In the waning minutes of sunset, a thunderstorm was moving into the area. As the leading edge of the cloud shield floated overhead, rumbles of thunder could be heard. Looking up, I saw the sky was alive with cloud-to-cloud lightning, much of it crawling across the cloud surfaces and readily visible, illuminating the coves and knolls of the storm. Fortunately I had my camera and tripod at hand and quickly set up in the parking lot behind my car. Quickly making rough camera settings I shot frame after frame, composing as best I could from a less-than-ideal vantage point. I would have shot a lot more images — there was lightning all over the sky — but my session was cut short by rain, threatening sky-facing lenses, forcing me into the car. It was quite the show, that spring lightning!
spring
All posts tagged spring
I made an all-to-brief visit to David Fortier River Park, Olmsted Falls, this morning and discovered the scene had transformed with the season. Thick layers of water plants coated the rocks beneath flowing water with purple slime lining the rock stream bed. I was alone in the park at that early hour but for a fly fisherman casting his line into the rushing river; a quiet respite in my morning’s travel.
Fungi generally grow upon decaying material that was once alive. Today, on a very pleasant hike on a trail in the Hubbard Valley Park, Medina Park District, I happened upon a most beautiful shelf fungus. The fan-shaped growth was protruding from the trunk of a still-standing dead tree along the path. This beautiful flower of decay with the feathery pattern of markings? Dryad’s saddle (Polyporus squamosus).
We took a little trip to the Marblehead Peninsula to see the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton and revisit a favorite place: the Marblehead Lighthouse, at the eastern tip of the peninsula. The aviation museum is very interesting, especially to those interested in World War 2 aircraft, and keeps alive the heritage of the Ford Tri-Motor aircraft. They’re even rebuilding a Tri-Motor at the museum. Astonishingly you can also see, close-up, a flightworthy B-25J Mitchell Bomber in the cluttered but clean hangar facility. Still, my favorite part of the trip was clambering around on the rocks at water’s edge by the lighthouse. It was a lovely spring day, though a shelf of clouds was moving in from the south. My photography for the day included trying out a brand-new circular polarizer (Cost $$$) and I like the results.
Coming down the stairs this morning I gazed outward and upward through a window off our landing. Such an interesting, beautiful, and strange sky! At first I was going to grab my trusty iPod Touch and shoot only a Twitter-quality image. My good old Canon 50D, however, was close at hand. The rest of the day the sky was pretty uninteresting. I was glad I had not missed the strange sky of morning.
After a gloomy Saturday and a night that featured about four inches of heavy, wet snow, Sunday brought blue skies and sunshine. We took advantage of the gorgeous day and made a little trip to Summit MetroParks’ Nature Realm. The park’s paved pathway allowed for a nice photo walk without a slog through snow-covered mud. Bird calls filled the air as we took in the sights. Not a lot of photos to show for our casual trip but it was great getting out in the mild, fresh air, and feeling the sun shine on our faces. It has been a long, hard winter that seems not to want to end, and we’re looking forward to spring. Real spring.
Transitioning: The seasons are changing from winter to spring. Storms blow in. Lake ice moves out. A fierce wind buffeted me as I stood atop a pile of dirty ice, perhaps 10 feet deep, along the lake shore. Waves, beginning to stir, jostled the ice plates and occasionally sent spray showering over their edges. It was a dark day, today, with the promise of brighter days to come, though I was in awe of the transitioning.













