What is it too soon for? *
It's still too darned soon to expect President Obama to have fixed all that's problematic in the country right now, even as if he could do all that. For gosh sakes, there were people who were impatient for his solutions 30 days into his administration! Messes created by outside forces, the times, and previous administrations have tremendous force and will take time to resolve. I'm heartened to see even small progress at this point, almost half a year in. It's too soon to expect a fix, and it's too soon to give up!
*Question of the Day Submitted by Design Shark.
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Today we ventured east to try out the Maple Highlands Trail — a rails-to-trails conversion that stretches from Headwaters Park to Chardon in Geauga County, Ohio. The facility is beautifully designed, provisioned, and maintained. It is paved with asphalt over its nine miles, and is of gentle terrain for those of us who have not been riding our bikes enough lately to be strong as we once were — we know who we are! Shallow slopes, slow curves, woodlands, wetlands, and few road intersections make this a good ride. Many birds and dragonflies flew across the trail as we cruised from one end to the other and back again. Along the way I steered to avoid what I thought at first was a dead leaf, then maybe some poo… at the last second I could see it was a smallish frog. I stopped and turned around to take a portrait of the little amphibian before urging it off of the trail. We encountered one other frog, of another species, on the pavement but it was a little shy and refused picture-taking. It was a good ride on a warm and sunny day. Forecast for this week is cloudy with rain chances so we're glad we fit this in.
By the way, I shot the frog photo with Her older model Panasonic Lumix camera –Her first digital camera– and am very pleased with the result. We're offering the point-and-shoot to my mother as a replacement for single-use film cameras she has found disappointing of late. We'll see how it works out for her.
Today we ran clean across Medina and Lorain Counties in the Insight to check out a far-flung, undeveloped natural area in the Lorain Metroparks System. The area was a bit too undeveloped and buggy for Her taste, so after a short time we headed back in the general direction we came to pay a visit to the Caley Reservation –a National Wildlife Area– which we have explored from time to time. When we first visited there some years ago, Caley was just a dry pit dug out by bulldozers in a former farm field. Today the pit is a lake surrounded by prairie grass. A smaller pond lies nearby. As we strolled around we became fascinated by the many dragonflies flitting about. Some were good enough to stop and pose for photos. Seen here (above) is just one example; it's a female Widow Skimmer. I've also got a nice portrait of a red dragonfly — a Calico Pennant (seen below). Technically it won't be summer for another week but, as we hiked around the pond and lake at the Lorain Metroparks' Caley Reservation, dragonflies were all around, it felt like a warm summer afternoon, and I keep humming the Michael Franks song, "Dragonfly Summer." It was a good day.
We did a bit of exploring Saturday and wound up passing through the Wellington, Ohio area. We had seen the yard of the Lake Shore Railway Association a couple of years ago; back then we paused to shoot some photos of a diesel locomotive attached to restored passenger coaches. Yesterday, however, I glanced towards the other side of the road and saw the unmistakable profile of a steam locomotive! We turned the Insight around and whipped into a neighboring business's driveway. Hiking closer to the old engine we could see it was in very sorry shape, indeed. The old Nickle Plate Road engine was missing its cab and some miscellaneous parts, other components were dangling from the still massive hulk, and it was missing road badges, engine number, and goodness knows what else. Seeing the sorry steamer parked on the siding reminded me of a (formerly) recurring dream I had years ago: Hiking along railroad tracks near a woods, I came across a relic steam locomotive and (in the dream) set about trying to get it to run. I can only hope the old loco we saw parked outside Wellington is waiting for restoration and not to become a late arrival on the scrap heap.
Note: This excellent photograph was made by She Who Must Be Obeyed. I shot photos but, due to an accident in settings, all of my shots were terribly overexposed — so much as to be uncorrectable!
We started this Sunday slowly and eventually headed out to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and an aimless walk around the park. I shot a very few photos including one of two zebras grazing end-to-end. The pair put me in mind of the more exotic "Push-Me-Pull-You" of the Dr. Dolittle book series. It was getting hot and crowded so we headed out for the Silver Creek Metro Park of Summit County. Quite a place, that! Visitors may hike earthen trails across rolling terrain in and out of woodlands, swim, boat, picnic. We combined two trails for more than four miles of moderate hiking and returned, hot and sweaty, to our car. At home, the showers felt great! Oh no…. back to work tomorrow! Push me and I'll pull you.
