Good Morning Mr. or Mrs. Owl

I was quietly walking the path in the woods in Valley Forge yesterday looking for the owl.  As I was looking up, there he was looking down at me on a very low branch with eyes wide open.  So close he took my breath away.  I whispered, "Please just stay there while I set up my tripod and take your picture." As I bent down to look through the view finder, he was gone -disappeared silently in an instant.  I looked around and there he was on a much higher branch a few yards away.  I asked him to please hold on and let me get a better vantage point.  He said O.K. and I stepped over a few fallen logs, set up my tripod, talked to him a little more and took his picture.  Oh, this beauty - hope there is a family coming soon to the woods in Valley Forge.

Harrier - Hands Up

Cardinal in the Snow Today in Valley Forge

The Flying Squirrel

Bluebird on a Curved Branch

Carolina Wren and Three Leaves

The Volunteer

The Eyebrow Kisser

Downy Out on a Limb

Deer, Deer Everywhere

Yesterday I got to Valley Forge just about dusk.  The deer were already playing in the big meadow.  Two boys dueling in the snow, one in the woods with very tiny antlers and two big bucks in perfect light.  Great way to end the day.

Fox and the Deer and Battling Bucks

I was sitting on a log at the edge of the woods looking down into the meadow at dusk when all of a sudden the action started.  First a group of doe came out of the woods onto the snow and then a fox appeared and nobody was startled.  If that had been a coyote I think it would have been a very different scene.  Then a few minutes later a group of buck still with their antlers in tact  came out of the woods into the meadow and two of the big guys began butting heads.  Oh Valley Forge - a wonderful wonderland.

Yumiko Graduates a Semester Early!!!!

It's New Year's Day here in St. Davids and there is so much to be thankful for.  If I can brag again, my baby girl, Yumiko is all grown up and just finished New York University a semester early cum laude and I am so darn proud of her!  And I know her Dad is too.  We went out to Valley Forge last night to say Happy New Year to Ken whose bench was covered in snow - but his three pennies and a dime were still there!!  After that we took a quick stop to take a picture of the full moon and Yumiko standing on a cannon at her mother's insistence.  Happy New Year every body.