Around Town on a Sunday Morning

Even though I'm off this weekend, I still had to be in to work at 6 AM today for one of our semi-annual all store meetings, a two hour exercise in corporate intrusion into private time. So I decided to use this particular lemon to make some lemonade, and walked back home after the meeting, wandering through town and getting some shots I've been meaning to get but have been too tired or had my hands too full to shoot before. Except for the cats; they were an impromptu walk-on. Heh, heh!

This flower pot has been fascinating me for some time now, and today I could finally get a shot of it

Two feline siblings checking me out on Phillips Ave.

A bit of colorful Victorian gingerbread on Orange St.

The antique architecture of the Shippensburg Historical Society building 

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Saturday Morning Walk

On my way to the grocery store this morning, as usual cutting through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park, these scenes caught my eye.

This Mockingbird kept a wary eye on me while munching Staghorn Sumac berries

A view of the upland meadow with the mountains to the north in the background

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” - John Muir

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Dreary

It's the back end of February, the dreariest time of year in these parts. It's cold, but just above the freezing mark. It's a steady drizzling rain outside right now, but it started out as light snow earlier. There are still patches of old, dirty snow hanging around, but the predominant colors are gray and brown. It's not quite mud season yet - that'll start in three weeks or so - and the ground is still frozen. It's all absolutely lifeless, the tag end of Winter just before things start to wake up. That's why the following photos look the way they do, and why I shot them in black & white. As I said, it's dreary.

The view out my kitchen window

The backyard shed next door

West King St. on a dreary February day

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

It's Still Winter

Yup, it's still Winter in these parts, and there's still snow hanging around from the blizzard in January, even though it's rained several times since then. It's seasonably cold, although that's a little bit above the freezing mark so the snow is melting, however slowly. But it still freezes every night and walking before sunrise can be a slippery process. There's also a crust on top of the snow so that walking in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park, which I did this morning, can be a tiring process. But as you can see, the difficulty is worth it!

As usual, I stop by the bridge over Branch Creek on my way to the park. The creek is running a bit high because of the snow melt and the recent rain

The "bridges" over the creek where it runs between the ball fields

Orange fungus of some sort on a fallen branch along the Dykeman Walking Trail

The Purple Martin house in the Dykeman Spring wetland

The view of the creek from the red bridge

A pair of Mallard drakes on the north duck pond

The northeast corner of the north duck pond

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Wintry Walk

I took my weekly walk to the grocery store through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park as usual today. There's still a good bit of snow around, and at least here in the park it still looks pretty, not being trampled on and driven over. Plus we've had several snow squall lines move through in the last week, laying down a new, albeit thin, new coat of white. And it's bone-chilling cold today and forecast to be even colder over the weekend, so nothing's melting.

This was also something of a celebratory walk. I bought a new camera with tax return money, and I needed to put it through its paces. This is essentially an update of my old faithful camera that was drowned in a cloudburst in November of 2013. I was very disappointed in the camera I replaced it with, which turned out to be nothing more than a glorified point-and-shoot. This new camera gets me back to using one of Canon's true "bridge" cameras, a point-and-shoot with DSLR function. So far I'm pleased. See what you think.

Homegrown Himalayas - snow piles in the parking lot at the ball fields

Looking across the wetland in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park

This poor Mallard was a Mink's breakfast this morning

The creek in the Dykeman Spring wetland

A view of the mountains to the north from the upland meadow in the park

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Another Sunday Constitutional

I went walking in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on the way to the grocery store this morning. Here are some things that caught my eye.

Gum Run is running high and fast due to all that melting snow

Great Blue Heron tracks in the snow in the Dykeman Spring wetland

A pair of Mallards cruising the north duck pond

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger