Sunday, September 25, 2016

Walking the trail

Hello,

We have been on the NCR bike trail at least once a week lately. There are still some wildflowers blooming, we saw and heard a few birds and a snake crossing the trail. The weather is still summer like, officially Fall starts on Sept 22. As I type this post we could use some rain we are in a mini drought.

One of my only bird photos from our walk. A blurry Chickadee, it was moving quickly around the tree and fussing at us.





Are these called cairns, people must have stood in the river stacking up these rocks.





Even with the mini drought, the flowers were still blooming mid September.




I believe this is a harmless garter snake, later on we just missed a Copperhead on the trail. Some brave people moved the Copperhead off the trail right before we got there.


Back at home two Cardinals in our backyard.


For Tom's Barn Collective, I have another local barn from our neighborhood.


This is an update on my reading, I have now read up to # 9 in the Women's Murder Club mysteries by James Patterson.  They are usually page turners for me and I like the main characters in these stories. The stories take place in San Francisco. For some reason, these books remind me of old TV show called the Streets of San Francisco. I guess I am showing my age, it was cop show from back in 1972 with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas.

Thank you for visiting and as always thank you for the nice comments.  Have a great day and new week ahead!

Here is my list of memes for the week, I hope you can check one or some of these fun memes and the participants post.

Thanks to Tom the host of The Barn Collective 
Thanks to Jesh for hosting Seasons
Thanks to Maggie of Normandy Life  the new host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

75 comments:

  1. I liked Streets of San Francisco too. What a nice walk you took us on!

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  2. Those pink flowers are so pretty! Even up here there's something blooming right up until a hard frost. And of course, I love the barn photo. Hope you have had a great weekend. Sorry it's taken me so long to get here. We have our 9 year old grandson with us for the week. Fun!

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  3. Hari OM
    Some different and wonderful shots Eileen! Those are not cairns in the traditional Scottish sense; which are stones placed in hillock fashion at the peak of hills and mountains to mark success of reaching said peak. There is however a trend to for rock sculptures...indeed if type 'rock sculpture' into google images you will be amazed at what some folks manage! Here's to a great week. YAM xx

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  4. i like the cairns. so cool. lotsa copperhead activity here that i keep an eye out for (too often w/ bare feet.) :)

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  5. It is so much fun hanging with you, Eileen

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  6. Wow! The world really opened up to you

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  7. It is still warm here and we also are in need of rain. The flowers you photographed are so pretty. Chickadees are good at fussing at folks, aren't they? lol
    Thanks for sharing about the JP books. My late mom and I loved Streets of SF!
    Hope you have a nice week.

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  8. What a delightful walk, Eileen! That snake on the right looks to me to be non-venomous, and that is a good thing if I am right. Your photos are beautiful, as always. Thank you so much for sharing, and I hope you had a great weekend! :)

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  9. Oh so glad that Copperhead was moved! Everything else is lovely ( and harmless! :)

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  10. That's a great first shot with the leaves in focus and the bird slightly out of focus in the background.

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  11. Well, I thought they were cairns. I like that someone took the time to create them in the stream.

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  12. Now I can remember The Streets of San Francisco ... so I guess I am showing my age too!

    I love all of your photo's, especially those by the river and the flowers. September can provide us with many lovely colours.

    I hope your Sunday has been good ... and sending good wishes for the coming new week ahead

    All the best Jan

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  13. Those are some really tall cairns!

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  14. I think cairns are cool and am surprised to learn there's a debate about it when I looked up the term. I guess if it's not disrupting anything or getting a hiker lost, why not.

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  15. Pretty flowers and pretty river views, but I could just skip the snakes!

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  16. Hi Eileen, Wonderful pictures. The Northern Cardinals are really sweet. Have an excellent coming week!

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  17. Not one, but two cardinals - envy! The stacked rocks are kind of cute in the river (it's like "I've been here" sign. And these wild flowers are beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing this collage of experiences for SEASONS! Have a great week, Eileen:)

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  18. Dearest Eileen; I knew cairns but I've never seen them♪  Oh, harmless garter snake must be better than Copperhead p:-) I love the BEAUTIFUL flowers and the SWEET Cardinals♡♡♡ I always wish to see your wonderful the NCR bike trail; must be really refreshing(♡^.^♡)

    Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to my Dear friend in America, xoxo Miyako*       

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  19. Hello, Loved the post. Beautiful pics.

