Kaleberg Archive for November 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

11/30 - Little St. Simons - Atlantic Beach - Part 2 We didn't wander too far at the beach, but we did spend some time looking out to sea and along the shore.	Plovers
The scalloped beach	An oyster catcher
Bright sun	More shore birds
A jellyfish	The walkway back in amazing light
Flowers	More of the walkway
A hard to spot marsh rabbit	A phoebe - not a kingfisher
Back at the lodge	Possibly acorns

Keywords: georgia

11/29 - Little St. Simons - Kitchen Garden We took a brief break for lunch and explored the lodge grounds. We found an armadillo, no surprise there. We also found the kitchen garden complete with the traditional hanging gourds.	Opal, Nibbles or one of the others
Kitchen gardens	Another view

Keywords: georgia

11/28 - Little St. Simons - North Dike and Back to the Lodge - 1 We had two whole days on Little St. Simons Island. They have organized, guided tours, but we just wanted to walk, so we did what we did on our last visit. We had them drive us up to North Dike near the north end of the island, and then we walked backed to the lodge. We followed North Pond and took advantage of the various blinds and observation platforms to scan the pond for birds and alligators. It was cold, so we only saw one alligator, but we saw egrets and herons and a woodpecker and a variety of ducks. The going was easy and the day was brisk. It had been close to freezing the night before. The island is probably very different during a Georgia summer, even this close to the ocean.	Early at the lodge
Where we stayed	A hitch hiker on our ride north
The road north	More of the road
Even more, leading out to the dike	A view from the dike, with alligator
Foliage	Recent rain on the road
Heading south	We saw a lot of muhly grass
A side spur to one of the blinds	An egret
Miscellaneous ducks	A heron
Back on the road south	Mushrooms
More egrets	A marsh scene
A wet spiderweb	More of the track
A downy woodpecker	Again

Keywords: georgia

11/27 - Little St. Simons - North Dike and Back to the Lodge - 2 We made our way down to the South Dike and then headed into more wooded country. We heard a sound in the forest, an armadillo rummaging about. He or she - something only of interest only to another armadillo or a grammarian - was wary but offered us a good view. It was an easy walk south along the main road. Have we mentioned that the land in this part of Georgia is flat? It wasn't long before we returned to a familiar landmark, the vulture tree, not far from the lodge.	More of the track
The view from an observation tower	Almost abstract
Another spiderweb	A web with huge drops of water
Yet another web	Another look at the pond
View from the South Dike	Berries
On we go	More marshland
Cactus of all things	Yet another peek
A more forested part of the track	An armadillo
Forest with palmettos	Seeds
Spanish moss	Still heading south
More of the track	The vulture tree

Keywords: georgia

11/26 - Fort Frederica and the Journey to Little St. Simons Island It was a rainy day, but we made a point of getting out to explore Fort Frederica. There was a whole town there and a fort. The British were braced for a Spanish invasion. The Spanish were right down there in Florida. Now it's an archaeological site and a pretty place to walk around. Then, the rain picked up. We drove north to the marina and boarded the rain soaked boat that would take us and our soon to be soaked luggage to Little St. Simon's Island. It's a privately held nature preserve. Like everything in this part of Georgia, the waters were flat, but we were cold and soaked through by the time we reached the dock at the lodge.	Fort Frederica
Oranges!	All that's left
More oranges	The fort
Watch on the river	Mistletoe
More of the site	The dock at the marina
The long ramp through the rain	A hunkered down egret
A rainy journey	This eagle is a regular at that sign
Further along and freezing	Hard to see clearly in the rain
Roseate spoonbills	Another terrible photo of roseate spoonbills
A better picture of an egret	Warming up by the fire

Keywords: georgia

11/25 - Guale Reserve To work off some of our Thanksgiving dinner, we explored the Guale Reserve on St. Simon's Island. It's flat, but we took a long loop, so we burned a few calories.	A typical stretch of trail
Instead of hills, they have palmettos. No thanks.	More of the trail
A little mushroom	More palmettos
Dark forest	Deadly blue things
Green trail	Yet more mushrooms
More forest	Even more mushrooms
Deers tongue, still blooming	A sandy stretch
Amazing funghi	More of the same
Pine cones and needles	Another flower
More pine cones and needles	A cardinal
Another section of the reserve	This section goes to the river
The trail there	Another glimpse of the river

