Mirrors

On Wednesday the day was very clear, very bright, and very calm. So naturally every body of standing water turned into a mirror reflecting the sky and the surroundings. It was a gorgeous day and great for photography. Here are some shots from the Dykeman Spring Nature Park.

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

It's Calendar Time Again!

Well folks, it's that time of year again, time to buy gifts for Christmas/Yule/Winter Solstice/Hannukah/whatever Winter holiday you celebrate. And as usual I've updated the calendars I have for sale on Lulu.com to the coming year (2017 in this case). So come visit my Lulu.com Spotlight page (click here) and pick out gifts for your loved ones. Here are some of the covers just to pique your interest and convince you that these are desirable gifts, or even something for yourself. Enjoy!

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Brief Visit to the Rail Trail

I took a brief walk on the Rail Trail this morning. The committee in charge of the trail got some extra funding and they've been developing the undeveloped part of the trail right back to downtown Shippensburg, and I went there today to see how far they'd gotten. I discovered that it's still in progress, and doesn't look to be done for a while yet. So I went up to the trail to see what the Fall color was like. I wasn't disappointed. 

The first mile and a half was very colorful indeed, but past the two mile marker the color pretty much faded out and by about the 2.5 mile point it was just bare trees, so I turned around and headed for home. But where there was color it was glorious!

Walking up Fort St. on the way to the trail I got stopped dead by this burst of color!

I was passed by a jogger near the beginning of the trail

Autumn in all its glory on the Rail Trail!

Nearing the Britton Rd. crossing I walked through a small flurry of leaves falling in the breeze

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

November

"O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being.

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing."

– Percy Bysshe Shelley

Now halfway through the month, it finally looks and feels like November. The trees are half bare, with patches of red and orange and yellow leaves clinging desperately to branches despite the recent winds. There's more wind and rain coming; by this time next week the trees will be naked and cold.

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Sunday Constitutional

A walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on a sunny Autumn Sunday morning. Time to feed the soul!

Looking across the Dykeman Spring wetland

Where the creek goes under the railroad tracks

Self Portrait of the Artist on a Bridge

Floating leaf on the north duck pond

A view north from the upland meadow

Looking across the meadow

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Nature's Beacon on a Dark Day

It's a dark day on two fronts - last night the US electorate signed the death warrant for this country, and today the heavens are crying, at least here in Pennsylvania; it's raining as a cold front moves through. But in the midst of the dark Mama Gaia has revealed some beauty as a momentary solace. The overcast skies have brought out the Fall color, which I discovered while running an errand this morning, and when I got home I found that some infrequent visitors to my feeder station had made an appearance. A White-breasted Nuthatch flitted in and out, several Black-capped Chickadees were zipping around, and a Carolina Wren landed and stayed around for a little. The Nuthatch never did sit still long enough for me to get a decent shot, and although the Chickadees were hopping around quickly I managed to get a couple of half-decent shots. And that Wren!

I'm still mourning for my country, but at least Mama Gaia has shown that not everything went to hell last night.

Branch Creek at King St. brightens up a rainy day

A Black-capped Chickadee at the feeder station

Another Chickadee with a mouthful of seed

A Carolina Wren checks out the situation

The Wren finds some food

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

An Election Day Sanctuary

Today is election day in the US, and given the highly contentious and raucous atmosphere of this particular election, I thought I'd create a sanctuary of peace and calm here on the Internet in the midst of all the noise and rhetoric. So here are some of my most peaceful slideshows, nature photos set to serene music. Sit back, relax, and escape from all the sturm und drang!

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Sunday Morning

"Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt."
– William Allingham 

Photos © 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

More Color

While running errands yesterday I noticed that the north side of town, and especially the Shippensburg University area, seemed to be a bit more colorful. So I went back today to get another look.

The entrance to Shippensburg University

Along North Prince St.

Prince St. at St. Andrew's Episcopal 

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Color

This Autumn has not been good for brilliant foliage change. The temperature has fluctuated too much, and on the whole it's been warmer than usual. So now, when normally we'd be at the peak of color in these parts, we have bare trees, trees that are still green, trees that are a drab, pale yellow, and some brilliant color. Today I went looking for what brilliant color I could find.

