5: Winter Textures

As excited as I am to escape Vermont for warmer, more southerly climates on our upcoming road trip, I will definitely miss the perma-snowed-in vibe of winter in the Great White North.

With everything covered in approximately 12 inches of old crusty snow, finding fresh winter textures was a bit difficult, so I bent my own rules to include some seasonal pretties.

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Cat prints in the snow! Too cute.

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Birch bark + lichen + moss + snow = beautiful!

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Hemlock boughs heavy with snow

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Moss on macro. I am in LOVE with this picture.

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Snow on the back porch steps.

Bonus

A tarp covering our boat laced with icicles.

PS, check out my fall textures here! Hope you have a great holiday!

5: Iceland Inspiration

It's hard for me to think about Iceland without getting my heart rate up. I was fortunate enough to spend a month there when I was in school and I still think about that trip as kind of the BEST adventure of all time.

You all know how studying geology is kind of like majoring in adventure, right? Well, us lucky bastards got to circumnavigate the whole freaking country by bus! Stopping to camp, hike glaciers, and check out those natural wonders I can't get enough of - for school credit!

So, here is some Iceland Inspiration for your Thursday: 5 Awesome Places in Iceland!

One - Mývatn

Mývatn, which means "Midge Lake", is located in northern Iceland and is the home to craters caused by steam explosions, migratory birds who LOVE to gobble up the never ending swarms of hatching flies, and Hverfell, the 2,500 year old tephra cone volcano. But don't let the swarming bugs sway you, Mývatn is an excellent jumping off point for the Dimmborgir, "dark catsles", area - a sweeping lava field of craggy formations.

Two - Landmannalaugar

If you are young and have been adventuring in Iceland, you have probably been to Landmannalaugar. There is an extremely popular hiking trail through there, in the Icelandic highlands, through rhyolite mountains and obviously complete with hot springs to bath in.

Three - Hólar

Okay, you probably will never get to Hólar, and I probably will never get there again, but it absolutely holds a torch in my heart. We stayed at the agricultural college there and as far as I could tell, there wasn't much else to do in this town with a population of 100. We did drink from the healing pool at the 300 year old church though. 

Four - Reykjavik

We actually saw Björk when we were in Reykjavik. We also hung out with sketchy strangers, stayed up all night and bought snacks from the 1011. Even as wild American tourists, the city was very welcoming and accessible for us, easy to walk around and had excellent lighting - you know, because of that solar night thing they have happening there! Oh, and don't forget to hike Esja.

Five - Vatnajökull

I could have said "Vatnajökull Glacier" so you would know what I am talking about, but that would be redundant. In Icelandic, "Vatna" means lake and "Jökull" means glacier. So here we have the Glacier of Lakes! Which is the biggest glacier in Iceland and host to all sorts of amazing sights. We hiked, Flaajökull, a glacial tongue, took a tour through the Jökulsárlón, or "glacier river lagoon", and camped at Skaftafell National Park, home to Skaftafoss, the famous columnar jointed waterfall. (Pro tip: "Foss" means waterfall!)

There is a reason we always sing:

"Iceland is a nice-land

Don't wanna go once

I wanna go twice-land!"

I also have some more fun pictures on my Flickr if you want to check it out: N-Iceland

And feel free to drop a line if you need come travel recommendations in Iceland!

5: Fall Textures

Snow is in the forecast, guys, but for now, let's try to focus on some fall colors and other seasonal niceties like apple cider and brisk hikes. 

I set out to try and capture fall along my stream bank up close and personal. What I got were a few lovely textures that perhaps I can hold onto once we are again covered in that wintry white. 

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 Can you guess what #4 is up close and personal on? Hint.

5: The Lamb Roast

Last weekend, we hosted a party that featured a thirtieth birthday bash and a whole lamb roasted on a spit. You may not want to look any further if the sight of a whole, skinned ungulate makes you squeamish. It certainly didn't to my friends, who grinned like madmen while they stuffed the beast with seasonal veggies. The only thing they were upset about was that the butcher didn't include the head!

What ensued was a whole lot of eating, dancing, live music provided by Apel and Pellz Bellz, deep frying, day drinking, roasting, and did I mention eating? Because at one point I had to excuse myself from the kitchen because the sight of food was making me queasy. Yes, I was that full. And we have a deep fryer now. What the what?? 

Off the menu: deep fried buffalo Brussels sprouts, Filipino fried rice, pulled pork collard greens, grilled mackerel, chicken and caramelized onion waffles featuring maple sriracha sauce, and oh so many deep fried treats. Oh, and of course our perfectly roasted whole lamb on a spit.

Man, city kids really get after it when you let them loose in the country for the weekend, don't they? 

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Friends who kill it at the electric guitar certainly take jamming around the campfire to a new level!

5: Swans-a-Swimming

 
Actually, it was more like ten swans-a-swimming. And to get even more technical, it was a Mute Swan mom and dad plus their very impressive brood of eight teenagers. So cute! Would you believe that this little familial unit lives in right in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts? 

These ten swans are very tenderly cared for by the man whose pond they live in. It's actually a really small pond, so he supplements their diet when the algae becomes thin and he even goes so far as to feed the resident snapping turtles as well so they don't become tempted to eat the cygnets in their vulnerable stages. And so eight healthy adult swans will enter the urban ecosystem because of him. That's love.

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Mute Swans and are considered an exotic and introduced species to North America.

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Swans mate for life.

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This swan is "busking", which means that it is adopting a defensive stance with wings half-raised and hissing at me to go away so his family can eat peacefully.

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Mute Swans are known for being quieter than other species of swans. They whistle, snort, and grunt to communicate.

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Swans are very aggressive. They have knobby spurs in their wings called cobs which they will use to attack and defend their territory.

Bonus

Because swans are really epic creatures and when you see ten of them all together you can't stop taking pictures.

5: Underwater Photos

Since it is dreary and chilly today in Vermont and swimming season is quickly becoming quaint nostalgia for me, I want to share my 5 favorite underwater photos taken this year. I used AGP's  FujiFilm FinePix XP60 (in black), which is waterproof, freeze proof, shock proof, and sand proof. All in all, a perfect adventure camera! (Even if it doesn't take the greatest overall photos - which is why you might notice some of my most recent pictures are kind of grainy).

Swimming with a camera is such a novel (and stressful) experience. I still can't simply plop it down in a stream or lake without thinking, is this really okay?!? But I do anyway. Underwater photos, away!

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Finding crawdads in northern streams is my jam. This little guy tried to hide, but I caught him (on film) anyway. Freshwater crustaceans? Just about the coolest. 

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 Lily pads from underneath. I love the colors here.

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I became obsessed with snapping the perfect half/half shot. This one of lily pads and evergreens is my favorite.

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Another half/half shot of AGP's dad in his beloved row boat. 

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 This shot is me underwater looking up. A natural fish eye effect!

Note: all of these photos were taken at the pond!