I'll be In the Mountains, So, I May not be able to Connect; But Carry On Nevertheless on Creative Arts Three Day Weekend
If anyone's inquiring as to my whereabouts, this is a likely place to check.
A Mountain Lake in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
© A. Mac/A.G.
RED BOX RULES: AN IMPORTANT REMINDER
From time-to-time, I should remind all members of NT, etc., that when posting photos, artwork, etc., it's important, when posting, that you own, and/or legally represent the licensing, copyright, etc., of what you post, and TO PROTECT YOUR WORK, TO INCLUDE YOUR COPYRIGHT SYMBOL/INFORMATION; and/or, WHEN POSTING COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY BELONGING TO PARTIES OTHER THAN YOURSELF, TO …
• BE SURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO POST, TRANSMIT, etc, SUCH PROPERTY, and,
• IF/WHEN SUCH PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED, TO PROPERLY AND CLEARLY ATTRIBUTE THE COPYRIGHTS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNER(S).
VERY IMPORTANT … IN THE FUTURE, I WILL REMEMBER TO POST THIS CAVEAT REGULARLY.
Thanks, A. MAC
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Asking Buzz to please take charge … I will look in if possible, but Buzz will hopefully monitor activity.
nice picture, and that's just the right time to fish, but really I don't see any mountains ...
The lake is in a valley with the Pocono Mountains.
I figured as much, but it's big fun for us from colorado to tease easterners about what they call mountains...
You would not call these mountains? (Not my picture)
I guess I'm not used to seeing mountains that have trees within 1K feet of their peaks...
They look like mountains to me - small mountains, perhaps, but still mountains.
Will do, of course.
Happy 4th of July!
Fireworks over Washington D.C. (© G. Gam)
A fitting celebratory image for the occasion.
The new office paludarium has been planted. No livestock yet...
a herd of small fish?
It’s pretty small so there won’t be many.
it doesn't exactly look escape proof for reptiles or amphibians...
Way too small for that. I was thinking about a Mexican dwarf crayfish, but it may even be too small for that. I’d be worried it would also crawl out somehow. Probably a few shrimp and a couple of male Endlers.
does the decorative materials used promote algae growth?
It gives it something to grow on, but doesn’t promote growth. Algae is a plant and like all other plants likes nutrients and light. There is a balance to each aquarium to keep healthy and looking good.
I was thinking a plexiglass lid and a couple of those amazon rain forest psychedelic frogs...
Morning...yeah put something exciting in there..I am sure there are some poisonous frogs or reptiles..I have a few suggestions...
Doesn't matter if they escape all adds to the excitement..
Yum crayfish always good with some butter and pepper..
In the Spring, love me some mudbug ettouffee or a mudbug boil, Vietnamese style with lemon grass, cilantro and fish source.
That wouldn’t work either, but it would be very cool. Someday I’ll do a vivarium with frogs o lizards.
Morning...I thought you already had one in there...
I know it's early morning here but could have sworn that looked like a snake in the middle of the tank hanging down... just above the statues head...
I need Vegemite for brekkie..
I had the shallow tank there. I brought that home and wlll start setting it back up.
Looks pretty wild to me.
By "wild" I meant jungle-like, not messy.
It should be somewhat like a rainforest. It is sort of experimental for me and if it works well I still have that 60g aquarium that leaked on me. I could reseal that and do something similar with a misting system built in.
Morning...a Winter's day here down the harbour..
Starting to look kind of cold.
Arvo..it has been really cold here well for us anyway..some mornings when I get up it 4c and the day temperature doesn't get about 13c..last two years I seem to notice the cold more..
But we haven't had the wind we normally cop.. been calm for days and weeks on end. Very unusual for us and I can easily get use to.. don't mind the cold but hate the wind..
You have something unusual happening, and so do we. Usually by this time it is so hot the air conditioning is a necessity. This year we still haven't needed to turn it on.
Here’s a fun iPhone feature you may not be aware of. Long exposure photos can be mimicked pretty simply, although mastering it takes some practice. If something is moving too fast (like a running dog) it just disappears from the photo. A sun powered hula girl works well though.
