Happy New Year!

Here's a great word for the New Year. AHIMSA - Sanskrit word meaning respect for all living things and refraining from harming any living beings as well as the living environment.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice!

Charlotte View

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

An Artist's Creations

My friend Gudrun is an amazing artist of many mediums. Here are some of her latest creations. She makes these wool capes, with wool crewel work embroidery, that you will never see anything else like. I adore her whimsical style. The cape is an ode to the evolution of Birds which includes the flying dinosaur (dragon) and the dino-chicken. 

 Her sculptures are of paper mache. I hope you enjoy her creations as much as I do.

Evolution Of Birds

Evolution Of Birds

Dino-chicken

Flying Dinosaur (dragon)

Evolution Of Birds

Evolution Of Birds

The Faces Of Flowers

The Blue Dragon sculpture has sea shells for teeth and ears.

The octopus is tangled in seaweed.

Paper Mache Sculptures

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Happy Thanksgiving and World Compassion Day!

Happy Thanksgiving and World Compassion Day! Compassion is what brings us together in unity and harmony, overcoming all forms of discrimination. World Compassion Day is based on the concept of ahimsa. It means non-violence and absence of desire to harm Any life forms, dedicated to animal welfare, compassion towards all living things on the planet, and the growing importance of vegetarianism and veganism. I am grateful for Nature and all of her Beauty and wonder.

Buzzing Around Lobelia

Buzzing Around Lobelia

Bumble bee on Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

A Forest Garden With 500 Edible Plants Could Lead to a Sustainable Futur...

Vermont Fall Foliage 2019

Fall On A Charlotte, Vermont Country Road

Lainey Leaf Peeping in Cambridge, Vermont

Captivating Shapes Of Ancient Trunks & Branches

Autumn View From Overlook 

Fall Colors Of Stowe Before The Snow

Fall Color Through Branches In Shelburne.

Reminds me of looking through lace curtains.

Monarch Butterfly Enjoying The Fall Foliage

Autumn Blooms, Sunflower Maxamillion & A Bee

A Glimpse Of Lincoln Brook

Me On A Fall Foliage Run. Leaf peeping in Cambridge, Vt.

Photographed by Lainey Rappaport

Nature's Art Grasses With Unusual Seed Heads Northern River Oats Also known as wood oats, inland sea oats, northern sea oats, river oats, Indian Wood Oats, Wild Oats, Flathead Oats, Upland Oats, Upland Sea Oats. Chasmanthium latifolium

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

South Hero Bird House Forest

 South Hero Bird House Forest

 South Hero Bird House Forest

Champ Hanging Out With The Birds

Champ & T Rex In The South Hero Bird House Forest. 

Located in the swamps just north of Whites Beach, near the roadside, are hundreds of brilliantly colored Bird Houses that hang from the many hardwood trees in the thick marshland. According to the owners of the birdhouses, "Well, as you can see, we’re surrounded by swamp” he said, gesturing to the swamps surrounding his house. “So there are a lot of mosquitoes here, Or at least there were before we put these up.” The bird houses are home to tree swallows, and tree swallows eat mosquitoes. “They make it so me and my wife can sit outside on the lawn in the evening and enjoy ourselves. We don’t get eaten alive.” He started this project 15 years ago, with only 20 bird houses. His wife was the one who convinced him to paint them the striking bold colors. After a year, he went to check on them and found that each one was occupied. So he built more. Now he has over 400 of them. Asked if he was planning on building more. “We’ll see” he said chuckling.

As of 2019 I hear there are now over 800 of them.

My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.artfire.com
Thanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!
© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.

Silver Spotted Skipper Butterflies

Silver Spotted Skipper Butterflies on Sedum
Epargyreus Clarus
The Silver-spotted Skipper shows a clear preference for blue, red, pink, and purple flowers and rarely visit yellow flower.

Silver Spotted Skipper Butterfly on Echinacea

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

New Family Member

 New Family Member at my Sister's home, today! Meet Tessra. Isn't she cute?

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Resinous Polypore Mushrooms

Resinous Polypore Mushrooms

Ischnoderma resinosum. Late Fall Polypore.

This is a very common edible-when-young fungus.

Resinous Polypore Mushrooms

Even as they age, these mushrooms remain beautiful, especially with deepening colors and

lines that make them even more interesting. Can the same be said about us?

There are more than 100,000 colors of synthetic dyes produced commercially, mainly for use in textile, paper, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Many of these dyes  are toxic and carcinogenic to living organisms, including humans. Shockingly, around 280,000 tons of textile dyes are discharged every year worldwide.

The resinous polypore, is a white rot fungus capable of degrading organic pollutants… including synthetic dyes. It's effectiveness has been shown to be even greater than the degradation efficiency of oyster and turkey tail mushrooms, which are also powerful bio-remediators.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Ollie Sighting

Ollie sighting, while on a Fall foliage run, yesterday. Ollie the Camel lives at the Round Barn Merinos Farm on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh, VT. with a flock of sheep and an alpaca. With two humps, the Bactrian camel, is part of what Judith Giusto, owner of Round Barn Merinos, a farm and shop in the small, northern Vermont village, calls her “fiber zoo.” Judith obtained Ollie in September 2002, when he was just two months old. The down from Ollie’s coat, along with the fibers from merino sheep are used to create sweaters, scarves, afghans and many other pieces of warm clothing.

Ollie was bred in Wisconsin. Bactrian Camels originate in the steppe country of Eurasia and Mongolia. There are more domesticated Bactrian Camels than wild Bactrian Camels. For a while there was some concern that they were extinct in the wild. 

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Tinder Conk Mushrooms

Tinder Conk Mushrooms
Tinder fungus or Fomes fomentarius, also known as Tinder Polypore.
Common on dead or dying birch and occasionally other trees.
Medicinal use: Traditionally used as a styptic agent, this common mushroom has significant
anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. Steeped to make a tea, drink hot or chilled.
This mushroom has been used for millenia as an instrument for starting fires.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Toad Lily

 Toad Lily

Tricyrtis hirta, the toad lily, or hairy toad lily, is a Japanese species of hardy perennial plants in the lily family. 

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Sunset On Lake Champlain

 Sunset On Lake Champlain

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Fall Foliage & Fun 2019

Autumn View From The Shelburne Museum 9

Old wooden fence line and a touch of fall colors.

Mushroom Shaped Pumpkin
Vegetable Oddity
I know you've never seen one of these before.

Basket Full Of Squash

At the Hudak Farm. This is the biggest basket I've ever seen and I love all the colorful

squash, pumpkins, and gourds, in and around it.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Apples & Pears Oh My!

 Apples & Pears

Ready for picking

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.