Beech by the Lake

A large American Beech tree begins to display its fall colors as do some other trees across the lake and the entire of the landscape takes on an autumnal feel…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

It’s Snowing on Mars—How Cool is that?

Falling Snow Seen on Mars
Irene Klotz, Discovery News

Sept. 30, 2008 — A robotic science probe on the surface of Mars beamed a laser into the sky and made a surprising discovery: It was snowing.

“Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars,” said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, which oversees the meteorological experiments on NASA’s Phoenix lander.

Very Cool…check it out!

A Forest Road—IR with a twist

A back road through the forest in Bedford County, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Autumn Migrating Monarch

You know I have only seen about three monarch butterflies all year and yesterday afternoon I went out on our back deck…we have a large stand of butterfly bushes some standing eight to ten feet tall in a garden straight out from the deck about fifteen feet away. Next to the deck are smaller butterfly bushes and all of them are still blooming profusely. I sat down and suddenly noticed that the taller bushes were very active and a closer look revealed dozens of Monarchs. I couldn’t get a good shot of them because they were in the tops of the bushes and when I moved closer my view was obstructed by lower branches. Luckily as I sat there watching a couple came to the closer and lower bushes…I couldn’t get a shot of the large mass of them I wanted but I did get a half dozen shots of one.

“Unlike most other insects in temperate climates, Monarch butterflies cannot survive a long cold winter. Instead, they spend the winter in roosting spots. Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains travel to small groves of trees along the California coast. Those east of the Rocky Mountains fly farther south to the forests high in the mountains of Mexico. The monarch’s migration is driven by seasonal changes. Daylength and temperature changes influence the movement of the Monarch.

In all the world, no butterflies migrate like the Monarchs of North America. They travel much farther than all other tropical butterflies, up to three thousand miles. They are the only butterflies to make such a long, two way migration every year. Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees. Their migration is more the type we expect from birds or whales. However, unlike birds and whales, individuals only make the round-trip once. It is their children’s grandchildren that return south the following fall.

Another unsolved mystery is how Monarchs find the overwintering sites each year. Somehow they know their way, even though the butterflies returning to Mexico or California each fall are the great-great-grandchildren of the butterflies that left the previous spring. No one knows exactly how their homing system works; it is another of the many unanswered questions in the butterfly world.”

M o n a r c h W a t c h

When will the migration peak in your area? See Peak Migration Dates

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Lake Sprites and Sunbeams

Lake sprites dance on the lake with a light show provided by sunbeams…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

About to Touchdown

A Canada goose lands shattering the surface of the lake as another is on approach about to touchdown…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Breaking Light

Early morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Otter Lake as autumn starts to make itself known…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

The Smile and Wave Initiative

A Sociological Experiment:

The first time I smiled and waved at this gentleman he looked at me like I was insane…now look at that big smile…he waves and smiles like that every time he sees me now.

This is in an attempt to start at the most basic level to get people to start being kinder to one another…to ease some of our social woes and smooth relations between racial and class tensions.

This kind of thing will work but it takes time for people in our society to take to good habits and deeds. A large part of our society easily gravitates to bad habits and misdeeds which is counterproductive and builds walls between us. It’s been said before but I don’t think it’s been said enough or loud enough…

”We have to become a kinder and gentler people and nation!”

The best place to start and get everyone involved is to start in the most basic place with the most basic deeds.

My Story:

For the last few months I have been doing a lot of shooting in the nearest city to me, Lynchburg, Virginia. There are two reasons for this…one is due to circumstance; the price of gas has stopped a lot of my riding the back roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains doing the kind of photography I have always loved. The second reason is a desire to grow and shoot things I have never done much of, people, city streets and buildings etc.

While shooting in the city I noticed that so many people I see are walking around looking sad, complacent, and some look very angry…no one acknowledging one another as they pass on the sidewalks. I thought how cool it would be if we were different…if we offered each other a “good day,” “how are you?,” or “hello” or if nothing else a nod of the head and maybe a smile.

So, I thought maybe I should give it a try! I began as I was driving through the city streets that every time some one looked at me I would smile and through up my hand. Some folks waved back, some smiled and waved back, and some looked at me like I had lost my mind.

I have continued this practice and it is amazing how many people now smile and wave at me as I go by and usually before I have time to greet them first…some even run out to my truck at stoplights and ask me how I am. There are places in Lynchburg that before I started this I would have been leery about getting out of my truck and now I feel perfectly safe. In fact, when I am walking on a sidewalk in town I speak to everyone I meet whether they look at me or not and more and more often a lot of these same people, even ones who turned their heads the other way when I spoke are now speaking and saying hello to me. People in stores, shops, restaurants, offices, and banks through up a hand as I walk by…it’s a good feeling!

Doing this won’t cost you a thing and will not only make you a better person for doing it but you may be surprised how good it will make you feel, and others! Please try it and get your friends and families doing it!

It’s an easy start to making this a better world!

Hey, and if any of you try this, and I hope you will, let me know how it goes for you!

Gods Glorious Light

After three days of gloom and rain left me in a dark mood, God split the clouds and showered me in His glorious light, and lift me up to the heavens and I was at peace…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Red Barn on a Mountain Farm

Cattle graze near this red barn on a Blue Ridge Mountain farm on a back road in Bedford County, Virginia…

2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADDS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.