After 23 seasons the Festival of Lights at Blue Spruce Park ends its run in 2014. During the festival the edge of Cummings Dam was lighted with these luminaries - always one of our favorite views of the festival.
The Allegheny Mountain dusky is one of our most common salamanders. The females lay eggs in seeps and wet areas and will stay with the eggs until they are hatched. Inside the gel-like egg you can see a miniature version of the adults. It's thought that they breed in the spring and late summer. The length of time that it takes for the eggs to hatch depends on various conditions like temperature, moisture and whether the mother stays with the eggs to guard them. As these ones peered out from their eggs we wondered what the world looked like to them.
A cold spell followed by a warming trend left just enough ice underneath a sheet of water to allow these Canada geese the appearance of walking on water. We wondered when they landed if they knew there was ice underneath.
