Wood

I visited a park in the New Jersey pine barrens this week, planning for a picnic lunch. I'd forgotten that although the parks are open, the picnic areas are closed. This picnic pavilion was festooned with caution tape. Click to enlarge.

I peeked inside one of the closed buildings and took this picture of the roof. It's pretty, right? Nicely built by an anonymous carpenter. And the wood patterns are lovely. Frank Lloyd Wright once said: "Wood is universally beautiful to man. It is the most humanly intimate of all materials."

And with a little tweak from Photoshop...

It turns into twisty designs.

So I spent most of a rainy day twirling and flipping to make images like this.

Here's another series. Looks carved, doesn't it?

And one more...

All from this. By the way, had a picnic in the car and it was fun. I hope everything starts to look up everywhere soon. 

Memorial Day

Beverly National Cemetery in Burlington County, New Jersey.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."

from For the Fallen (1914)

by Laurence Binyon

I will be back to nature blogging next week. Have a safe holiday.

Pink Lady's Slippers are Back

Mid-May is time to go hunting for lady's slipper orchids in the New Jersey pine barrens (with a face mask). Did it. Found them. Here they are. Click to enlarge.

 Joseph Pullman Porter wrote a poem called Wild Orchids that begins: 

Under the pines, near the murmuring brook,
I know the wild orchids grow, 
Fair and pure in their shady nook... 

Exactly describing the spot where I found this orchid. Brook, shady nook, and all.

Beautiful but a little bit creepy, right? These are the first sightings of my 2020 orchid season. I will be on the lookout for more and post them when I find them.

Happy Mother's Day

Sending virtual flowers to all the mothers!

Click to enlarge.

Enjoy!

And have a wonderful day.

New Jersey Parks Open

New Jersey parks opened yesterday with great weather. There are restrictions. Keep your distance, wear face coverings. Parking is limited to half of capacity. If the park is full, come back later or try another. The playgrounds and organized sports areas, picnic areas, visitor centers, and bathrooms are closed. Everyone I passed (from six feet away) was following those guidelines and just enjoying being outside and walking in a park again. 

As Katrina Mayer says: "Time spent among trees is never wasted time."

There's always something to see, like this tufted titmouse.

Or white-breasted nuthatch.

Or an immature red-tailed hawk doing an Exorcist-style 180 degree head turn.

Rachel Carson once said: "There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." Rancocas Creek yesterday on the verge of a new season. 

Click to enlarge.

In the park with my quarantine curls and homemade mask.