Still life and stillness
I described Jennings Pond to Pam and we returned together. Here is a photographic essay from that day, one of a series.
The first image is the small concrete dam, taken from the footbridge over the pond outlet, source for Buttermilk Creek.
Picnics on the berm
I described Jennings Pond to Pam and we returned together. Here is a photographic essay from that day, one of a series.
A gathering autumn glory
I described Jennings Pond to Pam and we returned together. Here is a photographic essay from that day, one of a series.
Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
No Swimming!?
“Jennings Pond,” is a song, celebrating swimming.
Here is a photographic essay on the subject of swimming at Jennings Pond this October afternoon.
Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
when the elms blazed a glorious yellow.
A staircase leading to the Fillmore Glen Gorge
on a perfect October evening
when the elms blazed a glorious yellow.
Filled with Golden Elms
Fillmore Gorge is full with slippery elms.
The constant infall of the gorge keeps these trees small.
Once a year, for a few days, all the elms turn at once. We were lucky to visit at the perfect moment.
The elms blaze yellow for a day or two, early October.
Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Double Irony
Baker Laboratory dates back to World War I. With 200,000 square feet of space, the lab is home to Cornell’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, the Chemistry Research Computing Facility, the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility, and the Advanced ESR Technology Research Center (whew!!).
On the right, on a knoll, is a European beech tree (Fagus sylvatica). The Latin name holds a double irony. Standing, alone, high above East Avenue on the Cornell campus (sylvatica means “of forests”) as a memory of the forests growing above Cayuga Lake is a being once worshiped as a god. In Celtic mythology, Fagus is the god of beeches.
A maple is on the left, genus Acer of unknown species. I recognize it from the shape.
Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
First to flower, first to turn
The Red Maple (Acer Rubrum) is tolerant of diverse conditions, making it a perfect choice for this spot on the short of Beebe Lake.
Even though it is not a “Sugar Maple, early spring, the sap can be boiled down to syrup.
The first to flower in spring and the first to turn in autumn.
This maple turns from the top down and is already bare for most top branches.
the largest and brightest yellow canopy on Libe Slope.
Cornell University is on a west-facing hill above Cayuga lake. Libe Slope is between the West Campus and Quadrangle / Libraries.
Besides the exercise of walking the 18 degree incline several times each day, Cornell students and alumni remember The Slope for autumn color.
Built in 1868, McGraw Hall has the honor of having the first of Cornell’s towers. The building is built of Ithaca stone and is home to the American Studies Program, Department of History, Department of Anthropology, and Archaeology Intercollege Program. The first floor of McGraw Hall houses the McGraw Hall Museum, a collection of roughly 20,000 objects from around the globe used for teaching by the Anthropology Department.
This is a Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), the largest tree according to a 2009 Campus Tree Inventory (see link, below).
I remember this hickory for the contrast between the canopy and trunk, the way the clumps of yellow hang from dark boughs. An overcast day is the best to capture this spectacle. October 20, 2012 provided both bright sun and dark, rolling autumn clouds. I waited on the north side, sheltered from the glare of the sky, for these perfect moments.
The pignut hickory is native to these Eastern United States. It is known to favor moist slopes and this specimen has thrived on The Slope. The ground beneath it is thick with nuts.
Just one week later, late afternoon on a sunny Friday as hurricane Sandy approached the east coast the hickory has fewer, tawny golden leaves.
References
A Photo Tour of Key Buildings at Cornell University by Allen Grove
Websites
Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Autumn at Treman Park
Pam and I visited Treman for our last visit of 2017. It was a bright, warm October afternoon. Here is a slide show of our experience, the details shared in recent postings. Enjoy!!
In November the gorge is closed for the winter due to dangerous conditions under the steep, crumbling walls. Robert H. Treman New York State Park.
1975 University of Arizona alumnus recounts annual homecoming trips and an encounter with a haunted ranch.
In my Homecoming Parade 2003, I described my initial reconnection with the University of Arizona (U of A) as a 1975 graduate and alumnus. This personal project of involvement with U of A and Arizona continued through 2011 with annual autumn trips to coincide with Homecoming. The travel was as a CALS (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) Alumni Board of Directors member, a primary responsibility was raising funds for scholarships.
I met, Linda Kelly, the owner of the Triangle T Guest Ranch, while camping in the Chiricahua Mountains. I arrived a week before homecoming to photograph the landscape, nature and rock formations of the Chiricahua National Monument. Click this link for my Arizona Online gallery, including some work from that time. Linda and a friend were visiting that day and we struck up a conversation about the area and her Triangle T Guest ranch. The next day I was scheduled to guest lecture a class at the U of A, as an alumnus of CALS. The ranch was on the way and I needed a place to stay, so Linda gave me directions and I checked in.
She gave me a tour of the incredible weather granite rock formations of Texas Canyon and, meanwhile, shared stories of the history of Texas Canyon. It is appropriate for the Amerind Foundation to be here (see first photograph), the winter camp of an Apache tribe for generations.
That night, my request was for a room storied to be haunted by a spirit they call “Grandma,” as in when her footsteps wake you from a sound sleep you say, “It’s all right, Grandmother.” She woke me that night, footsteps in the dark, hollow on the wood floor, the room filled with a hard cold. I talked to her, without a response, while swinging my legs out of bed to reach the gas heater in the wall. I turned on the heat and the sound of expanding metal heat fins lulled me to sleep.
It made a good story for the students. They were surprised I could fall back asleep, but after all I had to be there the following morning.
I gave Linda a few of my photographs from that day and we made arrangements for the Triangle T to supply a two night package for the CALS “Dean’s Almost World Famous Burrito Breakfast” silent auction during 2008 homecoming.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 