Bookmarque’s Padded Cell 2021 - Just One of My Turns (part 1)

Welcome to the Undisciplined Reading Room!

My kick-off post last year was full of misery and woe and to some extent was a precursor of things to come. 2020 was just a crap year for the most part and for most people, so I won’t dwell on it.

Because NYD was so awful last year, I decided to go out exploring this year and wow, what a difference. This is Washburn falls on the Popple river in Florence county in the north eastern part of Wisconsin. It’s remote and wild and even though it was only in the teens, I couldn’t have had a better time.



I hope it, too, is a precursor of things to come in 2021.

So, getting on with the usual.

As you can tell by the thread’s recurring title themes, this place is a bit of a madhouse. I’m a voracious reader who doesn’t finish books she doesn’t like, doesn’t read according to a timetable or schedule and regards reading as fun and enjoyment and not a chore or a contest.

Mostly I read mysteries and thrillers and contemporary fiction (there will be charts and graphs to bear this out, just wait!). Hardly any sci-fi or fantasy, so I don’t really fit in around here too well, but the locals put up with me because I take and show a lot of photos. As a retired person with a camera, a Jeep and a kayak, I can get up to no good a lot of the time.

Join me on a yearly list - 2021 List

My previous Annual Lists
Books read 2020
Books read 2019
Books read 2018
Books read 2017
Books read 2016
Books read 2015
Books read 2014

You can find my previous threads here if you want to catch up on the insanity.
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015

And so enough of that. Here’s to 2021 and hoping everyone has it better!

>1 Bookmarque: Lovely picture. Happy new year and I hope you have a great 2021.

Thanks so much.

Hope your year is filled with wonderful photo ops and mountains of great books.

Happy new year!

Remarkable photograph, >1 Bookmarque:. I hope you have a great twelve months ahead of you!

What a gorgeous photo! Looks like it was a wild and beautiful start to the year.

Looking forward to exploring Wisconsin and beyond through your photos again this year!

>1 Bookmarque: Another great picture. Have a fantastic 2021. I look forward to more wonderful pictures and interesting comments on your reading.

>1 Bookmarque: What Peter said.

>1 Bookmarque: What Peter and Richard said. Is the brown in the water from tannin or mud?

Happy new year! May it be better than the last in every way. I'm looking forward to exploring far-away (from me) places through your words and images this year.

Thanks everyone. There is frost on every single tree branch this morning so I'm deciding where to go hike.

It's tannins that make the rivers that color around here, hugh. Lots of hemlocks!! Before chemical processes used today, hemlock bark was used to tan leather and Wisconsin provided a lot of it. Even with the intense harvest, we still have a lot of hemlocks around. Other trees and plants stain the water, too, but hemlocks are famous for it.

>13 Bookmarque: Thank you. The south-western Cape has never had a single hemlock anywhere, but the water is the same colour. There they attribute it to some 2000-odd species of fynbos growing in close proximity. None are used for tanning, though.

Oh I would love to go see the fynbos area some day. The pictures I saw remind me of the prairie that once existed here in North America.

There is a PS. Back in the days of the Dutch East India Company, the Cape was a very necessary stop for re-supplying the ships and letting the sailors recover from scurvy, half way (three months each way) between Amsterdam and the Indies. Cape tea-coloured water was much sought after, as it was one of the few liquids you could put in a barrel and use slowly the whole voyage without its going off and breeding "slimy creatures with legs".

I can only encourage you to come, see and photograph bits of fynbos after Covid. You'd fly into Cape Town, where you'd be able to see numerous wine farms. You could head east-then-south to Hermanus then Cape Agulhas, where there are now SANParks cottages you can hire. Or you could head north up the west coast to Langebaan (West Coast National Park, but better and more available in the village outside the reserve), then on to Doringbaai (best fish-&-chips in the country) and, in spring, on to Namaqua National Park. Be sure to come in August-September, when everything's flowering.

I've posted more than a few pictures of the area in the past, but some more won't hurt. Watch my thread.

Happy New Year!

I never knew that about Cape water. A natural anti-bacterial! I'm not sure it holds for northern waters, but it's interesting.

S.A. is on my list - my wine group considered it for a tour, but a key person has lost his enthusiasm, so not sure it will go again. Alas. But one of these days I'd like to get there. Maybe when husband retires fully we'll have the time. I wouldn't want to go all that way for just a week or two. You know what I mean?

I found my 'hidden' forest pond yesterday -



Turns out it's not so hidden. I went off trail for a few hundred yards and found it easily. While exploring a little peninsula I noticed some shapes on the opposite shore that were too regular - proved that one was an upside down boat covered in snow and the other a wheelbarrow. Curious. So I headed in that direction and found a big deer stand. Where there's a deer stand, there's a trail. Sure enough there was and when I got to where it connected to another I saw footprints (probably a day old) coming from the cabin. I laughed and walked the other way and in about 100 yards it connected up to the main official trail. Too funny.

On my way back I went up the new road to the cabin and found it in progress - Tyvek but no siding. Lovely little thing with a cute little Otter Crossing sign and some chairs made of tree branches. I waved at the security camera mounted to the wall and gave it the thumbs up. I hope I can meet these folks one day. A charming little spot.

>18 Bookmarque: The NSA is now reviewing CCTV footage of a stranger who was inspecting one of their remote safe-house.

Ha! Yeah something like that. There are A LOT of security and game trail cameras on remote property. I've found a few of them and always wave or do a little dance. It's funny and whenever I'm on non-public land I assume there is one and act accordingly. If this property ever gets posted then I'll avoid it, but I don't know if the pond itself will be off limits. I hope not. It's lovely.

>18 Bookmarque: "I wouldn't want to go all that way for just a week or two.". Like Rome, "non basta una vita!"

Then you'll be staying on for October, C. Louis Leipoldt's favourite month, in the Clanwilliam district:
"Dit is die maand Oktober, die mooiste mooiste maand
Dan is die dag so helder, so groen is elke aand ..."
(This is the month of October, the loveliest month of all,
Then the day is so clear, so green is the evening ... -- I can't retain either rhyme or metre)

And find your way on through "die asvaal ou Karoo"* to Pretoria in Jacaranda season (see pictures in link), and on to either or both of Kruger or the Drakensberg!
*the ash-grey old Karoo

>1 Bookmarque: Nice photo! And happy new year, may it bring some good pictures for us all:)

Thanks much. I hope to stand in front of cool things this year.

