Four score and seven years ago

On the eve of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg speech, for the first time ever, I visited Gettysburg National Military Park.  And spent a misty November day wandering the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the trails around the park, and taking in the monuments, moody trees, and bucolic fields.

Veteran's Day

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Women's Vietnam Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Marine Corps War Memorial

United States Air Force Memorial

National World War II Memorial

First peek of fall

This past weekend, the very beginnings of the fall foliage were starting to peek through at Shenandoah River State Park.  The weather was perfect for a 8 mile hike, overcast, not too hot.

rain

There may have been no better way to dissolve away the past week's stress than by taking a walk in the cool summer rain through my neighborhood, recently repaired camera in hand.  The rain was fun to photograph with my new macro lens, giving a closer-up perspective.

Shooting the moon

A few weeks ago I was, after a dry spell, successful in shooting the moon in hearts.  And last weekend I tried my hand at shooting the moon in the sky.  It was a "supermoon," and the night before the full moon went with some photographer friends to the hillside by the Netherlands Carillon, a mecca for photographers.  With really big lenses.

The moon that night was pretty, and pleasant, but not aligned with the monuments.  At least not without the assistance of digital manipulation.

But the monuments themselves were quite beautiful.

The next night, watching the moon rise from the roof of my building was quite stunning.

I look forward to more opportunities to shoot the moon from different vantage points.

waterfalls of ricketts glen

What better way to spend an unusually cool late May weekend than traipsing around Ricketts Glen State Park in the Middle of Nowhere, PA.  My foray into hiking with a tripod and camera bag started out a little shaky with me dropping my camera's remote, followed by my camera bag knocking my water bottle onto the ground at the top of the first big waterfall.  After hiking back up to retrieve said water bottle and subsequently readjusting my grip on the tripod, this very same water bottle (my trusty water bottle with whom I have hiked for the last 5-6 years) went flying into the bottom of the falls.  Unable to be retrieved by me.  So with many apologies to the park for leaving a trace, and just as many thanks to Karol for sharing her water, below I post some of my favorites from the trip.

Day 2 of hiking the falls trail at Ricketts Glen went a little more smoothly with my backpack, and the light was quite nice (it better be after getting up at 4:30 to start hiking closer to sunrise!).

sunrise, sunset

Two visits down to the mall this year to check out the late blooming cherry blossoms, one for sunrise, one for sunset.  The Jefferson memorial was, as always, photogenic, right at sunrise and after the sun went down a few days later. 

trying to spring

Spring was starting to spring a few weeks ago at Dumbarton Oaks Gardens.  A few buds, flowers, greenery, and some very shiny crystals decorating one of the garden areas.

let it snow

While New York and New England got dumped on by up to several feet of snow, so far we've only had a few dustings.  But those dustings made for a magical wintry walk through Rock Creek Park a few weeks ago.  I hope we get more...

a warm winter stroll

Last weekend a very pleasant walk through middle patuxent environmental area in clarksburg, md - howard county.  The sun was out, the jacket came off.   A nice chance to catch my breath. 

 

welcome 2013

A winter's stroll at sky meadows last month.