Thursday, November 30, 2017

Ocean Isle Beach

Happy Thankful Thursday!

I have more to share from my week visit to Sunset Beach, NC. We saw an amazing sunset at the beach. Lots of birds and lovely beach scenery. On this day hubby and I walked on the nearby Ocean Isle Beach. 

Various shorebirds and gulls resting on a sand bar in between Ocean Isle beach and Sunset Beach. The birds were too far away to get a good clear shot.  This photo just shows that it was a large group of various birds.












These beaches were beautiful, nice clean sand and gorgeous views of the ocean and sky. 


I am thankful for all the good that is in my life and being here to enjoy a walk on the beach.
I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.


Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday
Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday


Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Monday, November 27, 2017

Our world, my world


Happy Monday! Wishing everyone a great day and new week ahead.

Hubby and I often take walks on our local fire roads in our neighborhood, we can also take side trails to the lake. The lake is a reservoir for Baltimore City's drinking water. These are some images from late Oct-Nov 2017.  The state's DNR allows bow-hunting in this watershed area, trying to control the deer population. We have to pick and choose when we take our walks on the fire roads from Sept thru January and hunting season.




We often see Double-crested Cormorants at our lake, sometimes groups of them. On this day we just saw one perched on a tree branch sticking out of the water.








The Waxing Crescent moon on Oct 24th , I took this photo from my deck.




As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

My list of memes for today, I hope to see you there. Thanks to both of the host below.


Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Getting to know me

Hello and Happy Sunday,


Getting to know me, getting to know all about me. 
I am doing something different today and following  Dee  and Mildred
You can copy the questions and fill in your answers if you want to play along. 

1.  What is your middle name?   
Louise

2.  What was your favorite subject in school?  
Geography




3.  What is your favorite drink? 
Red wine, Sangria, Mojito ...not all at one time...I love coffee, can not start a day without it.

4.  What is your favorite song at the moment?  
I love all kinds of music, it is hard to pick a favorite. Mostly Classic Rock and Country.

5.  What is your favorite food? 
Pizza

6.  What is the last thing you bought?  
Leggings from LuLaRoe and a new External Hard Drive. 

7.  Favorite book of all time?
I have so many, mostly mysteries.

8.  Favorite color?
Blue

9.  Do you have any pets?
Not all at the same time, but we had 6 dogs. Sunshine a yellow lab was our first dog together, than we added Daisy a Golden Retriever, we kept one of Sunshine's pups a Chocolate lab named Maui, and one of Daisy's pups Sierra, than there was mixed dog named Lucy who was sick and was not around long and Goldie Girl was the last. The bottom row of my mosaic shows our first dogs, Sunshine, Daisy, Maui and Sierra. 



10. Favorite perfume?
I am allergic to perfume.

11.  Favorite holiday? 
Christmas, I love the lights and seeing all the decorations, the music and the Hallmark Christmas movies. 



12.  Are you married?
27 years

13.  Have you ever been out of the country? How many times?
Yes,  14 times.  London and Windsor England, Cancun, Switzerland (we drove from Luxembourg, thru France and Germany to a B&B in Switzerland) , Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Curacao, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Canada ( Niagara Falls and New Brunswick)  and 4 cruises ( 2 Caribbean, 1 Bermuda and 1 Alaska) . 



14.  Do you speak any other language?
No

15.  How many siblings do you have?
3 siblings, 2 sisters and 1 brother

16.  What is your favorite shop?
No favorite. I am not much of a shopper. 

17.  Favorite restaurant?
Pappas, they have great Maryland Crab Cakes.

18.  When was the last time your cried? 
Not sure, probably over a movie

19.  Favorite blog?
I have way too many favorites to list.

20.  Favorite movie?
Sound of Music, Pearl Harbor, Homeward Bound, Harry Potter Series, Hallmark Christmas movies.

21.  Favorite TV show?.
The Voice

22.  PC or Mac?
PC and a mini ipad.

23.  What phone do you have?
Iphone 5

24.  How tall are you?
5.5 and shrinking

25.  Can you cook?
Yes, I like trying new recipes. Especially easy ones with not too many ingredients.

Beside Thanksgiving dinner, my latest recipe I tried was this Italian Sausage soup with Tortellini. It is delicious!




Saturday, November 25, 2017

Saturday's Critters #206

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love critters like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

Some of my Sunset Beach, North Carolina birds and a gator near the golf course. They are not the best photos, on this day we had some clouds and the birds were all a good distance away.  :(




White Ibis and a Great Blue Heron


White Ibis on the golf course.


An alligator in the golf course pond. For those who did not know, yes there are alligators in North Carolina. We saw a few at this spot near a golf course.


I think this is the same gator as above, on this day he was enjoying the sunshine.






A Great Blue Heron and Great Heron, some crows in the background. They were all hanging out at a golf course.


An Osprey was seen in this same tree on a few different days.







For the birders out there, there are a few Black Crowned Night Herons in the photo below, can you find them?  How many do you see, I must admit a few are hidden in the leaves. Click on the photo for larger viewing. My version of where's Waldo?