So here comes my stats and charts!! I know you've been on the edges of your seats. Hold on!

Last year I read 167 books - almost a record, but who's counting?



As usual, not many were non-fiction -





The high number is because of audio books, which were a bigger part of the pie this year.



The reason for that is because I've been borrowing a lot of them, from Kindle Unlimited, Prime Reading, Audible Plus & the library -



Phew!! That's good for now. More detail to come.

So stats aren't going down too well so how about some soft rime?





The weather was perfect for this in the last week or so. It's made from fog that condenses then freezes on objects. It's very fragile and blows off of tree branches in the slightest wind.

Honestly, I am so impressed with both the stats and the photography that I am left without words. You keep yourself busy!

Stats are fun, pictures are lovely, but I'm looking on my phone and reluctant to post much from it cause it's a pain. ;)

I am always impressed at your stats and how well-presented they are.

And the photos are glorious, I can feel the chill in the air! (Maybe I just need to put my heating on!)

Thanks peeps. The frost was amazing and wonderful. I wish it would come back, but I'll take what I can get. Like this little one I met today.



It was scavenging a dead turkey. It's a short-tailed weasel or ermine. It would peek out from under a brush pile to see how much of a threat I was, then dash to the frozen and nearly clean turkey carcass. It's not quite a foot long and so slender - thinner and longer than a chipmunk, but not by much. And so cute! Luckily I've been carrying one of my long telephotos with me.

>28 Bookmarque: Another beautiful pictures! Weasels are so cute. We have them around here, too, but they're rarely seen.

Your photos are truly stunning

>28 Bookmarque: Oh, that is so cute!

>28 Bookmarque: Fantastic shot.

>24 Bookmarque: Fantastic shots.

You might have noticed that I have run out of original ways to describe your pictures. Whether I comment or not, I am seeing them and really enjoying them.

Thank you for sharing the produce of your talent.

>28 Bookmarque: Much more appealing / cuter / better looking than bits of fur draped over a bigwig's shoulders! For the rest, I am of the same mind as >32 pgmcc:

>24 Bookmarque: >28 Bookmarque: Great pictures!

Thanks everyone. It was my first time photographing one of these guys. I've seen them before (always in winter), but once I was driving and the other time it ran off before we could get acquainted. I'm thinking of getting a hide now I have a decent wildlife lens. Check out what else I saw yesterday -



Maybe not as cute, but I love them anyway and wish they hung out in herds so we could call them a prickly of porcupines.

>28 Bookmarque:, >35 Bookmarque: I love the wildlife photos! That is an amazing shot of the ermine. And I had no idea that porcupines climbed trees. So your thread is educational as well as beautiful!

>35 Bookmarque: What >36 Sakerfalcon: said!

Thanks guys - porcupines are most often found in trees, rarely on the ground. They're North America's 2nd largest rodent behind the beaver, I think.

These next two aren't great, but funny anyway. It's a rough-legged hawk surveying open farmland for prey, then some crows approached and off it went. I wasn't that close, but again had one of my long lenses so didn't have to crop too much.

Beautiful shots! Love the ermine!

I'm not too fond of porcupines, myself, as one of my dogs was attacked by one once. We were on a week-long hike, and she'd woken us up twice that night, barking at the porcupine, so I'd tied her up outside the tent. It came right up and swatted her in the face. Fortunately she hadn't tried to bite at it, as all the quills were on the outside (none in her mouth), but they were all over her muzzle, chest, and down one leg. It was not fun removing them, and we were a two-day walk from anywhere. She was pretty much of an outside dog, but since then, no matter how big, wet, or muddy they are, the dog comes in the tent at night.

You learn something new every day (or hope to) - as mentioned by others above, I too am fascinated to learn that porcupines can climb trees, even more so to learn that is where they are most often found.

You have such an eye finding all the cute critters! I'm sure many of us miss sightings daily because we are so caught up in our daily business. Thank you for sharing with us.
>28 Bookmarque: Too, too cute.

Sorry about your dog NS, but dogs are recognized as threats and predators by most of the natural world so wrong place wrong time I think. I've had porkies ramble past me without incident so can't speak to a similar experience.

Wildlife abounds here in northern Wisconsin. The tracks in the yard alone are enough for a documentary. I'm seriously considering a hide so I can see if I have the patience to do this kind of photography with more purpose. All of the shots above were pure serendipity.

>42 Bookmarque:, I agree to some extent, but this porkie had travelled about 100m from it's den to swat my dog who was on a short leash directly outside my tent. It's possible it was going that direction anyway, but there were a couple of other tents between us and the trail along the lake that led back towards the den. That area is actually known for aggressive porcupines. It is within a park, and they have now installed metal lockers there so that people can keep their food and gear protected. They have also been known to chew on the tires and wiring of vehicles parked at the trailhead. I'd rather run into bears!

They are cute, though!

I can just see one porcupine saying to another, “What do we have to do? These guys cannot take a hint; they just keep coming back.”

>35 Bookmarque: Great photos, they always are:)
And is that a porcupine? It looks like it but I had no idea they climbed trees. But I live on the gulfcoast and I don't see this wild life around here.

>28 Bookmarque: What an adorable little critter. Great capture.

>28 Bookmarque: I love the photo of the ermine and how he was scavenging tidbits off of the turkey carcass.

>44 pgmcc: Excellent translation of the porcupine dialect!

thanks jill! I was so happy the little dude didn't scamper off.

And yeah, rodents are surly creatures sometimes. Comes with the small brain I think.

Oh, such beautiful pictures!

Thanks catz. Been also running into lots of abandoned places, too. It's the usual up this way.

The absentee owner is stripping the buildings down. Barnboard is valuable so hopefully it lives on elsewhere -



The fields around this group of buildings is still being used even if they aren't -



Not sure what this little building was for, but it bears a sign reading Kellogg-American which is a type of industrial compressor.



I suspect this metal seat was part of a carnival ride at some point. It has many layers of different colored paint -

Went to the Dells of the Eau Claire the other day and took my neighbor and her granddaughter (that's her on the right). Neither had ever been and had a great time.



And a look down river -



Finished Monogamy by Sue Miller - it's been a long time between book for her and this one was her most subdued, least dramatic. Heartfelt though. The woman can still write.

Also listened to Mythos by Stephen Fry. Whenever he narrates it's a bet the experience will be better than print and it was. He takes the same stories and 'Fries' them if I can be so bold. He's beyond a National Treasure, he's an International Treasure.

As usually I'm blown away by the photos. I have to say though, that as gorgeous as the snow pics are, I don't miss it. The critters on the other hand I do miss. Amazing pics.
The charts are quite interesting, too. I just have been around to comment.

Thanks, clam. We just got our first good snowfall of the season and I'm anxious to get out and play in in.

On bookish news, my husband and I started watching A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix. Patrick Warburton (aka Puddy from Seinfeld) plays Lemony Snicket and it's narrated exactly like it is in the books - word definitions and all. Hilarious. His deadpan delivery is perfect. And Neil Patrick Harris must have had the most fun ever as Count Olaf - he fairly chews scenery and it's perfect. The actors who play the kids are great too and - bonus - Joan Cusack is in the first two. I LOVE her.

Anwyay...if you have a Netflix account you could do a lot worse. They're fun and shot very well and have a wonderful mix of time periods.

>53 Bookmarque: Oh, this does sound fun! I just cancelled my Netflix, and now that's two Netflix bullets in the pub.

We have a piggy-back account on a friend's Netflix subscription, but it's recent. Husband still has to download to his iPad when he goes out of town because our internet isn't robust or fast enough to stream here. So far it's been a fun series to watch.

In terms of photography, I have a new semi-project going on, but it's been so cold I haven't shot recently (minus 18 this morning). I did get out before it got so frigid though and it was into the countryside. The project is to simulate a 35mm film experience with a digital camera. Since I shot an all manual, mechanical camera for 20 years, I'm plenty familiar with the rigors of film and wanted to approximate that with my digital. Not for everything and not all the time, but as an exercise in slowing down. Anyway, here are two shots that had the fewest problems in the "24-exposure roll" I shot -





These are both straight out of the camera jpegs - I used a particular filter setting in the camera and left it at that. All the rest of the work was me, as well as all the mistakes. The biggest one I have is tilting horizons. OMG it's hilarious. As if I'm a permanent drunk or something. Listing to starboard.

I cannot tell you how much good you do me with your "tilting horizons" comment. I had come to the conclusion that my eyesight (far from perfect at the best of times) has a permanent list. I am mightily relieved to find someone I look up to has the same problem.

OMG, thanks Hugh...but I don't know as you should look up to me for anything. I was never so happy as the day I discovered that my new camera (bought in 2013 or 14) had a built-in level that shows up either in the viewfinder or the back screen. I totally suck at keeping things straight.

In the old film days I swapped out one of my focusing screens for one with a set of grid lines on it. It helped and that's what I'm using in my Digital Film Challenge instead of the level. Even with it there I need to use it better. The secret to most of what I shoot is to line it up with the trees. Those are pretty perpendicular to the earth and would be the best guide for me. Ah well, next time.

>57 Bookmarque: I stopped letting my husband take family photos on trips. They all came back with that Batman angle. :)

>58 MrsLee: The Batman angle! LOL!

Funny. But I'm really glad for in-camera levels!

Found this beauty of a Barred Owl in my front yard and wish I'd gotten a clearer image, but I didn't dare go outside in case I scared it off so I shot through the window. Then I crept around the side the house to see if I could sneak up on it. No way you can sneak up on an owl. It gently flew into the woods. Totally made my day and it wasn't even 7:00 yet!

>60 Bookmarque: Wow! All I can say is you must have very clean windows. That is a great shot.

>61 pgmcc: I agree. And it is a beauty!

>60 Bookmarque: Wow! That's an amazing photo. What a great start to your day!

>60 Bookmarque: Such a beautiful bird!

Thanks peeps. It hung around most of the day and was in the backyard when my husband got home so he could see it, too. We normally only hear them so it was a treat. No better photos though since I couldn't go outside without spooking it. They're so great.

Love the owl! Wonderful capture.

Nice owl!

I love owls. That's a beauty, and beautifully photographed.

Thanks peeps!

>69 Bookmarque: Really nice photo and evidently incredibly clean windows.

>60 Bookmarque: This is magnificent.

Thanks clam, she swept through the yard again last night. It was too dim to try to photograph her though.

How wonderful for you. Hope you get to see her frequently, and in better light. Apparently the Snowies are here, but I have yet to see one. I'd probably have to travel to a place where the surf is a bit rougher than it is here for a glimpse, and I have been sticking close to home. (My county is still in the red zone for Covid.)

She hasn't been back that I've seen or heard. But we have another visitor -



It has the stubbiest tail I've ever seen on a raccoon.

>74 Bookmarque: Such a great capture. That face is expressive.

Bookmarque, I enjoy your book lists and your comments on your reading, and I'm yet another fan of your gorgeous photography. Thank you for your many beautiful posts, which are always fresh and never dull. I know that the art of taking photographs changes the way you see things, and they in turn let others see what you saw. How lucky for the rest of us.

>74 Bookmarque: That raccoon looks every bit as cynical as the one in Guardians of the Galaxy. Mr. Grumpypants.

Thanks everyone. The raccoon I think has been harried by big males or maybe coyotes although they climb trees so well it would be an easy escape. It was having a sniff and didn't seem to crabby. Soon it ambled off into the side yard and up a tree.

This mourning dove was in a tree next to where the owl was. Compare this shot with the owl and you'll see why I was disappointed with it. I know the lens does better when not going through my window. Doves are less skitty so I went on the porch for this one.

>74 Bookmarque: I like this picture with the backdrop of snow. And what's up with that hair? I know my dog's hair would stand up when she was mad.

>79 Bookmarque: Oh man, that's a good photo.

Thanks so much.

I think the fur is a little wet. She was sniffing the air and had just raised herself up from getting sunflower seeds on the ground.

>79 Bookmarque: Great pictures, thanks for posting them.

Thanks so much. Here's another -



I took it yesterday - it's so captivating and sad. Got to chatting with the woman who lives across from it and she said after the owners died, her dad moved the house to his farm to use as an outbuilding, but the barn just sits. A few more storms and it will be flat.

>84 Bookmarque: Beautiful photo, but you're right. It's depressing. Sums up factory animal farming, really.

It kind of does, clam. I have a couple of blog posts coming up about this - with a lot of photos, of course. I know we have to scale food production with population, but damn it's pretty sad.

Catching up on threads. Your photos are amazing! That owl! Wow! And all those old barns/farms. So beautiful, yet so sad.

Thanks Catz!

This is a thing I've never seen before, but it's almost the ultimate "spring is coming" image - these are sapsicles!



Looks like a piece of machinery gouged the tree and it was pretty cold so - sapsicles! The sap was sweet to the taste and I resisted breaking one off to take with.

So, if someone was cold and indifferent, and also not too bright, one could call them a sapsickle, right?

Ha! Yup that seems right to me.

>88 Bookmarque: Not something I knew existed!

>88 Bookmarque: Wow! I never knew that was a thing. So interesting.

>88 Bookmarque: Why would it have been bad to take one?

>88 Bookmarque: I have not been commenting on your photos recently, not because I have stopped enjoying them but because, like Richard, I had run out of superlatives.

But this is a fascinating phenomenon as well as an excellent photograph.

>88 Bookmarque: Wow! Nature never fails to fascinate.

Thanks everyone. I was pretty psyched to see it - I didn't the first time I passed by.

>93 Meredy: Because I'm a nut about leaving things as I find them or better when I'm out in the field. I don't seriously think my taking one would have disrupted the universe and the gash seems manmade anyway, but I left them.

>96 Bookmarque:
I'm a nut about leaving things as I find them or better when I'm out in the field.

Your comment reminded me of a geology field-trip to the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland in 1978. There was one outcrop we visited to see a particular type of dyke. We were lucky enough to find a tiny sapphire in the dyke, a feature we had been hoping for as this is one of the unique features of the type of rock making up this dyke. The sapphire was very small and you needed a hand-lens to make out its crystal shape clearly. Our lecturer was very keen that we do no attempt to remove the sapphire as it would be unfair to subsequent geology field-trips visiting the site.

This lecturer's research focus was granite. As granite is a very hard rock (not a café for miles around) he always carried a five pound sledge hammer around to break off samples which he needed to analyse the geochemistry. Because of his sledge hammer he was nicknamed "Basher". I would say he was my favourite lecturer in my undergrad years.

>88 Bookmarque: Oh my gosh! That is an amazing photo and phenomenon!

Thanks peeps. With the sap running like crazy, I was reminded of pouring maple sugar over snow, so this leaf is an homage to that!



And some regular icicles. This time of year they come and go pretty quickly and these are already probably gone (took this pic yesterday).

A couple more of the raccoon (taken during the same appearance) - this time she's scheming. She wasn't successful and climbed down to continue eating the seeds under it. Then she ambled off into the side yard and out of view.

Do you think she's pregnant, or has kits somewhere?

She doesn't look pregnant (if it's a female at all, I just thought it looked a bit small and picked on, so she). And I have no idea when they breed or throw kits. Haven't seen her (it) since this day.

That is too funny! You can see her working through the problem :)

Adorable pictures. Raccoons are such cute and clever little beasts. We never used to have them here, and there still aren't very many, but they're moving in slowly. I'm not looking forward to it!

>100 Bookmarque: Those are wonderful pictures! You can practically read her thoughts as she puzzles over the problem. I didn't realise they could climb trees (we don't get raccoons in the UK).

>105 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, sk. Raccoons are VERY good climbers. Last year one went way up in a tree right near the feeder - had to be 40 feet up. They do this to escape predators and to look for food. They're omnivorous and will eat almost anything. If you read about coon hunting with dogs it's the dogs' job to tree the poor things so the hunter can shoot them. That's if traps don't work (that's mostly how they're killed). I don't think there's a season on them either, like coyotes, but I could be wrong. But also like coyotes they do VERY well in urban and suburban environments. They're adaptable, smart and have social structures and tendencies just like humans; they can be loners or joiners and succeed equally well in both situations. They fascinate me - both coyotes and raccoons. Sorry for the ramble!!

>106 Bookmarque: No need to apologise! I love learning more about wildlife. We share our planet with such amazing species.

We have a lot of raccoons here, and most which are killed, are killed by cars. I can't keep goldfish in my pond because they think I stock it for them. They also dig around in it for snails and who knows what else. Skunks, raccoons and opossums drive my husband bananas because they rip apart all the nice neat rows of rocks he borders the flowerbeds and walks with, looking for creepy crawlies that live underneath.

Yup, they do really well with human habitations and have won a nuisance award by lots of people.

These guys, not as much -



Although my dad hates them and cruelly traps them in buckets to drown. I've tried to talk him out of it, but he won't stop even though it's his own fault because he feeds the birds. When they could get to our feeder in NH we let nature take its course - populations will level out to what "nature" can provide for. Artificially stressing a population by culling and hunting will automatically make nature overcompensate by producing larger and more frequent litters. Coyotes, raccoons, beavers and other critters that hang out with us operate with the same rules even if the "nature" is partly us providing food, shelter and water through gardens, trash and manmade water features. We've seen this system operate for literally thousands of years, but still don't understand it or work within its bounds. We just keep trying to kill the things we make co-dependent as if there was no connection at all.

Stepping off soap box now.

Oh and this isn't aimed at you, MrsL. You've eliminated pond creatures because they inadvertently feed the wildlife instead of trapping and killing said wildlife like my dad does.

Idiot question: a chipmunk, I presume? (see also the Bad Joke of the Day).

>109 Bookmarque: Great shot! I don't have them here and I miss them. I had tons at my houses in Illinois and Connecticut. Here I have a zillion voles. I won't trap or poison them, but I really need to do something about them.

>110 hfglen: Sorry, hugh. It is a chippie. They're super dopey and you can practically step on them before they move sometimes. I was only about 20 feet from this one, leaning on my garden wall with the long lens on. That's why the bg is so out of focus.

>111 clamairy: You need a pet owl! Perhaps Hogwarts has some to spare.

>112 Bookmarque: Ah. You've just explained an almost 50-year-old mystery. In 1973 I had the privilege of going to a conference in Boulder, Colo. (A drop-dead gorgeous place, which makes yesterday's news from there even sadder.) There was a mid-conference tour into the Rocky Mountain National Park, and I treasure a few pictures of a chippie sharing somebody's lunchtime bread-roll. Seems almost like they know they're cute and make the most of this fact.

