New England In Black & White

Yesterday, I awoke to a pretty sunrise and a winter wonderland. The sky eventually cleared, so I took a drive out into the farm country near my home. I saw a Sharp Shinned Hawk, a Merlin, and a Red Tailed Hawk while I was out driving, but they were too far away to take pictures. Other than that, there wasn't much else to see, so I took few scenic shots with my camera and came home. Later in the afternoon, it began to snow heavily again. In no time at all, the roads were white.

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For a change of pace, today, I've decided to post a few pictures that show the area where I live. This is typical New England farmland in my neck of the woods, with rolling hills, old rustic barns, and while the area where I live isn't exactly wide open spaces, there is a co-existence between man and wildlife. As always, wildlife has had to do the adapting, of course. But it seems to work. These are some of the places I go when I take pictures of the bird and animal life that are shown within these pages.

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I used a filter on the pictures, so rather than showing the standard color shots, a bit of black and white today! I prefer to shoot in color, but every now and then, it's fun to see something in black and white. The picture at the top left is of a gnarly looking tree by the side of the road that looks very spooky at night when there is a full moon.

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. This is a farm I visit quite often because at certain times of the day, the sunlight hits it just right for taking pictures.

A close up view of some of the implements around it

A Northern Cardinal - It sure looks different in black and white, doesn't it?

A long fence and a gazebo.

A country road

An old barn

Some of our Canadian residents - Canada Geese

A house in the country

An old carriage in the yard

Another old barn

Old Fashioned Horse Drawn Dump Rake

A friendly cow - came right up to the fence for a head "scritch"

A fruit and veggie stand closed for the season

And, coming home, this is a waterfall that is above the brook in my backyard and feeds into it.

Tomorrow the world returns to color. ;-)

The White Mountains In Winter

Republished from the archives


Since it's the weekend, I'm taking a break today from the "Favorites of 2007", and have decided to post some pictures of a place with worse winters than where I live.
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My Dad lives in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, and when I'm there, I enjoy seeing the rural scenery, beautiful mountains, and traveling along the Kancamagus Highway. I couldn't imagine visiting there and not taking a drive along the "Kanc." The beauty of the scenery defies description, especially in the winter. The first picture, to the left and above is of the Swift River, all snowy and white.

Below are a few pictures from that area. I like taking color pictures that look like they are black and white. Easy to do in winter, especially when a storm approaches, like it did on this visit.

Driving along, there are many rural scenes such as this. The setting sun was providing some good light for this one

Lake Winnipesaukee is calm and beautiful. A great tourist area.

There is beautiful mountainous scenery, with lakes, rivers and snow - lots of snow

I'm not fond of snow, but for some reason, I don't seem to mind it as much when I am there

I guess it's because the snow enhances the beauty of the area even more. This is a road that winds through the mountains, twisting and turning, and with each curve in the road, another pretty scene is revealed

Evergreen trees are everywhere, with branches laden with snow

A fallen tree over a mountain stream catches my eye

Snow covered rocks in a stream

A pretty scene

The snowbank in the foreground was taller than me

Lake Winnipesaukee Belle, a turn-of-the-century paddle-boat

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A park along the lake

Driving toward the mountains, as a storm approaches

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Mount Washington on a snowy day

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A view of a mountain range

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The mountains play backdrop to the river in the foreground