Animal. Vegetable. Mineral.

I found this book over at Caught By The River and I'm in love!  This is most definitely a book for the ages.  A perfectly, delicious book of illustrations of the natural world covering a variety of topics. Consider it firmly locked onto my #Christmas wishlist.

Check it out here

Wissahickon and Forbidden Drive Trails in Philadelphia

 

 

Rain had a threatening presence on my weather app since the day before.  So I decided to get an early start and make the short trip to Forbidden Drive with Muffin in tow.  The sun peaked out through the grey sky every so often, but that didn't make the visit any less fun!  Little signs of life crept out through rocks, in the creek and all around.  Though the forest isn't too colorful yet, the different greens, browns and greys were a welcomed sight coming from the city.  It's been a bit of time since I've left the grid and pavement for the trails.

Muffin bounded along ahead of me only stopping when she heard a squirrel flee the scene or when the ducks quacked below.  We had a great morning romp through Wissahickon and thankfully avoided the rain that still lingered in the forecast.  Currently, as I type, Muffin is having puppy dreams on the couch and has avoided movement otherwise for an hour.  I feel accomplished!  Have a wonderful week welcoming Spring in.

More after the jump...

Ice Climbing Frozen Niagara Falls

As a kid my family rented an RV and we meandered our way through NY state for about 3 weeks one summer.  It was fun, horrifying, smelly, memorable and adventurous.  We made our way to Niagra Falls and stood at the top staring at the almost unbelievable volume of water being swept over the edge every second.  The roar of the falls was deafening.  It made me very nervous.  It was extremely humbling to be in the presence of such a fierce force of mother nature.

Here we have Will Gadd's ascent of the frozen sections of the world's largest flowing falls.  Tucked between the borders of Canada and the United States, Niagra Falls  is actually 3 different waterfalls coming together at the end of the Niagra Gorge.  The falls holds the title of having the largest flow rate of any other waterfall.

More than six million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow,^[4] and almost four million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average. -Wikipedia

Whoa, that's a whole heckuva lot of water. Prepare to be astonished by this video!

Spotted One Morning

Front and back porch sitting one early morning in May.  

Spotted: American Robin

Actually it's not very hard to spot Robins, being one of the most abundant land birds in North America, but they are nice to look at now and then.  This one here seemed to not be doing so well, barely moving and unflinching towards passerbys.  Poor fella.  It's nice to see a spot of color during the Winter months for sure!

Blues and Greens of the Adirondacks

For the first time in a few years we weren't rained on in the middle of the night or blasted by a storm and gale in the middle of the day.  Not to say I really minded much, but this year the trip and weather was absolutely perfect.  The call of the Loons, splash of a fish on the water and silence, only to be interrupted by canoe paddles in the water, is something that really cannot be recreated anywhere.  The Adirondacks are something special.  Coming home with the smell of fire on your clothes and the satisfaction of knowing you bagged the only trout in Black Pond is even better. 


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Summer Weekend

What a great weekend, right?!  Well I had the chance to escape the city once again and spend some time in Northeast PA where it wasn't so muggy.  Lots of Yeungling, ice cream, grilling and sunshine.  In the top picture you'll see one of the many ice cream cones I ate this weekend.  Do you call 'em jimmies or sprinkles?  Sprinkles all the way here.   The next picture is of an IO (pronounced eye-oh) moth found in the garage Sunday morning.  The coloring is brilliant and probably a great defense mechanism.  Unfortunately the little guy seemed stunned and rather slow-going.  I put him back on the windowsill to sit and take in the sunshine.

Edit*  The Male IO is picture above.  Here's a link to both

National Tourist Routes in Norway

As if I needed one more reason to dream about taking a vacation to Norway, I got wind of this project underway.  This project "features an array of architects including Margrete Friis, Peter Zumthor, PUSHAK arkitekter, Code Arkitektur, Manthey Kula, Snøhetta AS, and Jensen and Skodvin to name a few. The architects have worked together to connect the dots throughout the country and form a network of breathtaking valleys, farms, rivers, and mountain cliffs – creating a lattice of scenic masterpieces." KNSTRCT

Backwoodsman Magazine

The Backwoodsman is one of those magazines you pick up and wonder how on Earth people aren't living more like this everyday.  Simple ways to enjoy mother nature and explore the many resources within.  Where else can you read about canning meat or mountain bike hunting?  If you've been over to Whole Larder Love recently you'd know that there is a pretty cool project in works.  The Backwoodsman has a neat article called Building a Little Cabin in the Backwoods.  With all these people doing and exploring the things they love, it's hard not to get a little "cabin-fever" (pun!) in the city.

Check out some of the Archived Articles.  I highly suggest "Hard Cider the Easy Way"

Backwoodsman Recipes After the Jump...

River Adventures

The Susquehanna River runs lazily (most days) through my tiny hometown.  It zigzags through the Endless Mountains of Northeast, PA and is a hot summer day refuge for the adventurous.  We loaded the canoe and kayaks into the truck and unloaded the gear.  Not much needed for a day trip, cameras, water, lunch and a big bottle of sunscreen.  We hit some patches of rough water, waved to fisherman, jumped off rope swings, explored ledges, spotted blue herons, saw a huge snapper turtle and, obviously ate a huge greasy pizza at the end of the day.  Summer is awesome!