Science! Psuedo-science! Nature! Art! Nonsense!
August 28, 2024
dogs, flowers, plants bubby, farm, iulianna, iulie, swing, zinia Leave a comment
Much fun was had on the pretend farm. Lets see. We visited the tree Now taller than iulie).
We walked by the river with the crazy dogs.
We visited the baby zinias in the garden and picked a few early veggies.
We run through the sprinkler on the patio (for some definitions of we).
And we discovered the old swing rope out back.
Much fun was had.
April 12, 2024
farm, flowers, photography, plants bluebells, flowers, river, Spring, wildflowers Leave a comment
The walk by the river gets better every time we do it.
April 7, 2023
nature, photography, plants bleeding heart, bluebell, dogwood, dutchman's britches, red elderberry, Spring, tulips Leave a comment
Spring springs eternal.  Or around here, at least three times. This is peak number 2 of 2023 Spring.
Bleeding heart in bloom.
This is the flaming bush from the old testament (as far as I know anyway).
For more bluebells, see this posting.
Celandine poppy
Red elderberry
Dutchman’s britches
April 2, 2023
hiking, nature, plants bluebell, bluebells, flower, photography, river, romey, shenadoah river, shenandoah, Spring, video 1 Comment
It’s early for the peak. But the peak it is along the banks of the Shenandoah.
Romey looks like a bluebell too.
Moonshine does not look like a bluebell. Nor does he smell like one.
There are also other flowers available.
December 7, 2022
dogs, nature, plants, trees blandy farm, fall foliage, ginko, moonshine, trees Leave a comment
This is apparently the largest Ginko stand in North America, found at Blandy Experimenal Farm in Virginia. We went during peak color change with Moonshine.
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February 23, 2020
art, music, photography, plants Andy Akiho, art, art museum, baba, composers, concert, contemporary music, David Lang, dc, eighth blackbird, emily, emily shepardson, Fjóla Evans, gem, Holly Harrison, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Julius Eastman, Lisa Kaplan, national gallery, national gallery of art, Nina Shekhar, original music, Viet Cuong, washington dc Leave a comment
National Gallery of Art
What a place to see one of my all time favorite contemporary music groups. Eighth Blackbird played the National Gallery 2.16.20, and the show was free. As always, the group featured brand new music from living composers, including: Nina Shekhar, Fjóla Evans, Andy Akiho, Holly Harrison, David Lang, Viet Cuong, Jonathan Bailey Holland, and Julius Eastman. This show included some ringers in for violin, flute, and clarinet.
Lisa Kaplan, fearless leader and director of eighth blackbird
My favorite set was the second, and my favorite piece was Viet Cuoug’s Electric Aroma (2017),
The most precious thing in the museum was Cora, of course.
Cora does contemporary
The setting (no pictures or recording during the show)
After the concert, there were a few minutes for art.
Then it was out and on the metro for cocktails and dinner at Baba.
Sundown on the mall
Smithsonian sculpture
Wholly Emily
Baba’s bar
November 29, 2019
nature, plants, travel, trees Arashiyama, bamboo, eli, japan, kyoto, nature, photography, travel 1 Comment
June 11, 2019
farm, flowers, plants garden, no weeds, vegetables, video Leave a comment
Here is update three on the garden. Most everything is up except the third corn plantation. The weed situation is entirely under control. My bet is after we return from two weeks at the beach, chaos will be happening. We shall see!
December 1, 2018
flowers, hiking, mountain, nature, photography, plants australia, blue mountains, day trip, gem, hiking, katoomba, nature, photography, sydney, train, video 2 Comments
A two hour train ride outside of Sydney, you can find the tourist hamlet of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Tourists have been coming here since the turn of the century (1900). Katoomba itself reminds me of West Virginia in its old coal town turned bust turned tourist vibe. You can now find hipsters and artists in residence.
We took the train out in the morning and spent several hours walking from the train station to a trailhead, down the cliff face, and back up again.
Highlights on the mountain visit include the three sisters, the giant stairway (976 steps!), waterfalls, and the steepest railroad in Australia.
We started our morning at Sydney central
The two hour train ride is a little long. The tourist center by the train station is well worth a visit. That is where we finalized our plan.
8things cafe. Great food and super service
8things for lunch in katoomba: pork belly ramen https://t.co/9c5hlVDFOT pic.twitter.com/ZFCUYehWjo
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 30, 2018
Cassiopia coffee (recommended)
We walked from the station to Echo point (2.3 km).
The Echo Point visitors center
This is where we first caught sight of the famed three sisters. Which we saw many times throughout the day.
Three sisters from Echo Point visitor center
Three sisters from the echo point trail
Three sisters from the trail
Three sisters from just above
Honeycomb cave (at the three sisters)
Three sisters from below on the Federal trail
Three sisters from Scenic World gondola
Here’s what happened in between. After honeycomb cave, we entered the giant stairway. Lots of stairs down (976 in fact). Amy did not do them all.
This is an alternative way to get down the stairs (not recommended by our attorney)
Not here
Here
Flowers and bromiliads
Amy
AMY
A tiny fiddlehead against the mountains
Down
Flowers on the mountain
Looking down 500 feet
The blue mountains
Amy contemplates
Cliff hangers
Amy takes the stairs with a monk
Cliff hangers and rare species
Eventually, we entered the rain forrest at the bottom of the cliff.
The giant stairway is well named. It has been there a while.
Rainforest ecology
Amy rounds the bend
Ferns and trail. The rainforest shift is striking
A very big tree indeed
Katoomba Creek falls
After the falls, we were back in what passes as civilization. Scenic world was first contemplated by coal miners. Just take the train thingy up.
And, why not? Try the cable car too.
We walked back from scenic world (another 2.5km). All told we may have hiked around 5 miles. We deserved a beer.
After a long day hiking, it was high time for a beer!
After 3.5 hours walking in a circle from the katoomba station it's time for a beer. The damn paparazzi are stalking me. pic.twitter.com/u0VtkgLdTj
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 30, 2018
The 2 hour train ride back to Sydney was slightly too long.
