lake Luxembourg

autumn at core creek…geese, deer, and a chance of humans...lake luxembourg

in

The thousands of geese are filling three of Nature’s elements this time of year: the Air, the Waters of Lake Luxembourg, and the Earth of the surrounding fields. The deer, thankfully, stick to the fields only. The weekend crowds of humans have faded; now I just sightsee the odd one here and there.

It’s the best stretch of the year: colorful, calm, pleasant, and quiet. Great light, great air, and nobody bothering anybody.

The views are so good it’s almost unfair. Choosing which photos to share was the real challenge. Your screens won’t show every tiny detail in the images, so I added a few close-up crops to give you a sense of what you’re missing.

Close-up crop of a tiny middle section of the panorama above

Close-up crop of a middle section of the image above

core creek park and lake...50 shades of green

in

After multiple rains, Core Creek Park is showing off. The leaves look freshly rinsed - more spring than summer. Shades of green are everywhere. Every path is lined with color - soft, deep, vibrant, layered, and alive.

The regulars are back: dog walkers, geese, deers - everyone enjoying the calm.

lake luxembourg...shinrin-yoku

in

Lake Luxembourg is my go-to spot for practicing shinrin-yoku - or forest bathing. This Japanese relaxation practice is all about slowing down, being calm among the trees, and soaking in the beauty of nature. It’s as simple as using your senses to observe the little details around you.

When I’m there, I sit or walk quietly with a camera, staying mindful of my surroundings. The trick is to leave daily worries behind and focus on the moment—like watching forest creatures go about their day.

Nature’s colors and sounds are incredibly soothing. While some people find green and blue the most relaxing, my favorite palette leans toward muted yellows, earthy browns and reds. On my last visit, the scene was perfect: withered grass glades, bare trees, and a frozen lake under the soft light of a cloudy winter sky.

There wasn’t any snow, and the place was completely deserted - except for a lone gray heron. These birds are usually pretty shy, but the frozen lake and quiet surroundings seemed to make it feel at ease, standing out in the open.

It was a peaceful moment, just me and the heron, soaking up the tranquility of the season.

kind of snowy days...

in

For a couple of days, our surroundings were covered with snow. One day was very sunny, another was foggy. On the foggy day, as I made my way to Lake Luxembourg, I stumbled upon an amazing sight - a double spiral of wheel tracks in the snow, bare tree trunks, and a field dissolving in the fog. I was in a hurry to get to the lake and didn't bother to stop. I wandered around the lake, but the spiral wouldn't let me go. I stopped near it on the way back and captured this scene. It turned out to be the best shot in the series, although the others didn't disappoint either.

Whirling in the Winter Wonderland

Generally, when I select candidate images for printing, I 'season' them for weeks or even months, observing whether my feelings about the images have changed. This time, I was so confident in its quality that I printed, framed, and displayed 'Whirling in the Winter Wonderland' without delay.

Whirling in the Winter Wonderland

Here is a small selection of images from the series.

Sunny day at the lake

Foggy day at the lake

Time to fly

Time to chill

Leave me alone

On the hunt for a lunch companion

lake luxembourg…dragon boat racing

in

Yesterday I went to the Core Creek Park without a camera just for walking and relaxation. And sure enough there was a colorful event - the 5th Annual Bucks County Dragon Boat Festival. As I found out later the dragon boat racing has become the world’s fastest growing water sport. Although, for some reason I never heard of it before, the Bucks County Dragon Boat Association was established seven years ago and is doing very well - next year two of its teams will compete in 2020 IDBF Club Crew World Championships to be held in Aix-Les-Bain, France.

It would be a pity to miss this photo opportunity but the only option I had was to use my old iPhone’s camera. Its pictures quality supposed to be a far cry even from my 12 years old D2H camera so I never tried to take a photo with it. But as they say - ‘The best camera is the one you have with you’.

To my surprise (I know, I know that the latest and greatest smart phones produce great quality images but mine is a 6 years old patriarch) the camera performed better than I expected and pictures came out pretty usable for online posting, even though not good enough for enlargement and printing. On the bright side it’s always with me and it saved my day. So here we are.


mr luxembourg lake...golden hour...waterfowl

in

Almost every time I visit Lake Luxembourg I meet my old pal Blue Heron. It has a couple of favorite spots there and it is not shy to show off its glamour physique. This most popular image of it so far was taken in 2015.

In my judgment, it still easily wins the Mr. Lake Luxembourg title in 2018.

And the runners up are… our own Canadian geese

The honorable mention goes to the cormorants for the great teamwork.

Sadly, nothing good ever last long enough. The golden hour quickly ended with dusk and everybody looked forward to a good night's sleep.

lake luxembourg...thoreau...controlled solitude

in

All solitude are equal, but some solitude are more solitary than others. The loneliness of Robinson Crusoe is not quite the same as the solitude of Henry Thoreau. I would define the latter as a controlled solitude in which one lives kind of divorced from society knowing that this status can be interrupted at any time if desired.

Thoreau did not invented this lifestyle but he was one of the most famous practitioner of it. All in all he lived alone over two years in a small cabin near the shore of the Walden Pond in Concord, MA. Here he enjoyed the feeling of solitude living on $28 per year (in 1845; it is equivalent in purchasing power to about $900 in current dollars) and growing crops to feed himself.

On the other hand, in all honesty the wildness of his life was slightly overstated taking into account that the distance from his cabin to the closest house was just a mile and he visited friends and family several times a week as well as had sometimes up to 30 visitors in Walden. And his Mom helped him out with laundry and food over these two years. Still it’s quite an achievement for a modern Western man.

As for myself, I also consider the solitude a very valuable part of my life but I prefer to enjoy it similarly but conversely – to live in a comfortable house and drive a mile to the Lake Luxembourg shores for my daily portion of solitude.

Its shores are extremely beautiful and completely emptied this time of the year.

Unoccupied garden benches stay here and there as reminders of a cheerful summertime.

Corn is still drying in the well manicured field.

Occasionally one can come across a lonely fisherman,

a solitary hunting heron,

a family of ducks that can’t stand each other anymore,

or a dreaming cormorant.

 

To finish on a lighter note, not only introverts enjoy the lake in the fall - this company of extravert turtles, herons, and egrets was photographed at the lake in early September.

lake luxembourg…waiting for godot

in

It’s March already. A major winter storm is coming again, the third one in 11 days. Despite this gloomy forecast, there is a sense of excitement in the air and all signs of weather indicate that spring is arriving:

  • A rare breed of public phones emerges from the snow

  • Bikers wake up from winter hibernation

  • Coke and Pepsi machines are on their marks for the spring showdown

  • Row boats are dreaming of breaking free

    and some already test the waters

 

Only cormorants keep cool heads – they can fish legally all year round

lake luxembourg…ice…rain…fog

in

This February day was unusually warm and rainy but ice still covered our Lake Luxembourg. The ice cooled the air near the lake surface and the rain that was falling through the cold air formed a visually stunning fog. The view of the lake and trees veiled by the fog was so beautiful that despite the rain I could not force myself to leave the scene.  All in all,  keeping the camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other I took over 300 shots. Definitely more than I can consume. So here is just a minor part of them. The rest eventually will go to the unused images heaven during the next hard drive cleaning. Well, it’s life.

Farewell self-portrait with the lake in the background.

the day the moon blocked the sun...partially

in

Eclipse-shmeclipse. For the li'l old Newtown it was just another midday at the office. And quite a humid midday, really hot on the sunny side of deserted trafficless streets.  

Only a couple of single enthusiasts and several small groups with kids waited for the beginning of the show at the shore of Lake Luxembourg.

The show started on time. Unfortunately, because of the cloudy sky, it started behind the curtains. The viewers waited patiently for occasional glimpses of the Sun.

And their patience was rewarded with this amazing view.