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Category: Nature

Car Camping Trial ⛺
Napier Sportz Cove Car Tent

With an upcoming trip south to the American sub-tropics, I hope to camp overnight as much as possible, basking in the palm tree rustle… or what have you. Allowing my car to be my shelter, I decided I’d try a hand at car camping. This post is my report on Read more…


Beauty in the Boroughs:Staten Island
And Vegan Food

Do you know that fish fly in Staten Island? That birds have condos by the bay? That you can walk into a tree hallway and share the experience with no one but you and yours? And that it’s getting more vegan food… slowly. Yes, there are a lot of things Read more…


I’ll be on the water.

There is no better place than right next to the water. I’ll take any and all kinds of water. Even better is being with friends next to the water. To follow is some of the water I love near loved ones. The Greek‘s backyard in Broad Channel, Queens. Grapes! An Read more…


Cherry Blossoms in Green-Wood🌸
Cherry Blossom Cupcakes🌸

With two days of state exams and an awesome testing schedule, I spent my back-to-back free periods in my favorite place: Green-Wood Cemetery. It is crazy to think I first set foot into its grounds only a year ago. This time, peak flowering for its gorgeous trees would make it Read more…


Austin, The Not Food
Day 5 in Texas, Part 1

With only one full day in Austin, I had am ambitious “eatinerary.” So I had to also find things to within all those meals! A friend recommended checking out the Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin at the Blanton Museum of Art. Admission being free on Thursdays sealed the deal. I would look Read more…


I Drove All Day.
Day 4 in Texas

When you drive all day, the path of your thoughts can be amusing. Like this morning–I took a picture of this stop sign in Marfa before I hit the road. I thought I could get it printed all nice and big for my classroom. But as the day progressed, the Read more…


Swimming With Fishies at Balmorhea State Park Pool
Day 3 in Texas, Part 1

Balmorhea’s wonderful freshwater pool filled with fishies is part of the San Solomon Springs and helps several endangered species of fish survive… and take little nibbles of me. It was a magical afternoon surrounded by these little guys and their cute faces. I took these pictures and video with my Read more…


Terlingua, TX
Day 2 in Texas, Part 3

Terlingua is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. So I’ll let the pictures show you why. It’s “up my alley” (as my Dad says) in so many ways. My accommodations… a tipi at Buzzard’s Roost. My tipi: La Luna Inside, way too much animal for a vegan. The Read more…


Big Bend National Park
Day 2 in Texas, Part 2

This would be my 24th National Park. 24 out of 61. Big Bend National Park lies right at the US-Mexico border, bordered by the glorious Rio Grande of Duran Duran fame. I was slightly bummed that the day would–and into the evening–would be mostly cloudy. I looked forward to shooting Read more…


Willow City Bluebonnet Loop/
These Are A Few Of
My Favorite Things: Wild Flowers
Day 1 in Texas

Day 1 in Texas: Wild flowers say, “I do what I want!” And then I show up after to take a bunch of pictures. Like the orchids and sunflowers, they join the ranks of my Favorites Things… for their evocative power, their dismissal of the rules, the color they spew Read more…


Nightscapes: A Trial Run at
Cherry Springs State Park

So much is, whether we acknowledge it or not. Whether we know it or not. As we carry on as the terrestrials we are, there above us… infinitely more. Tonight I pointed my camera upward in an attempt to take a piece of that more, a dress rehearsal in advance Read more…


Sprung.

