Picture of the Day: August 16, 2013

Fall Creek from the dock, this Wednesday, just before sunset.  The photo above and the photo below are rotated 45 degrees. In the colorized photo below, you can see the fading sun on the tops of the trees.  The days are getting shorter, but there's still plenty of green out there, even though it's been unseasonably cool lately!

Here's the original photo, in monochrome:

And the original:

Picture of the Day: August 15, 2013

From the photo above, can you guess what flower is blooming in the yard?  Ok, here's a not-so-subtle hint:

Goldenrod is coming into bloom: a sign that we're nearing the end of summer.  Another sign that we're nearing the end of summer: yesterday's weather.  The Cornell weather station topped out at 65, and here in Freeville the high was 64. Last night's low in the backyard was a chilly 43.  Some of the trees around the area are confused, already changing color for the fall.

Here's the original photo:

Picture of the Day: August 14, 2013

Today's sunset over Fall Creek.  The sun found a hole in the trees.  I'm hoping to find some holes in my busy schedule to add a couple more posts about the recent flooding around the Ithaca area.

Change in Format for the blog

Hi folks,

I know that there are people still interested in following the blog.  And I am still interested in maintaining the blog.  But changes to my schedule mean that I have to make some changes.  I'll be spending part of my time in Brockport, NY and part of my time in Freeville over the coming months.  I'll still be collecting content for the blog, and I still have a massive backlog of pictures and posts to sort through.  But I'm not sure how much time and/or content I'll have to add a full post every day in the days, weeks, and months to come.

So here's the plan.  I'll try to post something every weekday.  Many days, at least for the time being, it will be a Picture of the Day: a picture that I haven't posted yet, and a brief description.  When I have the time, I'll write out a full-blown blog post or two.  The weekends will be wild cards, based on my schedule.  I may post a lot over the weekend, or I may post nothing, depending on what else I'm up to that weekend.   But the plan is for, at a minimum, five Pictures of the Day each week, with a couple of regular posts - I hope! - every week.

If you haven't done so already, please "like" the Acorn Place page on Facebook (linked on the upper right side of this blog).  In addition to short updates when I post something to the blog, I plan to post additional photos and content there.

Thank you for your support of the blog, and I hope you continue to visit Acorn Place in the months ahead.

-Steve

August 8-9 Flash Floods: Buttermilk Falls

After starting my flash flood tour in Freeville, continuing to Stewart Park and Ithaca Falls, and moving on to Downtown Ithaca, I drove just south of the Ithaca city limit to Buttermilk Falls State Park.

A small channel next to the parking lot, like seemingly all small channels in the area, was full of runoff.

Despite the heavy rains, all trails in the park were open, and all camp sites were taken.

First I stopped at a bridge to look at the water running downstream from the falls:

Then I took a few pictures of the falls themselves from the same spot:

Not really the best day to use the swimming hole at the base of the falls.

But the falls themselves were spectacular on this day:

Some storm debris was taking a swim:

No need to mark off the swimming area today:

Yup, the gorge trail was open!

I am simply fascinated by the way that water will carve a channel through any path:

Buttermilk Falls, they say, is named for the milky color and texture of the water as it cascades down the falls.

Because I had two more stops on my tour, I only went about halfway up the falls, where the photo-taking is still good.

A gyre had set up in the swimming hole, and the debris was circulating around it.

For Buttermilk, the water was really roaring (for sound, check out the video below!).

Kids these days....

Don't worry, Mom!  It was safe!

One last look at the base of Buttermilk.

And finally, here's a video compilation from Buttermilk Falls.  Can you tell I'm fascinated by waves and the patterns they make?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stWHeIIHa2o

August 8-9 Flash Floods: Downtown Ithaca

My next stop on my flash flooding tour, after Freeville then Stewart Park and Ithaca Falls, was Cascadilla gorge.  I went to Treman Triangle Park by the intersection of Linn St. and Court St. in downtown Ithaca to see the extent of the flooding there.  It turns out I wasn't the only one around:

And she appeared to have a companion:

There is a small waterfall just up the gorge trail from the park, and it was raging on this day:

Lots of water:

But don't worry, Mom: I was high and dry, safe and sound.

Here's a little channel that the water was running down along the trail:

A couple of large tree trunks had gotten stuck in the middle of the creek.  Not sure if they were carried there by this storm or a previous one.

Though the first picture in this post had indicated otherwise, the gorge trail was completely closed:

From the gate, I could get my best view of the falls:

Then I went another half mile to mile down the road and took some photos of Six Mile Creek between South Cayuga St. and South Geneva St.  The water was running fast and high, but without a waterfall, it was nothing spectacular.

The Six Mile Creek gorge, maybe a mile upstream, is not accessible by foot from downtown, for good reason.  The channel gets quite narrow.

Parts of the creek bed that are normally dry and covered with plants were run over with floodwaters:

A look from the Cayuga Street bridge looking downstream,  toward the west and Geneva Street:

And from the other side of the bridge, looking upstream in the direction of the gorge.

Storm sewers dumped the rainfall from showers around noon directly into the creek.  By now the rain was letting up; I don't think I even carried an umbrella to take these photos:

And, last but certainly not least, a video compilation of the flooding along Cascadilla and Six Mile Creeks. You can especially see the power of the falls at Cascadilla:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD39ObHWpCg