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  20. Hi Eileen
    It still looks very summery where you are! The wildflowers you found were so pretty and the cairns in the river look very artistic.
    The end of summer was so very busy for me with lots of grandchildren events and trips--it flew by! Now autumn is appearing full blast--our trees are changing color and the temperature is getting cooler.

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  21. interesting and beautiful observations!

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  22. Love all the pretty wild flowers Eileen anda lovely place to take a walk.

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  23. Lovely wildflower photos Eileen! Stone stacking in rivers seems to have become a very popular pastime for some folk! My kids liked the idea of trying it too.
    so glad that you missed the copperhead! The garter snake is pretty - for a snake!!!
    Have a good week!

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  24. Excelente trabalho com fotografias fantásticas.
    Um abraço e boa semana.
    Andarilhar

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  25. Hello,

    I'm not fond of snakes even they are harmless ;) Here in Norway we have only one snake who is poison, and still I hate them ;)
    The flowers are so beautiful! I'm glad they still are flowering.

    Happy new week!

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  26. Gorgeous shots! Happy Monday ♥

    summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com

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  27. Beautiful pictures, good to know about cairns.

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  28. I rambled for a bit about SofSF...and erased it. I think my brain is numb this morning.

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  29. I'll look for those books. Love the beautiful barn and winding road! Enjoy your week sweet friend. Hugs, Diane

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  30. Love the birds and pretty cute flowers from your walks. No, no to snakes! Have a beautiful day!

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  31. We always see fascinating things when you take us walking with you, Eileen. I am intrigued by those rock cairns, I think I'd like to build one of those myself.
    Happy Mosaic Monday.

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  32. we have been having some great weather lately for nature walks, especially yesterday!! you still have some beautiful blooms in your area, my yard is looking pretty grim!!!

    pretty cardinals, posing nicely!!!

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  33. i will say that the snake has such great colors ... but i am glad to be on this side of the screen. ha. ha! ( :

    take care.

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  34. I have read all the books in that series and I loved Streets of San Francisco... Patterson is one of my favorites. love the garter snake, so pretty and brave people to move the other one. not me. I would have moved Me

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  35. Good Morning. I am a James Patterson fan, just started reading his books almost a year ago. I would read from the NYPD Red books to my husband before he passed away. I haven't checked any of the Women's Murder Club Mysteries yet, but will have to. And, I too liked 'The Streets of San Francisco"! Beautiful river and floral pictures. Have a great day, Eileen!

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  36. I used to read James Patterson but haven't for the last bunch of years.
    Interesting to see the rocks piled in the stream. Looks like something I'd do. : )
    Your barn picture looks like it could have been taken around where I live.

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  37. Dearest Eileen,
    thanks most sincerely for another stunning post of yours, to come and visit you here always delights my soul, blessed be !

    Hope your week is off to a good start, I'm sending hugs and ever much love to you

    Xx Dany

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  38. Lovely to see your wildflowers Eileen. We went on a wildflower ramble today ourselves, and I'm sharing some from our travels in mid August over on my blog this week. Spring is here. My favourite time of year. I hope you get some rain soon. Have a great week.

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  39. Lovely pictures this morning, Eileen. Chickadees are one of my favorites!

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  40. Birds, flowers, pond ... I enjoyed your NCR bike trail walk! Happy Monday!

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  41. Lovely photos . Looks like a nice place to walk in . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  42. Never heard of a blurry chickadeee..LOL..Must be a new species..Interesting rocks in the creek..Cardinals must be molting now??Enjoy your day..

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  43. What a lovely walk. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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  44. What a beautiful trail! That 4th last shot is stunning! Have a beautiful week!

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  45. Those cairns are very zen-like. Such pretty shots!

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  46. I wonder if people cemented those cairns so they'd stay.? It will be interesting if they keep standing with the moving water. This summer, I built some cairns around my property - a few fell when it got too windy or when an animal brushed passed them. I like looking out and seeing them. They are usually built to guide the way.

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  47. Very nice ! I really love the photo of the pink flowers !