I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!





Here is a list of my linky parties;
Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-BirdinThanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Lake Erie, Pennsylvania

Happy Thanksgiving, wishing everyone a great day! Be safe if you are traveling to eat your turkey dinner. I am publishing this post a day early in case bloggers will be away for the holiday. I'll be cooking.

On this post,  I am sharing some photos from our trip to Erie Pennsylvania and a visit to the Presque Isle State Park.  My hubby has an old friend that grew up in Erie Pa and he always talked to us about the Presque Isle State Park. I think he knew we would enjoy the scenery and views, the birds and the lighthouse. We finally made the trip and now I am sharing the scenes with you.

We arrived at the Presque Isle State Park located on Lake Erie late in the day. We decided to sit on the beach near the lighthouse and watch the sunset. If any of my blogging friends visited my travel blog some of these photos may look familiar. :)




There were a bunch of gulls around to entertain us, I believe they are the Ring-billed Gull.


I played with the stones and sticks on the beach, here is my beach man.  Hubby was my model.



The Presque Isle Lighthouse



Hubby and I on the beach at Presque Isle State Park, Erie Pa. Our shadows are our faithful companions. They follow us everywhere.


Lake Erie looks like an ocean, so big.



It was a lovely sunset.


A sun puddle, all that was left after the sun went down into Lake Erie.







I am thankful to see each and every sunset and sunrise.
I am always thankful for my family, health, home and for good friends and for the food on our table! 
I am thankful for good friends. 
I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.


Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday
Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday


Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Monday, November 20, 2017

Sunset Beach, Part II


Happy Monday, wishing everyone a great day and week ahead!

November is flying by, this Thursday is Thanksgiving. Soon it will be Christmas, are you ready? When do you put up your Christmas tree, do decorate the whole house? Lately I have been feeling less is more, I might just put up a small tree and be done.

I have some more photos from our visit to my sister's in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. I love walks on the beach, watching the birds and hearing the sound of the waves. I hope you enjoy.

Snooze time!


Black Skimmers and Gull friends.


Gulls, Terns and Brown Pelicans on Sunset Beach.


Me and my shadow!


The waves were not big, but it is always nice to listen to the sound of the waves.


All the little brown dots are the shorebirds, like Dunlins, Willets, Semipalmated Plovers and more. We saw large flocks of shorebirds at the end of Sunset beach, I think this was a resting spot for the migrating birds.







As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

My list of memes for today, I hope to see you there. Thanks to both of the host below.


Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Saturday's Critters #205

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

If you love critters like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

For my critter post I am sharing mostly bird photos from our visit to the Susquehanna River and Conowingo Dam. This time of the year you can usually see  a hundred or more Bald Eagles. We went a little early and these are some of the birds and photos from our visit.

Double-crested Cormorants.


My mosaic, a foggy morning on the river trail, sunburst, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Susquehanna River view, Great Blue Herons, Juvenile Bald Eagle, Double-crested Cormorants, Bald Eagle on tower, Peregrine Falcon on tower, another Bald Eagle also on the tower and gulls on the river rocks.


Various gulls.



Great Blue Heron


One of the many Great Blue Herons seen at the Susquehanna River. There is a  heron rookery on the other side of the river.


Top left is a juvenile Bald Eagle, top right an adult Bald Eagle. Bottom left another juvenile Bald Eagle and the bottom right is the Peregrine Falcon.


Two Bald Eagles by the dam.




I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy my post and photos too!






Here is a list of my linky parties;
Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-BirdinThanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Nisqually NWR

Happy Thursday everyone! 

I still have some May photos to share, promise these are the last. These were images from the Nisqually NWR near Olympia Washington state.  This was our second visit to this wildlife refuge the first visit was Nisqually NWR 2015


The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge has some nice trails, this boardwalk trail takes you to Puget Sound Overlook and the Nisqually Estuary. Along the boardwalk are several observation platforms. The trail (part grass/dirt and boardwalk) can be as long as a 4-5 mile walk from the visitor center. 



We saw lots of Canada Geese families. The goslings were so cute.


From the boardwalk we saw a couple of seals, they found a resting spot out of the water.


The sky was beautiful during our visit and walk on the Nisqually boardwalk trail.



For Tom's Barn Collective I have a couple of photos of the Nisqually twin barns.


The trail takes you past the twin barns. These barns are part of the wildlife refuge. 




Some of the birds we saw during our walk at the wildlife refuge, the Hooded Merganser, I believe the top middle are a couple of Gadwall, Great Blue Heron with some Gulls, Ducks, Song Sparrow, Cormorants, Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow.


A view from the boardwalk, gorgeous sky and view of the refuge wetlands.






I am thankful for places that protect wildlife and nature. I hope you enjoyed our walk at the wildlife refuge. I am always thankful for your visits and your comments.

Thank you Michelle for hosting. Thankful Thursday
Thank you to the hosts of   Skywatch Friday
Thanks to Tom the host of The Barn Collective

Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments. Have a happy day!

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a ha ppy new week! "One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day." "T...