>114 hfglen: Oh they do. Squirrels too if they have a chance to get used to humans handing out food.

>115 Bookmarque: The local squirrels sometimes don't wait for handouts. I treasure the memory of a squirrel in Shingwedzi campsite helping itself to the remains of my breakfast cereal one morning. No picture -- the camera was in the tent, and I didn't want to disturb the critter unduly.

Chipmunks are everywhere here. I’ve almost run a few over on my bike. And last year on a run, one darted into the trail and got tangled in my feet. Scared the crap out of both of us!

>24 Bookmarque: Beautiful shots

>23 Bookmarque: Beautiful stats.

>99 Bookmarque: Incredible!

>120 Tane: May I suggest you click back one thread and check out Bookmarque's Louisiana swamp-kayaking photos? They are beautifully surreal. And the turtles... the turtle doing yoga slayed me... ;-)

>121 ScoLgo: Awww, ain't you sweet.

I'll put a teaser here with a couple of recently worked images that slipped through the cracks last year -

>121 ScoLgo:

Tane, I second what >121 ScoLgo: said.

>109 Bookmarque: no worries. I know I don't fit that mold. I don't even feed the birds anymore because I felt like I was just luring birds for my cat to hunt. All the wild beasties can get whatever fish etc. they want from the creek below our house, or the river nearby. :)

>122 Bookmarque: I read out of superlatives a long time ago, but that first image is something really special; I would love to have that hanging on my wall.

I wonder what Bookmarque's house looks like: I am not envisaging a sort of wonderland with all these images on her walls...

>122 Bookmarque: Fantastic images!

Thanks everyone.

Actually, I haven't printed any of the Cypress Tour images. Sheer laziness.

>122 Bookmarque: Because I know next to nothing about photography/photo processing, I am going to ask a potentially dumb question in public. Feel free to ridicule me if absolutely necessary. Ready? Here is my question...

Are these two images natural lighting or have they been color-processed to achieve these startling results?

Not a dumb question at all. Digital photography has a reputation for being pretty fluid with reality. So, it's a yes and no question.

No - I didn't process either to achieve the colors in them, however that's how the computer that is my camera interpreted the scenes. White balance (warm and cool tones with regard to light) is subjective and can change from camera to camera, minute to minute.

So, with that said, both are from the camera. The first isn't an accurate portrayal of the light. To my eyes & brain it was bluer and less pink, but the camera saw it differently. I could have 'corrected' for it and gotten it closer to what I witnessed, but I like the colors so I left them.

The second was closer to reality - very muted and dim before the sun crested. It was slightly cooler to my eye - more blue in the fog, but again I left it because I like it.

I did process them to smooth the transition from light to dark in the fog and to enhance the fogginess a little bit. Also some dodging and burning to move your eye through the frame the way I want it to. All stuff that's been done in traditional darkrooms for 100 years. Now it's just a digital darkroom.

>129 Bookmarque: Thank you for the explanation; which only makes the images even more astonishing. Thanks again for sharing your photography skills with us!

No problem, ScoLgo. It's a crazy world in digital photography. Here's one I just worked with some magic...not totally fake, but emphasized if you know what I mean.

>131 Bookmarque: I love the way the sun is peeking through the crook of the tree there. To me this image could be the setting of an SF film, yet it is also a reminder that there are so many wonders on our own planet

>132 Sakerfalcon: thanks Skf. I like making sunrays when I get the chance. This one isn't as pronounced as some, but it's there and I think it adds a little something.

As always, I love the photos.

Thanks guys. Here's one from the yard. I sat quietly by the garage near the birdfeeder and this lovely male American Goldfinch came to see what was on offer. He's between winter and summer plumage and looking as scruffy as these guys ever get.

How have I missed your thread and the fabulous photographs you posted! I like to think of myself as a photographer, but you put me to shame! Mad talent, you have! *channeling my inner Yoda* I especially love the old buildings. And the sleepy owl. And the cypress trees in the fog. I'll be doing as ScoLo suggested in >121 ScoLgo: and going back to your last year's thread.

Aww, thanks Storeetllr.

I went to your last thread. Stunning!

This just came!!!



The first book in a while I've been excited to get to. Flying to California on Sunday so should have plenty of time!

>139 Bookmarque: WooHoo! Pretty sure I put that one on my Kindle Fire, because of the illustrations. Great plane read!

>140 clamairy: I KNEW you'd give me a woo hoo! There are b&w illustrations & photos throughout. I hope it's good.

>141 Bookmarque: I do love those cephalopods!

>139 Bookmarque:, welcome to California! We are having lovely weather right now. Which part of CA will you be in? North, Central, South, desert, ocean, mountain?

Flying into SFO & heading down to Carmel for one night then to Paso Robles for 4 1/2 days to see our wine peeps. The weather is nice, but I think I'm going to just miss the heat by a few days. Figures. But I'll take 60s and 70 at this point. :)

>144 Bookmarque: Hope your visit is enjoyable and without incident, just happy imbibing and visiting. :)

Thanks MrsL - we usually do have a good time with our peeps. We're staying at a couple of fancy places, too, so that will help.

So I'm putting this cover here because it's not exactly beautiful. More baffling - I mean WTF does some Marilyn Monroe wannabe with a fifth and and a terrible outfit have to do with the Hardy novel? And so far as I remember, Tess wasn't bad, just a victim.

Before I head out, here's a half wing moth on my deck. My Peterson moth guide says it's a male since the females are wingless. Bummer for them.



I'm experimenting with focus stacking - taking many images with slight adjustments in the focus. When you combine the photos you can have MUCH deeper depth of field than with a single image. This was 14 out of 20 shots and combined in a program called Zerene that does the aligning and the stacking. I used a beanbag to support the camera while it took the pictures. Since I use a system lens with my camera now, all I need to do is to have it take a series of pictures in a way that I tell it to do (called focus bracketing). It's a fascinating process and lets the little details of nature become visible in a way you could never do with film. IRL this dude is 2 cm wide.

That's incredible detail for such a tiny moth! I'd say your new technique works.

>146 Bookmarque: I actually think that is beautifully apt. Tess may not have been actively malicious, but she certainly acted as a femme fatale, transferring her interest when she came across a man who she considered a better catch, and so more worthy of her. The fact that she had been raised to consider herself better than everyone around her explains her behaviour, but does not negate it - with tragic consequences for her.

