Joyfully Green: Nature & Wildlife

Nature & Wildlife

07/22/2014

How to Make Time for the Things You've Been Longing To Do

"And if not now, when?" -- Hillel

There's a lovely stretch of "country road" that winds through our town (actually, there are many lovely stretches in this part of New Jersey, but for the sake of this story, I'll concentrate on one). Every time I've driven along this particular road, on my way from one errand to another, I've made a mental note to stop there "someday" and take pictures of the horses.

Someday...

The problem with "someday" is that it often boils down to "never."

Yesterday, I realized that I had to actually schedule the photography session into my morning list of things to do, or it was never going to happen.

So, after dropping off my daughter at camp this morning, with my camera already waiting in the car seat next to me, I pulled into the farm driveway. It took only a minute or two before the horses noticed they had a new visitor. They regarded me from afar, holding still and staring, but then they gamely trotted over.

The first horse that reached me was looking at me kindly and curiously, as if to say, "What took you so long?" (Indeed! What took me so long?) And maybe, "Got any carrots?"

There are only so many hours in our days, and only so many days in our lives. If there is something you've been wanting to do, something you keep telling yourself that you really ought to treat yourself to, something that's been whispering in your ear whenever you pass it by, then here's the simple fact: You're going to have to prioritize it.

Treat it like it really matters--like it's an appointment that you can't break without paying a hefty fine. Because fun things should matter, too, shouldn't they?

Schedule it in. Squeeze it in if you have to, right between the boring-but-necessary chores on your to-do list. Because there will always be more chores on your to-do list. (I don't think that'll be a news flash to anybody!)

Stephen R. Covey, in his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has a whole chapter about the importance of "sharpening the saw." In a nutshell, it means that if we never find the time to recharge ourselves (on the physical, spiritual, social/emotional, and mental levels), we'll grind ourselves down and we won't be effective at anything. (That includes our work and our chores.)

I've said it before--coincidentally, in a post about another country road--Stop your car. Go down that path you've been longing to explore. The chores will wait for you, I promise.

But you'll return to them, refreshed.

Your turn: What have you been meaning to do for ages, but never seem to get around to doing? Let's hear it in the comment section--I'm all ears!

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SOME NEWS...I've had a few recent inquiries about running my nature photography e-course in the fall. (The summer session is running right now and enrollment is closed.) I hadn't planned on running the course again until March 2015. However, if you think you might be interested in taking a fall course this October (which would be lovely, considering the foliage!), please let me know by email at JoyfullyGreen.com@gmail.com and I'll consider scheduling one in. Thanks!

© 2014 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com. All rights reserved. All photos and text digitally fingerprinted and watermarked. Please do not use any of my photographs without asking me first for permission at JoyfullyGreen.com@gmail.com and then clearly linking back to this site with photo credits. Site licensed by Creative Commons.

Posted at 09:02 PM in Nature & Wildlife, Unplug & Simplify | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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07/15/2014

Capture and Release

"MOM!!! There's a HUGE BUG in here," my daughter yelled to me from the family room this morning. I'm not a big fan of my kids yelling, especially first thing in the morning. But it was what she said next that warmed my heart: "GET YOUR CAMERA!"

I love how my children no longer fear bugs, but instead see them as something to study. This didn't come naturally; they squished quite a few critters "back in the day." But since I don't freak out whenever I see a bug, and show a real interest and enthusiasm for them, the kids seem to have co-signed on this whole "Bugs are cool!" thing. They're even getting the hang of "Bug Rescues"--capturing the bug in a container and releasing it outdoors. Except now, they tell me first, so I can snap a photo or two (or twenty).

That's exactly what happened with the millipede (the "HUGE BUG" my daughter spotted). I started clicking away and it was tough to stop. Here it is above, having a tiny sip of water off a leaf on the porch, where my photo session continued after we brought it outdoors. (I'm not sure I ever saw a bug having a drink before!)

Since I already had my macro lens screwed on to the camera, I figured I might as well just make the whole day a macro one. The clovers on the lawn were abuzz with bees. It took a looooong time to get the still shot above. Macro photography takes time and patience, that's for sure!

I don't love flies, but I've already admitted that I think their neon coloring is cool. I couldn't see the iridescent green of this little fly without my macro lens. Plus, I appreciated that he held still long enough for me to capture his shadow in a shot.

The macro lens didn't just capture bugs for portraits. It caught this pretty little clover flower, below. (Turns out there are some advantages to letting the lawn grow just a tad longer between cuts!)

As I said in my post about weeds, sometimes having a camera changes my whole perspective on things. Turns out it can change my children's perspective, too.

Your turn: Are you fascinated or freaked out by bugs? Let's hear it in the comments section--I'm all ears!

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Posted at 09:45 PM in Nature & Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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07/08/2014

My Summer Garden Tour: Can You Identify These Flowers?

I seem to have the dubious talent of picking the very hottest, squelchiest, thirstiest days of the year to visit local gardens, and Tuesday was no exception. Greenwood Gardens, located in Short Hills, NJ, is open only on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, and you have to buy your tickets in advance. So, with my Tuesday ticket in-hand, off I went to Greenwood, the thermometer edging up into the 90's...before 10 a.m. Sticky weather aside, I'm glad I made the trip.

I was met by the very kind and courteous Joan Borneman from Visitor Services--one of those enviable people who clearly loves the place in which she works. She gave me an overview of the estate and its history, and later, rescued me with a much-needed glass of iced tea!

I was the only visitor walking the grounds on this particular Tuesday (no doubt, all of the other garden-lovers were wisely ensconced in their air-conditioned homes, shades drawn, eating gallons of ice cream). Now and then, I saw a gardener or two working on the site, and a chubby groundhog scurried across my path, but for the most part, I was on my own--which is exactly how I like it when I've got about 300 pictures to take!

The Greenwood Gardens website gives a general listing of what's in bloom each month, but I'm still hard-pressed to figure out the identity of some of my flower "portraits"--even after googling the names from the list. If you know your way around a garden and recognize one of the lovely but mysterious blooms below, I hope you'll chime in with an I.D. in the comments section below. Many thanks for taking a peek at my garden walk!

I believe these are called "Clusiana tulips", above.

Is the flower above Salvia? Foxglove past its prime? Something else entirely?

I have no idea what these deep crimson buds with alien tentacles are called, but they were probably my favorite flowers at Greenwood. They were the color of ripe pomegranates. So vivid and pretty!

What are these cheery flowers above? Some type of Coneflower? Yellow Echinacea?

Perhaps this is an Ornamental Onion, past its prime?

Is this a pink Hydrangea, not yet in bloom?

Could this purple flower be Salvia again?

Finally, a flower I was able to positively identify! No, it's not a "Big Bird Flower", it's St. John's Wort. I love its "beak" and fluffy head. So did the bees!

There you have it--my photographic tour of Greenwood Gardens. I can't wait to visit again...in the fall!

Your turn: Please take your best guesses at the names of the flowers within this post. I'm all ears! If you're not a Green Thumb but know somebody who is, would you kindly share this post?

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FINAL DAYS to sign up...

My photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You" starts this coming Monday, July 14th. Join us--it'll be fun!

All digital cameras welcome (any type, including smart phones).
Even if you have a full-time job, you'll be able to take this course at your own pace.
Click here for all the details!

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Posted at 09:03 PM in Green Places, Nature & Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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06/19/2014

My Week in 5 Photos: Blooming & Growing (and not just the flowers!)

Okay, it's time for another confession: I just cannot stand the scent of roses. (There, I said it!) They certainly look pretty, though, don't they? I had a lovely time with them today, meandering around our garden with a camera, snapping away at them while trying not to inhale!

On Saturday night, my daughter hosted her first big sleepover at our house, inviting every girl in her first grade class. Let me tell you, those ten little girls stayed up alllllllllll niiiiiiiiight loooooooong! Luckily for them, they're super-sweet. Just like the cake I made for the party...

I know that I included a photo of peonies last week, but we have them in vases all over the house right now (saving them from collapsing from their own weight on the bushes), and they're just so fluffy and pretty! I couldn't resist including another peony shot this week...

Also pretty, and so full of poise: our dear friends' daughter (pictured below) at the school talent show today...

I noticed something funny at this talent show. All of the girls sang melancholy songs about heartbreak, and all of the boys rapped silly songs while break-dancing. (Hmmmm....just a coincidence? You tell me!)

My son's Little League team made it to the Championships! (Those are some of his teammates, below--such a great group of boys this year!) They play their final game of the season tonight. Wish them luck!

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Would you like to learn how to take photos like these? Just three more weeks to register for my July photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." Click here for details!

All digital cameras welcome (any type, including smart phones).
Even if you have a full-time job, you'll be able to take this online class at your own pace.
Less than $10 per lesson--treat yourself today!

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P.S. The photographs of the roses in rain and the pink peonies in the vase are now available as art prints (framed or unframed) in my Society 6 web shop!

© 2014 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com. All rights reserved. All photos and text digitally fingerprinted and watermarked. Please do not use any of my photographs without asking me first for permission at JoyfullyGreen.com@gmail.com and then clearly linking back to this site with photo credits. Site licensed by Creative Commons.

Posted at 09:02 PM in My Week in 5 Photos, Nature & Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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06/03/2014

Why Do We Fill Up Every Last Space?

About a year ago, I was uncharacteristically early for an appointment (I'm sure my friends are nodding all-too-knowingly at that statement!), so after I arrived in the parking lot, I turned off the engine and took out a book.

But then I happened to gaze up and saw the tree pictured above. Stately and serene, standing tall at the end of a wild and pretty meadow.

Not your usual view from a dentist's office, right?

Instead of reading my book, I got out of the car and took several photographs of that particular tree and that particular meadow, along with other equally striking trees framing the natural space.

I loved the way that the trees and the meadow combined to form a perfect union. One part of the other, and both part of the whole. It was one of those happy coincidences that I was there to appreciate them.

And it's particularly fortunate that I captured all of my "Tree-Meadow Portraits" when I did, because when I returned to the dentist's office last week, the meadow was no more.

In its place were diggers and dumptrucks.

Piles of dirt and concrete blocks.

The line of trees was still there, thankfully. But the trees somehow looked forlorn next to the buzzing construction site.

And frankly, I was really sad that yet another natural place had been scraped out, chopped down, stripped bare, and prepped for commercial ventures. Probably for another nail salon or burger joint.

Why do we have this insatiable need to eradicate the natural in favor of the commercial? To put money above all other things that have value?

In our town right now, we already have far too many commercial properties that have been vacant for the past few years. We have construction sites that have been stalled in their tracks because not enough buyers were willing to put up the money to complete the jobs, after the woods had been clear-cut to make room for...oh, nothing in particular.

I thought of all the little things I didn't see in the meadow when I took these pictures. The birds that were filling the air with their songs. Some field mice, most likely. Dragonflies and butterflies. Plenty of wildflowers that I didn't get close enough to really examine. Probably a few rabbits. Unseen little creatures who had called this meadow "Home."

I thought about how Beatrix Potter used a large portion of the money she earned from her Peter Rabbit tales to purchase thousands of acres of undeveloped countryside in England, just so she could donate it all to the National Trust and safeguard its future.

I thought about something I'd just read within the past month from my "go-to guru", Thich Nhat Hanh:

"Our way of walking on the Earth has a great influence on animals and plants. We have killed so many animals and plants and destroyed their environments...We are like sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing or where we are heading. Whether we wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on Mother Earth. The future of all life, including our own, depends on our mindful steps." (from The Sun My Heart)

As soon as I got home, I searched for these photographs of the meadow, just to prove to myself that it really had been there...once.

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If you have a digital camera (any type, including a smart phone) but don't know how to really use it to its fullest artistic potential, registration is now OPEN for my July e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." Click here for details and join me online in July!

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Posted at 08:16 PM in Nature & Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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05/22/2014

My Week in 5 Photos: The Secret Picnic

Years ago, when I was taking a photography class and we were shooting on slide film, the instructor told us that Fuji film leaned towards green tones and Kodak film leaned towards blue tones. Well, it's looking very, very "Fuji" around here lately!

It's not just the colors that are more concentrated. The scent of everything blooming at once is wafting through the air, intoxicating us. On every breeze, a new fragrance! Delilah can't get enough of it...

My daughter and her sweet friend made themselves a "Secret Picnic" under the hedges...

When they were finished with their picnic, they made the grown-ups a "Surprise Snack" of whole wheat bread topped with frosting, chocolate chips, marshmellows, and sprinkles. A surprise indeed...

By the end of the week, my favorite flowers started popping up everywhere...

Hooray for lilacs!

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Want to learn how to take better pictures of your week? Only 3 more days for the early bird registration discount on my online photography course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." Save $15 when you enroll before midnight on Sunday! This e-course will run from July 14-25, 2014. Click here for all the details!

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05/13/2014

The (Sometimes-Fuzzy) Definition of Beautiful

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning behind a macro lens, shooting some of the most beautiful things I've ever photographed. And guess what?

They were all weeds.

The things we spray with poison*.

The "ugly ducklings" of the plant world that we pull up by the roots (if we can get to them) before their seeds glide away on the next breeze.