Keywords: georgia

11/24 - Sunset at The Cloister We stayed at The Cloister. We could see why the G7 was happy there. We ate on the patio at Tavola, so we got to see the spectacular sunset.	A view from our window at the mysterious conclave
The main atrium	An Atlantic beach
Someone else enjoying the beach	More beach - The Atlantic Ocean smells different.
Another view of the beach	Some Christmas cheer
Tavola sunset	The Cloister - It's chock full of such passageways.
More sunet	Late sunset

Keywords: georgia

11/22 - Savannah - Day Two We spent the next day exploring Savannah. The city is full of parks and gardens. The trees are covered with Spanish moss.	Some steps
One of the squares	Flowers in bloom
Another square	Christmas is coming.
Another sign of Christmas	A hidden garden
More flowers	More Christmas
A last gardenia	Another square
Another garden	More Savannah

Keywords: georgia

11/21 - Savannah - Day One We made it to Savannah in time for dinner. The traffic from Atlanta was ridiculous. We walked through the old downtown to Husk where we had an excellent dinner. Then we walked to our hotel and collapsed.	A bridge over the river
On our way to dinner	One of the many gardens
Husk	Husk again
On our way back	City lights

Keywords: georgia

11/20 - Early Morning Flight We took an early morning flight to George from Port Angeles.	Spectacular sunrise
Lots of color	Bustling Fairchild International Airport
The Rocky Mountains	More
And more	And even more

Keywords: georgia

11/17 - Dramatic Lighting There was some dramatic lighting in Port Angeles with dark clouds and bright sunlight. We had to pull over and take some photos.

Keywords: port angeles

11/16 - Fog on the Hood Canal Bridge We've crossed the Hood Canal Bridge on our way to Seattle many times now, but this time the fog was thick. Cars and trucks seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Keywords: seattle

11/16 - Autumn in the Dungeness Highlands We call the Clallam County park area above the Dungeness Spit the Dungeness Highlands or sometimes the Dungeness Headlands. Don't expect us to be consistent. There are some nice hiking paths, and a great place to watch the seasons change.	The scene
Last few leaves	A visitor
Abstract	The field
The path	Some thicket
The path	More thicket
More autumn color	More abstract

Keywords: dungeness

11/15 - Playing With the New iPhone These are a few more pictures taken with the new iPhone. It's a pretty good camera. It's not quite good enough to replace our point and shoot with its telephoto lens, but it is getting better.	It does nice things with lens flare.
It has a fairly good telephoto lens.	The software does some nice stuff with contrast.
It also saturates colors.	What you get is very nice.

Keywords: dungeness, software

11/15 - Good Day for Hawks at Dungeness Dike It was a good day for hawk spotting on the Dungeness Dike.	Two on a tree
In the air	Again
Late autumn color	Lens flare

Keywords: autumn, dungeness

11/14 - Late Autumn on the Elwha We took the short walk from Madison Falls to where the Elwha chewed through Olympic Hot Springs Road. The mountains were snow capped and the last of the autumn color was fading.

Keywords: autumn, elwha

11/12 - Port Townsend View We had a little time to kill in Port Townsend, so we took a walk along a short coastal trail.

Keywords: port townsend

11/07 - Autumn on the Little River Trail We've been following autumn on the Little River Trail. The leaves have been falling. The river is rushing. Colors have been changing. Each time we visit, the trail and the river have changed.	A glimpse of the Little River
An old log	More of that log
Fallen leaves	Forest scene
Another view of the Little River	More flowing water
Yet more of the river	The forest trail
There's always something fascinating to catch the eye.	Green and brown
One of the bridges	Funghi, possibly planted by that 18th century mycologist Funghibility Brown
More of the thinning and changing forest	One of the moss and fern covered rock walls
More leaves	Changing color
An autumn montage	Ghost plant
The trail ambience	The thinning forest
Another ghost plant	Slime mold!

