The turtle photos were taken with Canon 70-200 lens and 6D camera. The signs were captured with my iPhone camera.
April 23,2021
Turtles at Inniswood Botanical Garden
Tag: woods
Silent Sunday
Whose Woods?
Two Roads Diverged in a Green Wood
We were on our way to a First Communion Party a week ago and my Daughter- in-Law was driving. When we saw the two branches of road in front of us, The Road Not Taken, the poem by Robert Frost, came to mind. Yes, these woods are a new Spring green, not a yellow wood, but poetic/blogging license?
When I went to find the actual poem I found this interesting Paris Review article by David Orr*. Here’s a quote from his article, The Most Misread Poem in America (click here )
Go to the article and read about a 2008 New Zealand Ford Co Car Commercial which uses the poem without even giving credit to Robert Frost! If you want to consider the variances in interpretation of Frost’s poem you will find the article enlightening.
“Given the pervasiveness of Frost’s lines, it should come as no surprise that the popularity of “The Road Not Taken” appears to exceed that of every other major twentieth-century American poem, including those often considered more central to the modern (and modernist) era.”Author Orr listed the GOOGLE stats of searches to prove it! Who knew this particular was so popular?Parts of verses still stick in my mind and when I saw this scene in the woods, they came right up. When I was in grade school, we had to memorize a poem a week and recite it from memory.
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(By the way, we took the right of the fork)
*from the articleDavid Orr is the poetry columnist for the New York Times Book Review. He is the winner of the Nona Balakian Prize from the National Book Critics Circle, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Slate, and The Yale Review.
Lady Slippers in Bloom
Lady Slippers, cypripedium reginae, are rare these days. These were seen in the woods at Fallingwater in the Laurel Highlands while on a Landscape Hike with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy on Members’s Day. I was invited to be a guest of Erika’s Uncle Larry, who is an enthusiastic environmentalist, and shared a wonderful day at the Barn at Fallingwater with his family.
Old Homestead and a Stone Chimney Via Marlene- Hardy, Virginia
It’s a Guest Blog today. This gallery could be a good writing prompt, too. You know there’s a story. Probably more than one story.
And you know when someone sends me photos and they say they saw something and it made them think of me and the blog, it’s a nice feeling. Marlene (Erika’s mother and Mark’s MIL) wrote from Hardy, Virgina with the accompanying photos she took on a walk with Donald.
Glad you had your cell phone along on your walk, Mar.
“We saw this fireplace chimney in the woods so we ventured up the hill. There was a stone outline of where the old homestead was. There were a bunch of mason jars all over so we figured kids with moonshine would sit around the fireplace and drink. Way behind the chimney we saw another old house. So we walked through the leaves to the other house.”
“After checking out the side of the house I walked around to the front door and there I saw the front door was padlocked.
It was so funny because the exterior wall was missing on the side.”
Thanks Marlene for the gallery of the old Homestead in Virginia,
Ruth E
Old Trees New Trees on a Winter Path
After school I drove into Highland Park, right near my home. I’d taken a series of black and white photos for a film class years ago in this same spot and still have a print on my wall.
With the new snow today, I thought it might look interesting but the light was low and the sky thick and gray.
Found some new trees planted along the path, though.
I plan to return in the Spring.
There weren’t many dog walkers or walkers or runners or any activity in the park. The Super Playground deserted and covered with snow and ice. No bicycles. The fountain turned off. The reservoir a layer of ice. The sounds muffled with the snow, but barely a car driving around the circle today.
It’s in color but almost looks black and white.
How Many Deer Do You See?
Three is the answer.
Steve says he is glad he is not a deer. These are woods IN the city.