As I looked through the lens at the sunny-yellow dandelions, I was struck by how much they look like "legitimate" flowers--marigolds, zinnias, asters--their little, golden petals reaching out to every corner of the universe. And I'd never noticed those brown curlicues on the outskirts of the flower. Have you ever really studied dandelions this close? I hadn't. But it was a meditation, of sorts.

They reminded me of storybook lions with perfect golden manes.

They reminded me of Ferris wheels.

And frizzy hair-do's.

And Epcot Center.

Which is to say: They took me out of my own hurry-scurry thoughts and let me just be.

Photography does that for me, especially macro photography. I'm terrible at traditional meditation--my mind in a perpetual whirl, thoughts circling like hawks on the look-out for mice. But I'm at peace behind a camera. It's from behind a camera that I look closer, and deeper, and more truthfully at the world.

And I reconsider what is beautiful.

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My next photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You", will run from July 14-July 25. (Pencil it in--full announcement coming soon!) I hope you'll join me--it's going to be FUN!

*We don't spray our lawn with herbicides and pesticides--we go the natural route with organic fertilizers and lawn treatments. See the related article below called "Keep Off The Grass: Experts Sound Off on the Health Hazards of Lawn Chemicals."

P.S. In case you haven't heard it on the news, bee populations are in trouble and need dandelions for pollination.

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04/29/2014

The Essential Thing to Carry When You Photograph Nature

There's a scene in an old episode of "Mad Men" in which Don and Betty Draper are having a picnic in the park with their children--enjoying the outdoors, the gentle breeze ruffling their hair, the kids running around in a game of tag. A "typical" family (well, a very good-looking version of a typical family!), spending an afternoon on the outskirts of suburbia. And then, Don glances at his wristwatch and they sigh: It's time to go home. So, Betty shakes out the picnic blanket, sending all of their food scraps and garbage flying out onto the grass, and carefully folds up their blanket in her fashionable tote, while Don crumples up his beer can and pitches it into the woods. The scene had a certain shock value to it, this blatant and thoughtless littering waaaaaaay back in the 1960's, because we all know that nobody litters anymore--we're all too enlightened now. Right...?

I don't know why it continues to catch me off-guard, but whenever I'm out shooting nature scenes like the ones in this post, more likely than not, if I turn the camera in the other direction, I'll see a plastic bag tangled in a bush, or an empty water bottle along the path, or a candy wrapper fluttering away. Yesterday, when I was shooting the scene at the top, I was listening to the brook burbling and some ducks quacking up a storm on the other side of the bridge, out of view. But right behind me was a little mound of crunched-up Bud Light cans on the ground. Annoyed, I took them with me back to the car. I would have been even more annoyed if I'd left them there. The nagging feeling would have stayed with me all day: I don't want any other people to start mistaking the countryside for the dump, and littering has a cumulative effect. (Also--obviously--I feel sorry for the wildlife.)

I was going to include my own list of possible reasons why people litter, but then I googled "Why do people litter?" and I found that the very first source tidily summed it all up for me! Here's a little experiment: Before you click on the following link, think up all of the reasons you can for why people might litter, and then, click to see how many of your reasons made this list: Why Do People Litter? (Did they leave out anything?)

So, what's the essential thing to bring with you when you're photographing nature? It's an extra bag, to pick up after the modern-day Drapers.

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Connect with me on Google+, where I share brand-new photographs (almost) daily.

Next nature photography e-course coming in July! Email me at JoyfullyGreen.com@gmail.com to get on the list for early details or to reserve your spot.

Posted at 08:41 PM in Nature & Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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04/15/2014

April Snow Showers?!

Back in my 20's, when I worked in the creative department of a large New York ad agency, I had a boss who was a notorious terror. Each morning, my colleagues and I would walk into work on proverbial eggshells, each wondering, "Is THIS the day I'll get fired?" But a funny thing happened during that unsettling time: We (the underlings) all became very good friends, bonded together due to the stress of it all. We joked and lunched and worked our way through it. We faced the storm en masse. I think of that time in my 20's as a very happy time of my life because of that camaraderie--and the fact that each of us escaped to "The Other Side."

I was reminded of that time tonight. I was out with my family at a large event and a murmur went through the crowd: "It's snowing!" Snowing! On April 15! Just one day after a balmy spring day that hit the 83-degree mark! And after a very long, very white, very cold winter, which we thought had finally passed into the history books. Here in the northeastern United States, it was nearly impossible to go anywhere from October through March without collectively grumbling about the weather, in a bemused "Can you BELIEVE this?!" kind of way. It gave us a common cause: getting to "The Other Side." Even with our mountains of ploughed snow (which finally managed to melt these past few days), there was something vaguely amusing about the sheer craziness of this winter. And tonight we were all laughing about it, again.

