Nature Pics

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Today's even more gorgeous frien


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[Jude]

That's a great shot! How close did you get?

[Frelga]

Is that a juvenile?

[RoseMorninStar]

I love the rainbow eucalyptus photo!

Maria, those trees are simply stunning. I wish I could have captured their true beauty. They are purple and blue and red, orange, pinkish, mauve, and green. Truly lovely. I'm sure someone on the internet has better photos of them than I was able to take.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's a great shot! How close did you get?

I'm terrible at estimating distances, but I would say roughly 50 feet, plus she was up the tree aways. I really worked to get this picture. When I walked out my office to go to the rest room (which is down the street), I could hear that distinctive scream that they make. I tried to find where it was coming from but I could not locate her. So I went ahead and went over to the rest rooms (in the other direction). When I came back out, I walked over and eventually heard the scream again, but I still couldn't locate where it was coming from. I kept looking for about 15 minutes, hearing it again every few minutes. Just when I was about to give up, I saw her fly out of one of row of tall redwoods that I was looking in. I followed around the corner and saw her land on a powerline. Before I could get my phone out and focused, she flew over to that branch in what looked like a deserted lot that was overgrown and soggy. I splogged through the tall grass stopping and taking pictures as I went, knowing that she was likely to take off again at any time. That was the second to last one that I got, and by far the best.

Frelga, I'm not knowledgeable enough to say for sure, but based on her size, I'm fairly sure that she is full-grown. (And no, I don't know for sure that she is female.)

[Inanna]

WOW!

Rose, your photos left me amazed too; I forgot to appreciate them.

[Maria]

Rose,
I just looked up a bunch of online photos of rainbow eucalyptus and they are amazing. And so big!
Wow.
Thank you.

[RoseMorninStar]

That's a great shot! How close did you get?

I really worked to get this picture. When I walked out my office to go to the rest room (which is down the street), I could hear that distinctive scream that they make. I tried to find where it was coming from but I could not locate her. So I went ahead and went over to the rest rooms (in the other direction). When I came back out, I walked over and eventually heard the scream again, but I still couldn't locate where it was coming from. I kept looking for about 15 minutes, hearing it again every few minutes. Just when I was about to give up, I saw her fly out of one of row of tall redwoods that I was looking in. I followed around the corner and saw her land on a powerline. Before I could get my phone out and focused, she flew over to that branch in what looked like a deserted lot that was overgrown and soggy. I splogged through the tall grass stopping and taking pictures as I went, knowing that she was likely to take off again at any time. That was the second to last one that I got, and by far the best.

Good friends are hard to find.

I crack myself up.


Thanks everyone. Maybe I'll get around to posting a few more Maui pics.

[RoseMorninStar]

Like these on Ka'anapali beach.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Nice!

[Inanna]

OMG.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Neighborhood stroll


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[RoseMorninStar]

OH! MY! How stunning. What a lovely place!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

About a 1/4-mile from my house. I didn't even know that there was a small waterfall there (but after all, we've only lived in this house for 22 years so we are just starting to get to know the neighborhood!).

[Inanna]

Beautiful spot, V.

[RoseMorninStar]

About a 1/4-mile from my house. I didn't even know that there was a small waterfall there (but after all, we've only lived in this house for 22 years so we are just starting to get to know the neighborhood!).

[Frelga]

I'm still finding new trails off the trails we walk a couple times a month.

[RoseMorninStar]

We don't live in that sort of area, unless we drive to the kettle moraine/state park. Our walks from the house are limited to the road and not very interesting. We're surrounded by homes or farmland.

V, your lovely photo reminded me of a place on the Pipiwai trail in Maui (near Hana). Not directly, but in a spiritual kind of way.

The Pipiwai trail is a somewhat challenging hike, especially for those who are either not in the best shape, are a bit older (or young) or who are not very tall. A few of the 'steps' required me to use my hands on surrounding rocks to help push myself up. It's roughly 2 mile one-way (4 mile round trip) trail up the side of Haleakala which gains about 650' in elevation and takes 2.5-5 hours (a little over 3 for us). Hubby & I hiked it once before, about 6 years ago and I remembered afterwards I didn't think I'd willingly hike it again, but one has a tendency to forget those things in comparison to beauty in nature.

Anyway, the first part is a steady walk up a rocky trail through a tropical forest. This time it was muddy which made it more challenging and slippery at times. There are 2 or 3 bridges which span the river at spots so one can better see the various falls, but at one point you come off of one of the bridges and walk into a bamboo forest. My pictures cannot capture the 'feel' of that. It's has a very spiritual feel to it. It's palpable. Like a holy spot of sorts. The first time I thought it was just me, but on this trip our daughter & her boyfriend were along and they gasped and remarked on it too. My photos do not do it justice, not by a long shot.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Lovely place!

The last time we were in Maui (of the two times we have been there) we rented a house in Hana and spent virtually the whole time there. We had only been there for a short time period (a day trip out and back on the Road to Hana) but we loved it so much that we felt it would be worth just planting ourselves there for a while.

We were right!

[RoseMorninStar]

We spent 3 days in Hana in a condo on the beach (we stayed a 3 different places on this trip). Three days was all I could get and we looked/booked 6 months in advance (there were 4 of us, which made it a bit more difficult). There is an awesome farm-to-table open air restaurant only a few miles from Hana now, absolutely delicious. Hana/SE Maui is in a category of it's own! There is so much to do there.
View from our condo & restaurant I mention.