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  48. I love these photos Eileen, that was a great walk. Enjoy your week :)

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  49. Gorgeous nature shots as always ~ love the stacked stones in the stream and the darling birds ~ Lovely ~ thanks!

    Wishing you a wonderful week ~ ^_^

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  50. That last photo is such a beautiful reminder that country roads still exist beyond the bustle. About the stack of stones, we have something called Inukshuk in my neck of the woods. They were and still are a way of saying, “we were here” to passersby.

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  51. Eileen, thanks for sharing your red barn amongst all your wonderful critters. You see some wonderful sights along the way. Have a wonderful week.

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  52. The late summer flowers are so much appreciated now when we know they won't last long. I confess that I closed my eyes and scrolled past the snake photo - can't stand looking at them. What a pretty creek. It would be cool and refreshing on a hot day to stack stones in the middle of the creek.

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  53. There was a short-lived tv series about that Patterson series, I believe of the same name and if I'm not mistaken was aired either on TBS or TNT. Did you see it?

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  54. I hope they moved the copperheads by scaring them from a safe distance!

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  55. A wonderful place to take an early fall walk, Eileen! Glad you didn't run into the copperhead, though! I almost stepped right on a coiled up rattlesnake once......still gives me shivers years later. Love seeing the cairns in the river - little gifts left behind:) I fell in love with Michael Douglas in that show <3 One of my favorites.....Hope you are having a great week! x K

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  56. Great post Eileen!
    Cairns are very much the in thing here too, especially on mountain trails.
    your snake is a delight, I don't see many here nowadays unfortunately, people go berserk when they see one and will go to great length to kill them or have them killed :(
    Keep well and enjoy you Tuesday :)

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  57. Those rock piles look like the things me and the kids build.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  58. I like the rocks the way they were being framed up.

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  59. Boa tarde, todas as fotos apresentadas são lindas, para o o meu gosto as das flores, são maravilhosas.
    Boa semana,
    AG

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  60. Hi Eileen,
    fabulous photos of the birds, the snakes and this wonderful little towers of stones. So beautiful !
    Best regards, Synnöve

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  61. Hi Eileen, I'm back from a long blog break and I enjoyed going along with you on your walk. The creek reminds me of the one that we had at our previous home. The kids would play in it and stack rocks...ah, the good ole days. :) I'm glad you didn't run into the Copperhead! I also love the red barn photo. Have a nice week!

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  62. A lovely peaceful place for a walk. I seem to remember seeing people building small stacks of rocks on the telly. I should imagine that it's quite therapeutic getting them to balance like that.
    Your flowers are very delicate and I love the little chickadee!
    We had a snake in the garden once and I was terrified in case the dogs went for it.
    Have a great week :)

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  63. Beautiful images Eileen, the weekend has been lovely for you.

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  64. Eileen, I like all your photos. Great you are spending time outside. Time to enjoy the good weather while it lasts. Have a great week!

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  65. Spennende varder i elven.
    Flotte bilder.

    Ha en fin dag.

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  66. Such lovely photos. The Cardinals are my favorites, I think (the snake was a little scary). It is nice to see the greens and the water. We are still waiting for the rain to begin so not much green or water to be seen.
    Amalia
    xo

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  67. it seems like the drought didn't hurt things at all and your neighborhood still looks great for the season, even flowers still lovely -- and birds of course! We used to see those cairns in mountainy places in the western states, but lately we too have seen them in the water in different places. Maybe Mr Google will tell me why that is going on.

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  68. Nice snake, Eileen!

    I just a missed a garter snake on the trail yesterday. But I have some video of a black rat snake from a few days ago.
    ~

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  69. The Cairns are so interesting. Such pretty wild flowers, oh snakes, always fun to see even though they tend to startle me when I do see one.

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  70. Those cairns looks very like the ones someone made in the Water of Leith in Edinburgh recently

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  71. Those cairns in the water look great, but I wonder why they are in the water. I hope you're getting some rain soon - we have been in a drought for four or five years now even though we had a rather wet winter. It's not quite as dire as a year ago though.
    The cardinals are so cute!

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  72. Great variety of wildlife and plants Eileen...Michelle

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  73. What an amazing post, Eileen!
    To appreciate each picture in detail...
    Thanks for sharing!
    Kisses
    Ana

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