Browsing:

Category: Animals

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.
(photo purge)

Airport knees. Because I still sit like a 10 year old. The tail end. Good for them! I like my tables etched with love. She’s clockin’ my Banh Me Salad at Black Mountain Wine House. Or the wine. I love my “new” hutch. Having to get it in two trips Read more…


Blessed Are The Intrepid, Day 18:
Wild Horses & Horseshoe Crab

Day 18 would be my last adventure… the Assateague Island National Seashore, the barrier island shared by Virginia and Maryland where feral horse roam freely. Wild horses. If that is not enough, the beach is beautiful and washes up a slew of shells. I hit the shoreline early as the Read more…


Blessed Are The Intrepid, Day 15:
Into the Wild Again

The day would start in a place far from where it would end, in West Palm Beach’s budding downtown–within its brightly colored murals and instagram opportunities, its hip eateries. In the span of just a few hours I was within Florida’s “Prairie”–its cowboy apparel stores, fields of grazing cows who Read more…


Blessed Are The Intrepid, Day 11:
On the Keys 🌈🏝️

After a day of convalescence, I was back on the road… but this time with a co-pilot! We would be heading south to the Florida Keys, a neat opportunity to drive off the continuous United States for some tropical beauty. An important stop on the itinerary was the Turtle Hospital Read more…


Blessed are the Intrepid, Day 9:
Everglades National Park

Today would take me to my 25th National Park! The only one of Florida’s three National Parks that is accessible by car, Everglades National Park. I also start my quick journey East. But first, a healthy breakfast at Delicious Raw Kitchen & Juice Bar in Naples. Like the name implies, Read more…


Blessed are the Intrepid, Day 8:
On a Boat to 10,000 Islands

A shelling excursion on a remote island only accessible by boat? Just: Yes. A quick drive to Marco Island would have me within the most beautiful hues of green and blue… and more shells. But also dolphins and an abandoned dome-shaped home. First I had some errands at the campsite. Read more…


Blessed are the Intrepid, Day 7:
Shells and Stars in Sanibel

Real quick: I photographed the gosh darned Milky Way 🌌 last night. I needed to say that first as it would not have happened if the earlier parts of the day played out differently. So the 2-hour traffic delay on the I-75, the extended shelling expedition at Bowman’s Beach, losing track Read more…


Blessed are the Intrepid, Day 6:
Florida, Finally

Blog back-up makes me uneasy.  Each day is a million adventures, so just two days ago is a million miles away.  But Day 6, yes.  Speaking to what I took pictures of is a helpful system, but it doesn’t indicate a lot of the important feelings I am having on Read more…


Blessed are the Intrepid, Day 4:
Sunflowers & Swamps

Today would be day of driving, mostly. Its daylight hours started in North Carolina and ended in Georgia… in a cabin in a swamp. Which means tomorrow I’ll be in Florida! And maybe I’ll get some consistent sun? It seems everyday I’ve had erratic weather. Mostly because I spent these Read more…


Beachin’ in Queens {Pictorial}
(Plus Storm Porn)


Beauty in the Boroughs:Staten Island
And Vegan Food

Do you know that fish fly in Staten Island? That birds have condos by the bay? That you can walk into a tree hallway and share the experience with no one but you and yours? And that it’s getting more vegan food… slowly. Yes, there are a lot of things Read more…


Cherry Blossoms in Green-Wood🌸
Cherry Blossom Cupcakes🌸

With two days of state exams and an awesome testing schedule, I spent my back-to-back free periods in my favorite place: Green-Wood Cemetery. It is crazy to think I first set foot into its grounds only a year ago. This time, peak flowering for its gorgeous trees would make it Read more…


Austin, The Not Food
Day 5 in Texas, Part 1

With only one full day in Austin, I had am ambitious “eatinerary.” So I had to also find things to within all those meals! A friend recommended checking out the Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin at the Blanton Museum of Art. Admission being free on Thursdays sealed the deal. I would look Read more…


Swimming With Fishies at Balmorhea State Park Pool
Day 3 in Texas, Part 1

Balmorhea’s wonderful freshwater pool filled with fishies is part of the San Solomon Springs and helps several endangered species of fish survive… and take little nibbles of me. It was a magical afternoon surrounded by these little guys and their cute faces. I took these pictures and video with my Read more…


Pet Sematary Screening

Watching an old and dear friend achieve Hollywood success is quite surreal. Watching them be swarmed by others in every direction… we basked in the love and added ours to it. And we also got star treatment, as special guests of Paramount Pictures, special guests of director Kevin Kölsch, at Read more…


Abandoned Sandy Hook, Gateway National Recreation Area

How have I never been to this place before?! Sandy Hook is part of Gateway, a National Recreation area that spans New York and New Jersey. I’ve explored the New York portions, Staten Island’s Fort Wadsworth, Jamaica Bay’s Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Dead Horse Beach in Queens, but I Read more…


Hurt People Hurt People.
Free People Free People.

Watching Thirteen is far more an emotional experience than the trite television offerings on other networks. I was watching this program that documented international wildlife doctors who nurse illegally trafficked animals to health then released them back into their natural habitats. Because the wild animals had been interacting with humans Read more…


Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island; And Some Vegan Food

I’m now totally convinced there is no bad weather for cemetery photography.  Today’s grey and mist was perfect to explore Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island’s oldest “active” cemetery.  Dating back to 1740, some of the weathered headstones are well-worn, broken, and strewn about.  But there are plenty of winged ladies.  Ladies Read more…


Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

As one of the first rural cemeteries in the country, Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a National landmark. Both of those distinctions landed it on my “to go” list. Fearing the impending winter and its weather-related travel restrictions, it was time for another day trip to the City Read more…


These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Cardinals in the Snow

I am enchanted by chubby male cardinals in the winter.  I can photo-stalk them for hours. Though my camera insists on trying to focus on the falling snowflakes, I got a few good shots. 


Heck No, Fairway.

When do I boycott a supermarket? When they send me this: Foie Gras is downright despicable. Like absolutely horrible in this kind of Dystopian way.  I will gladly fork over my ‘whole paycheck’ at Whole Foods who finds foie gras just as unacceptable as I do.


Birthday in Ulster County/Woodstock Farm Sanctuary

New York’s Ulster County is rich with worthy day trip destinations. And it is just far enough from the City’s hustle and bustle without being too much of a roundtrip drive. Because I have been visiting since I was in high school (My first serious boyfriend went to SUNY New Read more…


Autumn Delights: Harvest Moon and A Late Litter of Butterflies

October’s full moon is the Harvest Moon. This is a rare thing as the Harvest Moon is in September most of the time. I caught it on my way to work, bringing to mind Neil Young’s sweet song. I caught this gaggle of butterflies from the kitchen window that overlooks Read more…


Oh, Beautiful

Another day in one of our nation’s national parks, my #21, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. This park, like Shenandoah, feels more like home. Though spectacular they are, the geology of the western parks in their different biomes can be almost otherworldly. There is a slight uneasiness underneath Read more…


In the Blue [Shenandoah National Park]

Spoilet alert: By the end of this blog post, by the end of my day, I end up… in a cabin in the woods in the mountains within rumbling thunder, the lucky pile of wood between two very vocal mocking birds going on and on about something, perhaps the storm Read more…


Backyard Butterfly Break

After several less than active seasons, the butterfly bush has been all a-buzz this summer. So I broke in the new lens for my Nikon and got into the bush to photo-stalk some of the feasting creatures. Like this Monarch butterfly, a big flirt who seemed to content to playfully Read more…