Miscellaneous shots 2012 #3

That's funny! I wish I had a way to move and place big beauties like they have...

i hear that!

Went with my son's class on his field trip to the cranberry bogs, very informative...I had fun

Didn't realize Jersey had bogs....I've seen them on the Cape...also right by Karen's house....nice photo of the egret....

I went to the bogs once. Very informative. Pine barrens are loaded with bogs. Glad you had a great day!

New Jersey is the #3 producer of cranberries in the country, the one farm we were at they sell directly to Wegman's and Whole Foods the rest goes to Ocean Spray

Was so fascinated how they harvest them, the dry harvested ones are the cranberries you find in the produce section in the bags while the wet harvested ones are the ones in sauces and juice cause they need to wash them more thoroughly cause there may be bacteria in the water
In the late 1800's to the early 1920's they handpicked them they needed over 600 people, then they invented a scooper/picker it was cut down to 150, with the invention of machines to do the job now ONLY 15 people are needed!!!!!

wow.. good and not good

Didn't know about the wet & dry ones...makes sense though...

I'm going to butt in, and drag the discussion back out west...

Marianne (my better half, and confectioner extraordnaire) and I spent a week and a half touring around the northeasterly quarter of Arizona, after my ASLA national conference in Phoenix. It was over 100F every day during the conference, but much nicer temps throughout our travels around the Colorado plateau during early October.

1. Saguaro cactus, like, right there along the side of the road.
2. Welcome to Boyce Thompson Arboretum!
3. Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana) with very small foliage and exfoliating bark
4. Marianne - captivated by cacti...
5. Simple shelter housing an artistic bench

More from the Boyce Thompson Arboretum...

1. Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)
2. I'm pretty sure this is a female tree...
3. Saguaro flower
4. This plant - Curly Mallee (Eucalyptus gillii) - was the early fall insect magnet. Note mini-incoming on right...
5. Big ol' flowering spike of Desert Spoon (Dasylirion wheeleri)

Another Boyce Thompson Arboretum set:

1. Words of wisdom...
2. Scat!
3. Marianne's desert southwest dream home - the Thompson residence: Prickly Post
4. Pomegranate
5. All that is old...is new again.

loved the tour VV!!... thanks!!!... the scat made me giggle

Thanks...great photos....would love to visit there some time.....

Oh how lovely VV!!

Words of wisdom for sure.

Nice VV

How did I miss it? Thanks for sharing your AZ pics, very pretty, want to visit but not live there I like my green grass

very nice VV!

We are just back from Italy where we visited Verona, Venice, Dolomites, Lake Como (Bellagio), and Milan. Will post some pic's later after sorting through them.

The first here is during a break in the rain in Venice that had the gondola's parked. A nice restaurant in Verona (sorry VV did not record the wine consumed just trust that it was a nice Valapochella from the Piedmonte area), and hiking in the Dolomites. This was the first snow of the year and as we where only here for three nights the wife was a true storm trooper go above tree line with me!

This message was edited Oct 22, 2012 1:15 PM

Cindy gets a gold star for that! What a nice trip...have been to Lake Como...loved it!

Nice! was wondering where you were

wow nice Bill.. Cindy looks so happy in that 1st pic.. good for her to brave that.. I would have told you to pound salt

;)

Cool Bill, sounds like it was a great trip!

Looking forward to more pics of your awesome trip.

Nice Bill! Your wife is a trooper all right, I would have been in the lodge, no snow for me!

What Bill doesn't say speaks volumes...

Above tree line in the Dolomites with spouse: means "no trees in the way of stone selection, and an extra person to tote them back down"

Nice restaurant in Verona with Valpolicella: means "need extra energy and passion (wine) to haul stones tomorrow"

Smiling spouse in Venice and Lago di Como: means "lots of water in which to submerge husband with all those excess stones"

Now Marianne is flooded with memories of past visits - and how long it's been. I owe you one, Bill.

VV I should have said Amore Valpolicella wine - yes i did bring one small memento home in the form of a rock :)

Busted!

The pebble doesn't fall far from the talus slope...

Bill, you are too much...can't believe you smuggled a rock out of Italy! Jen, those are wonderful photos!

Only one small paper wieght sized rock and from our second day hike at lower elevations. Above tree line was not an option as this picture shows.

Here are some of our Italy pictures.

1. The Grand Canal outside the train station - This was a day trip by train from Verona, we were lucky to get our train tickets when we arrived as the train system went on strike at 9PM and we got the last train out. A group from Cindy's work did not know this and had a 4 hour trip back to Verona at a 230 Euro expense!
2. Is St. Mark's.
3. View from the bell tower
4. Gondola's in the rain
5. It rained hard at times and this was the result.

We got back to Verona at 9PM and ate at this "hidden gem" restaurant according to the guide book. Very nice meal and wine.

Next day we were off to pick up the rental car where I learned that my license had expired and Cindy would have to drive to her great delight. So off we go to the Dolomites where I learned the gas peddle on the passengers side does not work. It sure does take a long time to drive on those S curves going up and down. I think every car and truck passed us - i digress...............

1. Is a postcard view of a small villa on the way.
2. The sun was out when we arrived just after noon and then the clouds came in.
3. The hike in the rain and snow.
4. Coming back down where the snow/rain line was.

Neither of us had waterproof hiking shoes or pants - very wet - our room looked like a chinese laundry with hair driers used to get the shoes dry. Also my camera got wet and stopped working for the rest of the day and only dried after i hung it next to the radiator the next morning. Some anxious hours to say the least!

The next morning the sun was out and we hiked to some falls. Had some nice views with some foliage. Leaves on the trail made for a nice walk and the woods where nicely managed. Which was good for Cindy as there were many bear warnings and she could see for some distance.

We stayed in Madonna di Campiglio which is one of Italy's major ski resorts, we were about the only visitors there. They had some interesting planters made from stone with dwarf conifers planted. Might have to give this are try.................?

Here are just a few random shots from the afternoon. Mountains are cloud magnets in the afternoon.

The second shot is of a valley and the third is a zoom shot of a small farm that can barely be made out in the second picture.
Similar shot on the forth and fifth pictures as the clouds parted.

A four hour drive got us to Lake Como and Bellagio where we visted the Villa Melzi gardens that afternoon. Where I found a pond surrounded by jm's!

Here are some random shots. For a sense of scale notice image 4 and the gardener trimming. We visited 3 garden Villa's during our stay, all must be fantastic in the spring as they had a large number of huge azalea, rody's, and magnolia. Melzi was the finest garden in my opinion.

After the very steep hiking in the Dolomites, the streets of Bellagio where no picnic either!

Notice the car in image two, I had to convince Cindy this was a car accessible street we needed to drive down to get to the hotel. Pedestrians needed to jump into store fronts to move out of the way.

The next morning we went to Villa del Balbianello which sits out on a peninsula as you can see in the first picture. The gardens where well maintained and neat although they were not the arboretum of Villa Melzi. It did offer fantastic views and was filled with sculptures and very old vines trained to crawl of the buildings. The tour of the villa house is well worth the time. It was last owned by a famed Italian explorer and collector and is excellent.

This message was edited Oct 23, 2012 9:58 AM