Tonight was the last little giggle of winter. The punchline. The sugar dusting should be gone by tomorrow, when the temperatures start their upward climb...again.

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Posted at 09:29 PM in Nature & Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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02/11/2014

How to Enjoy the Great Outdoors...Without Leaving the House!

This post, from January 2013, just got a little face-lift for a re-post, because (1) the facts remain largely the same--the weather is c-c-cold!; (2) many of you didn't see it the first time around, as the blog was still in diapers; and (3) I'm putting the finishing touches on my nature photography e-course this week. So, without further ado...

Today's guilty confession from this nature-loving blog girl: I haven't really been outside for a week. There, I've said it. In my defense, the temperature in the mornings has been hovering between 4 and 8 degrees--Fahrenheit, not Celsius--with a bitter, bone-chilling, unrelenting wind. What I've learned from this run of really, really cold weather is that I'd make a terrible Canadian. Or Chicagoan, for that matter. I'm half-Swedish, so you'd think I could handle the cold by genetics alone, but my other half is Italian, so it all evens out.

Most of the snow has been covered with a thick sheet of ice, so simply walking around outside has become an extreme sport. When I took our books back to the library yesterday, I promptly fell flat on my back, feet whipped out from under me, on a sheet of black ice. I was somehow heart-warmed to hear a total stranger blurt out a blue streak of obscenities in raw, unadulterated concern for me as he rushed over, lickety-split, to help me up. "You're lucky that you're not an old lady--you would have been TOAST!" he gasped in relief after I assured him that I was fine.

Other than still walking the dog four times a day (not as far as usual), I just haven't had the same get-up-and-go to get out there. My blogger friend Debi at Go Explore Nature (whom I told you about in 10 Green "Gifts" That Won't Cost You a Dime) has been on a mission this month to post a suggestion every single day for getting outdoors with the kids. (Debi lives in L.A., mind you.) She has some very clever and creative suggestions, even for cold weather, and I plan on following many of them...as soon as the temperature inches up into the double digits again.

But until then, here's what I'm doing to appreciate nature...

As soon as I open the blinds, I watch the sun rising. It rises a little after 7 a.m. now---not such an ungodly hour. When I wake up the kids, they watch the sun rise with me. Peaceful.

As I eat my breakfast, after the kids have gone off to school, I watch the large herd of white-tailed deer wandering out of the woods for their own breakfasts, or cozying up along our stone wall in the back yard, shielding themselves from the wind. I saw this momma deer keeping a watchful eye on her fawn while pretending to relax. (I could relate to her.)

Another doe, pictured below, seems to have bitten into something that bit her back--a thorny bush, perhaps. See her tongue split in half and hanging out? Her tongue stayed out, flapping limply in the wind. Poor thing!

I am a firm believer in "a room with a view", so the desk in my office faces a window where I can watch the day unfolding outside. If I stared at a computer screen all day without these visual breaks of nature, I would not be a happy camper and I'm sure I'd need eyeglasses much thicker than the ones I own now.

When I do get outside for the dog-walks, I often hear Canadian Geese overhead. I marvel at their V formations and the way the leader honks to the others to guide them along, and they honk right back in response. (Nice teamwork, guys!)

When it's too cold to go out at night, we can still gaze at the stars from the warmth of our bedrooms. Tonight we found Orion, and my son re-read the story behind the constellation. My favorite constellation has always been the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, so that's the first thing I seek out. We also study the phases of the moon--my daughter is a bit obsessed. ("The moon! The mooooooooooon!" she shrieks whenever it's full.)

In the daytime, we can look out on our forest and see what's afoot or aflutter. We keep our two plexiglass bird-feeders well-stocked with seeds, so from the kitchen and master bedroom, we can watch who's flying in for a bite. (Below: Tufted Titmouse; Black-capped Chickadee.)

It's helped us enormously that we bought an easy-to-use field guide for birds of New Jersey a few years back. Sure, we already knew the Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Chickadees, but now we also know what a Dark-eyed Junco is--turns out we have LOTS of those little cuties!

So, yes--we are indoors for now, but we are still finding our own ways to appreciate the Great Outdoors.

Your turn: How do you appreciate nature from indoors? Please share in the comments section below.

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