A HodgePodge

Happy Thankful Thursday,

I have not been anywhere lately except for our walks on our local fire roads and on the local bike trail.  The Super moon photos were taken from my deck. 

I felt sorry for this Dark-eyed Junco, it appears to have a tick stuck to the side of it's face. I hope it fell off. 

November 25th , a scene from our local bike trail. 

A house off the bike trail has a big gnome collection, we enjoy looking at during our walk. 

November 26th, our walk was at the Hemlock Gorge. A nice trail along the stream. 

November 26th,  after leaving the Gorge area we made a quick stop at the top of our lake and the mud flats to look for birds.  

Driving home from our walk at the Hemlock Gorge we passed by this barn. Looks like a drive-thru barn.

For the Skywatchers and moon watchers, here is my almost full moon on Dec 2nd.

The Supermoon on December 3rd.

I hope you enjoyed coming along on my walks. 


I am thankful for peaceful days with nothing special needing to be done. 
I am thankful for the mild days, to enjoy a walk outside. 
I am always thankful for your visits and your comments. 


Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday
Thanks to Tom the host of The Barn Collective

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

Nisqually NWR

Happy Thursday everyone! 

EDIT: I am linking up with Favorite Fotos thanks to Lydia at Where the Wild Things Were

I still have some May photos to share, promise these are the last. These were images from the Nisqually NWR near Olympia Washington state.  This was our second visit to this wildlife refuge the first visit was Nisqually NWR 2015

The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge has some nice trails, this boardwalk trail takes you to Puget Sound Overlook and the Nisqually Estuary. Along the boardwalk are several observation platforms. The trail (part grass/dirt and boardwalk) can be as long as a 4-5 mile walk from the visitor center. 

We saw lots of Canada Geese families. The goslings were so cute.

From the boardwalk we saw a couple of seals, they found a resting spot out of the water.

The sky was beautiful during our visit and walk on the Nisqually boardwalk trail.

For Tom's Barn Collective I have a couple of photos of the Nisqually twin barns.

The trail takes you past the twin barns. These barns are part of the wildlife refuge. 

Some of the birds we saw during our walk at the wildlife refuge, the Hooded Merganser, I believe the top middle are a couple of Gadwall, Great Blue Heron with some Gulls, Ducks, Song Sparrow, Cormorants, Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow.

A view from the boardwalk, gorgeous sky and view of the refuge wetlands.

I am thankful for places that protect wildlife and nature. I hope you enjoyed our walk at the wildlife refuge. I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday
Thanks to Tom the host of The Barn Collective

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Saturday's Critters #200

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love critters like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

Wow, this is my 200th Critter party post. Sorry, I do not have anything exciting planned for this 200th post. I do want to thank all my blogger friends for participating. I love seeing all your critters and I hope you keep those critter posts coming.  Again, I thank everyone for sharing your post and linking up and commenting! I hope you get a chance to visit the blog post and comment.

I am sharing some images from a day trip to Shenandoah Nat'l park. We saw a lot of deer along the Skyline Drive and lots of birds. We hiked on a few trails and enjoyed our lunch at the Big Meadows campstore.

This buck was standing along side the Skyline Drive. It was too busy eating to move away.

A Field Sparrow at the Big Meadows.

Eastern Bluebird at the Big Meadows.

American Goldfinch at the Big Meadows.

A white-tailed Deer next to the Appalachian Trail.

I am joining in with this post to Tom's The Barn Collective

I was able to zoom in on this farm and barns from the Appalachian Trail.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!

Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Hashawha Nature Center

Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

I am sharing another visit to our local Hashawha Nature Center, hubby and I often enjoy our walks on their various trails. These images are from Sept 15th. The Green Heron perched on a wire above the Hashawha Lake. 

The sky was a pretty blue, some white puffy clouds around.

A pretty flower, I believe the insect is a skipper.

"Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature." Nerval

A view of the sky and Lake Hashawha.

A Great Blue Heron walking in the lily pads.

Below are two Sulfur butterflies, not sure exactly which ones. They are several Sulfur species. There is the Orange Sulfur, the Clouded/Common Sulfur, Clouded Yellow, Pale Clouded Yellow. 

