Skyline Drive

Virginia, USA

From Skyline Drive

A romantic interlude along the ridgeline of the Blue Ridge Mountains on my way home from "church camp" with someone special.

From Skyline Drive

Van Cortland Hike

Bronx, New York, USA

From Van Cortland Park Hike

One of the things I love best about New York City is the abundance of public parks and green spaces, a wealth that is growing in quantity and quality as I live here. For the third summer in a row, it is my intention to see some parks this year that I haven't visited.

It's also my goal to do some Saturday hiking this year, to get in slightly better shape, but more for the renewal of a little time in green and nature. While I love New York, I'm not actually a city person by nature.

So when I saw that the Friends of Van Cortland Park was doing a highlights hike of the park on my day off, I jumped at the chance. Van Cortland is a huge park up in the Bronx with lots of more or less untouched woods, cross country and bridle trails, cricket and soccer fields, and some historic buildings.

There's a couple of golf courses with a swamp in between that I'd love to come back and spend more time exploring the edges of.

All in all, it was a nice little hike in the big city.

From Van Cortland Park Hike

April Flowers

New York, NY, USA

From April Flowers

As the calendar flipped to April, even I started to hate the New York winter a little. Sure, the snow was still pretty when it occasionally fell, but six months of potatoes and cheese and days too frigidly cold for exercise were leaving their mark. I could feel the inertia, the lethargia, the first tentacles of depression creeping in. I joined a Y, but that was a temporary stop-gap at best. What I really needed were crocuses, followed by snowdrops, daffodils, tulips and forsythia. Some cherry blossoms would be nice.

My first attempt to find crocus was actually on a Sunday afternoon at the end of March. "I've got to get out of here," I told Alice, "and find some crocuses!" She wished me luck with doubt in her voice, but I didn't care. I needed some color. Camera in hand, I headed to the Jackie O reservoir in Central Park, but I saw more fauna than flora.

It was about a week later when I decided the wan sunlight was just about warm enough for lunch in Central Park, and my body was in need of a walk with my meal. That was when I found the first full-blooming crocus.

As the month progressed, the flowers got brighter and more and better.



Until the magnolias bloomed and allergies set in for me in earnest.

From April Flowers

Arlington and MLK, Jr.

Washington, DC, USA

From Arlington and MLK, Jr.

In all the times I've been to DC, I had never really considered visiting Arlington Cemetary. It's not because it's a cemetary. Like Anne of Green Gables, I've always liked cemetaries, found them soothing and beautiful. Maybe it's my politics, or some fear that my politics might be confronted in a place like this. I'm angry still about the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, not only because of the hell it has made of the lives of Afghans and Iraqis, but for the hell it has made of so many American soldiers' lives.

And yet, none of that mattered today in Arlington Cemetary. It was a beautiful day, on the green rolling hills where thousands finally rest in peace, many with their patient wives resting beside them. All the complicated politics seemed far at bay.

I wasn't going to take pictures. It seemed somehow antithetical to the mood of the place, too modern for graves going back so many decades, intrusive to their peace. And then I saw this:

It's unlikely that they're ancestors of mine, though certainly many of my ancestors earned the right to be on this ground, starting with the War of Independence.

Particularly memorable was a whole valley full of crocus:


Then I walked across the river into DC itself, to check out the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial, completed since the last time I had been a tourist in DC. I loved the juxtaposition of Martin and the mountaintop.

And I was more than a little surprised to see some very pointed quotes about war, and specifically about Vietnam, carved indelibly into the wall. I've often heard our national remembrance of King criticized for leaving out his very vehement anti-war rhetoric, the very thing that may have gotten him killed. I was pleased to see it on the wall, including a quote from his famous speech at Riverside Church, as well as this one:

Snowhattan!

New York, NY, USA

From Snowhattan!

While everyone else is complaining, I'm really loving the cold, snow and general winteriness of New York City this year. Sure, there was the day I fell twice within a block of my house on invisible ice, and the day that there were Great Lake-sized slush puddles on every other street corner in Manhattan. There was the day I thought my face would be sliced into ribbons by the sharp sleet on the whipping wind.

But I love it, and I'm completely unrepentant. Take, for example, the day that Maria Hernandez Park glowed golden on my evening commute home:

Or the day the city sparkled above the Jackie Onassis Reservoir in the icy wind of sunset:

And the day the All Souls Memorial Garden turned into a fairy grotto in the heavy snowflakes:

This day, too, of snow and fog in Central Park, was ethereal and beautiful:

From Snowhattan!