But it's the tag line "She's... no Angel" that does it for me. Flighty, unreliable, glamorous Tess IS the antithesis of hard-working, modest, steadfast and devoted Angel.

>147 Bookmarque: What Narika said.

Thanks peeps. Was in Paso Robles for a while and spring seems to have arrived while I was gone. Found this little hepatica by the driveway. If it stops raining it will bloom -

>151 Bookmarque: Lovely! I hope you have a great time on your travels.

We had a great time, thanks. We always do in Paso. Here are a couple of interesting ones - both are bloodroot, an early wildflower. One had its leaf sort of bent out of shape by some pebbles and the other is emerged unencumbered. Both are stacks of about 6-8 photos to make each single image.





If I have time I'll hit the yard again tomorrow. If it stops raining. The droplets are awesome though.

>153 Bookmarque: It looks like a Savoy cabbage leaf! only much smaller.

Now that you mention it...it kinda does.

One of our resident critters. Mrs. Red Squirrel. Set some seeds out and she let me get pretty close after an initial scolding. They're so funny.

A couple of sunrises from the guest house in Paso Robles. Glad I was on Wisconsin time!

>157 Bookmarque: For a second I was confused and thought I was on Hugh's thread, and those sunrise photos were in Africa. A moment of envy. Then I realized they were in my own backyard! Sort of. :)

>158 MrsLee: That's a mighty compliment, Lee, but no way can I compete with Bookmarque's artistic flair and skill! (Also, it's most unlikely that I'd be moving at that time of day.)

Those sunrises are glorious, especially the very purple one with the sliver of moon. And Mrs Squirrel is very cute!

>157 Bookmarque: Stunning! I don't see sunrises very often. LOL

Thanks peeps. The mornings were gorgeous there.

More focus stacking!

This is a 21-shot stack of a tiny bit of lichen on a branch I found today. The formation is less than 1 inch across with the antler lichen on the right.



With my lichen book (yes, I have one - are you surprised?) I think I've got IDs - Yellow discs & foliose = poplar sunburst lichen (Xanthoria hasseana), blue discs & foliose = star rosette lichen (Physcia stellaris), branched forms = common antler lichen (Pseudevernia consocians). That last one is more tentative, but it seems like the best candidate.

The star rosette foliose has little black 'feet' sticking out from underneath - like a starfish or some other underwater creature. Probably to adhere to the bark of the stick. You can barely see any of this with just your eyes. Oh boy. This is addicting.

>162 Bookmarque: Lichens. Brilliant. Beautiful. I have a whole new appreciation for them these days.

Even though Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life has much more recent information about them, I still like what Bill Bryson wrote in A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003):

Lichens are just about the hardiest visible organisms on Earth, but among the least ambitious. . . . Like most things that thrive in harsh environments, lichens are slow-growing. It may take a lichen more than half a century to attain the dimensions of a shirt button. Those the size of dinner plates, writes David Attenborough, are therefore "likely to be hundreds if not thousands of years old." It would be hard to imagine a less fulfilling existence. (page 419)

Actually I can think of a number of things that might be less fulfilling than an existence like the one captured in your photo, which is about nothing if not connectedness.

Just for you, Meredy - more lichens. I found this down a path and it's less than 1 inch high. It's felt horn lichen.



The little tubes growing on the slightly bigger tubes are so amazing. Like something out of Dr. Seuss. This is a 10-shot stack.

>164 Bookmarque: Amazing!

>162 Bookmarque: That is a super cool lichen photo :) Love the contrasting colors.

Lichens can be so beautiful, and your stacking technique produces amazing pictures of them!

Adding to the choir - fantastic lichen pictures!

>162 Bookmarque: I have just read the lichen chapter in Entangled life. They are truly amazing, and your photos bring that to life.

Thanks very much guys. It's been an obsession. Here's a couple more -



The biggest lichen visible is probably pebbled pixie cup, but might be mealy pixie cup. The red sporophytes are minus their caps and belong to either shy bristle moss or prickly cannikin moss. The green moss on the bottom, L&R and in the top center is a type of Barbilophozia which is a liverwort. Like moss it is a type of bryophyte. The needles are hemlock. It's a 20-ish image stack.



I think it's still poplar sunburst lichen although I can't be sure. Could be a higher presence of green algae. Found it loose in the driveway - it's about 3/8" x 1/4" and so very cute. 18-shot stack for this one.

The second one looks positively alien. Great shots!

Thanks, P. It kind of does...or another superbug come to torment us.

This might be the same lichen, but I'm not sure. It could be a type of Lecanora, but there are 170 species and they all look alike. Can only be positively IDed under a microscope with other lab tests. I caught this one just after some rain. It's 2 cm wide.



It's a 24-image stack.

>172 Bookmarque:

Amazing shot.

>170 Bookmarque: I'm lichen your images, as always!

>172 Bookmarque: Oh wow!

>172 Bookmarque: That one is scary.

>172 Bookmarque: It looks like lots of hungry little aliens .... be afraid!

>177 Sakerfalcon: LOL

Love the pics! I've never seen any lichen that looked even remotely like those last two!

>177 Sakerfalcon: It does. It looks like clusters of gaping little mouths, some very toothy, with varying numbers of eyes above them. Nightmare stuff. That's why I said scary.

You guys are totally bonkers. Scary lichen??!! Nutty.

So what about this trout lily? Shakin' in your boots?

>180 Bookmarque: Nope! That is just beautiful.

>180 Bookmarque: NO! NO! Not a trout lily.

AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!

>180 Bookmarque: Is this the one with the poisonous pollen, or is that a different lily?

>183 hfglen: It appears I was right to be afraid.

So far as I know, trout lilies are completely harmless.

These guys though...I don't know.



The whole thing is a bit over an inch long. It's some bark that flaked off a branch. Found it in my yard and did a 25-image stack. It isn't perfect and I had to retouch it quite a bit, but I think these little worlds are so incredible that I can't stop doing it.

They are super cool. Your photography technique is capturing them beautifully. That one almost looks like something you'd see under the sea, anemones and coral, instead of fungus.

>186 Narilka: Thanks N, the similarity with undersea life is striking. And it's lichen, not specifically fungus, although lichen is a symbiotic organism of algae and fungi.

