My memories of London

It has been nice to watch the wedding of William and Kate and seeing it all on the news has brought back memories of my trip to England.

For my Scenic Sunday I have some of my tourist hot spots we visited while in London and England.


      Big Ben under renovation

Buckingham Palace

London Bridge

Windsor Castle

Trafalgar Square, look at all those pigeons

These are photos from my archives and a trip I took to England with my girlfriends. We had a great time and have lovely memories of our trip.

To see more scenic photo from around the world please visit the Holley's at Scenic Sunday.

Thanks to the Holleys for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post and I hope you all have a great weekend.

Chincoteague ponies

Happy Easter to everyone!

For my Camera Critters
Anyone that has read the book Misty of Chincoteague has fallen in love with these wild ponies. They roam the island and can be seen walking down the roads and on the trails. As a child Marguerite Henry's "Misty of Chincoteague" was one of my favorite books to read. I would bug my Mom and Dad to take me to Chincoteague to see the pony auction they held every July. Now as an adult Chincoteague is still one of my favorite places to visit. I love watching the ponies and seeing all the wildlife that is attracted to Chincoteague Island.

This horse has the number 5 on its side.

I hope you enjoyed my Chincoteague ponies and to see more wonderful

cute critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters

Thanks to Misty Dawn  for hosting and thanks for stopping by to see my critters.

National Zoo Gorillas

For my Camera Critters I have some photos of the Gorillas seen at the National Zoo. I thought it would be neat to show baby Kabibi taken 03/21/09 after she was born Jan 10, 2009 and some shots of her just last month.  Kabibi's daddy is a silverback named Baraka. I read that the name Kabibi means "Little Lady " in Swahili. The first two photos show her in the arms of her mommy Mandara. Kabibi is one of 7 Gorillas living at the National Zoo. Mandara is mom to six of the Gorillas at the zoo.


Kibibi , a baby gorilla.  Kabibi seen below being carried in her mommy's arms.

Some interesting tips on watching gorillas. Did you know they consider staring rude? If Gorillas stare at each other, it is a challenge to fight. It is a courtesy they extend to each other to look away if their eyes meet. Each animal has a retreat to go to if it feels too many eyes.

Now, here is Kabibi two years later.

Kibibi and her mommy Mandara. Sorry there is bad reflection on the glass in this photo.

I am not sure if this gorilla below is the daddy. Kabibi does have older brother and sisters. I did read that the daddy Baraka has a pronounced crest on its head. While we were watching them this one below grabbed the bamboo from the hands of baby Kabibi. After that happened Kabibi walked over to her mommy and shared some bamboo. The male can grow up to 6 feet tall and weigh up to 400 pounds.

The 7 Gorillas at the National Zoo in DC are Western Lowland Gorillas. And the Western Lowland Gorillas were listed as endarngered. The Western Lowland Gorillas live in Cameroon,  Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola and Nigeria. The gorillas are vulnerable to ebola, deforestation, and the horrible poaching.

I hope you enjoyed my Gorillas and to see more critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting and thank you for stopping by to see my post. I hope your weekend is wonderful.

Trees, Trees and more Trees

After doing my post below about how much old growth forest has been lost in the USA due to clearing for the old time homesteading and mostly for logging.  I decided to make a new post for Mosaic Monday  and  Sally's Blue Monday with my archive shots of the various parks we visited where we saw these huge Redwood Trees. A few people commented that the Olympic National Park also has the old growth forest. Their comments brought back memories of our visit to the Hoh rainforest in the Olympic National Park.

The first mosaic shows my son Brian in his younger days ( he is 18 yrs old now) running around all in blue in the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park. If I knew then what I know now I would have never let Brian as close to this tree. The frequent rain in the Hoh rainforest contributes to the lush canopy of both the coniferous and deciduous trees. Mosses and ferns also add to the enchantment of the Hoh Rainforest. The National Park protects what is the largest remaining old growth forest and temperant rain forest in the lower 48 states.

This mosaic is a mixture of photos from our visit to the Redwood National Park which has the tallest trees and Sequoia National has the big wide trees both parks are in California. The giant sequoia trees are among the largest trees on earth. The Giant Forest was saved from logging by the creation of the Sequoia National Park..

The General Grant tree in Sequoia NP was designated as the nations Christmas Tree in 1926. This tree was so tall I could not fit it all in my photo.

This was our rental car at the time, of course we had to take a picture of it going thru the tree.

 I have to thank the National Park system for protecting these old growth forest and these amazing huge trees. Hopefully these beautiful trees would never become a means for balancing the budget. Crazy things can happen, they might decide they need to build a road thru the forest. These trees are national treasures should be be treated as so and conserved. I would like to see logging come to end as far as logging these grand old trees and the old growth forest that we have left today.

Please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday to see some wonderful mosaics and Sally's Blue Monday to see everything blue. Thanks to both Mary and Sally for hosting these fun memes. And thank you for stopping by my blog to see my post. Have a wonderful week!

Rockport State Park

I am link up with Scenic Sunday  with some pic's of the Rockport State Park and its old growth forest.

Being married to a tree hugger visiting the Rockport State Park during our North Cascades trip last fall was a must do. The Rockport State Park is an old growth forest and is 670 acres located along the lower Skagit River. The park has over 600 acres of old growth timber and has an ecosystem that has never been disrupted. It is a natural forest with a canopy so dense that only minimal sunlight penetrates to the ground.

 I am not positive but it seems that only the western states have the old growth forest. If anyone knows where we can find some more old growth forest on the east coast, hubby and I would love to visit. Since being married I have visited the tall Redwoods National Park, Sequoia National Park, I believe there were some old growth trees located in Yosemite when we visited and this last visit to the North Cascades National Park.

Walking along the trail, we saw these beautiful ferns and the gorgeous trees. It was a quiet place with only sounds of birds and sometimes the sound of water could be heard.

 

I have found a website showing the loss of old growth forest over the years and found it to be very alarming and sad. Here is a link Old growth forest. Looking at the map my state of Maryland does not show any old growth forest. It is no surprise the Forestry managers of Md seem to like the idea of clear cutting. You can click on the link to find your own state to see if there any old growth forest.

My photo below does not really show the size of this downed tree, but walking along next to it I felt small. Even dead trees provide shelter for mammals, birds and insect species.

I found even this mossy tree to be a beautiful sight.

The roots of this downed tree even looked beautiful covered with moss and ferns.

I am one of the few who love these old forest and would hate to loose them all. I read that in the Pacific Northwest 80 percent of the forest are slated to be logged.  Old growth trees provide crucial resources that younger forest can not provide. From the canopy to the fallen decomposing trees old growth forest sustain a web of life from soil building organisms all the way up the food chain. What old growth forest are left in the USA need to be conserved.

I loved this early morning foggy Skagit River scene. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful area to visit.

The old growth forest are treasures that I feel should be saved and appreciated by all. I love to walk along the giant forest, how about you?  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Click on my link for Scenic Sunday to view more beautiful scenes from around the world.