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From A Bygone Era

Tweet Covered bridges are echoes of a romanticized past, where life moved more slowly and no one worried about terrorism or ebola.  A past where the clip clop of horse hooves bounced from the wooden planks to the roof overhead as they pulled carriages and wagons.  A past where the trestles creaked as Model Ts rattled above.  Today, […]


Return To Laurel Hill

Tweet I’m not sure what it is about old cemeteries that fascinate me–the mausoleums that are monuments to historic excess, the sculpture, the peacefulness or just the difference between the sterileness of the flat markers found in the modern cemeteries of today.  I’ve never been a “visit dead relatives at the cemetery” kind of girl, […]


Majestic Reflections

Tweet On my second visit to Glacier National park, the water of Lake McDonald was as smooth as glass, producing vivid reflections of the surrounding mountains. My cousin Diane and her husband Doug graciously posed for me at water’s edge.   Tweet


POTW: Lake McDonald

Tweet The rain stopped and the sun started to peak through the clouds as we arrived at Lake McDonald at the start of our Red Bus tour through Glacier National Park. Photo details:  f/11 at 1/400 sec, 67 mm, ISO 400 Tweet


Antietam Waterfall

Tweet When I walked out the door of my townhouse early on Saturday morning, the skies were overcast and foggy.  The air was filled with the kind of humidity more appropriate for a rainforest in South America than the suburbs of Eastern Pennsylvania.  The sidewalks were still damp after a day and night of heavy […]


Cathedral Glow

Tweet On a sultry June evening, I ventured out to Bryn Athyn Cathedral for a sunset shoot.  After a long day of telephone interviews with autism caregivers (and a long couple of weeks of work), I desperately needed to use the creative side of my brain for a few hours.  With storm clouds looming on […]


By The Light Of A Blue Moon

Angels watch over Millionaire's Row

Tweet The full moon wasn’t visibly blue, but its light bathed the 176-year old Laurel Hill Cemetery in a glow for hours last night.  Part outdoor sculptural garden and part horticultural oasis, Laurel Hill is the final resting place of some of Philadelphia’s most famous and wealthiest residents. Both peaceful and eerie, statuary at Laurel […]


Cellblock 14

Tweet Moody. Crumbling. Haunting.  Once the crown jewel of the Pennsylvania Corrections system, Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) was abandoned in 1971 after continually housing inmates for 142 years.  Known for its distinctive wagon-wheel design and its system of keeping inmates in isolation so that they could contemplate their sins and their penitence, ESP housed some […]


St. Simon’s Island Lighthouse

St. Simon's Island Lighthouse

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Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA

Black and White Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA

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Splash Of Spring Color

Tweet On a somewhat gloomy May Sunday, I decided I was in need of a taste of spring. So, I made the drive out to Longwood Gardens to gaze at the spring flowers. While the tulip gardens were the main attraction, there were all sorts of beautiful blooms on which to feast the eyes. A […]


April Cherry Blossoms

Tweet Every year I say I’m going to make it down to see the DC Cherry Blossom Festival and then something comes up with work and I miss it.  This year, I finally made it.  Saturday was overcast and rainy, so my friend Mia and I went shopping at Tysons II and lusted over Prada, […]


Spring Blossoms

Tweet Mother nature gave us a beautiful first day of spring–sunny, blue skies, 72 degrees. The tree in my backyard has begun to flower and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Birds are flying about and the wind chimes are tinkling on the gentle breeze that floats in through my sliding door. Considering the wretched winter we had, […]


Snow Geraniums

Tweet We’re getting our first snow today and yet my geraniums are still in full bloom.  It just seems wrong. Tweet


Rainforest In The Mountains

Tweet When up in the mountains of Pennsylvania, you don’t expect to stumble into a climate more commonly found in the rain forests of the Caribbean or Central America. But, as soon as we hit the hiking trails at Bushkill Falls, the pleasant 75 degree August day turned tropical, fed by the moisture from a […]


One More Watcher

Tweet One more Amur tiger kept a close eye on us at the zoo Monday. http://the35thillusion.blogspot.com Tweet


The Watcher Becomes The Watched

Tweet Monday, my sister Sara and I took a trip to the zoo on one of her last days before leaving for the Peace Corps. Despite being a fairly warm and humid day, the animals didn’t disappoint. While some slumbered away in the summer heat, others let their personalities out on display. At times you […]


Butterfly Sancturary

Tweet Sara and I went up to the Bear Mountain Sanctuary in the Poconos yesterday. http://the35thillusion.blogspot.com Tweet


Echoes of Furies Past

Tweet Most of us will never step onto a battlefield. We won’t know what it sounds like when artillery whines over head so close you can feel the wake ruffle your hair as it sails by. We’ll never know what it’s like peer across the confusion of a smoke enshrouded field to hunt for the […]


Summer Lilies

Tweet Still working on my London and Paris pictures. But, in the mean time, some really pretty lilies started blooming in my garden today. http://the35thillusion.blogspot.com Tweet


Views From Underwater

Tweet Last weekend I took a trip down I-95 to for lunch with a friend and a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I hadn’t been in ages–not since the Sea Horse exhibition years ago. Despite being over run by ankle biters, it was still a lot of fun. Here are my favorite pictures […]


Falling into the Poconos

Tweet I drove back up into the Poconos this past weekend to the picturesque little town of Jim Thorpe for their Fall Festival and some leaf peeping. The little Leigh High Valley town, was originally two towns,Mauch Chunck (Indian for Bear Mountain) and Eastern Mauch Chunk. Both thrived and blossomed with the discovery of anthracite […]


Fall Flowers

Tweet I drove out to Solebury Orchards today by New Hope, PA to pick up some Honey Crisp apples and fresh cider. As chilly as the weather was yesterday (it was in the 60s all day), it was blazing hot today and hard to believe the first day of fall is tomorrow. Due to the […]


Zootopia

Tweet I wrapped up my vacation last week with a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo–the oldest in the country, dating back to 1874. I strolled through the 42-acre Victorian Gardens in an 85 degree heat that assured anyone who had been in doubt, that summer had finally arrived to Philadelphia after a chilly and wet […]