Category: Finger Lakes Region of New York State

Meadow Stream, winter

Meadow Idyll

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This water emerges from glacial marls, pure and clear, before flowing into a kettle pond. Here we see it on a winter afternoon meandering across a meadow before joining the Fall Creek of the previous postings of this week.

The first two are the same photograph. One has been enhanced in Photoshop. The other was perfected in Lightroom. The third is a different photograph taken about the same time, also peracted in Lightroom.

Winter Shadows
Winter Shadows

All were from a tripod mounted Kodak DSC pro SLR-C with the Canon lens EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

Winter Shadows
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Keuka Lake Winter I

Keuka, the crooked Finger Lake….

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Sunday, Pam and I travelled across the peneplanes, past three Finger Lakes, to reach the Dr. Konstantin Frank winery where we subscribe to the “Wine Club,” a quarterly release of three 750 ml wines along with a newsletter with information and recipes.  For 2018/2019 we elected to “pickup” our selections, looking forward to these drives through the country and villages between Ithaca and the winery perched on the west side of Keuka Lake, just below the “branch.”

Preeviously, I posted “Glacier!!” and today there is this photograph of glacial topography 10,000+ years after the melt.  Keuka Lake is shaped like a “Y” chromosome, here we are looking northeast across the “foot” of the “Y” from the west lakeside.  Above the evergreens, to the left, is the headland separating the “arms” of the “Y”. 

 Spread out below our viewpoint are row upon row of grapevines, enjoying the microclimate surrounding the deep lake.

Click this link for my Fine Art Photography gallery.

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Lighthouse Point 5

Sundry elements

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Uncategorized details from our Lighthouse Point adventures.

Seen from a resting place, a bench just off the trail and before the causeway.

A humble and fertile weed.

On a bright early November day Pam and I walked to Lighthouse Point. Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York

Before the parade of mast-like iron poles was this wooden one where it was apparent there could be no light on the white tower without power.

broken connections?
defunct controls

On top and under the surface

Look closely, children

One

Two

Three

A demon greeting

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Lighthouse Point 4

The Views are the Reward

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Here is the south end of Cayuga Lake on a bright November afternoon. Stewart Park is enjoyed by Ithacans year round.

Everyone is a fan of the Willows framing the lake views.

Can’t get enough of Stewart Park..

An unzoomed view, to give an idea of the distance across the water.

Pam and I have great memories of sailing this stretch from our years of membership in Cornell Family Sailing.

The east lake shore.

The West Lake Shore. This photograph captures the electric line that powers the Red Tower light. Seagulls enjoy that causeway…I’ve never seen humans walk it.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Lighthouse Point 3

At the White Tower

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The quarter mile jaunt over the causeway yields the reward of this view up the White Tower…..

…and this vantage of the Red Tower, the west shore of Cayuga Lake leading down to Crowbar Point in the distance, colored by Autumn.

The shore is privately owned, some lake houses are visible. To the right are moorings of the Ithaca Yacht Club.

A closer view of the Red Tower.

On a bright early November day Pam and I walked to Lighthouse Point. Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York

White Tower graffitti.

My thoughts exactly…

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Lighthouse Point 2

Causeway

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Post 1 of Lighthouse Point provided an impression of our hike along the golf course, from there we turned onto this wooded path on the shores of Cayuga Inlet.

First view of the paired Lighthouses marking the Cayuga Inlet. The white tower is connected to shore by a causeway something less than a quarter mile in length. The red tower marks the other side. These navigation guides allow boats to safely enter the channel exiting the south end of Cayuga Lake. The Erie Canal connects to the north end, allowing access to the Great Lakes and, eventually, the Atlantic Ocean.

The 4-foot-high step up to the concrete causeway path is an insurmountable obstacle to some. I managed to clamber over.

Looking back to shore….

Rusted iron poles support the electric line for the white tower. They remind me of ship masts.

The straight shot back to shore.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Lighthouse Point 1

Tree Atlas

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November 3rd, 2022, Blessed Us with an azure sky, an Indian Summer Day. During our walks on Cass Park Shorts we’d look across to see hikers emerging from the gold course to walk the Lighthouse causeway. After decades of longing, these Ithaca residents took upon themselves the adventure of finding the path and walking it. This series of posts documents the walk and some treasures discovered on the way.

Sycamore, aka Plane Tree

Willow on Cayuga Inlet and Newman Golf Course

might be another Sycamore on the golf course

An uncultivated Sycamore sprouting from the causeway leading to the lighthouse
“The reason Sycamores are also called “Buttonwood”. Children love to throw these seed heads at each other, sometimes “exploding”The reason Sycamores are also called “Buttonwood”. Children love to throw these seed heads at each other, sometimes “exploding” on impact
Sycamore leaf floating in Cayuga Inlet

Unidentified tree on golf course

Unidentified tree on golf course

Unidentified tree on golf course

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Colorful Hall

Northernmost, glaciated section of the Allegheny Plateau

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For my last autumn posting this last day of November 2022 this colorful hall of trees is on the long descent of Lacey Road from Cortland to Tioga Counties where it passes close the meeting point of three counties near the Robinson Hollow State Forest, the third being Tompkins County.

We are travelling south on a northernmost, glaciated section of the Allegheny Plateau. In the 19th Century a lawyer named Calvin J. Robinson was a prominent citizen of nearby Richford.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Road Transformation

sunlight, dappled shade

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South/Southwest view from the long hill into Harford, stopping to admire the effect of sunlight, dappled shade and bright yellow, orange, red against the distant ridge sheltering Robinson Hollow. Near Harford, Cortland County, New York.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Diorama Country

Happy Thanksgiving (USA) 2022

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A diorama of the Museum of Natural History, New York City, features this north view, first viewed as a young teen on a school field trip — the duplicated sight was imprinted on my memory. Over the years I passed this spot repeatedly for trips to Long Island for family Thanksgiving celebrations. October 22nd, 2022, the field was planted with soybeans ready to harvest. The rounded hill, a drumlin, finishing the left side of the ridge, is the “star” of this photograph and the diorama.

A drumlin, from the Irish word droimnín (“littlest ridge”), first recorded in 1833, is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine.

Same exposure cropped to remove road and poles to perfect the image.

I am not sure the north/northwest view is an improvement, as seen in the following photograph.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved