TURKEY... & CHICKS!
1.3 Mile Walk at Five Rivers EEC
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
WOW! Alive at Five Viewed from Overhead
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Each summer Albany runs a free Alive at Five concert series in Albany Riverfront Park on Thursday evenings, closing down the park and the Albany end of the Corning Preserve. I've never really registered it as much more than a "stay away from the Corning Preserve on Thursdays" warning in the back of my mind - jam-packed crowded concerts just aren't my thing, even when they're free.
But I really wish I could have stopped on the Dunn Memorial Bridge tonight and taken some pictures, because the view from overhead was pretty impressive, and the opening band had barely started. People filling the ampitheater in the park, boats gathering on the Hudson River... definitely nothing I've ever seen before for what is always a pretty quiet spot when I'm there.
JMH
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Each summer Albany runs a free Alive at Five concert series in Albany Riverfront Park on Thursday evenings, closing down the park and the Albany end of the Corning Preserve. I've never really registered it as much more than a "stay away from the Corning Preserve on Thursdays" warning in the back of my mind - jam-packed crowded concerts just aren't my thing, even when they're free.
But I really wish I could have stopped on the Dunn Memorial Bridge tonight and taken some pictures, because the view from overhead was pretty impressive, and the opening band had barely started. People filling the ampitheater in the park, boats gathering on the Hudson River... definitely nothing I've ever seen before for what is always a pretty quiet spot when I'm there.
JMH
TURTLES & MAMMA MALLARD
1 Mile Walk at Five Rivers EEC
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Headed to Five Rivers for a brief walk before my run this afternoon, hoping to see a few more turtles enjoying the sunshine. I hadn't counted on the day camp they were running (lots of kids organized into various groups, presumably doing various nature-oriented activities out on the grounds) so I hustled down to the Beaver Pond without stopping by the bird feeders and flower garden - just wanted to get some quiet time at the pond in case a horde of campers headed that way.
![]()
![]()
![]()
Only a few turtles at the bridge - the big snapper and one of the smaller ones, and a couple of sliders. Maybe the cool weather has them less active. But while we were watching the turtles - mamma mallard came swimming across the pond with her ducklings tucked in behind her. Hurray! Apparently they all made it through Tuesday night's spillway mishap OK. I was hoping she'd go by the bridge but instead she took them into the marshy area, probably up onto the terraced beaver pond - makes sense, they're pretty much out of sight there and that keeps the squirts away from the big snapping turtles.
![]()
On my way down to the far end of the pond the kingfisher perched in the tree above the beaver lodge, which gave me a chance to get a couple of decent photos. Surprisingly few turtles on the logs at the far end - maybe that side of the pond doesn't get enough sun during the morning to make it worth climbing up on the logs. Perhaps I'll stop by on the way home and see if more are sunning themselves then...
![]()
JMH
1 Mile Walk at Five Rivers EEC
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Headed to Five Rivers for a brief walk before my run this afternoon, hoping to see a few more turtles enjoying the sunshine. I hadn't counted on the day camp they were running (lots of kids organized into various groups, presumably doing various nature-oriented activities out on the grounds) so I hustled down to the Beaver Pond without stopping by the bird feeders and flower garden - just wanted to get some quiet time at the pond in case a horde of campers headed that way.
Only a few turtles at the bridge - the big snapper and one of the smaller ones, and a couple of sliders. Maybe the cool weather has them less active. But while we were watching the turtles - mamma mallard came swimming across the pond with her ducklings tucked in behind her. Hurray! Apparently they all made it through Tuesday night's spillway mishap OK. I was hoping she'd go by the bridge but instead she took them into the marshy area, probably up onto the terraced beaver pond - makes sense, they're pretty much out of sight there and that keeps the squirts away from the big snapping turtles.
On my way down to the far end of the pond the kingfisher perched in the tree above the beaver lodge, which gave me a chance to get a couple of decent photos. Surprisingly few turtles on the logs at the far end - maybe that side of the pond doesn't get enough sun during the morning to make it worth climbing up on the logs. Perhaps I'll stop by on the way home and see if more are sunning themselves then...
JMH
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
ONE UPSET MAMMA MALLARD
1.9 Mile Walk at Five Rivers EEC
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
I had planned to go for a short run today, but my stomach had other ideas... so rather than risk potentially messy consequences out on the trail, I headed over to Five Rivers again to do a bit of easy walking.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
No beaver activity tonight, but down at the far end of the pond a mallard was standing on top of the spillway obviously agitated. When I went to the bridge I discovered why - her ducklings had gone over the spillway and had no way to get back up to her. Spent a little while trying to figure out how I could help and concluded that there was nothing I could do - even if I'd managed to safely climb down into the spillway, there's no way I could catch the ducklings to lift them back up to the pond. Looked like her best bet was to fly down to them, then take them over the second spillway into the stream - from there they could walk back up the beaver run (an area the beavers use to move back and forth between the pond and the stream.) While I was checking out the beaver run, she must have done just that, because when I went back to the bridge - no duck or ducklings in sight. Hope they all made it through the experience OK...
![]()
![]()
![]()
1.9 Mile Walk at Five Rivers EEC
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
I had planned to go for a short run today, but my stomach had other ideas... so rather than risk potentially messy consequences out on the trail, I headed over to Five Rivers again to do a bit of easy walking.
Lots of frogs at the small pool near the Visitors Center, including some little guys I hadn't seen there before and one that had found a prime spot behind the trickling waterfall.
On my way down to the Beaver Pond I surprised a pair of deer and was fortunate to have a group of cedar waxwings stop for a break in a bush right in front of me.
No beaver activity tonight, but down at the far end of the pond a mallard was standing on top of the spillway obviously agitated. When I went to the bridge I discovered why - her ducklings had gone over the spillway and had no way to get back up to her. Spent a little while trying to figure out how I could help and concluded that there was nothing I could do - even if I'd managed to safely climb down into the spillway, there's no way I could catch the ducklings to lift them back up to the pond. Looked like her best bet was to fly down to them, then take them over the second spillway into the stream - from there they could walk back up the beaver run (an area the beavers use to move back and forth between the pond and the stream.) While I was checking out the beaver run, she must have done just that, because when I went back to the bridge - no duck or ducklings in sight. Hope they all made it through the experience OK...
JMH
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The rain may have delayed my plans to ride (and prompted a visit to the Clifton Park Borders while I was waiting for the rain to stop) but it also provided a nice opportunity to see a rainbow when I left the store...
JMH
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Samurai Myths & Misinformation
Monday, June 20, 2011
It's been a long time since I last wrote about martial arts, mainly because my departure from the school where I used to train and teach has meant I've been focused on other pursuits... but an article popped up in today's Martial Arts Daily e-mail (really a daily ad for Black Belt magazine and associated products from both Black Belt and paid sponsors) about Samurai Facts vs. Samurai Myths & Legends. I checked it out really for two reasons. Hanshi Masayuki Shimabukuro and Carl Long are cited as sources of information, and I've had a lot of respect for Hanshi Shimabukuro for many years based on his excellent book Flashing Steel and his video series from Century Martial Arts. I was also a bit curious to see how much of the misinformation is stuff that we used to hear from the instructor and assistant instructors at the iaido classes I used to attend. The article is something of a fluff piece, which is about what I expected from Black Belt - and of course the motivation for posting it is mainly to advertise Shimabukuro & Long's Samurai Swordsmanship book and DVD series, published by (you guessed it) Black Belt (though of much higher quality than the fluff usually printed in the magazine, as many of Black Belt's books and DVDs are.) And I'm pleased to say that most of what's there is silly enough that even the often misinformed folks I used to study with hopefully would have laughed at most of it. Then again, given that a portion of their "knowledge" apparently came from action-adventure and chanbara films... maybe I'm being too generous.
It did get me thinking about another article I read some time ago, a rather cutting and at times humorous review of a History Channel documentary about samurai. I haven't seen the show, but it sounds like the usual flashy dreck the various cable channels pass off as researched martial arts documentaries, half fluff and half nonsense. It's interesting how the wildly-romanticized vision of samurai and bushido continues to flourish, to the point where there's even a term for the folks who practice this silliness - Modern Sammyrai. Then again, it's a much prettier picture than the more accurate one portrayed in films like The Twilight Samurai and Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai (or even the brief hints in Shogun that the samurai code has a dark side to it.) And we do seem endlessly fascinated with knights and their like, don't we? (Despite the fact that most of us, had we lived during those times, would have been very miserable peasants.)
I'm not going to repeat all the points made in the various articles cited above - check out the links and enjoy. If nothing else they provide ample reason to take the many "historical facts" presented in martial arts schools with a king-sized grain of salt. Do your research and find out the truth. And if your school requires you to check your brain at the door and accept such nonsense without question - perhaps it's time to check out another school.
Update: Wow, Black Belt is really trying to drum up interest in their upcoming Advanced Samurai Swordsmanship DVDs... or is there a samurai-themed movie hitting the theaters that they're trying to capitalize on? Two more days of Samurai Facts vs. Samurai Myths (part two, part three) and this rather amusing tip of the day:
Monday, June 20, 2011
It's been a long time since I last wrote about martial arts, mainly because my departure from the school where I used to train and teach has meant I've been focused on other pursuits... but an article popped up in today's Martial Arts Daily e-mail (really a daily ad for Black Belt magazine and associated products from both Black Belt and paid sponsors) about Samurai Facts vs. Samurai Myths & Legends. I checked it out really for two reasons. Hanshi Masayuki Shimabukuro and Carl Long are cited as sources of information, and I've had a lot of respect for Hanshi Shimabukuro for many years based on his excellent book Flashing Steel and his video series from Century Martial Arts. I was also a bit curious to see how much of the misinformation is stuff that we used to hear from the instructor and assistant instructors at the iaido classes I used to attend. The article is something of a fluff piece, which is about what I expected from Black Belt - and of course the motivation for posting it is mainly to advertise Shimabukuro & Long's Samurai Swordsmanship book and DVD series, published by (you guessed it) Black Belt (though of much higher quality than the fluff usually printed in the magazine, as many of Black Belt's books and DVDs are.) And I'm pleased to say that most of what's there is silly enough that even the often misinformed folks I used to study with hopefully would have laughed at most of it. Then again, given that a portion of their "knowledge" apparently came from action-adventure and chanbara films... maybe I'm being too generous.
It did get me thinking about another article I read some time ago, a rather cutting and at times humorous review of a History Channel documentary about samurai. I haven't seen the show, but it sounds like the usual flashy dreck the various cable channels pass off as researched martial arts documentaries, half fluff and half nonsense. It's interesting how the wildly-romanticized vision of samurai and bushido continues to flourish, to the point where there's even a term for the folks who practice this silliness - Modern Sammyrai. Then again, it's a much prettier picture than the more accurate one portrayed in films like The Twilight Samurai and Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai (or even the brief hints in Shogun that the samurai code has a dark side to it.) And we do seem endlessly fascinated with knights and their like, don't we? (Despite the fact that most of us, had we lived during those times, would have been very miserable peasants.)
I'm not going to repeat all the points made in the various articles cited above - check out the links and enjoy. If nothing else they provide ample reason to take the many "historical facts" presented in martial arts schools with a king-sized grain of salt. Do your research and find out the truth. And if your school requires you to check your brain at the door and accept such nonsense without question - perhaps it's time to check out another school.
Update: Wow, Black Belt is really trying to drum up interest in their upcoming Advanced Samurai Swordsmanship DVDs... or is there a samurai-themed movie hitting the theaters that they're trying to capitalize on? Two more days of Samurai Facts vs. Samurai Myths (part two, part three) and this rather amusing tip of the day:
FREE Shipping on Samurai ProductsJMH
No matter your profession or calling, the samurai approach to life deserves close attention.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Monday, June 06, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Weekly Activity Summary
5/29/2011 - 6/4/2011
running - 0 mi
riding (1x) - 10.2 mi
walking/hiking (4x) - 7.5 mi
paddling (1x) - 2.9 mi
Had a tough time getting myself outside this week... a combination of the heat for the first half of the week, work being in the crazy end-of-school-year mode, and my crash-and-burn at SEHGAHUNDA messing with my head. Time to kick it back into gear this week.
JMH
5/29/2011 - 6/4/2011
running - 0 mi
riding (1x) - 10.2 mi
walking/hiking (4x) - 7.5 mi
paddling (1x) - 2.9 mi
Had a tough time getting myself outside this week... a combination of the heat for the first half of the week, work being in the crazy end-of-school-year mode, and my crash-and-burn at SEHGAHUNDA messing with my head. Time to kick it back into gear this week.
JMH
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
