Arms of the Angel
Water spills over the Baldwin Lake dam in Berea, Ohio this dark, misty, December morning. The title? I was listening to the song, Angel, by Sarah McLachlan as I edited this image using GIMP.
photography
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A pasture on a foggy morning in late autumn.
Back on Monday the morning was foggy, lending a wonderful soft mood to the landscape. I took a little drive that day hoping to find interesting scenes and wound up in a Cleveland Metroparks area. I continued my travels that day and headed south and into the rolling countryside. One of my favorite areas presented itself in a wholly different way from how I am accustomed to seeing it. A farmer’s grazing field showed off a pair of naked trees silhouetted against a featureless sky, foreground of colorful weeds and grasses and background veiled in fog. A weathered barn I love to look at was also set off by deep red-brown dead weeds made more colorful by heavy dew. It was a good morning to slow down and look around.
One of my favorite barns.
I had the morning off from remodeling house-sitting and the day began with beautiful fog hanging over the landscape. I thought one of the Cleveland Metroparks areas might be beautiful draped in fog but as I descended into the valley, the fog thinned! What remained of the fog, however, contributed to wonderfully soft light and the pervasive moisture deepened the colors of plants and earth. Along the way I came across a tree of unusual bark: patches of bark were scaling off, leaving smooth areas of variegated color behind. I have seen trees of this species many times before and the scaling bark appears to be normal and healthy; the day, however, made the appearance all the lovelier. I gathered a number of nice images from areas near the tree and a drive to the south produced some great stuff that I’ll share later. This tree of unusual bark and beauty, however, is my surprise favorite of the day.
A rainy Sunday afternoon.
It Was That Kind of a Day. Hard to tell where the sky ended and the ground began with the mist joining them. The geese know their worlds and have no trouble moving between on a rainy Sunday.
Sunlit streaks in the clouds over Portage County countryside.
I was driving through the Portage County (Ohio) countryside this afternoon enjoying the late-autumn scenery. The muted tones of black and brown remind me of the art of watercolorists as I gaze at woodlands and fields. The sun broke through nondescript clouds during the day but, as the afternoon progressed, heavier, more dramatic clouds rapidly moved in; their ragged edges surrounding and tearing at the blue openings to a deeper sky. Some of that change in the weather took place as I watched and photographed from the side of a country road and the final stages took place as I drove westward on the Ohio Turnpike at 70 MPH — camera protruding from an open window!
A dark shield of clouds moves to obscure the sun.
Cold water moves as though thick around rocks in this stream.
After painting the kitchen moulding I took off on a round of errands: Post Office, Cardboard Recycling, Office (to water plant). Then respite: a nice, unhurried visit to David Fortier River Park in Olmsted Falls followed by a quick stop at the Strongsville Wildlife Area. It was a cold, gray afternoon, well-suited to the time of year. Still, there was plenty to photograph especially in Olmsted Falls where I spotted many pictures. Even armed only with my little PowerShot G11 I was able to bring home a nice set of images; it was hard to choose which of them to show here. Suddenly things are happening with the kitchen as tomorrow marks arrival and installation of the sink. On Monday and Tuesday of next week, the plumbing gets connected (wish it was earlier!) and the moulding goes up. That should be the completion of our “kitchen project.” Yes, today’s respite was much-needed.
Thin ice is forming on the pond in the Strongsville Wildlife Area.
While they slept the sun rose and the clouds descended.
A week after “Superstorm” Sandy inundated the region with days of wind-driven rain, some areas remain wet. This morning I spied a place within the Cleveland Metroparks that was more reflecting pool than picnic area. The water is slowly receding from beneath the tables and grill and, in a few days, only muddy earth with remain. In the mean time it’s no picnic.
Trees bare of leaves against a sunset sky.
Tonight’s stark, cold, and early sunset let us know that November has arrived. Winter seems not long away.
Rolling, dark clouds overhead – rapidly-changing spits of cloud to the east make an ominous scene.
We crossed the state of Ohio twice today, visiting family. It was today that a cold weather front collided with the northeastern-most edge of Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane is a large storm which, during the day, has taken the form of an open pinwheel. Clouds over the region were oriented north and south and took on strange, drawn-out shapes and dark colors as they rapidly evolved overhead. I felt compelled to step outside, at one point, to capture some images of the sky-show! As we headed westbound on the Ohio Turnpike this morning, across the median we saw scores of electrical utility and tree service trucks eastbound; they were, no doubt, headed to the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. to assist with power outages and downed trees.
A corn field sits beneath a dramatic October sky.
The winds grew stronger as the day wore on: cold and dry in Northwestern Ohio, cold and wet in the Northeastern parts of the state. Heading back this evening, most of our journey was inside the storm — not a hurricane for us, but a tense and unpleasant trip nonetheless. The next few days promise to be cold, dark, and wet around here as we deal with the outskirts of a big storm heralded by today’s dramatic October sky.
Far from Sandy, a distant hurricane shapes the skies of Northwestern Ohio.
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