The hot summer sun slowly sinks into the West and I can feel the coolness of the night sweep across the Lake. On the other shore near the sunset I can hear the doors of cars shutting as the engines pur to life and the swimmers make their way home. The smell of food cooked over an open flame lingers in the air. Small birds begin to skim across the water catching insects. The bird songs soon give way to the chirping of crickets and the occasional sound of a treefrog close to the shore. Deeper into the woods the hair raising cry of a screech owl rings out as he challenges his rivals for territory. Soon the evening star raises over the mountains signaling an end to the day. The headlights of my big blue truck come to life when I use the remote to unlock the door. It’s time to ease back up the gravel road and go process the images of the day.
Tag: quiet time
Peek-a-boo With A Moth
Have you ever had that feeling that you were being watched? I’m often amused by the reaction of wildlife when the human walks into their domain as if he owns the place. I’ve noticed that animals seem to go out of their ways to watch the people. The little moth in the feature image it only wondered out of her hiding place in broad daylight but actually landed in font of my lens and leaned out from the blade of grass as if to say “peek-a-boo!”. We expect our pets to have a personality and it’s not surprising to see larger mammals exhibit playfulness but I never expected that from an insect. She did her little peeking routine for me a few more times and then fluttered back into the trees. I hope my next excursion into nature is just as fruitful.
Lover’s Leap Trail at Hawks Nest State Park in Ansted West Virginia
Our mountains are full of little trails. Pictured here is the Lover’s Leap Trail at Hawks Nest State Park in West Virginia. The legend tells of a Native American couple who would rather leap from the high cliffs than be separated. As you descend down the winding pathway, ancient and majestic trees line the sides of the rustic staircase. The walk down is easy but if you have long legs and large feet like me, the spacing is a little off and it’s easy to fall down. It isn’t until you look back up the trail that you really notice how steep the climb back will be. You might be tempted to turn around and climb back out early but don’t. As we’ll see in tomorrow’s post the view is well worth the effort.
Images of Oak Island North Carolina 2018
I have just finished editing my images of Oak Island North Carolina. At almost 50 years old I prefer the quiet beaches and small town feel as opposed to the large commercialized beaches. This area is teeming with wildlife. The brown pelicans make regular patrols up and down the beachfront as they foraged. I wasn’t really able to dedicate as much time to setting up photos as I wanted to so most of the images are shot from the hip during our daily walks along the shore or from the balcony of the condominium. (I highly recommend South Shores Villa, they were awesome!) I hope you enjoy the slideshow. I plan to use the images individually in the future.
Lloyds Lens Photography: Images of Oak Island North Carolina
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A Couple Of Stories From Summersville Lake
Summer should be spent on or around boats. Summerville Lake in West Virginia is a great place to be a teenager with a boat. It was just a little day cruiser with a small cabin but it was an adventure machine. We did the usual stuff with it. Fishing and white I never mastered the art of water skiing we did have a knee board that was a lot of fun. Perhaps the most interesting knee board story would be the time I didn’t quite get my shorts properly secured. The way to start off on a knee board is in the prone position. Dad hit the throttle and the boat was running particularly well that day. Yup, pulled me right out of my swim trunks on a crowded lake! I dove as deep and as fast as I could. I could almost touch them but I was running out of air and had to surface. Head only of course. I spent the rest of the day wearing a brightly coloured towel as a loincloth and in fear of breeze created by a boat at full throttle. Most of the time we just puttered up river (The Gauley River runs underneath the lake.) Into one of coves and when the fishing wasn’t really all that great we’d have a swim. Camping isn’t allowed on the shore except in designated areas but you can anchor off shore and spend the night on your boat. One morning we was cruising out to a quiet spot on the lake and encountered a lady who was totally freaking out. We thought maybe she was in trouble so we pulled along side their boat to offer assistance. She produced a broken fishing rod. A large one similar to the ones used to fish the shore of the ocean. The rod was broken at the base and the hook was pulled out straight. She had experienced one of the monster catfish from the very bottom of the lake. The Department of Natural Resources maintains that these unnaturally large fish do not exist but we have certified Scuba Divers who will not dive Summersville Lake after spotting one. Life on Summersville Lake is an awesome experience. I hope to see you there sometime and be sure to bring good strong fishing tackle. You might be the one who pulls a monster out of one of submerged caves.
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