Wine and Hot Cars

Old cars are the best, and an old car show at a beautiful winery? Who could resist? Gervasi Vineyard has a cruise-in on Wednesday nights all summer long. The love lavished on these classic vintage automobiles is visible in every glossy painted curve and chrome highlight.

'50 Mercury, glowing in the evening sun.

Ultra-modern hood ornament:

Someday I will remember to shoot the nameplate on every car, so I know what the detail shots belong to. Not today. Nice duck/quail, though. Maybe a Ford?

Austin-Healey, darned happy to see us. This one is kind of cute, although some car faces are more on the creepy side.

Sweet paint, polished with love.

I'd love to show you a shot of this Auburn - it's a gorgeous car - but some guy with a tiny camera was apparently photographing every single dust spot on it and I couldn't get a shot around him.

100.1 miles and hour. Not with me in it.

Gervasi has some pretty little cottages on the grounds, surrounding a big pond.

Doublemint swans (sorry, couldn't resist), preening madly. From the looks of all the feathers on the ground, seems like they've already preened out an entire swan's worth.

Gervasi has three restaurants on their grounds. If you go, you might want to make a reservation - everything was packed when we arrived. Here's the website: http://www.gervasivineyard.com. Definitely worth a visit if you're near North Canton.

Got 'Em!

Went back to Beaver Marsh in CVNP looking for kingfishers and found the whole family. Both shots below are at the limits of my longest lens, and cropped to boot, but I'm happy to have caught these guys. They move pretty fast, and rarely stay on the same perch for more than a minute.

Found a few more interesting critters. Here's a red squirrel overhead, chattering away.

Eastern Phoebe - like the bird's pose, entirely too many sticks in the background.

Better. Apparently the phoebes nest under the boardwalk and hunt from the shrubs on either side.
.

One of many bullfrogs in the marsh - which explains the presence of so many Great Blue and Green Herons.

Still no otters, so the search goes on.

Random Bits of Life

Another box full of projects, patiently waiting for time that never comes.

 

 

Mourning dove on the deck railing. They're too big to fit in the feeders, so they wait until the smaller birds have thoroughly scattered seed all over the deck.

Two steps to the right and I could have had a branch-free shot of the Rt. 82 bridge - or a chilly slide into the river. Did see blue birds: Great Blue Heron, nuthatches, bluebirds, and a very chatty kingfisher. No eagles, though they are nesting nearby.

 

 

Lots of stuff I love - family photo album, photography books, quirky history, gardening, and, of course, Downton Abbey.

And homemade popcorn. Just popcorn, olive oil, and popcorn salt. Nothing unpronounceable and no fake chemical-butter taste.Sorry, Orville, even you can't make that stuff taste as good.

P365, Days 8 - 11

It seems easier this time around to get the shot to look the way I want. With the exception of Sootie on the 9th - his right eye could be a little sharper.

 

Sootie, looking pensive.

 

Serving bowl from Grandma Wilk's Spode. Beautiful cobalt blue against old ivory and cherry wood.

Sootie is a hard cat to photograph - either the black patches are featureless or the white patches are blown out. Plus, he likes to stick his nose in the lens.

One of last year's craft projects. Normally, I hate purple - it looks good against the French script paper, though.

Went to Gordon Park on Lake Erie, wildly underdressed. The wind was howling off the lake and the layers that were comfortable in Kent were no match for the screaming wind. A nice birder kindly pointed out the kittiwake. They're Atlantic coast seabirds and rarely come this far inland.

Raptors!

Had a wonderful shoot at the Medina Raptor Center on December 8. The Center rehabs injured raptors as well as other animals. Only one of the birds we had the good fortune to photograph is likely to be able to return to the wild, and that was a juvenile osprey.  Josh Clark, an excellent nature photographer and coordinator for MPEG, made the arrangements for 15 photographers. The weather was frigid, which was good, because that meant the snowy owl could come out. Here are a few of the photos. I hope to post more soon, including the snowy owl.

This is a red-tailed hawk. His name is Owati, which means Mischief,

 

Victory, ruffling his feathers at the crowd of photographers, is an adult osprey. I saw one of his kin flying over the Snake River when Chuck and I were on our death-defying off-road expedition in Grand Teton National Park.

Cloud is a luecistic red-tailed hawk, not quite an albino because they have pigmented eyes and legs. This guy lived in an area with a lot of limestone, so his coloring didn't make him a target for larger predators.

And finally, the bald eagle Migisi. He looks all fierce and noble here - and he is a gorgeous bird - but he was basically checking out his handler for more snacks.

 

More information on the Medina Raptor Center can be found here: http://medinaraptorcenter.org/.

April Outside: Sunday

Pretty cheerful day today - started with a mocha, then lunch with my brothers, a visit to Mom, shooting at St. Hubert's, a hike at Holden, and dinner with Chuck. Just about perfect!

Spotted this guy washing his dinner in a stream.

And two bird watchers pointed out this bittern in Buttonbush Bog at Holden.

 

Swan: Outside in April

 

Floating peacefully in a neighborhood pond. Didn't seem bothered at all when I stepped up to take her picture.

 

Bedford Reservation, CVNP

Thought I'd get these posted since winter is just about done. They're from Bedford Reservation in early January. Some one thoughtfully dumped seed on a parking lot snow bank, so I was able to shoot these birds from the Honda at just a little lower than eye level. No way were they going to land when I was out of the car. Note how suspiciously Papa Cardinal is eyeballing me anyway.

 

Chickadees are just the most cheerful little things.

 

 

Even in January, the buds were starting to fatten up. Looks like a Titmouse tucked in there. Juncos and sparrows were enjoying the seed, too. You're not supposed to feed birds in the National Park, and I heard that they recently started cracking down on folks. So, if you want to hand feed, go to Seiberling NatuRealm - chickadees will light right on your open hand.



A tiny falls on a tributary of Tinker's Creek.

This is Tinker's Creek from one of the overlooks. Pretty, but I sure won't miss  the snow...

Bye, bye, Winter! No need to show up until mid-Decemberish!