On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
On the Road: Week of November 23 (5 am)
Albatrossity – Fall in Flyover Country #4
way2blue – Cyclades
?BillinGlendaleCA –
Captain C Goes to Japan: Osaka Aquarium 1
J R in WV – Westward Look Guest Ranch GardensI have been amazed and delighted by all the stunning photos of Fall Colors in After Dark.
The week ahead starts out featuring our final week of fall colors and begins our transition to Parks After Dark.
On the Road Fall Colors: Week of November 23 (10pm)
way2blue – Walchsee In November, Fall Color
Karen H – Fall in La Veta, CO
JanieM – Fall Color Part IV – Trees and Water
ljt – Parks in Fall? And now, back to JanieM
JanieM
An eclectic set — Massachusetts, Ohio, Maine.
Behind the dorm that’s behind Widener Library. This isn’t the greatest image, but I’m including it because I want to see if anyone knows what kind of tree it is. (answered below: Sourwood, with more details at #7)
Near the boat landing.
One of the old sentinels.
Up close, a younger version.
This is a tiny, very old graveyard on a dirt road. At the time the picture was taken, in 2009, there was nothing but forest anywhere near it except an old farmstead, with fields cleared for grazing, at the high point of the road. On a clear day you can see forty-plus miles to the Camden Hills from that spot. Now, sadly enough depending on your point of view, there are house lots being cleared along that road. I took some pics last Sunday that can be seen here.
The oldest grave I found was that of Thomas Marston, a Revolutionary War soldier who died in 1830. The most recent one I saw was from the 1940s. The most heartbreaking was a pair of siblings, both of whom died at about one year of age, in 1850 and 1856. You see a lot of that if you go poking around old graveyards, which I sometimes do.
Most of the park is grassy. This is at the opposite end from the State House, where it’s a little less groomed.
Sunset.
A Pictorial Explanation of the Strategy Behind the Assassination In Iran
Mary G
Wow.
Feathers
Looks like the tree in Harvard Square is a Sourwood. The dorm is Wigglesworth. Here is a GIS map showing all the trees in Harvard Yard. Harvard Trees Map. Interesting trivia(ish): Harvard has a 100 (200?) year plan for all the trees on campus. The trees in Harvard Yard all have replacement trees growing in Arnold Arboretum, ready to be installed should disease, pests, or weather take any of them out. Also, Harvard Yard still has some elm trees, with the groundskeepers working hard to keep them going. The amount of work done to keep up those spaces is astonishing. Ivy degrades walls, but is expected, so they rotate ivy around the buildings, letting it grow on one wall, while cutting it down elsewhere.
JanieM
@Feathers: Thanks for the tree ID, and the rest of it is fascinating too. The bit about the ivy made me chuckle. As many times as I’ve walked through there, I never paid much attention to the ivy, although surely a person who was there every day (I wasn’t; I just had monthly trips to an office near the Square) would notice after a while.
The observation about the maintenance of Harvard Yard reminds me of Disney World. I have several relatives who work there, so I’ve been there a lot more than I otherwise ever would have been, given the free admission and free lodging with my sister, and the chance of a sunny February break from northern winter. And I always marvel at how the plantings and general presentation are so well maintained. Of course it’s a show, just like every other aspect of the place, but it seems to me that if our collective/public priorities were straight, all our public spaces would be as lovingly cared for. /unexpected rant
Steve from Mendocino
Jainie, you’ve got a terrific sense of light and color. Really nice. Keep them coming. No idea how personal messaging is handled here, but I’d love to talk about details of these pictures.
Steve
stinger
Lovely, lovely, lovely. I really admire how sometimes you let the sun do much of the work (5, 7, 8, 9, 10) and sometimes it’s the absence of sun that makes the image special (2, 6).
JanieM
@Steve from Mendocino: Thank you. I would love to talk with you about taking pictures . I bet WaterGirl could give one of us the other’s email address…I mean, she wears so many hats already, what’s one more? ;-)
(WaterGirl…..can you? Please and thank you.)
SoundandFury
Pretty sure that’s Oxydendrum arboreum, the sourwood or sorrel tree. It’s a beautiful woodland tree, native to the Mid-Atlantic region, and in the rhododendron family. Features interesting bark, graceful racemes of scented white flowers, and vivid fall color.
WaterGirl
@JanieM: @Steve from Mendocino:
done!
JanieM
@stinger: Thanks for that formulation.
@SoundandFury: The tree struck my fancy because the white racemes (?) amidst the red fall color make such a striking picture.
@WaterGirl: Thanks for being the go-between, as if you didn’t already have enough to do. I have a feeling I’m about to learn a lot more about photography!
Dan B
I glanced at your first picture and thought Oxydendron before my eyes focused. It’s a wonderful tree with unrivaled deep red Fall color with the elegant blooms at a time of year when there is very little in bloom. It’s in my top ten favorites.