Keywords: autumn, little river

11/05 - Dungeness Dike Dungeness Dike is another great place to watch the changing seasons. The new configuration hasn't been accessible for a full year yet, so we're still getting a sense of it. Meanwhile, we've been seeing a good number of fishermen out for cut-throat trout, something new it seems. They must be in season.	The Dungeness River and a winter sky
The marshy fields	More fields and mountains
Another look	And another
Some fall color	Wetlands and gray skies
An eagle in a tree	Last bit of color
More of the new wetlands	Another view south
The marsh seen with an iPhone	Bright iPhone colors
The iPhone is better at capturing fall colors here.	Another iPhone scene
And another with lots of cloud drama	More color and drama

Keywords: dungeness, eagle, autumn

11/04 - Morse Creek West and Fall Color When we don't want to drive far, we'll head east on route 101 and start our walk at the Morse Creek parking lot. The trail crosses Morse Creek on a restored railroad bridge and heads down to the strait where it follows the coast. It heads all the way into Port Angeles and points west, but we haven't taken it that far. The section of the trail from the bridge to the strait is tree lined and, right now, full of autumn color.	Fall color
More fall color	Even more fall color
The trail follows the edge of the Four Seasons development, hence that fence.	Some more color
On the ground	Another bit of color
And yet another	More leaves on the trail
More trail covered with leaves	Even more color
Morse Creek	The railroad bridge

Keywords: autumn, morse creek, port angeles

11/03 - Ultra Zoom - iPhone vs Sony We have a new iPhone Pro Max, so we also have a new camera. This model of iPhone has a much more powerful zoom than most smartphone cameras, so we took a couple of pictures with it to compare against those taken by our usual Sony DSC-HX99. They're both pretty good cameras, but at an extreme zoom, 25X, the Sony seems to deliver a better picture. That's not surprising. The Sony has a much better set of lenses and much more space to play with. The iPhone only has a 5X optical zoom, but it has a higher resolution sensor. They both have ridiculous image processing software, but what doesn't nowadays?	The Strait of San Juan de Fuca as a filler shot
iPhone - Port Angeles blowing off steam	Sony - Port Angeles blowing off steam
iPhone - zoomed in	Sony - zoomed in
iPhone - an eagle seen from the Dungeness Dike	Sony - an eagle seen from the Dungeness Dike
iPhone - zoomed in eagle	Sony - zoomed in Eagle

Keywords: dungeness, eagle, port angeles, software

11/02 - Dungeness Highlands With A New Camera One of the nice things about living in a place with seasons is that every time one revisits a trail one can note the seasonal changes. We're well into autumn now, and leaves have thinned and changed color. They cover the trails. Rose hips and berries are more prominent. Even the sky is different. We went back to the Dungeness Highlands again. It was further into fall, but we also had a new camera, one of the new iPhones. We usually use a Sony DSC-HX99, but we wanted to play with a new toy. The pictures were pretty good, though distinctly different. If nothing else, the colors seemed less saturated. On the other hand, that could just be another sign of the changing seasons.	Looking towards Port Angeles
A milky sky and bare branches	The thicket without leaves
The path through the thicket with a few leaves still hanging on	A view south along the trail
Basic colors	Looking east
The mountains again and a winter sun	Fading grass fields
A mystery bird, in silhouette	Some final color
Rose hips	Coin flowers
Bare branches, signs of change	More along the trail
A peak ahead	Through the thicket with a patch of blue mountain visible
Another peaceful trail shot	Looking back across the water

Keywords: autumn, dungeness, trails

11/01 - Halloween Report It was a cold night, but we had a fair number of trick or treaters. There weren't as many as last year and no where near as many before COVID. Still, it was nice to see so many kids out in costumes eager for a good candy fix. We're still using our COVID era no-contact trick or treat candy web, and it's still great greeting everyone who comes to call.	Our candy web
Around the house	Our trick or treat tally since 2013

Keywords: halloween

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

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