Saturday was spent in travels both on errands and for the enjoyment of being out of doors on a fine winter's day. It really didn't start out quite so fine –it was gray and snowy– but as the day progressed, things changed. The clouds grew thinner and gave way to peeks of blue and by the end of the day, the sky was cloud free with the sun illuminating nature's recently-decorated landscapes.
I took another winter photo-walk in our neighborhood, again with the new lens and the old Canon Digital Rebel, re-photographing some of Friday's discoveries; this time with clear blue sky and bright late-day sunlight to enhance the view. Clearly visible were the plate-shaped ice deposits on trees and shrubs. The frosting was beautiful by itself but gave added hold to the light, dry snow that fell and resulted in several days of amazing winter scenes.
Though it was very cold here last night (10F degrees) winds have kicked up and the snow coats have begun to fall from our trees. We did have splendid sights here, thanks to our unique position. While we often wish we lived someplace else, where we are occasionally has its high points.
Slightly past peak were the colors in North Central Ohio at Malabar Farm State Park. The entire area was gorgeous, nonetheless, decorating even the forest floor with a confetti-throw of leaves. We decided to follow a one-mile trail that headed uphill, through dense neighboring woods, for a loop back to the Farm. The trail had many wonderful sights to see and was fairly well marked until somewhat short of the half-way point. Seeing no trail blazes we continued on what appeared to be trampled leaves, began our turn back, and paralleled a road though still walking in damp leaf litter within the woods. In no danger of becoming lost we easily found our way back to the Farm's homestead. Then it was off on a cross-country trip over state roads (not freeways) towards home. The scenery was absolutely beautiful with groves of trees on low hills rising like islands out of a sea of brown soybean and corn fields. It was a fine rolling journey back under sunny skies.
It was a most excellent Sunday's sojourn experiencing the best fall colors.
I've never self-published a photo calendar before so this first effort is kind of exciting. I chose Lulu.com which does printing on demand… I didn't have to contract to print a bunch of stock that won't sell. On the other hand, quality of reproduction is a little uneven with two images that had subtle tones looking a little off-hue, even unsharp. So I'm not wildly enthusiastic. Most other images look fine to very good — especially the sunflower and the dragonfly. The process allowed me to add special events or "holidays," so I researched and added a bunch of astronomical occasions but nothing too geeky. I suppose as self-promotion this isn't the kindest review but I want it to be honest. Click here and enjoy the preview! {This is a re-post without a somewhat clumsy embedded object.}
I'm preparing for a special public event tonight: Perseid Meteor Watch. The participating park system assigned us to a tiny county park. If we get a decent turnout, we'll be turning people away! Weather looks good. Must remember: telescope and all components (for looking at non-meteoric objects), camera, tripod, descriptive hand-outs, etc. The event runs from 9:30 to 11:30 PM so I'll probably be getting to be at about 1:30 AM tomorrow. I took today and tomorrow off.
As for the Canon Zoom Lens EF 17-40mm, f/4 L USM lens … well, let's just say I'm not thrilled with its performance now that it's back from a $100+ repair trip to New Jersey! My nature hike/test images today do not tell a happy story. The lens has significant chromatic aberration, does not seem to focus well across its field of view, and does not seem to consistently auto-focus. It works best in close quarters but not for panoramic landscapes. I've no choice but to use it tonight, hoping for a bright meteor streak or two but I'm not encouraged by what I'm seeing thus far.
A lazy Sunday started off with a call from mother-in-law about a plumbing problem. She Who Must Be Obeyed tried to sort it out but the phone company then had problems connecting calls to mother's Area Code! Fortunately brother-in-law was able to pop over to his mom's and sort it out. Still, looks like more work for SWMBO lining up a plumber for repairs. Gad! Not a good way to start off the day.
After an otherwise easy morning we finally settled on a visit to the Medina County Park System's Alderfer-Oenslager Wildlife Sanctuary — really a park with a strong environmental theme. My "dragonfly summer" continued with activity there: numerous types of dragonfly zipping about. One insect in particular caught our eyes, though with some difficulty on our part. Not only were the dragonfly's wings near fully transparent, its body is in the same range of green as the reeds and other plants that line the pond it patrols. Standing mere inches from the beasie, it took effort to rediscover its location if we looked away for a moment. It is apparently an Eastern Pondhawk. I really must return there before dragonfly season ends!
Today's lunch time diversion (yes, a "work" Saturday) was another trip to the Cleveland Metroparks' Huntington Reservation in Bay Village, Ohio. Stone wall-lined Porter Creek caught my eye. The already cloud-subdued light filtering through the green trees was beautifully soft. What really grabbed my attention was the interplay of light, shadow, and green growth against the cold, dark concrete of an ancient interurban rail bridge. Too soon time to go back to the office. {sigh}
I stayed up too late last night hosting a Public Night at the Observatory. Could have used more sleep. Sunday dawned cool and beautiful. It was a good day for a hike so we decided to head down to Brandywine Falls and the Gorge Trail there, a beautiful place inside the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, northeast from Peninsula.
I shot a good number of photos and was disappointed with a great many of them. They look pretty good at smaller size but enlargements show focus problems. It looks like my fancy Canon 17-40mm, f/4, L-series lens may suffer from a deficiency I read about in reviews of that product.
The lens is too expensive to let this flaw go uncorrected so now I'll need to figure out just what to do. Maybe first some more testing.
We had a very pleasant hike, it was just challenging enough (1.1 miles, says the GPS, with one very steep climb near the end), and a nice evening at home — the film Trekkies 2 is recommended! Back to work tomorrow.
We're holding our breath waiting to see what will happen at our fine institution when state funding details become established and known. Painful cuts are expected.
The trees will grow, the waters flow, the stars will shine, and life will go on. Goodnight!
PhotonStopper 