Like narilka said: super cool! Decidedly xeno-biological, if one didn't know better :-)

The colours and combination of different shapes are so striking! I agree with Narilka's comparison to a coral reef.

Thanks guys. Lichen is an obsession lately. I've shot more, but haven't fully processed the stacks so in the mean time -

Cute, nice shot!

Have you read The Trouble with Lichen?

I haven't, but in general I like Wyndham.

>190 Bookmarque: That's a welcome critter, did he/she pose for you ?
That is a nice shot.

Thanks chalton - they are cuties.

We have a horde of them that live near the house. Various holes and tunnels all over. They're not particularly bright and sometimes you can practically step on one before it realizes. So I just crouched down in the driveway with the long lens. I was kind of testing the Animal Detection focusing system - it did pretty well. Once it locked on I didn't have to refocus, just hit the shutter. It liked the stump a whole lot and I just shot as it looked around. Here are a couple more from a slightly different area -

>195 Bookmarque: They are adorable :)

>195 Bookmarque: They are so cute, do you throw out feed?

>195 Bookmarque: So cute! They are posing perfectly for you!

It's all the same chipmunk and no, no feed. They do get scraps from the bird feeder when it's full (not now...bears). Mostly they exist on what nature gives them and I'm happy to have them.

My photo blind is almost here and I'm so excited. We have a resident weasel and I saw it the other day, but of course no camera. It was in the process of changing from winter (see above) to summer colors (brown) and was kind of piebald. But SO cute and VERY curious about me. I'm sure if I can put the blind where it hunts (chipmunks) I'll get a shot or two.

It's finally warm enough to sit on the deck and we have so many songbirds about that I have to have the camera & the long lens at all times. These are from the other morning. First an eastern wood pewee and second a white breasted nuthatch (you don't often see these latter perched since they're so acrobatic, but this one was too good to pass up). Darn the eyeblink! But it's funny, too.

No, the eyeblink is awesome. She looks like she's laughing!

Thanks, clam. All part of the fun of wildlife photography.

It's been rainy and overcast so I went to the river and put up with the bugs for a few cool shots. Found some nodding trillium, bellwort (coming soon) on my way to my favorite cascades.

Found this today in the driveway. Got really lucky with the light.

Very nice!

Really nice photos!

>203 Bookmarque: As pretty as any gemstone.

Thanks guys. Yesterday was the big day for dragonfly emergence. Dozens and dozens all over my little slice of riverbank. Here's one I fished off a rock that was getting splashed a lot -



Today there are some stragglers, but not the invasion of yesterday.

>207 Bookmarque: Lovely!

>207 Bookmarque: Gorgeous! I don't see them here in the numbers I used to in CT, sadly. Not enough fresh water in my neighborhood.

Thanks guys. Here's another one -



Pooped after its first flight.

>210 Bookmarque: These close-up pictures are great.:)

>210 Bookmarque: Wow!

Thanks guys. We had a wicked thunderstorm come through last night and take out several trees, two of which are in the backyard. The shed fell apart (it's a Rubbermaid and snaps together so maybe it can be fixed), but nothing else was damaged. Before that though, it was a great day to kayak up river from the house. I saw three deer on the edge of the water who then proceeded to lay down and rest. I've never seen this before and to see three do it in one day was pretty amazing. They all appeared to be nursing mothers, but no fawns were with them. Probably still too little and were back in the shade where it was cooler.

>213 Bookmarque: Super shot! What a cool experience (as long as they're not in one's garden, eating all that grows, lol).

>213 Bookmarque: Gorgeous shot, but I'm so sorry about the storm damage. Did you lose power at all?

>213 Bookmarque: Lovely photo. Looks like she's relaxing :)

>213 Bookmarque:
Lovely picture.

>213 Bookmarque:
Great picture.

>215 clamairy: we didn’t lose power but we have a big generator so it wouldn’t matter. Got the trees cleaned up today. His and hers chainsaws.

Not the best shot on earth, but I literally only got two before momma herded them away. They are hooded mergansers, a type of diving duck that eats fish, snails, insects and crustaceans.



Five is a pretty small brood for hoodies.

>220 Bookmarque: Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah, I'm going to have to get a chainsaw myself. A small one though, and rechargeable!

I highly recommend the Milwaukee M18 - these have high capacity batteries and a lot of power for a rechargeable. The gas powered one felt a bit more powerful, but between the two of us and the two of them, we got two sizeable trees cut in two days.

>220 Bookmarque: Adorable :)

>222 Bookmarque: I will do some research first for sure, and thanks for the recommendation. How is the noise level on that one?

>222 Bookmarque: I think you are assuming >224 clamairy: is planning to use the chainsaw on vegetation. I have not noticed her mentioning what she wants the chainsaw for. Just sayin’.

>220 Bookmarque:
Another super shot.

>224 clamairy: Definitely less than the gas one, but it isn't quiet either. I can handle both just fine and don't usually need double ear plugs. We have a helmet with face shield and built-in ear muffs.

>225 pgmcc: Ha!

>227 Bookmarque: Thanks for the info.

>228 clamairy: Ran it again today when the gas one wouldn't start. Went through a really big ash well even though the blade needs sharpening. The tree was about a foot across.

>229 Bookmarque: Awesome. I'm looking to trim a few things, not dismember people >225 pgmcc:.

>230 clamairy:
Thank you for the clarification.

>230 clamairy: It's always safest to check.

Love the deer and the ducklings!

Thanks peeps. I'll throw in a loon for free!



This one I took from the dock, not the kayak.

Beautiful! They are one of my favourite birds, difficult to see here in the UK.

>234 Bookmarque: A very smug-looking one. :)

>234 Bookmarque:
Lovely bird. I have never seen one.

Thanks everyone...sometimes, not sure if it's current use, Europeans call these divers, but in N.A. they're common loons. They summer in the northern parts and overwinter at the ocean - basically the closest to where they summer. Temperatures don't matter all that much, but they have to change their digestive tract to dealing with saltwater alternately with fresh. They are fierce hunters and cannot take off unless they are on a large body of water. Once airborne they're good fliers, but their legs are so far back on their bodies that they can hardly walk. We usually have a couple that hang around - probably non-breeding adults. It takes a few years to fully mature and mate.

>238 Bookmarque: Yes, Great Northern Divers ... as in the Arthur Ransome book, Great Northern?. I've only seen them in NA though.

