Winter Banquet

Ward Reservation, Andover, Massachusetts

Piles of pine cone scales
 on the snow covered rocks of stone walls.
 
So many ?
 Too many for a single squirrel.
  Feels like a banquet...

Warmth and smiles on these winter paths.
 
 Where are they?

Little Rascal

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Early spring maples have begun to show their florets.
 Minuscule, delicate flowers just about to open-up,

   and a squirrel munches with delight, in the morning sunshine.

 Whose side are you on? Nature does not ask... 

Thump, thump, thump...

Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

A large Hickory with the crown where some can easily get lost, among leaves, green balls,
   and these thumps, hard but soft, hitting the ground.

  Somewhere up there a brown squirrel is in the seasonal harvest...  

Middle of the Summer

Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

Middle of the summer, has not rained much. Water in ponds is so low...
   Lilies do not seem to fuss about that,
   their leaves and flowers are in motion, covering much of the surfaces...
 
   ... radiating petals... just perfect...

This is Her Home

Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

Trees and Birds... their melodic chit-chat suffuses the place... Muddy trails. Board walks. Lily ponds... A turtle over here... sunbathing. A duck over there... napping. Lazy river at a standstill... or it seems... Geese in high grass... lurking... THIS Swampy Feeling... and Birds love IT...

... I derive more of my subsistence from the swamps which surround my native town than from the cultivated gardens in the village... Why not put my house, my parlor, behind this plot, instead of behind that meager assemblage of curiosities, that poor apology for Nature and Art, which I call my front yard?... Yes, though you may think me perverse, if it were proposed to me to dwell in the neighborhood of the most beautiful garden that ever human art contrived, or else of a Dismal Swamp, I should certainly decide for the swamp...

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Hiking Champlain Mountain

North Ridge and South Ridge, Champlain Mountain, Acadia National Park

Morning sunlight. On the ascend. Needles and cones. Becoming sparser. Glowing granite surfaces. Leading to the summit. Here, winds decide who lives. Pines keep themselves low. Rosy rocks are home to colonies of lichens. The artists living off of the sun and air... Red squirrels sliding. Now and then stopping. With inquisitive looks. Their bird-like chirps make me smile... And winding Butterflies perfect this colorful world... Up in the air, Vultures gliding on the wind. Looking at me. I wave my hand. What a spectacle!... And then these Views... Timeless...