"Wetland Reflections" Awarded 1st Place Honors

I just learned that this photo, "Wetland Reflections", was awarded 1st place in the "Garden Views" category for Washington Gardener magazine this year. It was taken with my Nikon D7000 at Huntley Meadows Park.

Friday in Focus: Canada Goose in November's Light

Friday in Focus: A Heron at Huntley Meadows

On a Summer's Photo Walk

Huntley Meadows is one of my favorite places for nature photography.  Love the greens and blues on this visit....and who can visit a dripping goose?!

Wetland Reflections

A reflection at  Huntley Meadows Regional Park

Amazing Morning Light at Huntley Meadows

Jeff has been away at a blacksmithing class this weekend, so the boys and I have kept very busy, starting with a morning walk at one of our favorite places, Huntley Meadows.   Huntley Meadows is an amazing wetlands in the middle of suburbia and is one of the places I rarely (if ever!), go without my camera.  It is always different.  We say that if you don't see something amazing at a walk there, it is because you haven't been looking.

On this trip, we got up close to a Canada Goose and saved some toadlets that were trying to cross a gravel path.  I had pretty much drug the boys out of the house early because I didn't want to miss the light. On the downside, the turtles and snakes weren't out much, but on the plus side, there was great light!:

 

 

Eyes of Wonder on a Winter Walk

Getting out into nature with a child is an amazing experience….  it literally changes your perspective!

How We Spent Our Shut-Down Weekend

We were supposed to demo this past weekend but the government shutdown closed the location of our demo.  Suddenly, we had a free weekend, something we hadn’t had since the start of September.  There was plenty we wanted to do!  We are a family of list-makers, so out came the white-board and we started to write down our thoughts.  Some people ask us how we get as much done — this is one of our secrets. We might not get all the things done, nor do we try to…but by having a list, we accomplish a lot! :-)  

I was determined to make cold-process soap for the first time; we tried a lavender mint soap: 

Our kids really wanted to get pumpkins:  

We wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors, despite the rain at the beginning of the weekend and then especially when the sun came out.  These photos are from Mason Neck State Park and Huntley Meadows.

But, who would have expected that we’d save a baby squirrel that fell out of its nest and needed some help?  By the way, the last report from the wildlife rehabilitator says that the baby squirrel is mending well.  

And, we rested a fair amount….all of us…. 

We are looking forward to getting back to work this weekend at Claude Moore’s Market Fair in McLean.  Please come out.  We’d love to see you!