This is where Spring starts: as a burst of bright on the end of a drab brown branch. In-between my days’ other times I found these sparks in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery and Prospect Park. Cherished indicators of impending beauty… Blow a kiss to Spring! More Green-wood…


Prettiest Day Ever 🌺: New York Botanical Garden & Supernatural Pop-up

I have this thing for dressing on theme. So as I get dressed for a beautiful Sunday at New York Botanical Garden‘s Orchid Show, I notice my Texas flag shirt and my Daenerys Targaryen costume. I giggle that I can almost set up some hooks on my wall so my Read more…


Abandoned Sandy Hook, Gateway National Recreation Area

How have I never been to this place before?! Sandy Hook is part of Gateway, a National Recreation area that spans New York and New Jersey. I’ve explored the New York portions, Staten Island’s Fort Wadsworth, Jamaica Bay’s Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Dead Horse Beach in Queens, but I Read more…


Black Agnes in Green Mount Cemetery

In Montpelier, Vermont’s Green Mount Cemetery upon local businessman Hubbard’s gravesite is a sculpture entitled Thanatos, the Greek word for death. Despite winter-related odds, I would see him. In fact it was only him that had me continuing north in the whipping snow to the gates of the unplowed cemetery. Read more…


“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

[That’s not me; that’s Henry Thoreau, one of my favorite men in history.] Either stop or slow down.  But don’t go. The F train views, 87.5 feet from ground level. The highest elevated train IN THE WORLD. Sometimes the litter is a Millennium Falcon. My Bridge Take-out Thursday Top Thai Read more…


Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

As one of the first rural cemeteries in the country, Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a National landmark. Both of those distinctions landed it on my “to go” list. Fearing the impending winter and its weather-related travel restrictions, it was time for another day trip to the City Read more…


Pumpkin Planetarium: The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze

The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze has been a popular Halloween event since 2005 (!), though I just learned of it this Halloween season.  It is just the most wonderful kind of whimsy–thousands of pumpkins… hand carved and ablaze within Van Cortland Manor‘s grounds in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.  Add spectacular lighting within Read more…


Deciduous [Pictorial]

As soon as I stepped into Green-Wood Cemetery for a photography mission last Spring, I knew I’d have to return to see its Autumn.  Because: Trees.  With peak foliage being so fleeting, I took advantage of a beautiful Spring-like Autumn day to hunt and capture it, holding onto a season so Read more…


I Blame the Moon.

I happened to catch her on the way out the door to work.  She lit up my street, making herself impossible to ignore.  So I took a terribly rushed picture of her: Bella Luna.  Pretty and dangerous actually.  The Hunter’s Moon or, in the Zodiac, The Taurus Moon has a Read more…


The Mysterious Land of Shaolin,

My partner in special ed combat and ultra-rare fellow INFJ is a Staten Islander. So today she was my expert guide, uncovering the best of all the things on the island I like–abandoned stuff, scenic beauty, and vegan options.  First, we split a quick lunch at Dosa Garden in Tompkinsville.   I was Read more…


Falling For Fall

Another perfect day inside Autumn.  Today on Hawk Falls Trail in Hickory Run State Park in White Haven, PA for waterfalls and foliage. The glorious mist on a beautiful early Fall day Waiting for everyone to leave… …because I wanted to go in!   Ok, so it’s cold but it might be Read more…


The Cranberries [& Pumpkins & Apples & Brunch & Donuts]

Autumn is my favorite time of the year!  Though we are not very far in, today was a celebration of all the best parts of its edible goodness.  Starting at Stone Bridge Farms in Acushnet, Massachusetts.  Visiting a cranberry bog is a kind of new addition to my bucket list, but with autumn here Read more…


Uptown / Downtown

All the way up the isle of Manhattan at Fort Tryon Park in “Fort George,” adjacent to the The Met Cloisters which was way too crowded for us to partake in, is 8 miles of gorgeous, lush trails surrounded by extensive plant diversity–layers of green textures and wisps.  Overlooking Hudson Read more…


A One Day Vacation in Broad Channel, Queens

For budgetary reasons, I haven’t traveled much at all this summer. So it was a delight to find so many means of escape right here in New York City. The Greek‘s place in Broad Channel, Queens on the Rockaway Peninsula offers a retreat from all of the city’s bustle while Read more…


Moon Chaser

I haven’t photographed a moon since January’s super moon.  And that is not sitting right with me.  So I stood in the street with my wobbly hand and my DSLR to try to get back in the swing of capturing the glorious full moon, the Sturgeon Moon.  Since I don’t have Read more…