is beginning to thaw… very slowly!
With the thaw, glacial erratics and stone walls begin to throw off their winter blankets of snow*. The thaw also brings with it maple and mud seasons as well as town meeting.
Yesterday was Town Meeting day in Antrim. I took a walk along Brimstone Corner Road yesterday afternoon. I went a little earlier than I might of if I had not needed to get to town meeting. Thus, the light was not perfect.
Signs of the early spring were every where… especially under foot!
[scrollGallery id=343 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
* There is no sign of ground yet… except where Joan shoveled the snow off the patch of the garden where the peas will be planted in a week or two. The peas don’t get started inside. However, there has been much recent activity (and mud) in our mudroom as many other seeds have been sown in small plastic chambers. Another sure sign of early spring around here!!!
Joan and I try to get out on our snow shoes as often as possible. We don’t make it out every day, but I would guess we make it out three of every five days. Sometimes we go together, other times we head out independently.
Last Thursday, we headed out independently but more-or-less in the same direction… down to the lake. The skies were heavily overcast and thus the lighting was pretty flat.
It had been three or four days since the last significant snow. Thus, the tracks of the local fauna were beginning to accumulate again. It is always fascinating to see evidence of passing of various animals.
One knows that animals are traveling through the landscape all year long but the snow cover allows one to see this in great detail.
[scrollGallery id=341 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
On Sunday, we headed out together. We drove the mile down to the bridge, buckled on the snow shoes and headed up Hattie Brown Road.
The show shoeing was easy as a snowmobile had packed down a nice trail the entire way; there was also ski tracks in the trail. However, we did not encounter anyone else in the three hours we were out.
The sky was a cloudless azure and thus, as the afternoon progressed, conditions were perfect for adding to my “Shadow Play” series.
[scrollGallery id=342 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
As usual, I also photographed the “landscape” while we were out on the lake on Sunday. I was hoping for some nice wind sculpted snow on the lake but there was not much to see in that regard.
However, I did make two “non-porcupine” photos that I thought blog-worthy.
[scrollGallery id=340 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]
Powered by WordPress