A Maple seedling along the Dykeman Walking Trail

A Dykeman Spring wetland scene

Colorful Maples on the grounds of Dykeman House

Colorful Maples around the Dykeman Spring

Color at the eastern end of the upland meadow

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Samhain 2016

It's Samhain (SAH-wen) time again, the old Celtic New Year that was later "Christianized" into Halloween. Now we pass from the light half of the year into the dark half. Now the earth goes fallow and prepares for the sleep of Winter. It's a time of transition, a time when dividing lines dissolve and those who have passed on can come to visit, and the living can in turn visit those passed on. We give honor to our ancestors and memorialize our loved ones who have passed on. And we feast on the products of the harvest, and preserve as much of it as we can. Grain becomes flour, barley becomes beer, meat is smoked or dried, grapes become wine and other fruits become brandy, and vegetables are canned or pickled. We get ready for Winter!

And as I do every Samhain, I'll post some favorite videos to liven up the virtual celebration. This first one is an old favorite, an animation project from the 1980s that was featured on PBS, set to Camille Saint-Saëns' tone poem "Danse Macabre".

This next one is another old favorite, Canadian musician Loreena McKennitt's "All Souls Night", one of her best-known songs, written as her tribute to Samhain. I usually post a video of her performance of this one from her concert in the Alhambra, but that one seems to have disappeared from YouTube. That's okay, this cut from the original album is just as beautiful!

One more video. Nowadays on Halloween the kiddies dress up in costumes and go from house to house eliciting goodies from the residents by shouting "Trick or treat!" This comes from the old Samhain and early All Hallows Eve custom of going from house to house in groups (adults and children all!) begging for goodies (in those days small cakes and fruit) that represent the harvest. You didn't get that for free; you had to sing for it. One of the goodies given out back then was a small, spiced oat cake embedded with dried fruit called a soul cake. "The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, are given out to soulers (mainly consisting of children and the poor) who go from door to door during the days of Allhallowtide singing and saying prayers "for the souls of the givers and their friends". The practice in England dates to the medieval period, and was continued there until the 1930s, by both Protestant and Catholic Christians. The practice of giving and eating soul cakes continues in some countries today, and it is seen as the origin of the practice of trick-or-treating." (Quoted from Wikipedia)  This song, "A-Souling", is an old song collected by a folklorist in 1891, which traces back to medieval times and is sung by the soulers going from house to house. Pagan singer/musicologist Kirsten Lawrence was struck that the beginning notes were the same as the mediaeval plainchant Dies Irae, "Day of Judgment", calling the people to repent and pray for the dead. It seemed plausible that the tune could be a folk corruption of the chant as children and beggars asked for cakes in return for praying for the dead. This version of "A-Souling" is performed by the New Zealand group Lothlórien and is my personal favorite! (You'll need to click this link because YouTube seems to have disabled embedding for this video.)

So a Blessed Samhain and a Happy Halloween to all!

Photos, graphics, and text © 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

October Gazebo

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
– Lauren DeStefano

The gazebo across the street dressed in all its October finery

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Saturday in the Park

"Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt."
– William Allingham

I decided today was a good day to walk the whole of the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. The weather is perfect for this time of year and the sun was partially obscured by light clouds, so it wasn't too bright. Lots to look at while the leaves fall from the trees and things start to look a bit more bare.

A pair of Mallards floating on the creek

This Muscovy drake (a domestic breed) has been hanging around the duck ponds for over a week. The last two times I was there he rushed me and tried to bite me; luckily this time of year I wear jeans and big heavy knee-high socks, so his biting got him nowhere. Today I had my hiking stick with me, and either he's mellowed out or the hiking stick said "Don't even try it!" to him; he just sat under this tree and kept a wary eye on me.

Walking on the Upland Trail on the way to the meadow

Looking west over the upland meadow from its highest point

Autumn trees on the upland meadow

A flock of Eastern Bluebirds were flying about the fringes of the meadow. This was the best shot I could get.

Back down in the wetland on the way home, approaching the red bridge over the creek

The view from the bridge

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger