for our father, Thomas Francis Wills, on Memorial Day 2023

a personal narrative

An excerpt from an interview by Diane Frances Wills of our father Thomas Francis Wills for a seventh-grade assignment about 1971.  I did some editing to correct the date based on historical records and my father’s military records (Michael Stephen Wills).

Thomas enlisted for the navy one day after his 24th birthday, September 25, 1939 and served 6 years and a few weeks until October 7, 1945 having experienced the Battle of the Atlantic (American Defense Medal) and liberation of the Philippines (WWII Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Theater, Philippine Liberation Ribbon).  Here is his description of an incident from that time:

Thomas Francis Wills, Ocean View Beach, Virginia, 1940

1 Year, 6 months after my enlistment in New York City, March 1941, on the USS Upshur two days out of Boston on its run to Reykjavik, Iceland delivering mail and supplies to the marines stationed to prevent the Germans from establishing a base.  Steaming north we got word there was a gale blowing in our path.  We all became apprehensive.  I asked Bill Rogers, the radioman, about the approaching storm.  “Say, Bill, I see by the weather report we’re heading info some rough weather.  How long do you think it will last?”

“Yeah, according to the latest weather report it is a regular Northeaster and we can expect a couple days of rough winds and high waves, also very cold weather.  We’ll have to secure everything topside so it won’t blow or be washed overboard.  We can also expect very little in the way of normal meals except for maybe coffee and sandwiches.”  On such a small ship the cooks can’t prepare meals in such weather.

USS Upshur, 1940, the ten-man crew, including Thomas Wills, is on the bow

As we approached the storm zone the sea got rough and the wind started blowing.  Soon we were well into a horrible storm.  The sky got dark and gloomy, full of dark bold clouds.  The ocean rough, choppy and black.  The rain started coming down sharp and harsh, cold and icy.  The rain cut through your body like piercing arrows, it chilled your bones.

Sometimes I thought the ship was going to sink, the waves and the wind were so strong.  The bow would go bluntly into the water.  The ship listed sideways, seeming to almost rolling over.  The waves carried our ship up, then go out from underneath sending us crashing down.  This happened over and over, endlessly.  

 I was on duty in the radio shack and had to walk the whole length of the ship from my sleeping quarters.  Many times, I almost went overboard, the wind was so strong.  I could lay on my stomach but it did not help because I could still slide through the railings.  I would freeze to death in five minutes in that water.  I hope I never had to go through that again, seems like yesterday.  All we had to wear was a sailor suit, not too warm.  I’d just get all soaked. 

My shipmates and I, a five-foot eight-inch boy of 25 with dark brown hair, had to be calm and keep doing our normal scheduled duties, because we learned you can’t get panicky or else you will put your whole ship out of order.

 The storm went on until the end of night.  I thought the storm would never end.  It felt as if it lasted a week.  At that time no other ships sailed with us, so there was no possibility of help.  Nobody fell over the side or was drowned.

After that, a German U-Boat launched a torpedo at us and missed.  We searched, tried to sink them without success. 

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Cagey Character

On a splayed perch

A Great Blue Heron spotted from Bear Trail during a family hike, perched on a splayed root of a tree undercut by flooding, fallen into Buttermilk Creek bed.

A heron recurves its long neck while perched. Adult herons have few natural predators and are rarely preyed upon due to their large size and sharp beak, but bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are known to attack great blue herons at every stage of their lifecycle from in the egg to adulthood.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Wild Sunflower

Composed of Ray Florets

As with other members of the family Asteraceae. Thinleaved Sunflowers are composed of ray florets. The scientific species name “decapetalus” is inaccurate on several counts. The flower is composed of 8-12 (not only 10, as in “deca”) of these ray florets, not petals. These ray florets are part of the flower reproductive organs, a flower petal is adjacent to, not a component of, a flowers reproductive parts.

Found growing August 24, 2019 along a sunny trail, The flowers attract many kinds of insects, including bees and butterflies, some of which, such as the painted lady and the silvery checkerspot, use the plant as a larval host. The seeds provide a source of food for birds. Muskrats eat the leaves and stems and use the stems in the construction of their lodges. Here we see a honeybee gathering nectar and pollen.

August 20129, Buttermilk Falls New York State Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Overwhelmed by Driftwood

Fishing with chaos

Treman lake is formed by a dam on Buttermilk Creek, the trail around the lake is less frequented and popular with the locals, climbing up and down the glacially formed hills.  Some popular resorts maintain trails that feed into the park.

A footbridge framed by hemlock trees traverses Buttermilk Creek where the East and West Treman Lake Trails meet. This season, 2019, this bridge was overwhelmed by driftwood piled up by spring flooding, impassable. We pick our way across the creek bed and over the water. Little ones needed a carry. An adult fisherman, to right of driftwood, provides perspective.

August 20129, Buttermilk Falls New York State Park, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Frozen Fall Creek III

Across the years into a future

Gratitude for miracles witnessed is my emotion for this series, “Frozen Fall Creek.” Fifteen winters after Pam and I walked Fall Creek as a solid walking path, the stream flows without ice most years. My son, whose family now lives in the house, and his wife recalling walking the creek a few years ago, not in the past few years.

Weather records support our recollections and observations: here is an analysis of Ithaca January temperatures. The years 2009 through 2019 show a warming trend in daily temperatures for both minimum and maximum.

Analysis

Excel I used to plot minimum and maximum temperatures (Fahrenheit) for the 31 days of each January for eleven years 2009 – 2019. Click on the images of this post for a larger version.

Click any image for a larger view.

Forecast

Pam and I moved to Ithaca 2011 and missed our Fall Creek winter walks, miss them even more now our weekend excursions are only memories. Here are January minimum/maximum average daily temperature projections from 2020 through 2044 based on the trend established from the 2009 through 2019 series. The trend is the solid color, projection the faded color.

Reading from the chart, if the current trend continues by January 2044 the average maximum daily temperature will be 47 degrees compared to 29 for 2009. In other words, the temperature never rose above freezing in the year 2009. By 2044 temperatures will be above freezing every day, on average, with daily minimums averaging 21 degrees.

From what I read, we can expect these warming trends to accerate within our lifetimes. My son named small mid-creek hummocks “islands” with numbers. Here is a view of his Second Island in late summer. What will Second Island be in 2044 late summer?

Late Summer 2018, second island

Memories

Reader of posts I and II of this series have commented about snow shadows. Here are the shadows produced from snow fallen on the vegetation of the last photograph: soft mounds to contrast with tree trunk shadows.

Winter 2009, second island

I prefer the composition of the following photograph. What do you think?

Play of winter shadows

A combination of contrasting shadow forms.

Low Winter Sun
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Connecticut Hill Retrospective

Click to view this series on Getty.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Connecticut Hill Autumn

dramatic sky

Connecticut Hill from Harvey Hill Road on a late October afternoon. Newfield of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.

Click to view this series on Getty.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Autumn Fields, Finger Lakes

Hay Bales!!

The land opens up on the slopes of Connecticut Hill, Newfield of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.

Click to view this series on Getty.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

A Brief Happy Movie on the Solstice

a gorge walk

Walking around Taughannock Falls New York State Park on the solstice of 2019 starting from the Black Diamond trail head on Jackson Road, down the South Rim trail, up the North Rim Trail. We had a great deal of rain this week and the water filled the falls the full channel width.

The header photograph is a waterfall of Fillmore Glen, also in the Finger Lakes.

For a full screen view, click on the UTube icon, lower right of the video panel. The resolution is not very good so I also posted the source videos.

The movie is from the following videos and photos from my IPhone. The quality is better than the compilation video. I uploaded the following videos directly to WordPress. I was not able to get the “full view” icon to work on my browser. Enjoy

View of the upper gorge, above the falls, from the South Rim
View into the gorge from the South Rim
Distant view of Taughannock Falls from the South Rim
Click on any of the photographs for a larger view.
The stair down from the gorge South Rim
View of the forest of the South Rim
The stairs up to the North Rim of the gorge
View of the forest of the North Rim

A turkey vulture soars by towards the end of the following.

View of gorge from the North Rim
View into the gorge from the North Rim
Taughannock Falls and “Ant People” from the overlook
Taughannock Falls from the North Rim
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

The Thaw at Taughannock Falls

A Friday Evening Stroll through a February Thaw

Pam and I were drawn outside the day after Valentine’s a bit of sun, an unreliable warm breeze, a promise of exercise. Our expectations were disappointed for all but the last at the foot of the Taughannock Falls gorge trail.

We had a reminder mid-February marks the start of avian mating behavior with this addition to the view from Taughannock Creek, the first large waterfall. For the cold, drizzly excursion I chose the IPhone, in a waterproof case, for the images. The fanicful birdhouse inscription reads “The Old Birds from Pa.”

Click the photograph for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Online gallery.

The winding gorge takes a general east, southeasterly direction. Where the sun cannot reach the snow was reduced to a treacherous slushy ice mix more nasty than dangerous.

View from the Overlook on the way to the trail. This is the endpoint of our hike, viewed from the gorge rim.

Of all the area hiking experiences, Taughannock Gorge Trail is the only one available year round. The gorge is wide with enough room for the footpath to avoid the cliff edge. Today, there were places were ice formations were throwing large ice chunks down the slope. The park ranges place tree trunks along the cliff base, with warning signs to stay away. Still, there are visitors who stray too close with fatal outcomes reported by local news.

Pam was fascinated by the appearance of snow and ice accumulated on the talus, here seen from the Taughannock Falls viewing bridge.

Click photograph for my “Finger Lakes Memories” online gallery. Photo by Pam.

You can just pick out the viewing bridge in the Falls Overlook video.

Click photograph for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Online Gallery.
Photo by Pam.

Taughannock Falls bound by ice is a most dramatic sight. I need to post photographs from a 2005 visit during an especially frigid February. Here, the falls have thrown off the ice, leaving this house-size chunk.

Click photograph for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Online Gallery

The surrounding gorge walls are continually frost coated by the mist.

Click the photograph for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Online Gallery
210 foot Taughannock Falls from the viewing bridge.

In more clement seasons the Gorge Trail ends much closer to the falls. Today, it was closed as, during winter and especially thaws, blocks of the sandstone cap break away to fall with great force across that part of the trail. This viewing area is visible in the Falls Overlook video.