>239 Sakerfalcon: What a cool book. Imagine writing a children's story with a conservation angle in the 1940s. Wow.

The loons are calling to each other off and on today. At least I assume it's to each other when there's more than one on the water. When they're alone they do it, too, but the song itself is different.

Love the loon!
Happy Birthday! Hope the martinis were wonderful.

Thanks clam! Delicious as usual. I don't normally do gin martinis...being a Gibson girl, but the husband brought home some different gin and I quite liked it.

So last week I was in the U.P. for a few days on a photo workshop. Doing sunrises and sunsets in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year is brutal, but I got some terrific images. Here are a few that I'm done working on -

So pretty! Wish I could walk right into those images. We are sweltering here.

I'm sorry for that. It's in the 50s and windy right now. We'll get some sun and temps will rise to the 70s. But it was really dry in the UP. North and south of here haven't gotten the rain we have had (more last night).

Oh, gorgeous! I especially love the last one but they are all beautiful!

Great puctures.

>242 Bookmarque: Awesome!!

>242 Bookmarque: So beautiful.

Thanks, peeps. It was a successful workshop. Here are a couple more I'm done editing -





Both sunsets. Really shows the different geologies along Superior.

Stunning! I love the contrast between the pinks and blues in the second photo, and the burst of spray caught in the sunlight in the first one.

>249 Bookmarque: The couple sitting on the headland watching the sunset adds a lovely detail to the picture.

The colours and the perspective in the second picture really make it come alive.

When you are processing your images what are the main elements you work with?

Thanks peeps. Despite less than ideal conditions, I got some images I really like. The last sunrise was here at Marquette Harbor Light -



When I'm editing it comes down to making the reason I took the shot take precedence. In the image above it's the light and how it plays on everything. If I've done my job behind the camera it won't need much (if any) correction; just enhancement. With sunrises and sets I like a more natural image instead of just cranking up the saturation slider. Usually I do a little lens correction on wide angle shots. Usually I need to add contrast, sharpening and some texture, too. In the shot above I had some dust on the lens that made spots that had to be removed so I did that, too. It's all very subjective and dependent on my intent and if I took a decent photo to begin with.

>252 Bookmarque: That is a lively image. The way the light picks out the building attracts me most.

Thanks for the comments on your processing.

Your photos are always so amazing!

Thanks guys. Processing is an art unto itself and I'm learning new things all the time. It's crazy.

Got these on two subsequent days in the backyard. Love how similar their poses if nothing else besides they're both birds.





The droplets above and around the loon are water - it was having a big, long preening session and had drifted fairly close to the dock. Luckily it was calm and the dock hardly moved so I could focus properly. They are hilarious when they preen. Those feathers take a prodigious amount of maintenance and they do a lot of flapping and fussing to get things right, sometimes turning completely upside down and flailing their feet in the air. Definitely not the serenely elegant loon we usually see.

The hummy is a male ruby-throated and he and the female love those flowers on the deck. I plant several pots with species just for them - these seem to be the most popular so I will make notes and buy more next year (they're annuals). I can sit on the couch and by putting the pot up on the deck railing, get a clean shot from very close by.

>255 Bookmarque:
Amazing pictures.

Hummingbirds are one thing we do not have here. The closest thing we have are hummingbird hawk moths.

>256 pgmcc: Thanks, Pete. East of the Mississippi there is only one species - this one so it is all we have. West of the Miss, especially farther west, there are many other species. The moths we have, too, but I haven't seen one in a while.

>257 Bookmarque: I saw my first hummingbird hawk moth when in France. I knew it was not a hummingbird but it moved just like one. I managed to get a picture of it and could see it was a moth. Its movements enabled me to do a Google search and identify it. I have since seen them in Ireland twice. Others see them much more frequently.

Awesome shots, as usual. I'm especially partial to the bird pics!

Just finished Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig as an audio and while it is a little disjointed in its overall organization, it was rather eye-opening. I really wish editors for these kinds of books did a better job. It’s obviously cobbled together from essays and articles written over a period of years and it shows. I think she polished and re-wrote parts, but there isn’t a through-line to the whole thing. I enjoyed it and learned a lot though. The disabled folks out there have a good voice in her - not that she’s representative of everyone with a disability, but she is at least a voice. Because of the resources listed at the end I now subscribe to a podcast by a couple of disabled folks talking about the world as they see it and how it relates to them, or doesn’t.

>260 Bookmarque: That does sound interesting.

Up until the nineties there used to be a BBC radio programme called "Does He Take Sugar?" that covered disability issues. (The title referred to the tendency of strangers to avoid talking to a disabled person and address all enquiries to the nearest able-bodied person instead.) My impression is that the situation has not actually improved since then.

Which podcasts were they?

It was and I recommend it. The podcast is The Accessible Stall - https://www.theaccessiblestall.com/

>262 Bookmarque: That was hilarious in an extremely grim way: the first podcast that I listened dealt with the same issue that was being dealt with in the title of the BBC - which was created in the seventies! Over 40 years and nothing has changed.

And another topic in the same podcast was how disabled people feel they have the right to speak for other disabilities: which was the problem that I faced when first entering the workplace - in the eighties.

I remember disability rights activists campaigning vociferously: "don't treat us like we are made of china, we don't need your help or you opening doors for us, we are not in pain if you touch us".
Which they are, of course, entitled to say about themselves - but not about ME. I am more easily damaged tham normal, being touched does cause significant pain, and I am not rude enough to snub offers of help, which can be extremely welcome.

The idea that there is a single experience of being "disabled" seems to be as prevalent now as ever.

I am depressed to see that nothing appears to have changed over my lifetime.

Sorry I haven't responded to you, -p-. It's been a busy few days.

But yeah, that perspective is depressing. I haven't listened to all the episodes, but the ones I have have been enlightening. For example how insulting it can be to be characterized as "confined" to a wheelchair. I hadn't given it any thought, but I can't imagine saying that now. Same with "suffering" from a disability. It's natural for me as an able bodied person to think it, but I really shouldn't ever say it to anyone or about anyone. And the constant helping and assumption of incompetence - that's crazy and I've never thought that way about anyone making her way through the world with mobility devices or whatever. I assume she knows what she's doing.

Anyway...I'll continue to listen to them because they're funny, education and smart.