Our World, My World

Hello Happy Monday!

October 29th, these are some images from one of our walks on the local bike trail. I have always called it the NCR trail named after the Northern Central Railroad trail. The name was changed to Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail. It is 20 miles long from Cockeysville Md to the Pennsylvania line. From there the trail continues into Pennsylvania and the name changes again to the York Country Heritage Rail Trail. 

My favorite section of the bike trail close to home, this is the Bentley Springs parking lot and the view of the trail. 

The land next to the bike trail is private, this is an old barn that is being taken over by the trees and plants. 

 The Bee Tree Preserve parking area is just across the bridge.

 Below the Downy Woodpecker, Belted Kingfisher and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  On the bottom right is a blurry photo of the Golden-crowned Kinglet. You can see the yellow-crown in the middle of the photo between the two red berries.

I believe these are the bittersweet berries. I read the American Bittersweet are vines that can kill trees and are hard to eradicate. The birds eat the berries but I read they are not a favorite berry for the birds. I think they are pretty berries, I like the yellow and red colors. 

 A female Downy Woodpecker, was busy pecking away at this tree.

 I liked the reflections and colors seen at this spot of the bike trail.

Hubby and I can do some brisk walking on this trail. It is mostly flat and an easy walk  you just need to avoid the bike riders. 

On the drive home, we passed two deer, one on the road and the other was in the field on the other side of the fence.  The deer were not shy and hung around, I wish they would stay away from the road.  

"Happiness is simple, when you keep it simple." Be Happy!

Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there. 

Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Happy Thankful Thursday

 Happy Thankful Thursday!

I wanted to share some photos from a hike and a park we visited back on October 28th.  Cunningham Falls State Park is located in the picturesque Catoctin Mountins in Thurmont Maryland. The park has a man-made lake and is named after the Cunningham Falls, the largest cascading falls in Maryland.  

It was a pretty blue sky day, a lovely Autumn day for a hike.  Below is the man-made lake in the William Houck area of the state park. 

 Near the lake, I watched this flock of Cedar Waxwings finding some berries to eat. Other birds seen and not photographed are the Carolina Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, Titmouse, Chickadees, various woodpeckers and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

 At the parking lot for the waterfall hike,  you can see a peak of the lake.

 A sunburst and some pretty fall colors. 

 I am pretty sure, below is the Golden-crowned Kinglet. It has a small bill and they have a black and white striped face. Their pretty colorful crown shows when they are excited.

I wish we had more rain , the waterfalls was not gushing. But, it looked pretty with some fall colors around.

 The boardwalk trail to and from the waterfall. The sun shining on the trees and the leaf colors were beautiful.

 "Happiness is something that you bring to life."

 Me and my shadow. 

 Walking back to our car, we saw more pretty fall colors.  Beautiful trees!

  "Whatever you decide to do , make sure it makes you happy."


I am thankful for the small things, like the sun shining through the trees, blue skies and lovely weather for walking. 

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday




Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Backyard Skies

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences
I hope you can join in on the fun and share your fence scenes and pretty skies.

These are some images from our walk on the local NCR bike trail. I was able to include some fences for Tex's Good Fence meme.

Scenes from along the NCR trail during our walk. As you can seen by my mosaic images our world is mostly brown now with some green grass still showing.

Pretty view of the sky and looking up at the trees on the NCR trail.

Lately these cute Golden-crowned Kinglets are being seen and heard along the trails and during our walks. They are quick movers like the warblers. I also heard some Winter Wrens but they disappeared into the brush along the river.

A sunset from our backyard.

This moon shot was taken on Jan 3rd.

My view of the moon setting from my deck.

A sliver of a moon taken on Jan 5th. As always thank you for stopping by and for the nice comments.

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences this past year it has been fun looking for fences for my post. Also, thank you to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for doing such a great job at hosting Skywatch Friday.    I wish everyone a happy day and weekend ahead..

Around the yard_Nov 1

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 


Happy November..Can you believe it is November already?

Sharing some scenes from around my yard and some images from the neighborhood..of course I always have to share some birds. Some are yardbirds and some are birds that are seen and heard in the woods next to our house.. I have a four season look at our weeping cherry tree and some scenes from the lake near the house and the Autumn colors.. I hope you enjoy!

Some yardbirds and neighborhood birds are the Carolina Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finches and female Purple Finches.. They are seemed to be common birds seen now..

The Carolina Wren is a year round visitor in my yard.. It seems to love the wood piles my hubby has around the yard..

A seasonal look at our weeping cherry tree.  It is a popular spot for my yardbirds, it is just a short hop over to the feeders hanging on our deck..

A cardinal on the feeder and the weeping cherry tree. 

Just a short walk from our yard is the lake,  we take many walks on the fireroads around the lake.. The falls colors were pretty around the lake and in the forest.. I hope you enjoyed my look around the yard and neighborhood..

