A curious bull and curious photographer come nose-to-lens
at Sauder Village, Archbold, Ohio, on a recent visit there.
at Sauder Village, Archbold, Ohio, on a recent visit there.
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I was running a bit ahead of schedule on my way to work this morning. I stopped by the David Fortier River Park, in Olmsted Falls, to take in some quiet beauty. It was a good morning.
Fridays off with not much to do are a good thing. I did not plan to go to Hinckley Lake this morning but the day began too pleasantly to spend much time indoors. I tossed the camera bag in the trunk and headed out. I stopped along the way to watch and photograph turkey vultures, perched on bare tree branches, warming themselves in the early rays of the sun. At the lake, I set off to see what birds {herons} I might see. Checking their favorite haunts from the lakeside trail, I was richly rewarded. In one of those favorite spots, I crept towards the water and peered around the lakeside vegitation. There, a literal stone's throw away, was a Great Blue Heron standing still as a statue. We regarded each other cautiously and I squeezed off a few shutter clicks. The bird was nervous. I was being attacked by mosquitoes. Not a good combination for a photo session. Off flew the great bird but not before I made my catch of the day! There were other beautiful scenes to be enjoyed and recorded as I hiked around the lake. None, however, matched the close encounter with one truly great bird. It was a surprising morning.
Driving to Hiram today I passed a field dotted with huge rolls of hay that had been cut and bound. It looked like someone's avant-garde art installation. I turned around and parked the car in a nearby lane, and extracted my camera to take a few shots. As I strolled along the road shooting photos, neighbors shouted questions like, "haven't you ever seen hay before?" Well, I explained, yes I had but I haven't often seen it like that! I'm sure they thought I was crazy-odd but I don't care.
We woke up late and to a beautiful day. The first thing She suggested was a visit to the East Harbor State Park on the Marblehead Peninsula in Lake Erie. We'd only recently heard about the park and were interested in checking it out. Well, long story short, it seems to be a fine and popular beach but the mapped nature trails were not well signed and extremely difficult to find. We spent little time there and decided to move along to the little town of Marblehead. Marblehead (map) is really kind of a stepping off port for those who wish to fish, enjoy the party island of Put-In-Bay, or relax in the quieter environment of Kelly's Island. The town does offer its own assortment of gift shops, antique stores, and eating places. Lunch for us, however, was a disaster.
We found a pizzeria that offered a pleasant atmosphere and had a "Veggie Delight" pie on its menu. After what seemed a very long wait –we arrived with the rest of the lunch crowd– our pizza arrived. I took one bite and the first impression was good. Then a particular texture and flavor filled my mouth and triggered an old memory… pepperoni! Our "veggie" pizza was really a pepperoni pizza with some veg toppings scattered over the meat! We were hungry but, as vegetarians, to us the pie was inedible. We refused the offered discount explaining it was a meat pie served to herbivores, and were then told we owed nothing. Nice waitress, dumb kitchen.
Eventually we stopped in at the small local grocery. It's a convenience for locals and an important source of provisions for visitors. We discovered a tub of prepared hummus, some whole wheat flat bread, and a vast array of very cold drinks. We gathered our purchases up and had a picnic in a public park which, as it happens, was right behind the pizzeria. Delightful and delicious. Following lunch we headed to the Marblehead Lighthouse.
The Marblehead lighthouse used to be a lonely monument to bygone days of maritime technology — quietly standing on its rock foundations, posing for pictures made by occasional visitors. In 1998, however, the light and adjoining property became a state park. We were astonished today at the number of people enjoying the little park, the ca. 1821 lighthouse, and the Lake Erie surf splashing over the light's rocky foundations. The scenery, the beauty of the day, and the lake breeze made the day. We returned home happy.
Sometimes it takes a lighthouse to help you find your way.
When working with nature, don't turn your back… not even for a second! This morning I was strolling to the back of my car to stow camera gear for a quick pre-work visit to Hinckley Lake. As I cleared the corner of the garage I spotted, directly across the drive, a doe deer and three tiny spotted fawn. They froze, uncertain whether to flee and in what direction. Carrying my camera bag, I slowly opened the back of the car, turned and placed my bag inside, withdrew my camera, changed lenses, fired up the camera, and turned back to photograph the scene. Gone! In the space of 30 seconds or less the whitetail family had silently fled the scene to the relative safety of a nearby wooded area. I felt bad about it until I realized my camera lens had completely fogged over and was useless — it had come out from a cool storage area into a warm and muggy world. Ready or not, I'd have missed the shot. {sigh}
I climbed into the car and headed to the lake. Strangely, though Hinckley Lake is a favorite fishery for Great Blue Herons, I saw none. I can usually count on seeing several in the early morning hours when the lake is quiet and human fishermen are scarce. Eventually one of the big birds descended from a tree and alighted in a favorite fishing area, a bit distant for my purposes but at last I was seeing a heron! I watched the bird as it stood still, waded a bit, and stood still even longer. Eventually it jabbed the water with its spear-like beak and produced a minnow which it promptly swallowed. Again it stood. And stood. Tired of staring I examined my more immediate surroundings. Two brilliant yellow flowers –cone flowers– were lit beautifully in the morning sun with a deep green grassy background that made them really stand out. I focused and shot a couple of images. Nice. I turned to see what the heron was doing only to discover that it had silently taken to the air and was already more than 100 feet away and flying close to the water. I'd wanted to at least see and photograph that takeoff and missed it entirely because I'd turned my back for half a minute again.
