Cuyahoga Falls - The Gorge

Lisa and I went photowalking along the Cuyahoga River in early October.  Recent rain made the falls even more impressive than usual. Can you tell there's a busy freeway about 100 feet to the right of these view. The color wasn't quite peak here, and the gorge has lots of sycamore which go straight to brown. Still, it's a lovely glimpse of Ohio wilderness in the middle of a busy town.

 Striking contrast of bright green against intense blue.

 

Roaring down the gorge:

 



The Powerhouse, with a little bit of texture to liven up a dull sky.

October 5, 2012

MMMmmmMMM, Apple Bread!

Apple-laden goodness:

Batter-splattered recipe:

My favorite thing to bake:

 

A recipe given to me years ago by my friend Lisa - Thanks!

Farm, Holmes County Ohio

Just one from yesterday's Amish country tour with Lisa. This is the after, with a texture by Kim Klassen (http://www.kimklassencafe.com/) and a couple of adjustment layers:

(double click to see this full size)

As you can see by the before, the sky was the sad grey which so often plagues us in Ohio. But it was great weather for shopping, and I came home tired and happy - can't complain about that!

We stopped at Lehman's Hardware (of course!), Eastwood Furniture (love them, good prices on lovely furniture), Village Gift Barn (a really heinous name for a very nice shop) , Country Gatherings, and Breitenbach Winery. Lehman's is a fun place to shop, all sorts of ol-timey stuff useful when the electricity goes out (or for the zombie apocalypse), plus they have a ton of unusual cookie cutters and candy making supplies. Do not, if you treasure your stomach, eat at their cafe. Unless you're starving and the aforementioned zombie apocalypse has begun. It's not up to par with the rest of the store.

Country Gathering has some sweet garden art, and is definitely worth a visit. We had a very late lunch at Breitenbach Winery, which I would definitely recommend. It would also be a nice place for early morning photography - unusual architectural, wine making equipment, and the occasional llama would make interesting subjects.

Enough for now.

November 19, 2012

Hudson Springs Park and Blue Hen Falls

A couple of shots I was happy with, from the rainiest Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society photowalk ever.

Rainy sunrise at Hudson Springs Park:

 

 

The sun tried so hard to break through, but it just wasn't happening. Made for some nice cloud drama, though.

 

Blue Hen had a decent flow. Sometimes it's just a trickle. Still raining....

I climbed down below the viewing area for a somewhat better shot. Too chicken to scramble down to the creek bed. Going down wouldn't have been a problem - climbing back up a wet, muddy slope covered with decomposing leaves probably not so good for the camera or me.

 

This would be another nice falls for some winter ice photography. Maybe with some rope and ice picks to get back up the slope.

November 3, 2012

Canaan Valley NWR, West Virginia

There's a little marsh park with a boardwalk in the Canaan Valley Nation Wildlife Refuge, called the Freedland Trail. It's just a short walk, but it leads to a beaver-dammed bog with a bunch of dead trees.

 

 

All those dead trees would be a sad thing, except that they were full of Cedar Waxwings. I've never seen more than two at a time, so it was pretty exciting to see a flock of them. Really hard to get a shot of them, too, because they almost never stop moving. They'll perch for a couple of seconds, then off they go. See the little red "wax" tips on the ends of their wing feathers? Click on the photo to get a better view.

 

 

This panorama is one of my favorite shots from the trip - it looks so peaceful:

 

 

The farm is just across the road from the bog.

 

 

No idea what this flower is, just pretty and kind of frothy-looking. The flowers in bloom in the marsh are different from what you see in northeastern Ohio. The Highlands are said to be closer to Canada ecologically. This is the area that got snow dumped on it last week, during hurricane Sandy.

Pretty gloomy weather, as you can tell from some of the photos, but good for photography.

Potomac Highlands, West Virginia, September, 2012

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