Little Pond 2006

Little Pond

July 2006

Blue Berries. Not blueberries. The consensus was that these were poisonous. The fern leaves in the background are not the plant from which the blue berries grew.

Crepidotus_applanatus. This shelf fungus was growing on a fallen log. The air was so damp that steam was coming off them, even though they were cool to the touch.

Dragonfly. These came out in the sunlight at a little pond in the back of my campsite. This is not THE Little Pond, which has canoing and swimming. I wasn't happy with this shot. The dragonflies would not land on a nearby stick at which I had my camera pointed. One landed on a branch near the tree stump in the next shot. I did not see -- and neither did the dragonfly -- a small frog below the branch. As I watched, with my camera pointing elsewhere, the frog leapt into the air, spun around, grabbed the dragonfly and swallowed it whole. Nature raw in tooth and claw. It was over before I could react.

Psathyrella. This was off the yellow hiking trail. It's a gilled mushroom, based on what I could find on the Internet. I'm not sure that I have the species right. It evoked images of fairies and elves. If anyone viewing this has the correct identification, please e-mail me.

Frog. Here's one of those frogs in the little pond. This is not the one that got the dragonfly, as you can gather from the absence of a big smile on its face.

Ramaia stricta. Or coral mushroom. This one was also growing on a downed tree on the side of the yellow hiking trail. Again, I'm not certain that I have the correct species name.

Bubble on a fern. There's a story behind this. Last year, I brought bubble water up for the nieces and nephews. One of my sisters beat me too it. When I tried to give mine out, the kids didn't want it. So I brought it back this year. The moment didn't present itself. The air was so moist on Saturday morning that bubbles lasted minutes on end. They would land on stuff and not pop. I used Photoshop to take my reflection out of this one. Otherwise, I would have called it "Self Portrait".

Lonesome fireplace. This is all that remains of a structure on the shore of Little Pond. Speculation has it that it was once part of a country manor or hunting club. Still other speculation has it that it is a stand-alone structure that it is all that remains of a long exinct sub-species of Po Bear that were distinguished from the main branch in that they preferred their non-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich-wielding-and-walking-alone-in-the-woods children cooked rather than raw.

The family camped at NY State's Little Pond campground this year. It's the first time in more than 30 years that we did not camp at nearby Beaverkill, which was closed due to damage from spring flooding. Click here to see why. Little Pond was very moist. Ferns and fungi were common. So were mosquitos. There were some wild flowers, but they were too small to photograph without at macro lens. It was also challenging to get close enough to birds. When I did, they wouldn't sit still long enough to get a shot. The background tiling for this page was taken some of the fern that proliferated at Little Pond. The images on this page are low resolution. High resolution shots (8 megapixel) are available. E-mail me.
	Blue Berries. Not blueberries. The consensus was that these were poisonous. The fern leaves in the background are not the plant from which the blue berries grew.
	Crepidotus_applanatus. This shelf fungus was growing on a fallen log. The air was so damp that steam was coming off them, even though they were cool to the touch.
	Dragonfly. These came out in the sunlight at a little pond in the back of my campsite. This is not THE Little Pond, which has canoing and swimming. I wasn't happy with this shot. The dragonflies would not land on a nearby stick at which I had my camera pointed. One landed on a branch near the tree stump in the next shot. I did not see -- and neither did the dragonfly -- a small frog below the branch. As I watched, with my camera pointing elsewhere, the frog leapt into the air, spun around, grabbed the dragonfly and swallowed it whole. Nature raw in tooth and claw. It was over before I could react.
	Find the frog.
	Psathyrella. This was off the yellow hiking trail. It's a gilled mushroom, based on what I could find on the Internet. I'm not sure that I have the species right. It evoked images of fairies and elves. If anyone viewing this has the correct identification, please e-mail me.
	Frog. Here's one of those frogs in the little pond. This is not the one that got the dragonfly, as you can gather from the absence of a big smile on its face.
	Ramaia stricta. Or coral mushroom. This one was also growing on a downed tree on the side of the yellow hiking trail. Again, I'm not certain that I have the correct species name.
	Bubble on a fern. There's a story behind this. Last year, I brought bubble water up for the nieces and nephews. One of my sisters beat me too it. When I tried to give mine out, the kids didn't want it. So I brought it back this year. The moment didn't present itself. The air was so moist on Saturday morning that bubbles lasted minutes on end. They would land on stuff and not pop. I used Photoshop to take my reflection out of this one. Otherwise, I would have called it "Self Portrait".
	Lonesome fireplace. This is all that remains of a structure on the shore of Little Pond. Speculation has it that it was once part of a country manor or hunting club. Still other speculation has it that it is a stand-alone structure that it is all that remains of a long exinct sub-species of Po Bear that were distinguished from the main branch in that they preferred their non-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich-wielding-and-walking-alone-in-the-woods children cooked rather than raw.