Category: Photography

Image #149 -Little Tennessee River Greenway

Image #149

Running through Franklin’s rather erratic downtown area is a lovely stretch of land known as the Greenway which is maintained by the delightfully acronymed group – FROGS.  Friends of the Greenway (FROGS) maintain the paths, weeding out invasive plants along the five mile stretch while also providing a comfy headquarters with coffee shop and books. The park meanders along several miles of the Little Tennessee River. During a walk last week I snapped this photograph.  As the trees continue losing their leaves there are new designs emerging from the dense growth. The trees become dancers against the wintering sky. Soon all the leaves will be gone and these trees will stand naked and exposed. Yet, remarkably, they are safer that way. Leaves are heavy, so is snow and ice.  Exposed limbs have a better chance of surviving the onslaught of winter. Nature is remarkable. ❧

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Image #148 – Putting on a new coat — seasonal changes in the bird world

Image #148

Previous posts have included pictures of the American Goldfinches who have graced my feeder throughout the summer (Image #141).  Now it is mid-fall and  mating colors are gone . I learned today that the American Goldfinch is the only finch to undergo a complete moulting process.   So the bird in this picture could be the same as the bird in Image #141.  But American Goldfinches are also migratory so this may be an entirely different bird.  This bird, according to The Sibley Guide to Birds, is a an adult, non-breeding.   While not as dramatic as the male American Goldfinch in his mating finery he is still a very handsome bird. ❧

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Image #143 – One week later

Image #143

That’s Tango, posing nicely by a pretty autumnal sugar maple in nearby West Macon Track. This was one week ago and I have no doubt the leaves have all disappeared. It’s happening a lot these days. A cold front moved through on Thursday night with high winds and about .5 inches of rain. But the cold air got hung up on the west side of the mountains and this delightful, almost hallucinogenic, warm air slipped in between the cold air and the rain making Friday a spectacular day.  Indian Summer… Leaves were everywhere, on the ground, in great quantities.  Tree limbs were black and naked, reaching towards a cobalt blue sky. The scents were earthy and the air was soft.

These are days we’ll remember (apologies to Natalie Merchant). Not just for the sunshine and falling leaves but for the extraordinary miracles of life and death that once again grace our life. On the hilltop above my home is the dying form of my friend Gail…life partner of a life-long friend, Boni. Just three weeks ago, after a summer of decline, Gail was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A return engagement of lung cancer that tried to take her life eight years ago. Conquered then, the demon is back and this time it will succeed.

But success is not necessarily triumph. It is Gail’s spirit that is triumphant. Death will take her…but it will take us all. It is not the taking but rather HOW we are taken. Gail’s smiles, her peace, her continuing sense of humor, her love for Boni and her many friends, … her grace.  This is the triumph. ❧

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Image #141 – Juvenile American Gold Finch

Image #141

The babies have fledged and are on their own. This is a Juvenile American Gold Finch.  Quite possibly he is the progeny of this fellow (below).

Image 141 (1)

On Fawn Hill life is moving on …  ❧

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Image #140 – Tufted titmouse

Image #140

These guys are such frequent flyers at my birdfeeders. My Audubon Field Guide states the titmouse “are social birds and, especially in winter, join with small mixed flocks of chickadees, nuthatchers, kinglets, creeper, and the smaller woodpeckers.”  Well, spot on Audubon! ! That perfectly describes my feeders just now. Mix in purple finches and cardinals and you have the Fawn Hill bird mix of the moment.  I’ve been told that juncos will arrive  but I remember in Washington, D.C. that the juncos arrived only when it was truly cold to the north. Perhaps the same is true here. ☙

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Image #139 – Carnival Candy Slime

Image #139

Like Halloween caviar, the Carnival Candy Slime fungi brightens the base of a rotting tree in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Carnival Candy Slime!!!  Where do these mushroom specialists come up with these names??  Its Latin name is Arcyria denudata.  I may not have it correctly identified and encourage any slime lovers out there to set me straight if I have the name wrong.  A truly spectacular growth, whatever its name might be. ☙

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Image #137 – Stalked Hairy Fairy Cup fungus

Image #137

According to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms,  “The Stalked Hairy Fairy Cup is one of a number of very small, beautiful cup fungi that are covered with hairs.”  Enough said?  This dainty life form lives on a tree at Wayah Bald, NC — 5,000 feet up, very exposed to extremes and very beautiful. ☙

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Image #135 -The Great Smokeys

Image #135

It is definitely fall here in western North Carolina.  The past few nights have brought frost and the arctic blast that is chilling bones in the midwest is on its way to our little corner of the world.  This photo was taken two weeks ago up on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  No doubt it has already changed significantly.  Leaves are falling all around reminding us of the impermanence of life but also its renewal. They lay thick on the forest floor, making a rich mulch for the life that lays beneath the surface, waiting for the light to make its winter passage and return again in the spring. ☙

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