A view of the lake from one of our recent walks..

As always I thank you in advance for stopping by and for the nice comments. Sorry, I am not able to send thank you emails for your comments, working full time, life and blogging takes up a lot of time lately.


I use Pic Monkey to create my mosaics, you can use Pic Monkey free or pay for an upgraded version.
I hope you can join in on our fun at  Mosaic Monday and   Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

A walk to the lake

It's time to link up with my favorites memes Skywatch Friday and  NF Winged.

 These photos are from this past Sunday, hubby and I took the 4mile walk to the peninsula tip section our lake.

It was a chilly but pretty day, the sky was mostly clear and blue.

 At the lake we saw some Mallard ducks and Canada Geese.

 I like the sun shining thru the trees on the shot above.

 The sun shining across the lake showing off the pretty diamonds and reflection.

See if you can find the Golden-crowned Kinglet in this shot. The kinglets were the most common bird we saw on this walk, there were large groups of them together.

On the walk back home the sky was mostly cloudy, except for this one spot.

Later that evening, I was able to watch the Turkey Vultures on their return to my woods for the night.

From my deck, I watched the vultures and somewhat of a sunset. The clouds were turning a little pinkish.

I hope you enjoyed my walk to the lake and my skies.

To see more beautiful photos and pretty skies please visit Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to the host of NF Winged.  Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Thanksgiving Skywatch

It's time for some of my favorites memes...I am linking up with  Green Day ,   Skywatch Friday and  NF Winged.


 It is Thanksgiving Day and I am spending the day with my hubby, son and family.  After serving fifteen for dinner,  we should be able to chill and check out my birds and sky. These are some shots taken thru-out this past week. A pretty sunset, a few kinglets from our walk on the fireroad, a couple of Brown Creepers and the vultures making their way back to roost for the night.

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet above and another open winged kinglet below. LOL, if you look real hard you can see the ruby crown on the kinglet in the top of the photo.

 I have been wanting to see a Brown Creeper, and luckily in this day I saw two. Can you find the two Brown Creepers in the shot above? They blend so well with the tree.

I always love seeing these pretty green ferns growing along the fireroad  where we walk.

 A cropped shot of a Golden-Crowned Kinglet.  The sky is a beautiful blue, it was a lovely day for a walk on the fireroad. The Kinglets are quick movers like the warblers, they did not stay still for a second.

 These trees are around my neighborhood and on the fireroad, not sure what kind of trees they are but they seem to be the last to drop their pretty yellow leaves. I love this shot looking up at the blue sky, yellow leaves and the tops of the pine trees.

Another day the vultures are making their way back to the woods to roost for the night.

A pretty sunset to end the day! I am looking forward to a long weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am one of the few people NOT going shopping on Black Friday. Will you be going shopping the first thing on Friday morning?

 I hope everyone in the US is enjoying their Thanksgiving Day and to all those not in the USA have a great day!

 Thanks to the gracious host Fiona of with  Green Day
To see more beautiful photos and pretty skies please visit Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged


Thanks to Sylvia and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to the host of NF Winged. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

GBBC & a hike in the neighborhood

I am linking up my post with Mosaic Monday and  Our World Tuesday

This weekend I have been participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count . It is a joint project with Cornell and Audubon and could be called a Citizen's Science project. Yesterday and today I took fifteen minutes of my day to count the birds in my backyard. Yesterday the bird with my highest count was seeing 31 Turkey Vultures and today the bird with the highest count of 22 was the American Goldfinch.

Two of my regular backyard birds in the mosaic above were the Pine Warbler and the male Downy Woodpecker.

 A male Downy Woodie on my pergola.

It turned out to be a great day..... the so called forecast of snow missed us and stayed south.  So, hubby and I decided to drive around our lake and take a hike on another trail. We parked for a bit near the dam to take a look and some photos. Other shots in the mosaic besides the bridge going over the dam, my Goldie Girl, a neat looking snake like vine, some cool looking fungi, the reservoir and a Golden Crowned Kinglet. While hiking on the trail near the lake we again spooked off some Common Merganser and saw a huge flock of Canada Geese way on the other side of the lake.

I liked the reflection of the bridge going over the dam. It will be nice to start seeing all these trees turning green once again.

Some cool looking fungi, almost heart shaped.

Goldie Girl is a great hiker. 

To see more wonderful photos and mosaics please visit with Mary @ Mosaic Monday  and Our World Tuesday.  Thanks to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group at Our World Tuesday: Arija, Lady Fi, Gattina, Sylvia and Sandy.  Thanks, also for stopping by to see my post, I wish everyone a great week ahead.

I am still protesting the horrible Word Verification that blogger is now using. My eyes are going batty.