Well, others may have the phones that do all those fancy things, but I purposely bought a phone for the equivalent of US$60 that does what I need it for - tell me the time, use it to call and receive calls, use it to receive text messages but it's too hard for me to text such tiny keys, and a couple other things like an alarm, but it does have a very simple camera I have never used becasue I have a great camera that I prefer to use. No internet, no music, no movies and no other fancy stuff like using it to pay for something.
For me the iPhone is worth the money. I do almost everything on it that I used to do on a computer, plus a fine camera and editing software. Best part is that it’s always at hand - no going to a computer, booting it up, dealing with IT issues, etc.
These days I'm home most of the time, so the computer and the TV are with me. My wife is out a lot for tending her mini-farm and she does the shopping in person or on line so she has the most up-to-date smartphone. Of course we do go for walks and ping pong so I'm not a hermit or a prisoner.
Now, if we're talking mountains, these are the Karst mountains that I photographed while on a cruise down the Li River in Guanxi Province.
Large strata of limestone eroded by time and water.
Yes
I took a train ride in the Pennsylvania Mountains. Reading and Northern Railroad ran the Iron Horse Ramble pulled by a restored steam locomotive. Trip was from Nesquehoning (near Jim Thope, PA) to Tunkhannock 160 miles.
Locomotive 2102
She's a beauty. You're such a train afficionado, will they ever let you ride up front with the Engineer?
Trip went through some very nice scenery through the Lehigh Gorge, up and down mountains, by rivers, through tunnels and over bridges.
entering the Lehigh Gorge
The Lehigh River
I had a good time on this trip and enjoyed my visit to Pennsylvania
I would have loved to have taken that nostalgic trip with you. I go back to the time of steam locomotives and hearing their mournful whistle blow from a distance when I was in bed late at night at my grandmother's cottage.
This one of the best train rides I have had. Open window car, loud, powerful locomotive, fast running, Long ride, Like the old days. I'll take open car over first class in an air conditioned dome. 2102 has a nice deep whistle.
When I was a little boy I got to see the last of Norfolk & Western steam and later Norfolk Southern and other steam excursion programs
My grandmother's summer cottage was on the bay side of the long narrow beach strip that divided the westerly tip of Lake Ontario and Burlington (aka Hamilton) Bay. Down the middle of the strip ran the Queen Elizabeth Highway that went from Toronto to Niagara Falls, and a rail line usually used by the T.H.&B (Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo) Railway. On the lake side of the highway/railroad was the nice sandy beach. As kids we used to put pennies on the tracks to get them flattened out by the trains, and when the train had to stop because one of those big long ships delivering ore to The Steel Company of Canada was passing through the canal we would climb up on the open cars. The rail line used a swing bridge back then, since replaced with a lift bridge, and the bascule bridge for the highway was since replaced by a very high permanent bridge that all the boats and ships could pass under.
This image shows the new Skyway HIghway bridge and the new railway lift bridge. Lake Ontario is on the right, Burlington (aka Hamilton) Bay on the left. My grandmother's and all the bay side cottages were wiped out by the new widened highway. Her cottage was on the left up behind the canal about half way to the end of the strip. My uncle used to take me fishing on the left far side of the canal pier.
Never got to hear them in the wild, so to speak.
I have heard them in captivity, though.
My little hamlet is on the Hudson River. There was a train for passenger, freight, and mail that came up through the river valley. Then there were the trains that hauled ilmenite from Tahawus up near the headwaters of the Hudson. The ilmenite trains ran much larger and longer than the others. My hamlet that once had two oil companies, a bottling plant, multiple other stores and shops... It's all gone.
Been a few tries at resurrecting the train as an attraction. Currently on the "not" end of that.
Gosh. I sound like Eeyore.
I have an uncle who lives in the Hudson River Valley. When I've gone to NY to visit him I've taken the Hudson Line out of Grand Central Station in Manhattan. The town he lives in is about an hour and fifteen minute train ride from Grand Central. Really beautiful area.
The only train ride I've ever had in the USA or Canada was a special vintage train that went from Vancouver to Whistler and Blackcombe mountains, the ski resorts. It was a fabulous scenic ride. In fact i've never been on a train anywhere else in the world except China.
The 3 day weekend is done, so I'm now closing this article and expect that A.Mac will be back to run the show next weekend. Thanks to all who contributed.