“A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.” — Annie Leibovitz

Thank you for all the new views and likes from last week. It helps keep me going. Enjoy my blog post!

Sunday, 03/21/2021: Posted photo—Puppy Love.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/20 s, 24 mm

Meet Brownie. Brownie was given to my mother back in the late 1940’s. My father won this at a carnival, and she has sleep with it ever since. Brownie is in great condition for being over 70 years old. My mother was telling me all about how my father won it for her and how people are amazed of Brownies condition. She attempted to wipe one of the white spots off Brownie’s eyes, so I had to tell her that these were the dog’s pupils. She just laughed and we continued talking about her life.

Keep family close.

Monday, 03/22/2021: Posted photo—Sunset.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, 2SO 100, f/6.3, 1/8000 s, 300 mm.

I needed to go on a hike today to clear my mind and to contemplate on the good life my mother is living. She holds family close and enjoys it when people are over. She complains about it sometime, but she truly appreciates it. Hiking is a great way to get in touch with nature and to think about life. If you are hiking alone, or with others, your mind is attuned with nature and natural wonders and helps you know about what is and is not important.

Getting to the summit before sunset was the goal of this hike. I made it with plenty of time to spare. There is a ski area on Wachusett Mountain, and it was open. At about the time if sunset, the summit was crowded, so I left before sunset was complete.

Every sunset is different and wonderful in its own way.

Tuesday, 03/23/2021: Posted photo—Pietà.

Settings: Samsung SM-G930V, ISO 200, f/1.7, 1/17 s, 4 mm.

The Pietà (“the Pity”; 1498–1499) is a work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. It is the first of several works of the same theme by the artist. It is the only piece Michelangelo ever signed. This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion.

This has been with my mother for many years, at least 60 years. I was disappointed last year because I was going to the Basilica in Vatican City for the ordination of a family member, and I wanted to see this work in person. COVID stopped that from happening. Someday I will go to Vatican City and see this work.

Wednesday, 03/24/2021: Posted photo—New Growth.

Settings: Samsung SM-G930V, ISO 100, f/1.7, 1/60 s, 4 mm.

Tulips are starting to bloom, just in time for Easter. We have tulip that bloom every year at this time, and I noticed that they broke soil today. Tulips form a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes. The flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly colored, generally red, pink, yellow, or white. These tulips are pink in color. Once they bloom, I will post photos of them.

Now I am waiting on the crocus to bloom. The normally bloom before the tulip. Like everything else, life is different this year.

Thursday, 03/25/2021: Posted photo—Stream.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 1600, f/22, 1/10 s, 55 mm

Today I went on a hike with my son and his friend. We decided to do a longer hike today on Wachusett Mountain that we normally do on a weekday since the sun out up longer. We started the hike at our normal time, giving us over an hour to get to the summit. The normal trail will get us to the summit is less than an hour, so we decided on a longer hike. We hike on Bicentennial Trail in the opposite direction we normally hike it. Bicentennial has a trail that bisects it and we normally to left at the intersection and today we went right. There are a few seasonal streams along the trail, and the streams were flowing due to the rain earlier in the day and the snow melt on the mountain. I was thinking about a photo and saw this stream and took a handheld, semi-long exposure photo.

Here is a photo from the trailhead and another photo of the stream.

Friday, 03/26/2021: Post photo—Sugar Maple.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/100 s, 55 mm

The sugar maple is one of America’s most-loved trees. In fact, more states have claimed it as their state tree than any other single species—for New York, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Vermont, the maple tree stands alone.

These are the buds from one of the sugar maples in our yard. They are currently being tapped by our neighbor to make maple syrup. More photos of this tree will occur as the leaves get larger.

Saturday, 03/27/2021: Post photo—Glacial Erratic.

Settings: Samsung SM-G930V, ISO 50, f/1.7, 1/810 s, 4 mm.

Wachusett Mountain is one of the oldest mountains in the world. The rocks are estimated to be 250 million years old. It is a metamorphic rock monadnock. In its youth, it was over 20,000 feet tall. Today it is only 2,006 feet tall. It has been through ice ages. Wachusett means “Near the mountain” or “Mountain place” in the language of the Natick Indians. A band of old growth forest along rock ledges 500 feet (150 m) below the summit supports trees from 150 to 370 years old. Covering 220 acres (89 ha), it is the largest known old growth forest east of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts.

Scientists have recorded five significant ice ages throughout the Earth’s history: the Huronian (2.4-2.1 billion years ago), Cryogenian (850-635 million years ago), Andean-Saharan (460-430 million years ago), Karoo (360-260 million years ago) and Quaternary (2.6 million years ago -present). Approximately a dozen major glaciations have occurred over the past 1 million years, the largest of which peaked 650,000 years ago and lasted for 50,000 years. The most recent glaciation period, often known simply as the “Ice Age,” reached peak conditions some 18,000 years ago before giving way to the interglacial Holocene epoch 11,700 years ago.

Glacial erratics are stones and rocks that were transported by a glacier, and then left behind after the glacier melted. Erratics can be carried for hundreds of kilometers and can range in size from pebbles to large boulders. Scientists sometimes use erratics to help determine ancient glacier movement.

Wachusett Mountain and throughout New England there are many glacial erratics.

For more photo of other project I have work, visit my website: https://photobyjosephciras.weebly.com/ or visit me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PhotobyJosephCiras/.

COVID is real! Be safe out there, keep your social distance, and remember to always wear your mask and wash your hands.