We spent the better part of the day Saturday (in a couple of aspects) hiking around Spencer Lake in the Spencer Lake State Wildlife Area, Spencer, Ohio. It was another photo-walk with many opportunities for wildlife shots. The red-winged blackbirds were out in force, several great blue herons were fishing the lake, and we even encountered a couple of frogs in an adjacent swamp area. One of the frogs was quiet (or stupid) enough to pose for photos including an amazing close-up. The Canon 70 – 200mm "L" lens is simply amazing and I can zoom in on the resultant frog portrait seeing greater and greater detail until it dissolves into pixels — and it was hand-held. We also visited the Medina County Park System's Letha House Park and checked out the work they are doing providing a new entrance drive and parking lot. This will benefit visitors to the new lake there as well as support the Observatory built and operated at Letha House by the Cuyahoga Astronomical Association. A fine day but I didn't wear sun-screen and I'm a bit reddish… tsk! tsk!
Heading reluctlantly to my car (and work) this Friday morning, I glanced down and spotted a finned, round object floating above the mulch in a planting bed. Even in the shadows I stopped to photograph it because the 'shroom may not last the day — it's mature, has spread or is spreading its spores, and the hot sun will hit it this afternoon. These things are much prettier than one might expect.
On Sunday we drove cross-country to to Sheldon Marsh State Wildlife Preserve just outside Huron, Ohio, a Lake Erie shoreline community. It was a cool, blue-sky day and perfect for a casual nature/photo walk in the protected area. We usually visit this area late in the season — after the large wading birds have left, fleeing the approach of freezing weather. This early-season day, however, saw a large number of wetland- and water-loving avians including no fewer than three great egrets. One of the striking, white giants was hunting the shallows along our path. We stopped to watch and photograph the bird which was surprisingly tolerant of our actions. It hopped into the air once but alighted in the shallows only a few feet away. She Who Must Be Obeyed got one good shot and I, with a faster camera, came away with two.
We watched and waited a while longer and, as anticipated, the egret either grew tired of our spying or decided to seek better hunting grounds. Holding down the shutter release I fired off a number of frames and got a couple of nice shots (one seen below) of the action. I've mostly stalked the wild great blue herons prior to this and these are my first images of the great egret. I'll be back for more!
A common call heard across the nature preserve came from the male red-winged black birds as they defend their territories against intruders. They are most famous for their "Okalee" call and we stopped to watch, listen, and photograph one handsome fellow as he puffed up to stake his claim. The red-wings' were the most common bird calls echoing through the wetland woods but there were many others. Among the most beautiful were the songs (again, probably for territorial announcements) of the male cardinal.
It was a beautiful and relaxing afternoon which we greatly enjoyed and we left considering how we can balance highly active days (cycling) with quieter activities such as nature walks and hiking.
It was a beautiful day today. Before we left on a pleasant drive to other beautiful places, I stopped to admire the beauty found literally at our front door. A flower, viewed from different perspectives, is a thing of beauty rediscovered. I've got to revisit this one, better prepared to fully lay down for a better vantage point! Thank goodness for tall flower stems and flexible knees.
Out and about today I stopped by a McDonald's restaurant. Besides refreshment I wanted to see if I could purchase a promotional "bobblehead" Happy Meal toy, this one depicting Albert Einstein. I thought it would be fun to have one in each of my office spaces. Asking at the counter, "do you have the Einstein bobblehead toy?" I was met with blank stares. "It's the Happy Meal toy from that Night at the Museum movie… you know!" More blank faces from teen- and twenty-somethings. The counter folk stepped over to the box holding available toys and offered up choices between a mechanical dinosaur skeleton and a "space chimp." I politely declined and ordered my Coke and soft-serve ice cream — the fixings for an improvised float. Thing is, this isn't the first time or place I've had this experience whilst seeking the Einstein bobblehead. Admittedly it's been a long time since I was a kid. When I was a kid (and the Earth was young) Albert Einstein was the iconic genius. Everyone, even the Three Stooges, knew who Einstein was (yeah, a one-name personage) and that he stood for extraordinary intelligence. That despite the fact that hardly anyone knew what he was really getting at with that E=mc2 thingie. The equation itself became an icon for deep thought. Even today, in physics and astronomy, Albert Einstein stands tall and the shadows of his towering ideas cast forward waiting for science to catch up. But the "kids" at McDonald's don't know who he is, even when he's reduced to a toy figure in a movie. I'll bet if it was a Paris Hilton toy they'd know who it was. I think I'll curl up in a dark corner and weap.
PhotonStopper 