Wordless Wednesday
Month: Aug 2024
Postcards from Around the World
Leaf Peeping in New England (5)
[Leaf peeping is an informal term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colours in autumn, particularly in northern New England]
When I was teaching it meant holidays could only be taken during the school holidays when it was more expensive and busy. And I couldn’t tag on to the OH’s conferences either. Which is why during one October half term we decided to do a fly drive holiday to the eastern side of the USA and do a spot of leaf peeping.
On our final day in the White Mountains the weather was decidedly against us, so we headed north on another circular loop taking us through Jefferson to visit Stark, a very small and quiet place, where we would find another of the wonderful covered bridges that I was becoming quite obsessed with.
It’s not just Stark itself that makes the trip worth it, it’s all of the towns, scenic stops, bridges and bodies of water you come across on the drive through the New Hampshire mountains.
After Stark we continued to Berlin and Errol over to the Umbagog Lake, hoping to find some colourful reflections.
After a brief stop we continued along the ME-26 into Maine and the Grafton Notch State Park, stopping off at Mother Walker Falls to stretch our legs.
Despite the weather it was an enjoyable day out. The roads around this area are well maintained and the views stunning. One last stop was in a rainy Jackson for, yes, you guessed it, another covered bridge.
Our last evening we drove down the road to a diner where I had nachos. I swear the plate I got could have fed a family of four, despite my best intentions the pile never seemed to go down! We had a fabulous stay in the White Mountains, but now it was time to head back to Boston and on to Cape Cod for the final part of this trip.
Wordless Wednesday
Postcards from Around the World
Leaf Peeping in New England (4)
[Leaf peeping is an informal term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colours in autumn, particularly in northern New England]
When I was teaching it meant holidays could only be taken during the school holidays when it was more expensive and busy. And I couldn’t tag on to the OH’s conferences either. Which is why during one October half term we decided to do a fly drive holiday to the eastern side of the USA and do a spot of leaf peeping.
This post is simply to show you the variety of autumn colours we were lucky to see on our drives around the White Mountain National Park. We stopped a lot! And one thing about American highways is that they provide a lot of stopping places as well as rest areas. So often in this country (UK) you see an amazing view from the car, but find there is no place to pull over safely.
Railway lines in the US fascinate me – especially the iron bridges over a river like this one. (Fourth Iron Campground over the Sawyer River on the US-302)
Greens and Golds
What’s in a Garden
Those of you who have followed me for a while will know that I am passionate about flowers, nature and gardens. In fact I even have a blog dedicated to them. Earth Laughs in Flowers is no longer being updated but it is a resource of my garden visits from around the world. Wherever I travel I seek out a garden.
“My garden is all overblown with roses,
My spirit is all overblown with rhyme”
~ Vita Sackville-West
So what can I say in a single post? What do gardens mean to me?
A lot of the pleasure of a garden of one’s own is nurturing the plants through their lives. Sowing seeds, watching them grow, making sure they have the right conditions, changing them if not. It’s a lot like having children or pets. You make mistakes. You learn. And when things go well, it makes you happy. And when they don’t you try again.
(Please click on an image to enlarge / scroll through the gallery)
Details
I like to visit other gardens for many reasons. Combining a walk in pleasant surroundings is one. Having a nosey around small gardens to pick up ideas of what might work in my own is another. Large estates often have stunning vistas too. Then there are the design features, colour combinations to copy, unusual plants to admire, tiny details picked up through the camera lens, a walled garden, a fragrant garden, an edible garden, a secret garden to explore, gardens to relax in and listen to nature: mindfulness.
Colours to admire
Design Ideas to inspire
Vistas
Somewhere to relax
The last words come from my favourite garden designer who says it much better than I can.
“I try for beauty and harmony everywhere, and especially for harmony of colour. A garden so treated gives the delightful feeling of repose, and refreshment, and purest enjoyment of beauty, that seems to my understanding to be the best fulfilment of its purpose; while to the diligent worker its happiness is like the offering of a constant hymn of praise.
For I hold that the best purpose of a garden is to give delight and to give refreshment of mind, to soothe, to refine, and to lift up the heart in a spirit of praise and thankfulness.”
~ Gertrude Jekyll (Wood and Garden)
Lens- Artists Photo Challenge #311 | What’s in a Garden
TRAVEL WORDS 