Skating

My granddaughter Sydney went skating last week with her daddy.  The rec skate time was right before Marty's hockey game, so he came out and skated a while with them.

One of Sydney's favorite things is to play chase with Grandpa, and doing it on the ice was just as much fun.  She's been a little reluctant to skate while only holding on with one hand, but in the excitement of the chase she managed to do that, reaching out to grab Grandpa's hand.

She had a great time with her grandpa and her daddy!

She's been skating several times, and I posted some photos of her skating last December HERE.  As she's quick to tell you, she'll be three on her next birthday, which is in April.  She wants to  play hockey like her daddy and mama and auntie and grandpa, but she has plenty of time to improve her skating technique before then.  And maybe, just maybe, her grandma will improve her action photography skills by then too.....

A Little Sunshine Changes Things

Back on Halloween I posted a photo of a haunted barn.  Here's what it looks like on a sunny day.

Here's the haunted barn with the processing I added.

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

The Creamer's Field Christmas Tree

In front of the old farmhouse and dairy barns at Creamer's Field is a large white spruce tree.  It was transplanted in front of the Creamer farmhouse in the early 1930s when it was about 10 feet tall.  It is now about 70 feet tall.  

Each year the lighting of the tree occurs in the first week of December.  A caroling party is held and cookies and hot cocoa are served.

I took these shots this afternoon at 3:30.  Sunset was at 2:38, but we have a long twilight, so it wasn't completely dark.  Our sunrise today was at 10:56, giving us 3 hours and 42 minutes of daylight.  Another minute or two of loss will occur over the next couple of days as we reach the solstice and the shortest day of the year.

Double crowns are a regular feature of tall spruces.  They tend to lose their old crowns and continue growth in a new direction.  This white spruce recently had the larger of two crowns removed to prevent additional cracking.  The tree had previous crown damage.  At about the 20 foot mark the trunk takes a big bend.  The crown was broken in the early 1940s.  The story goes that it happened while the tree was being trimmed for Christmas.  I posted photos of the barns and the tree last year when there was a full moon.  You can see those by clicking HERE.  

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You'll find more lovely old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm. 

Christmas Photo Shoot

Today my daughter and I wanted to take some photos of my granddaughter Sydney in her new Christmas dress.  Sydney wasn't enthused about the idea, and when you're 2-1/2 you are a master at the fine art of being uncooperative .  First she didn't want to put on the dress, and it took us a while to convince her to do that.  She loves party dresses, by the way.  Then she was more interested in playing with the reindeer bells that I have on my tree, and doing anything else but posing or smiling.

However, the promise of a treat caused her attitude to change.

She loves chocolate, and the anticipation and the savoring sweetened her right up.  Sometimes you just have to resort to a little bribery negotiation.

So, after a rocky beginning, I think it was a successful photo shoot.

Sydney wasn't saying what she thought of the photo shoot and the photos.

Winter Silhouettes

I took these shots at 2:00 p.m. today.  Sunrise today was 10:49 and sunset 2:40, but add an hour of twilight on either side of that.  One more week to go till our shortest day, with time between the sunrise and sunset down to 3 hours and 42 minutes.  On a side note, our shortest night in June is 2 hours and 11 minutes.  You can chalk that discrepancy up to atmospheric refraction, which bends the sun's rays so they can pass over the horizon.  Hence the sun appears to rise before it actually reaches the horizon and is visible at night after it is actually below the horizon.

The little birds in the last two photos are Redpolls.

Peeking Through the Trees

Here's another drive-by shooting of a barn we saw near Reading, Pennsylvania, at the end of October while we were driving along one of the back roads.

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn charm. 

Longwood Gardens Desert Plants

We're back at Longwood Gardens again.  In our last visit we were at the Water Garden, and we're going to the opposite extreme today and looking at plants that thrive where there's a lack of water.  We need to go into the conservatory to see the cacti and other desert plants.  The pathway through the Silver Garden is designed to mimic a dry stream bed.

Rocks are scattered throughout and many low-growing plants form a carpet.

A little higher up are many interesting leaf patterns.

And looking up we see the tall cacti reaching for the sky.

I like the beautiful textures of the desert plants with their adaptations to help them trap moisture.

I live in a climate that is very dry, but none of these plants grow here in Alaska.  Perhaps it's because of the long cold winter......

Foraging at Valley Forge

We were at Valley Forge on October 31st.  As we were driving through the park we came upon some Whitetail Deer, a mama and her two fawns, foraging on a slight hill above the road.    

They didn't seem to be too concerned about our presence.

Even so, Mama watched us closely.

I think she had a comment for us, but I'm not conversant in deer language.....

.....although I think this youngster was saying, "Take my photo, take my photo, I'm the pretty one."

Barns in New Brunswick

While we were in Maine in October we took a detour into New Brunswick, Canada, to see the longest covered bridge in the world at Hartland.  (Click HERE to see that post.)  The bridge crosses the St. John River, which flows through some beautiful farming country.  These are some of the drive-by shots I took as we drove along the river north of Hartland.

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Hop over to Tricia's Barn Charm to see more old barns! 

Longwood Gardens Aquatic Plants

We visited Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania on October 30th.  It was the day after the big snowstorm that hit the Northeast, but the sun had come out and melted most of the snow, and the Gardens were beautiful.  Nestled in a courtyard in the West Conservatory Complex are five pools of water planted with 100 different types of aquatic plants.  The pools are 30 inches deep and mixed with an organic black dye to slow algae growth and to accentuate the plants.  The giant water-platters were hybridized at Longwood Gardens.  Peak bloom for the aquatic garden is mid-July through the end of September, but there was still a lot blooming at the end of October and even after the snow the day before.

I took a lot of photos at Longwood and there is no way I could do justice to the lovely gardens in a single post, so I'll be sharing more from time to time over the next several months.  

The Glow in the Trees

This time of year in Fairbanks the sun doesn't climb very high in the sky, and yesterday at 1:30 the sun was close to its highest for the day.  In my backyard the sun shone through the trees and created a fairyland glow.  I shoveled the snow off of my deck and just enjoyed the show, but I did find time to take a few photos.....