I thought I would miss out on seeing Autumn colors in Pittsburgh this year since we would be away for most of October. However, due to the warm weather and absence of frost the trees still have not turned. They seem to be adapting well to global warming. This was taken on November 4th and still no frost.
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Heidelberg Castle is a essentially a ruin in the Rhineland section of Germany. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the town of Heidelberg and dates back to 1214. In 1294 a second castle structure was joined to the first. However in 1537 a lightning bolt destroyed part of the castle and later in 1764 the rebuilt section of the castle was also destroyed by lightning.
In a future post I will post pictures of the castle but as I waited in line to take pictures of the view of Heidelberg from the castle. I noticed to the left this beautiful structure. The guides didn’t talk about it, nobody else seemed interested in it but I wondered what the story was behind this beautiful palace that was just below the castle with the same magnificent view.
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The Palace near the Castle
As we left Holland and cruised down the Rhine River we would sit on our veranda or the sun deck and see grapes being harvested on the sunny bank of the river, sometimes to port and sometimes to starboard as the river gently turned. In the heart of Germany these vines produce the Riesling and Gewurztraminer wines that are famous in the region. We saw people hand harvesting the grapes the way they probably have for hundreds of years.
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Vines along the Rhine
The first two times I went to the Nederlands (Holland) I visited only Amsterdam. We did rent a car and visited Castle country but it was a gray rain filled day. Even the day we went to the Keukenhof Gardens was stormy. On this trip we started in Amsterdam but then took a river cruise and the second day we woke up in Kinderdijk Nederlands and finally learned the meaning behind the expression Dutch Clouds
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Dutch Clouds
The Windmills of Kinderdijk are along the Rhine River in Holland south of Amsterdam. They are used to manage water and eliminate flooding and have been in existence since the 15th Century. The name of the town means “children’s dike” and refers to a folk tale that after the a great flood when they went to access the damage they saw a cat in a child’s cradle jumping to maintain the balance of the cradle. As the cradle drifted to shore they found a baby inside the cradle. This is the source of the folk tale, “The Cat and The Cradle”.
Although some of the windmills are still used, the main water works are provided by two diesel pumping stations near one of the entrances of the windmills site.
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Kinderdijk
Every time we go to Maui we make sure we leave time to go Īao Valley State Park and the wonderful Gardens at Kepaniwai County park. The first time we were there was 28 years ago and I was saddened to learn that the parks were damaged severely last week. As of today Īao Valley State Monument on Maui, will remain closed indefinitely due to extensive damage from heavy rain and flooding that occurred on the night of Sept. 13 and early morning on Sept. 14, 2016.
“Our inspections show that the (ʻĪao Stream) Wailuku River course has changed and is significantly wider, cutting into state park land that contained public access features. The stream is heavily silted and cobbled with new material and landslides on both sides of the stream are evident,” said Curt Cottrell, Department of Land and Natural Resources State Parks division administrator.
I hope no one was injured although I believe several lost their homes which is injury enough. I know the spirit of the Hawaiian people and am sure the park will reopen soon but “mother nature” did some real damage and it will take hard work and dedication.
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Iao’s Needle Maui Hawaii
Iao Valley State Park
A lot of people visiting Florida think these birds are Flamingos when they see them in flight. Flamingos are not as common in Florida as many may think and are more native to South America and Central America. The spoonbill though is common in the southern United States. Mostly you will see them wading in wetlands but when they fly they truly look strange. These were photographed on Captiva Island in Florida.
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Roseate Spoonbills in Flight
When we first moved to the Pocono Mountains we would see all the deer and get real excited. Aren’t they pretty? Isn’t nature wonderful?
Our real estate agent laughed and told us that within five years we would think of them as pests. He was wrong, It only took three years. We saw the impacts of deer wasting disease and eventually our community had to vote for a deer cull. There was no hunting in our community and the deer population was unhealthy.
For the last three years we have been wintering in Florida and I love to watch birds in flight, especially large birds like pelicans. People who live there hate them, especially fisherman. They steal bait, steal the catch, poop all over their boats and stalk them well out to sea. Here is a small group pestering a fisherman in a bay near Captiva island Florida.
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Friend or Foe
In modern society it is more difficult to shut off your internal dialog and empty out your mind. We are always listening, watching, reading and we use a larger percentage of our brain than ever in history. Yoga masters know the truth is to focus on your breathing. I am a very visual person and I find it helpful while doing yoga breathing to focus on relaxing images in my mind. I find still reflections like this one to be the most relaxing. Not enough to focus on to make you think or excited, but the stillness of the image helps me to empty my brain.
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Still Waters…Still Minds
I am going to be posting images that I may have posted before with a candidate # thereby collecting a list of what I feel would be likely candidates to print for a gallery show of new images of only digital photography. Right now I am reviewing images that are scenic or from nature. This is a monochrome view of Lettuce Lake State Park in Tampa taken during February 2015. It was a cloudy gray day and for a couple of hours I could only really see in shades of grey.
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Candidate #6–Lettuce Lake
Imagery Photography 