My glee hasn't diminished yet for the snow, but my coworkers have told me I'm no longer allowed to wear my snowflake earrings, because they're too effective at invoking further snow!

Clatsop and the Coast

Oregon Coast, USA

On my way to a Swiss Chics reunion at Lindsay's wedding, I explored Olympia and the Portland coast with two of my favorite people, Arwen and Karla.



On our way to Oregon, Arwen and I stopped to walk at the Nisqually nature reserve. The next day, when I spotted the sign for Fort Clatsop, I to mentioned that I'd adored Sacagawea in elementary school and read everything I could find about her, so we amended Karla's plan and went there first. Then we went to the coast.

Like Central Park, But Smaller

Wright Park, Tacoma, WA

From Tacoma

This beautiful park is just up the street from Arwen's house in Tacoma. It's a beautiful, rolling landscape of old trees, flower gardens and wide green lawn.

Apparently, the designer of the park chose the random placement of the trees across the park by spreading out a map of the space and scattering a handful of seeds across it, then putting a tree at each location. The tree species come from all across North America and Europe.

There's a lovely little lake, sculptures scattered around the lawn, and lots of families out with their kids.

Also, there were ducklings!

From Tacoma

Rainforest City

Tacoma, WA, USA

From Tacoma

What a beautiful day in the neighborhood...! I should have taken my good camera, not just my phone, but I managed to get a couple good shots on my after-school walk with my Peace Corps friend and excellent hostess, Arwen.

There were rhododendrons blooming everywhere, in impressive size and colors.

Wednesday, I'm looking forward to joining her in her classroom for early elementary students with autism.

Waterside

Waterford Park
somewhere on the Baltimore-Annapolis Pike

From Waterford & Annapolis

As I was dutifully following my GPS onto I295 out of Baltimore, the first faded exit sign said 'Annapolis Road.' I had 2 hrs to get to my lunch date in Annapolis (a 45 min trip by Interstate), and I thought, 'I bet that goes to Annapolis, and I bet it's a lot prettier,' and I swerved onto the offramp.

I was right, and it was a much prettier ride. In another life, I want to go to Glen Burnie High School and teach at Anne Arundel Community College.

Along the way, I stumbled upon a little reservoir with a nature trail that was the Eagle Scout project of one (or most likely several) local Boy Scouts over the years. There were little footbridges, designated fishing areas, blazes for several different trails, and lots of new leaves and wildlife. I even nearly stepped on this guy, who graciously posed for a photo shoot anyway:

I wandered around for almost an hour, fussing with the macro functions on my camera, coaxing waterfowl into just the right angle, and marveling at the beauty in even the nasty little poison ivy plant.

It was a lovely interlude into nature, a great improvement on the interstate highway system, and a great opportunity to indulge my little fantasy that I'm an accomplished photographer, not just a hobby snapper.

Best of all, it ended in Annapolis harbor for lunch with a great old friend, who will be bringing me back to Baltimore later this year to attend her Christmas nuptials!

From Waterford & Annapolis

Memories of Flowers

Chadd's Ford, PA

From Chadd's Ford fields

It was a little after eleven when I picked up my rental car in Jersey City, and my gracious hostess Elly wasn't going to be home from work in Baltimore until 6:30, so I had time for the scenic route. In fact, my recent excursion out to the UU Congregation of Shelter Rock really highlighted the fact that I'd been cooped up in the city far too long and needed some country air.

So I hopped the PA Turnpike around Philly and dropped onto old US 1, aka the Boston Post Road, aka Lincoln Highway, aka the Baltimore Pike. Rte 1, for me, has a lot of the nostalgic overtones of Rte 66 for many Americans. This is in part because my mother went to the University of Maine in Fort Kent at the northern end of the highway, but also because some Pennsylvania and Maryland stretches of Rte 1 are as familiar to me as my own back yard. Unlike her sophisticated younger brother I-95, Rte 1 runs through instead of around most of the towns and cities along her journey, frequently slowing down for stoplights, more friendly to Amish buggies. Greener and more scenic, it was perfect for my escape from the big city.

As I approached Chadd's Ford, PA, I realized that I was entering one of those familiar historic stretches. First, I ran across Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site, wishing I had a picnic lunch to eat on the simple, expansive lawns. Then I spotted signs for Longwood Gardens. Visiting these expansive botanical gardens was a special treat growing up, reserved for Grandma and Grandpa's visits on their way between Massachusetts/ Maine and Florida. As I pulled into the parking lot, I thought, This is going to be far too expensive for my wallet! When I realized I could spend two hours photographing spring blossoms for about the price of a NYC brunch, I was committed! And it was totally worth it!

From Chadd's Ford fields