Repeating, the lesson for the day: Don't turn your back.
Although it's a Sunday, we consider this the last day of our vacation week. (Somehow it seems wrong to consider Sunday a vacation day but never mind.) We set off on an expected short visit to our own Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. We arrived just before official opening for the day today and hope to plan our visits that way often in future: early arrivals get prime parking spots, no lines at the gate, and the animals are active. The flamingos were more interesting today than at any time we have seen them before, close to their enclosure wall as well. The cheetas were also busy: chasing, pacing, and one even jumped up into a tree — also something we'd not seen before. We were shooting photographs a good part of the time, taking it easy and trying not to overheat in the mid-July sun and humidity. It was in the Primate, Cat & Aquatics building that I got my two "shots of the day." A newly-arrived clouded leopard was exploring its indoor enclosure giving me many opportunities to capture its image. I consider the clouded leopard to be the most beautiful of the great cats. At any rate, I shot many exposures of the animal using my little Canon PowerShot G11 and was rewarded with two pictures that I love: a lovely still portrait and a more dynamic image of the cat. Then we went home to hide from the heat. Tomorrow it's back to the daily grind. It won't take long for the stress to build back up but at least we'll have pictures to remind us of happier times!
We decided as part of our vacation to head to Jefferson, Ohio, and take a ride on the excursion passenger train that operates there: the Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson Scenic Line. As we were planning the trip we discovered, to our delight, that Saturday would be a rare opportunity to ride the train when it was being powered by a fully-restored steam locomotive instead of the usual diesel. Whoo-hoo! So we packed up our camera gear and headed out early into the muggy morning for the trip to Jefferson. We were among the first visitors to arrive at the downtown departure point due entirely to my mistake — I was under the impression the trip was to begin at 11:00 AM when, actually, it was scheduled for 1:00 PM. Oh well. We walked around the old railroad station there, strolled towards the center of town. We looked for and found a place to eat. Then headed back to the railroad. They were selling tickets and the beautiful little tank engine was nearing a full head of steam. The ride was rocky and full of steam hissing, whistle blowing, coal smoke, ash, and cinders… in other words, very enjoyable. Most fun for me was simply seeing the old engine at work and watching the various reactions children had to their experience: the full range from apathy to terror to delight. Sunday night they actually run the engine on to a specially equipped flat bed trailer, empty the boiler and coal scuttle, and drive it away.
Saturday night was a scheduled Open Night at the Observatory. Even before heading out conditions were changeable. The mixed forecasts called for partly cloudy skies with the chance of isolated thunderstorms. Seeing conditions, well, the forecast was from no good to okay. Driving towards College I watched a massive thunderstorm building in the east, ahead of me, and three cloud towers billowing in the southern sky; they were all beautiful but didn't promise good skies for stargazing. I opened the Observatory and my first visitors for the night began arriving shortly thereafter. Due to neighboring trees, we hauled the portable 10-inch reflector out to the lawn to catch a look at the Moon which was floating in clear sky. Nice views enjoyed by all present. Even as we watched a shelf of clouds moved steadily from the northwest first obscuring, then covering the Moon and the rest of the sky. As a few more folks arrived we talked about telescopes and adjourned to the Observatory interior to see and discuss the big refractor. In all 23 people took a chance that the sky would be clear enough and visited. By about 10 PM we were all talked out, there were flashes of lightning in the sky along with rumbles of thunder. I closed up, picked up my gear and loaded the car. As I left I could see patches of clear sky and one of my intended showpieces –Antares, the red supergiant star in Scorpius– shining through a "sucker hole" in the southern sky. In the west, flashes of lightning. A changeable sky, indeed.
I got home by midnight ending a good long day.
We did some utility running around today but eventually wound up at the Lorain County Metro Parks' French Creek Reservation. We took a little hike there on their well-groomed woodland trails. We also visited their temporary exhibit of captive butterflies. The outdoor tent was a bit cramped but it was fun sharing the space with flowering plants, fluttering butterflies, and other interested folks. We ended our outing with dinner at Max & Erma's where we enjoyed spicy black bean burgers with dark green side salads. A long, warm day but a good one!
This vacation day we visited the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium for the first time. The day was sunny and hot and the place is quite expansive. At first we were unimpressed by the exhibits but as we worked our way around the grounds and through some of the buildings, we discovered wonderful things again and again.
The underwater polar bear viewing area was bright, beautiful, and very popular. Looking up though the clear waters we could see many fish swimming against the mirror-like surface. Of course the big attraction was a polar bear who, while we were there, decided to enjoy the cool waters by siting atop the observing bay window. A good time was had by all.
There were many other opportunities to observe mammals and fish from below the surface. Most people walked right by but the sight of fish "kissing" their own surface reflection was art to me.
Although many of the enclosures used un-photogenic fences and wires to keep animals in and people out, there were also clear-windowed observing areas. If there were not too many greasy fingerprints, animal scratches, or reflections, good views and photos could be made of bears, lions, tigers, and a very curious bobcat.
We both shot too many photos to show off here –and too many photos in general– but had a most excellent time. Even lunch for two vegetarians was a pleasant experience with delicious non-meat spicy black bean burger platters available at a fair price, made to order. Mmmm, good!
We felt we'd had enough for one day and left before seeing the African Forest and Australian areas of the great zoo. I expect we'll return one day, perhaps in cooler weather, to see the rest.
PhotonStopper 