The edge of summer

This is a late posting of my early summer photos. Our spring was very cool and damp. Here are some ramps I have in a damp area near a stone wall.

This photo was taken on 5/8/07 - four years ago.

Ramps are wild leeks.

Same ramps 4/8/09

Ramps again 4/15/10

And this year 5/12/11

Over 4' of snow still at the back of our house on 4/27/11

By 6/11/11 the Red Maples blossomed

Other flowers followed soon after.... 

Blood roots

We had a year for wood peckers. 

A Hairy Woodpecker Nested just off our deck in a 

poplar tree. She's doing the house cleaning.

And a Yellow -Bellied Sapsucker set up house just west of us.

The pair of loons on Hermit Lake reused a nesting spot from 3 years ago. They successfully hatched two chicks. One hatched 6/20/11 and the second 6/21/11.

By 6/26/11 there was only one chick. 

A week later, the surviving one had grown considerably independent.

I will close with a carnivorous Pitcher Plant flower blooming on the bog next to the Loon's nest.

I promise to have a new post up within a week.

Be on the lookout for those spectacular little butterflies. Chive blossoms are a favorite haunt. 

The Edges of Santo Domingo/ City Scenes

I apologise for the time lapse. I will try to do a weekly blog from now on. Seeing we started our trip in Santo Domingo, I thought I would begin with a more detailed look at the D.R. with scenes from the city.

We stayed with Clara and her family on the outskirts of the Capital. Each morning, we would take the hour ride into the city by car (maybe 15 miles).

I saw this man every day with a fresh load of fruits.

Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 2,253,437 in 2006. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. Founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1496, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World.

I was amazed at the beauty of the city.

There seemed to be murals popping up in every sector.

There was music everywhere. Some live.

In the colonial city, the feeling was very old Spain.

The oldest fort in the Americas.

The Cathedral was spectacular.

ThePlaces de Artes was beautiful. 

In the Museo del Hombre Dominicano we found masks of "Carnival"

Our ride on George Washington Avenue passed a Bunker Hill look-alike monument.

We ended the city stay with a great lunch at the Professor's Club.

Next stop ... the Family farms in the mountains. Check in next week!

Beautiful People of the Dominican Republic

We have returned from a "muy spectacularoso" trip to the Dominican Republic. This will be the first of a few posts on this most wonderful adventure. Our stay could not have happened without our buenos amigos whom we met through the Plymouth Writing Project. 

Santo Domingo is a vibrant non stop city.

We had muchos guias but our superior controladora was Clara with her esposo Woscar.
                
Two other famous guides and writers were Nelsy and Maximo. Gretchen and I visited classes when we met up with our friends Jen and Karen from Sant Bani School in Sanbornton, NH.

 It was a wonderful trip because of all the families we met through our "new family" connections. Here Hector introduces us to his niece and nephew. What Fun.

My Exhibition at U.A.S.D.(largest public university in Santo Domingo) also connected us with more wonderful people like Dean Maria Pilar and Profesor Agustin Cortes.

Our friend Albania and her two daughters gave us the Colonial City tour.

This is just the introduction. Please check back for the continuing D.R. adventures, including our wonderful tour with Dede at the Hermanas Mirabal, visits to the family farms in the mountains, beautiful faces of the city, and our trip to Samana.  Next installment in two days .

Now I'm "64"...

The Beatles are playing my song all year long.

"When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now

Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out 'til quarter to three, would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?
You'll be older too
Ah, and if you say the word, I could stay with you
I could be handy, mending a fuse when your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?"

   Yes, on January 5th I celebrated "The Day" with a ride around the lakes looking for eagles and other beauty to be found.

The ride was just right. Beginning with a ride around Laconia, I ended up at the Weirs. No birds but great changes in the weather and scenery.

Back home for lunch and a ride down to the Pemigewasset.

Great snow squall along Brook Rd.

Looking down the Pemi,

I found a lone Black Duck 

and a soaring Red-Tailed Hawk.

Walking deep in the hemlocks were 8 turkeys.

 Some of the photos now off to the Dominican Republic for my exhibit: "Nature Under Our Noses"

After delivering 25 photos to "The Courier", we went off on a great ride over the Kangamangus Highway.

 Too mountainous for Iceland but it felt like it.

Tallest Mountain in NH. Can you see the Weather Station?

Who waits for You? A greeting upon our return.

A Super Year so Far.