Being As Charming as I Can While Enjoying the Outdoors

Everyone seems busy these days, although that may just be a misimpression that I have.  I, the normal hermit who has not felt housebound at all during the Pandemic, still have projects that I must work on and complete.  While I do my little volunteer activities remotely, they seem to take up so much time.  As an elder my short-term memory and cloudy attention to detail makes me work much longer than in the old days.  Thank God for auto-correct!

When I am done at the computer in the mornings, I return to house duties and finally grab some time for photos.  Evenings are filled with TV escapes.

We have signed up with a local environmental group to promote their land trust by agreeing to do 12 hikes, one each month, in 2021.  They can be a mile or 10 miles depending on the trails that one uses.  We must post a photo or two that the organization can use to promote even more their acres of woodlands on their Facebook page.

You have to respect the ghosts of past owners of the land.

While this sounds like a wonderful idea, it seems in the time of COVID where there is little to do outside, hundreds of families want to participate in the contest and pound the trails.  We did a 6 miler up and down some hills and while that was pretty challenging for me, even more challenging was the muddy slopes where leaves had been ground into mushy clay by hiking boots.  Hubby fell only once and managed to not smear mud anywhere!  I did not fall but clearly looked like a jazz dancer on ice.  Fortunately, we were hiking weekday and mid-day and thus only met a handful of hikers.  So I avoided the embarrassment of old-lady-mud-sledding.  On the return trip, Hubby was smart enough to find two good branches to use as hiking sticks and that made things easier.

It is so much more photogenic and charming when a 4-year-old slides on their butt down a hillside or runs with rapid steps across the leaves and twigs off the trail as they almost crash land to the bottom of the ravine.  Elders, for some reason, are not so appealing in appearance.

We did see some wonderful bits of nature which I have sprinkled throughout this post.  Therefore, you get to see the right-side-up version of our adventure.

More Photos Take Flight

All Mage had to do was compliment those birds and I feel I must share even more of my visitors.  Come shelter in my woods for the next week or so...

First this brightly colored fellow, the Cardinal.

Next. below the Blue Jay.  He is the trickster that makes the call of the hawk while he sits high in the tree.  Maybe he is trying to scare away others from the feeder?  He is the size of a robin and can be intimidating to the smaller seed-eating birds.  He also has a big neck pouch where he stores his food for later hiding.

And, last but not least for this post, is the Carolina wren.  There are at least four making routine visits to my hanging suit feeder.  This is a tiny bird but his song can be heard a long way and in the spring this is the one that wakes me up in the mornings. I used to think one hid under the cover of our barbeque.  But now I realize he was just eating the fat that drips into the tin pan below!

A Feathered Friend is Better Than No Friend

Come stroll in my back yard and my woods and meet some of my feathered friends.  I have taken a "bunch" of photos over the fall season as I do love these visitors, but I will provide only four.

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) has used the dormant osprey nest for a lookout post most of the fall and winter seasons.  We have seen two flying over the river, so there is a pair.  They are extremely adaptable birds in terms of habitat.  They also eat a wide variety of water life.  The first year we lived here my husband was sitting on the dock as the sun set and a heron tried to land on his head!  I do not know who was more surprised.

The Mourning Doves, at least four, come in when I put the seed feeders and winter bird bath out. Otherwise, I may only hear a call in the evening during the summer months.  They are such a gentle looking bird.

Our Northern Mockingbird ( Mimus polyglottos) is far warier than those that have adapted to city life and so they may be common in your yard and more fearless.  This image I caught through a front window.  Yes, they are mimics and I love that "polyglottos" name. They can be found perched on high somewhere singing their heart out.

The above  Eastern Towhee (male) which has the colors of the robin is also a very wary bird.  They are seen only a few times over the winter picking at the seeds that fall from the feeders.  I saw two together for the first time this year.

They are the perfect distraction for a retired old lady who wants to learn more about the earth.

Just 24 Hours

I am usually trying to capture a sunset each evening because we have such great views down the end of the water. I captured this one last night.

Very cold but no wind so I could hold the camera steady. Then this morning I was up early and got this sunrise toward the other end of the river.

I am truly blessed.

They Came in January Last Year

Their lights are bright  and bold

While the season is bitter cold

Yet even the colors can warm

And they are there but do no harm

Keep your eyes on the prize

Which is there in another's eyes

If you are a robin early

You can catch the holly berry

This year they came in December and I stood outside in the bitter wind to get photos of what I could when the gusts died down.  ( I know the poem makes no sense but I just finished reading The Cruelest Month and that poet was worse.)

Two Different Views in 20 Minutes

When I got up this morning, after my first cup of coffee and as the sun was just peeking through the treetops,  I put on my slippers and headed out to the deck to replenish my birdseed dish. I was surrounded by lovely air in the high fifties. No cold breezes.  It was very odd.  The sky was just turning pink and I got my camera and took the photo below.

I was not able to capture the true blush.  I went inside and finished my second cup of coffee and then went back out to the deck and dock to take the photo below.  In just twenty minutes the entire atmosphere had changed.

The fog held for about 20-30 minutes and then the sun burned everything off.

What a lovely morning! If you look closely at the bottom photo you can see the tiny dark dots in the sky. (Click on the photo for a better view.) Those were the geese squawking as they got their act together and courage to descend to the empty corn field at the end of the peninsula. Hunting season is sporadic these days.

