The Weekend in Black and White: Foggy afternoon

I love fog as long as I don't have to drive in it. I took a bunch of pictures in the NC mountains when it was foggy earlier this week.

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SkyWatch Friday: Blowing Rock North Carolina

I came home today from Blowing Rock, NC which is in the northwestern part of my state. I am posting early for skywatch because I haven't put anything new up on my blog while I was out of town.

The shot above was the sun setting over the Moses Cone Manor House in Blowing Rock and the shot below was taken through the trees during a walk on one of the trails at that park.

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The Weekend in Black and White: tree scribbler

I guess tree carver would be a more accurate title but I had nothing to do with the markings on the tree, so I want to leave my name off the title.

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SkyWatch Friday: Inkblot Sky

Looking at the sky through the leaves made me think of an inkblot test.

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ABC Wednesday: N is for Nest

The nuthatch needs a nest and claims this nifty nesting box nestled under my roof eaves.

In the spring newly hatched nuthatches are quite noisy and mom leaves to get nourishment.

At summer's end when the leaves fall off the vine, a nest from the past spring is revealed.

Another nest was built deep in the bushes which I avoid pruning until the babies were all grown up.
The next nest was built high up in the pine trees.

While new buds formed on the tulip tree an old nest sat exposed until spring leaves covered it again.

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That's My World Tuesday: Great Blue Heron and other sights

The great blue heron at Shelley Lake have spots they tend to hang out in during different seasons.

The spot where I saw this one is generally where I see them in the fall.

They are easier to photograph this time of year. I know where to find them during the spring and summer but they are very skittish and fly off fast during those seasons.

I can get much closer this time of year and they focus on fishing and ignore me.

Saturday was the perfect day for walking. It was cold in the morning but by mid day was warmer and very pleasant.

I have mostly been posting walks for my world lately but that's when I've been taking the most pictures.

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The Weekend in Black and White: rocks and water

I love to watch water passing over rocks, even when there aren't significant falls. I find it beautiful the way water looks like brush strokes on rocks.



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Skywatch Friday: Looking up and down at the sky

It's interesting to me how sometimes the reflection of the sky shows the true colors while the actual sky looks washed out in the photograph.


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ABC Wednesday: M is for Moss

Mossy mountains make me merry.

Moving across mossy mountain rocks may be mired in mishaps if your footing isn't steady.



Moss on the sides of the mountain trails are easier to maneuver through without mistakes.



Moss on steep rocks heading up the mountains may be messy if you miss making your step carefully.



Mountain moss may seem easier to make your way on with flat areas but in combination with mixed roots and wet ground may be tricky.



By the way, the moss in these photographs is of a variety of kinds but I call it mountain moss because all of the shots were taken in the mountains. The third and last shot were taken in the southern Virginia mountains and the rest were taken in the northern North Carolina mountains.



For more takes on the letter M, please visit ABC Wednesday.

That's My World Tuesday: Fall Unfolds in Slow Motion

This time of year with the dogwoods and a few other trees already getting their fall foliage while others are still green, it almost feels like fall is unfolding in slow motion.

I am savoring the season and enjoy spotting the small daily and weekly changes.

I am glad that we are having such good walking weather and that I am able to get out and enjoy it.

In a way it works out well for me to photo walk because I'm not feeling able to walk fast but if I stop and take pictures a lot I can manage to walk fairly far.

The photographs in this post are from two different walks (Thursday and Sunday).

I am mixing up the order so it's not like taking two walks with me, it's like walking for a few minutes then zipping ahead three day and then zipping back three days.

I have trouble picking which photographs to use because I'm taking so many.

There are certain times of year when it's almost funny how many photographs I take.

I'm looking forward to when we hit the peak in terms of fall foliage.

It will also be nice when the trees have all lost their leaves because I love shooting bare limbs against the sky.

There aren't any times of the year that don't have photographic opportunities but the heat of the summer is my least favorite time to be outside so good to see that go.

When I first saw the mallard ducks I thought they were leaves because they were balled up so tight.

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The Weekend in Black and White: Coming in for the landing

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SkyWatch Friday: Mixed sky shots

Last week the sky banged against my closed blinds and beckoned me outside.

I had already closed the blinds for the night because it was a stormy day and I had turned on the inside lights. I glanced at my white blinds and they were turned golden from the outside light so I grabbed my camera.

It was extraordinary how everything outside had a gold cast. The next shot was taken a few days later of a different sky.

I usually try to stick with one shot for SkyWatch Friday but this week it was too hard to decide.

The last shot was taken this Wednesday. I like to take photographs looking up through my dogwood tree.

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