My guess and it is only a guess this is the Common Sulfur. Let me know what you think?

The flowers were beautiful near the lake.

I think these are Asters, they are a pretty pink.

For Tom's Barn Collective, we pass by several barns on the way to the nature center. This barn has a pretty quilt.

This one street has lots of farm and barns, I like this big yellow barn.

Some fall colors along the road.

Another barn and farm scene a little further down the road to the nature center.  Sorry the willow trees are blocking this barn.

I am thankful for the time to enjoy the flowers, birds and our walks.
I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday
Thanks to Tom for hosting  The Barn Collective

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Leister Park

Hello and happy Thursday!

On this day hubby and I enjoyed our walk on a paved trail at the Leister Park in Hampstead Maryland. 

Along the path were wildflowers, some people would call them weeds. I was enjoying the Goldfinches eating the seeds off some dead flowers. 

Call you find the two Goldfinches mixed in with the Chicory and Queen Anne's Lace?

A female Eastern Bluebird was chasing bugs on the trail.

A Chipping Sparrow with a mouthful of some kind of bug.

This Queen Anne's Lace reminds me of a snowflake.

 The sky and Queen Anne's Lace.

More sky and the paved trail. After a rain this paved trail is nice for walking, there is no mud!

On the way home a barn scene for Tom's Barn Collective.

Just a drive away from home I can usually find some kind of barn. 

The Waxing Gibbous moon on August 5th. Full moon was seen on Aug 8th.

My thankful list for today:
I am thankful for the pretty sky days.  
I am thankful to take a walk after a rain storm.
I am thankful for your visits and your comments.

"Find beauty in the small things."

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday
Thank you Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Maryland Heights, Harpers Ferry Maryland

Hello and happy Thursday!

I am sharing some photos from Aug 9th. The almost full moon and our 4.2 mile hike to the Maryland Heights overlook at Harpers Ferry, Maryland. This is National Park land and you must either have a park pass or pay at the pay box near the trailhead.

My morning started off with a view of the moon setting.

The 4.2 mile trail, was a steep hike to the overlook at Maryland Heights and Harpers Ferry Maryland. We had to stop often, I guess we are not used to hiking the steep hills and elevation change of 1519 ft.  We stayed on the Overlook red trail, but there is a blue trail that heads to a Stone Fort used during the Civil War. If you take the blue trail add 2 more miles onto your hike.

In the mosaic below are some wildflowers, a blurry Eastern Towhee, some spiders webs and one of the biggest beetles I have seen in Maryland. I believe the beetle is the Eastern-Hercules-Beetle. This beetle was as long as my index finger or longer. I heard many birds during our walk, like the Pileated Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmouse and Chickadee, Cardinals and Blue Jays. We also saw a few deer running across the trail. Sorry, I could not take photos of the birds and critters.

The view looking down at Harpers Ferry, the Shenandoah River on the left side meets up with the Potomac River which is on the right side. Two closer bridges, one is a pedestrian bridge for the Appalachian Trail and the other bridge is for working CSX and other trains. In the far distance, top of the photo is Route 340 heading to Charlestown West Virginia.

From the overlook I zoomed in on the St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

I also zoomed in on this white barn, way in the distance in Harpers Ferry. I will share this barn with Tom's Barn Collective on Sunday.

Can you see the little white spot on the top of the photo below?  The barn looks like it is hiding in the trees. That is the barn in the photo above.

A view of the Potomac River from the Maryland Heights overlook. In the summer months, rafting companies take many people on the Potomac for both tubing and rafting. My hubby and I along with some friends did the tubing years ago.  I did my first post on River rider, Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry West Virginia is a National Park. There are many historical buildings you can tour, I love the views of the rivers. It is a gorgeous area, where Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia all meet.

Even though this was a super hard hike, hubby and I would like to do this hike again when the trees are turning colors in the fall. I found out about this hike from searching the internet for various hikes in our area.. 



My thankful list for today:
I am thankful for Google, I am able to research hikes, trips and much more. The internet is a wonderful thing.
I am thankful for your visits and your comments.

"Be thankful for all the troubles you don't have." 

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday

Thank you Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday