Perspective and History

On the way to Cape Henlopen State Park this weekend, we were diverted off of this bridge onto a secondary road. The only good thing about the horrendous traffic was the opportunity to grab a photo or two. This was shot straight out of the car window :)

During WWII, most of Cape Henlopen State Park was Fort Miles. The U.S. government fortified strategic positions along the east coast, preparing for potential German attack. Fort Miles guarded the entrance to Delaware Bay. The chimney in the picture above rises from a casemate, a large underground storage locker for ammunition. Casemates were covered with sand and native vegetation in order to deceive enemy subs offshore. Today, remnants of Fort Miles are littered across the sand dunes.

Patterns, Part II

I like the contrast of a "desert" plant poking through light snowfall. Although yuccas are succulents, they grow in a variety of climates. Seeing one in snow is not uncommon, but it is visually interesting. To me, it looks like the yucca has stabbed through the snow.

Layer Cake

This is in Great Sand Dunes NP, in Colorado. I like this picture because of the layering of different textures: tree silhouettes, sand, foothills, and mountains. One of the reasons I like camping is because views like these greet you in the morning while blaring neon signs and tourist traps are conspicuous only in their absence. But after several days of camping, I'll wade through tourists hip deep to get a hot shower!

Thanks, Chad, for getting me back to my blog ;)

Finding Patterns

One of my favorite things to do is to find patterns in my environment by focusing in on an object or set of objects - not showing the entire scene. Here is one example, using stone pavers and a pedestrian barrier at Valley Forge National Historic Park:


A large area around a monument was paved in this overlapping shell pattern. I was fascinated by how the arrangement almost created an "optical illusion" effect. It looked like the ground itself was curving.

Playing with Panoramas

I'm finally getting around to piecing together the panoramas I took last month, and here's one of the better examples. This is Colorado National Monument. You can look out over some unique rock formations to the towns of Fruita and Grand Junction in the valley below. The Bookcliff Mountains are in the far distance. This national monument was created through the efforts of a local who loved the area so much that he agitated the state and the national government into taking action. We need more folks like him!

Meat Eater

An interesting plant we found in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I believe it's a type of sun dew, where the "dew" is a sticky substance that catches insects, which the plant then digests. Sort of like a Venus Flytrap. This little guy was tiny. The picture is taken with a setting on my camera that I call "Superflower" because macro mode is indicated by a flower symbol with an 'S' inside and it reminds me of the Superman symbol.

Mom's World E-Debut

Having done a Father's Day post, I realized that, back in May, I left Mother's Day unmentioned on my blog. Definitely not meant as a slight! So on the topic of Mothers, the last time I was home, I threatened to put Mom on the internet. Here goes:

She didn't want "millions" of people seeing her picture, but felt better when I told her it would be more like ten people :) And I'm including some flowers for her birthday, which was June 10th. Love you, Mom!

Happy Father's Day!

For all fathers out there, and especially my own, an eight musket salute!


And don't forget the cannon!



*All celebrations courtesy of Valley Forge National Historic Park volunteer reenactors. Thanks, guys!

I am pleased to announce ...

For those of you who wondered where the "Sand" part of Ash & Sand is/was, I have news! No longer crippled by slow dial-up internet service, she is now up and running with a blog of her own:

http://goatgirl799.blogspot.com/

Please check it out!

Cormoriffic!

I was looking over my past posts, and I realized that I've posted very little about one of my favorite subjects: birds! These are three cormorants on a log at Middle Creek. A fourth cormorant showed up later, after Dad took his big camera back from me. I wasn't too eager to let it go, let me tell you. Dad would have to tell you how far away these guys were. My little S2 couldn't pull them in as well, so I'm posting the three, closer up.