Thanksgiving - first snow

THANKSGIVING DAY

 - a day everyone I know in the US celebrates - 

Full of gratitude for all I have and wish the same for others. 

This year we had below normal temps, and our first snow the day before.

My sister's photo.

BEAUTIFUL!

The snowflakes were huge, 

like fluffy pancakes 

flopping down all around us.

(... don't quite taste the same, though) ;-)

"Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand." 

~Henry David Thoreau

Inspirational Autumn 11-11-2014

Autumn in NE PA is spectacular.

This view is of the Susquehanna River, looking Pittston towards Exeter and West Pittston. 

Have a great 11-11 day!

There's more info and a photo with the quote at this link 

(one of my online portfolios)

Autumn scene and Medjugorje quote

I haven't been on here recently, being busy with too many other things, 

but a good thing is participating in  Art on Main gallery in Pittston, PA,

exhibiting work in other regional art shows...

Here are a couple more photos of our local color.

                                      

 I love the patterns and textures together!!

early autumn canopy

amazing - the enjoyment from standing under a tree along the street - 

experiencing the early Autumn colors on a crisp morning...
then getting out ofthe way of a passing car.

and love the smell of the leaves 

as the morning dew 

is evaporating in the sunshine.

This is how much the leaves have changed down in "The Valley", along the river.

sunset last night

A lovely #sunset last night.

8-15pm, shortly before a thunderstorm, bringing in a coldfront.

Very humid. 

There are thunderstorm warnings for all surrounding counties.

LOVE those rays.

the sun is disappearing.

This is a few minutes later. 

mountain and sky

BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS

in my backyard

On the Wilkes-Barre area side of the Susquehanna River looking west to the mountain range beyond the river and Kingston/Forty Fort, towards the back mountain (Dallas, Shavertown, Trucksville). The deep dip in the mountain range is where the CrossValley (Rt 309) cuts up and through on its way "North".
map of the area

a few days ago

and a few days before that

a beautiful after-storm sky 

and the day before that...

LOVELY!!! Have a great day! TGIF!!

baby robin 1st day out of nest

robin nest & Spring colors & sun

a few weeks ago I saw a robin in the nest. They're back!

(now the babys have hatched and the parents are busy flying back & forth feeding them.)

Back when I first saw the robin,

 there was a mockingbird.

Bad bird!

He was in a recent previous post.

He and I played "tag" as I was trying to shoo him away.

He kept hopping just one more branch away from me as we kept going around... I was circling this japanese maple tree in the yard. He was NOT happy with me... but eventually left. Does not bother the robins anymore. hah!

Some lovely early Spring color. 

and finally warm sunshine.

                       

NEW gallery opening at Pittston PA 2nd Friday ArtWalk

TOTALLY ARTRAGEOUS

will be open Friday May 9th, 2014   5pm-9pm

*** GRAND OPENING ***

I am one of the participating artists.

(event link at end of this blog entry)

Here's a photograph of the nearby Susquehanna River I took,

 "Susquehanna Gold" or "River Gold",

matted and framed, which will be in the gallery.

-- with smaller prints/cards coming soon.

One of my paintings, "Cranes in Croatia"

(award-winner) :-)

Here's a link where I share part of the inspiration and process that went into it.

Cranes-in-Croatia, the process 

Totally Artrageous gallery grand-opening EVENT

mockingbird in tree

 A recent sunset - Plains, looking across the river towards the west side - the sun is moving towards the right in the sky, and will be settling in the dip in the mountain range during the summer. That dip is where the Crossvalley cuts up and over to Dallas. 

 This stubborn mockingbird! (the fir is also the tall tree at the left edge of the 1st photo) Bird's going after a robin's nest. every day.

He was in the yard... kept hopping from branch to branch as I tried to chase him away and leave the baby robins alone... around  this japanese maple. THREE times! finally flew away.

They're safe. at least for one more day :o)

Spring is here - kind of!

YESTERDAY WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

Winter is still holding on, but we just had a warm up:

a few days of average normal temps. 

We'll still have below-freezing temps BUT signs of Spring have started!

The geese have been flying, circling, landing near the river, then moving on,

The mourning doves that had a nest with baby birds last year... ARE BACK!! 

Here is a video of the baby birds last year:

Baby mourning doves - leaving the nest

NO FLOWERS OR BUDS YET THIS YEAR,

but looking forward to seeing the beauty growing all around us. 

HAPPY SPRINGTIME!!!

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

Sunset location & "warm" day

frigid #weather this #winter!
3-1-2014 was a "warm-up" (high temp low 30'sdF)

(also below at the end: link to live webcam of a bald eagle nest,

not local, but in Pennsylvania. They just got snow, too.)

The sunset's on it's way back towards the right, nestling in the dip in the mountain range during the Summer, where our  local main road, the CrossValley Expressway cuts through, going North.

These sunset photos were taken from approx 5:44pm to 5:55pm.

 I love the color palette here. Interesting clouds, too!

There's a plane!!!

 Good night!

I've been watching this nest off and on the last few days. 

Once I saw the "changing of the guard! When the parents switched places.

COOL!

Here's the link, so you can see it, too:

live webcam, bald eagle nest, Pittsburgh PA

winter snow

 ** Beautiful snow (even if we've had TOO MUCH of it this year) **

3rd photo below is the mountain range view,

but from the other end of town, at a higher elevation.

Here's the mountain range. 

The arrow below, indicates that dip in the range we've seen often in my mountain photos. It's where the Cross Valley Expressway (Rte 309) cuts through, connecting the "Back Mountain" (Dallas, Trucksville, etc.) with Kingston (parts seen below) on the far side of the Susquehanna River. Can't see the river here.

You  see  a bit of the corner of the city of Wilkes-Barre, close to us.

(((I posted a map in an earlier post)))

A couple of winter snow shots.

PRETTY nice if I say so myself.

This is on the turnpike. I-476 

A typical scene, where the highways (and many other roads) cut through the rocky mountains,

creating interesting patterns, and lovely contrast when there's snow.

I'm putting together a portfolio project of fog lifting one cold day in January 2014.

There's one view at Market St. Bridge looking  towards Wilkes-Barre that I'm not settled on yet.

WHICH DO YOU LIKE BETTER?

here's the link:

Choose which photo is better.   

Here's part of another photo that may be in that photo-documentary of that surprisingly beautiful day.

Ducks at Market St Bridge

Mid January - a frigid cold snap

I was photographing the fog lifting, looking toward Wilkes-Barre

from Nesbitt Park on the Kingston side of the Susquehanna river.

They happened to fly overhead

(the birds, not the words ;-)

I'm putting together a collection of photos from that morning:

"Fog Lifting"

They will be posted one of these days at

www.behance.net/christina-v

and a few will be chosed for: http://christina-verdgeline.artistwebsites.com/ 

FRIGID FLOW

We've had some frigid weather, 

and some ice in the river as a result.

AWESOME!