Palm Desert California

It is easy to understand the attraction of Palm Desert in California, especially in February. Last time we were there was in July. We were up early, off on a hike and in the pool before noon. After our afternoon siesta it was finally below 95 and we could venture out again to dinner or night life . It was HOT!! In the winter though the air was crisp, the days were in the low 70’s and the nights required a light jacket. Picture perfect.

Snow on the mountains and palm trees in the sun, what a beautiful place.

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Palm Desert

Palm Desert

Things I’ll Miss—Moonlit Nights

If you follow this blog you know that for some time we have been trying to sell our house and move back to Pittsburgh. Our tablets are done (DreamMap publishing in October) and it is time to come off the mountain. Of course moving is hard work so I haven’t been taking new pictures and have been thinking of how to keep the blog “alive” during this time of transition.

Moonlit waterfalls are beautiful wether they exist in nature or are created. The moon is from our back yard, the waterfall is part of Bushkill Falls about twenty miles away.

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Summer Moon

Summer Moon

Things I’ll Miss—Autumn in the Poconos

If you follow this blog you know that for some time we have been trying to sell our house and move back to Pittsburgh. Our tablets are done (DreamMap publishing in October) and it is time to come off the mountain. Of course moving is hard work so I haven’t been taking new pictures and have been thinking of how to keep the blog “alive” during this time of transition.

Although our new house is only two blocks from one of the largest parks in Pittsburgh (Frick Park) I will really miss the mountains in the autumn. One of the good things about Pittsburgh though is that besides having a wonderful park system the city is only a short drive to a wide variety of state parks. It will be fun exploring them in the autumn to find more scenes like this.

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Pocono Mountains in the Autumn

Pocono Mountains in the Autumn

Things I’ll Miss–Wetlands in the Autumn

If you follow this blog you know that for some time we have been trying to sell our house and move back to Pittsburgh. Our tablets are done (DreamMap publishing in October) and it is time to come off the mountain. Of course moving is hard work so I haven’t been taking new pictures and have been thinking of how to keep the blog “alive” during this time of transition.

Although our new house is only two blocks from one of the largest parks in Pittsburgh (Frick Park) I will really miss the wetlands in the autumn. One of the good things about Pittsburgh though is that besides having a wonderful park system the city is only a short drive to a wide variety of state parks. It will be fun exploring them in the autumn to find more scenes like this.

To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.

Pocono Wetlands

Pocono Wetlands

Things I Will Miss–Black Bears

If you follow this blog you know that for some time we have been trying to sell our house and move back to Pittsburgh. Our tablets are done (DreamMap publishing in October) and it is time to come off the mountain. Of course moving is hard work so I haven’t been taking new pictures and have been thinking of how to keep the blog “alive” during this time of transition.

Although our new house is only two blocks from one of the largest parks in Pittsburgh (Frick Park) we won’t have quite the variety of wildlife we have in The Poconos. Oh sure there will be deer, rabbits and maybe even some fox but I don’t think they have black bears in Frick Park. It is always exciting to see bears in the wild and I will miss their occasional visits.

Bear out Back

Bear out Back

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Pocono Lily

Lilies are the crown jewels of our garden. When they bloom Summer is in full gear. Lilies remind me of warm weather, swimming pools, lakes and walks in the park. I think they might be my favorite except for tulips, daffodils…oh never mind, I don’t really have a favorite. They are just beautiful flowers.

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Pocono Lilly

Pocono Lilly

Medicinal Poison Plant

Digitalis is a medication prescribed to certain heart patients. Digitalis toxicity is a complication of digitalis therapy, or it may be occur when someone takes too much of the drug at one time. Digitalis is made from this beautiful plant called Foxglove. To me it is interesting that certain medicines can also be poison if too much is ingested. One of the reasons to grow this plant in a mountain garden is that animals will not eat it and therefore the deer and rabbits stay away from your garden. You can buy a print of this image at my commercial gallery.

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Foxglove

Foxglove

Flower with a Beard!

Each year Iris puts on a show and each year there are more and more in the garden so we divide them up and create other Iris pockets. They are usually called bearded iris because they seem to have a face with a beard. This was taken on a Nikon D3100 with a 50mm-300mm Nikon Lens at 240mm at f11 for 1/160th of a second at an ISO of 400. You can buy a print of this one by clicking here.

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Flower with a Beard

Flower with a Beard

The Money Shot

I have published a few images of Neuschwanstein Castle on this blog and my commercial site. Unfortunately none of them are from the perfect angle. The best place to take a picture of this famous castle is from the middle of a wooden bridge. That is the money shot. Unfortunately when our tour got to the bridge it began to rain. This image was taken in the rain and so the sky is blah rather than blue and depth of field not as great as I would have liked. An hour earlier the sky looked like this but you can’t control the weather or in this case the tour guide..

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The Money Shot

The Money Shot

The bridge

The bridge

Schloss Hohenschwangau

Most people travel to this part of Bavaria to see the famous castle Neuschwanstein. We did the same and spent all of our time there. This is a lesser palace known as Schloss Hohenschwangau. Next time we will skip the
Neuschwanstein tour and spend some time inside this beautiful building and then tour the exterior of Mad Ludwig’s Castle.. It is interesting to know that neither Neuschwanstein or Schloss Hohenschwangau are considered castles but rather 19th Century Palaces although they commonly called “schlos” which is the German word for Castle.

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 Schloss Hohenschwangau

Schloss Hohenschwangau