Natures Holiday Decorations

Fall Said Adieu

Hard to believe that just a week ago fall weather was hanging on. Temperatures in the 50s F meant sweater or jacket weather and if the wind was not blowing you did not need a hat or gloves or a scarf.  But the seasons wait for no man, to bastardize a phrase, and the rains and winds came pummeling in bring a very light freeze.  But before that time I took a few photos that are somewhat photoshopped, but also really what I saw in the yard before fall said adieu.  Everything now in the yard is the skeletal remains of pre-winter.

Pregnant

I call November and December the pregnant months. Spring is usually viewed as the time of re-birth, thus the fall months to me are those that are full of potential in many striking ways. I have been taking photos of seeds and having fun with color, texture, and shapes. These are just a very few of the pregnant stage in nature.

All are so different and intriguing in their own way.  Do you recognize any of them?

Canoe Paddle---Part 3

Now for the last part, because I did leave out some good stuff.  One cannot say that I do not pay attention.

We had left the bay and paddled out to the wide part of the Potomac River. We were at the place where it is about two miles wide ( I am guessing here).  And I am always a bit wary of open spaces in a canoe...especially those waterways that have motorboats.  Fortunately, it was a calm fall weekday, with few people about.  We passed these workers below who were using some dredging equipment.

Hubby thought they were looking for sharks' teeth which can be worth some money if large enough.  I hope they had a permit working in the bright daylight that way.

We paddled on looking for a nice lunch spot as we were getting hungry.  Some outdoorsman left us this little retreat and a small beach.  We pulled up the canoe and unloaded the small cooler and found several beached logs on which to sit and watch the world go by.

The two kayakers we had met earlier waved as they passed along the shoreline.

Beaches along such a windward side are full of all kinds of detritus, treasures, and garbage and fun to explore with a sandwich in hand.

This is where I found the teeny tiny black shark's tooth fossil in the sand.  Low tide was our friend as this beach is mostly underwater at high tide.

The day was calm and relatively warm, which tricks you into thinking you can stay forever.  Behind our beach-log chairs was a large sand-fall that showed how dangerous things can get at high tide.  We spent about 30 minutes exploring and taking photos, then, reloaded the canoe and put our life vests back on, and pushed the canoe back out into the river to paddle back up to the bay and our car.

More bald Eagles soared overhead in elegant acrobatic dances.

As I wrote, the shoreline is dangerous where high bluffs have started to erode and fall into the river.  This is why there are shark's teeth fossils.  They wash out from the ancient layers of sand that collapse onto the river's edge.  This is also was why I was surprised to see a dog walker who seemed not to fear an unlucky event such as the collapse of the shoreline above her head.

She had a total of three lovely and sloppy-wet water canines that she was following/watching.  Her husband remained safely down the way on a high bluff and waved as we paddled by.

Eventually, after much paddling, we reached the bay once again and hubby decided to explore the right-hand side which was just a small turn-in that we had not explored in a few years. So we turned just before we approached the dock for pull-out.  As we got closer, we heard water trickling which is most intriguing on a flat bay, and paddled further to find one last treasure.

We came to a dead stop as this bluff of mud and grass emerged and those of you who frequent the out-doors may have guessed what stopped us...

...a large and well-maintained beaver dam.  While did not see any beavers, we were impressed with the work.

Thanks for staying the length of the trip!

Since You Asked and I am Procrastinating on Food Shopping

 Here we go on Part II of that canoe paddle.  I was pleased that many of you found this Mallow Bays/Potomac River trip as interesting as I did.  A canoe is confining to the muscles but so freeing in how you can cruise about on an afternoon into tiny places so silently that even wildlife accepts you.  We did encounter two couples of kayakers and exchanged pleasantries...but those who are out for an afternoon of water sliding are usually not out for an afternoon of conversation and small talk and we quickly went our own way. (I think you can see the kayaker below in the distance.)  (If you want to know more about Mallows Bay you can Google it or go to the link in my prior post.)  As always you can click on photos for a bit larger view.

Bay waters were at low tide, so much of our moving met dead ends in the marsh.  As we decided to head out to the wider river we found that the only way out was to disturb several Cormorants, commonly called shags, in some areas.  They are the ones that are trained in Asia to fish.  Some have blue eyes.  They have webbed feet and a throat that can expand to a pouch.

The old wharves of the bay have decayed into beautiful abstract gardens that get even better in the fall.

There are only a few boats that sit high enough that you can see some structure and remnants of their grand old days.  Each year they seem to sink a little more.

The starlings were moving in.  Most people hate these invasives as they damage other bird wildlife and displace them.  Someone introduced them from Asia to Central Park many years ago and we all regret that, but you can find their air ballet throughout the Internet.

We left the harbor entry and headed toward the bigger part of the naval graveyard.

Only metal bolts protrude above the water in most of the area, even at this low tide.  We were careful but also found the birds fun to photograph as they staked their claim to parts of various wrecks.

My husband was the first to hear the call of the white swans in the distance.  They were on their migration path from up north and rarely seen in such large groups for any length of time here.  If you squint you can see them in the distance.  I like the way the colors of the woods and sky in this photo look a little like an old painting.  

There is a place down in some southern states where swans winter over and we once visited there and I want to go again postCovid.  It is a muddy area and hard to get to and requires a 4-wheel drive, but fun to find them all together.

Well, once again this post has become longer than I expected.  I guess I will have to save the water dogs, beaver dam, etc. for another time.