A foggy walk in the woods

The weather around here has finally thawed enough for me to comfortably walk outside! I have been out there the past few months, just not so comfortably. A few days ago, a thick fog rolled in. I rushed out to a wooded area where I knew I could get some good, spooky fog photos. The two forest areas I visited did not disappoint! I find it interesting how these photos look like they could have been taken in November. These don't feel like March photos to me. Actually, I think the snow preserved those leaves in exactly the same place they were in November. Our winter came in really fast this year.

Looking up... If you've never tried taking a photo above your head in the woods, give it a shot. It's sometimes surprising to see what's directly above your head.

It was pretty peaceful in the forest. I saw one squirrel and heard loads of seagulls for some reason. 

This one is possibly my favorite photo of the group.

So this is a different forest area. It's actually named "Sherwood Forest". It's so hard to believe that this area can ever look as sparse as this. Not that this is all that sparse, it's just super dense with leaves during the rest of the year.

I call this giant fallen tree "The Snake Tree" and I'm sure you can see why!

I think this is the spookiest of the photos. I didn't feel spooked when I was actually there, but looking at this now, I am.

Anyone know what kind of tree this is? These look like little cherries or berries hanging from the branches. Whatever the little berries were, they were really rough and textured looking.

This is a favorite area of the woods for me. 

The water droplets were still hanging off the tree branches. If you look really closely, you might see some upside down tree shapes in those drops. I kept thinking that it had started to rain again when I was in the woods, because I thought I heard a steady rain. It was probably just the sound of the water that was already there dripping.

You guys might remember this last tree from a previous blog post. I can't even imagine how tall it is. I probably have a photo of this tree during every season, because I like its shape so much. 

Hope you guys enjoyed looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed revisiting them. It's amazing what I don't see until I get home and have a chance to study my photos. I was walking pretty quickly at the time, hoping to get these photos taken before the fog lifted or I got rained on! Luckily, neither of those two things happened. But now that I'm home looking these over, I'm liking what I'm seeing and thinking about maybe using some of these photos for some kind of future project. 

Bayview Pumpkin Pavilion ~ 2022

Happy Halloween Everybody! I am so happy to have some photos to share with you from the Bayview Pumpkin Pavilion! Mom and I went to this event a little over a week ago and I was saving the pics for Halloween. You might remember that this event involves the display of many carved pumpkins, as well as some awesome sculptures. I have to start with what is maybe my favorite photo from that night.

Get ready for a whole troop of zombies. Check out the eyes on this one!

This one looks like kind of a dancer. Maybe I'm thinking of the Thriller video.

Quite the glittery, shimmering zombie here. That paint gives a nice slimy effect.

Eek! Those teeth. I wonder if the sculptor used actual false teeth on these.

A nice follow-up to these zombies is the creepy cemetery we can assume they just crawled out of.

You're going to see several photos from this area, because I couldn't get enough of the up-lit green on these tombstones and skeletons. My favorite Halloween decorations are usually up-lit and involving lots of shadows.

YOLO!

I really liked the texture on this one.

I recognize that Dollar Tree skull. :)

This ghoulish specter was behind one of the windows of a building in the park.

She would sink down slowly and then spring up really fast.

You might remember these two from a few years ago. They're... OK, I'm not sure really. My interpretation is that these creatures are part human, part pumpkin.

I think actual glass eyes were used on these. It was so freaky when the light glimmered off them. They really appeared to be making eye contact.

Does this guy remind you of that creepy cab driver in Ghostbusters? When I saw that movie as a kid, the freakiest part to me was the zombie cab driver. Or rotten skeleton ghost man, or whatever he was. This one was "driving" a parked truck.

This will give you an idea of the general scene. There were many jack-o-lanterns on display and above us were strings of party lights. All of this made for an old fashioned and fun atmosphere.

This is the event's logo in what I assume was black light paint.

There were wonderfully up-lit skeletons and bones in the trees. I didn't even catch them for some time. Mom looked up and noticed these guys. 

If any of you are big fans of The Lost Boys, maybe you too will be reminded of the end of the movie when you look at this.

Look at that sassy skeleton to the side!

What my eyes first saw this as was a scarab, but on closer view it was a skull flanked by jawbones. 

There was a band playing, although they were on break when I took this picture. As you can see, they had a Nightmare Before Christmas set-up going.

Now to the pumpkins! Don't they look great with those intense blue lights? I especially like this photo because of the adorable kid in the skeleton outfit. That expression on her face is so sweet.

This photo is serving as my computer wallpaper right now.

I LOVE this carving! It looks like the guts are dripping. How careful did the carver have to be to cut around everything but these very thin lines? One slip of the knife and those details would be gone! 

This pumpkin is serving as my phone's background.

I was impressed by this sun carving too. Not only thin lines but that layered cutting. You know, where someone kind of shaves off a layer of pumpkin so the light glows through. 

This guy might be my favorite. He's up there anyway. Sinister! I can almost hear its evil pumpkin laughter. 

I hadn't seen this inflatable before. There's a lot going on with this spooky tree.

Every year, there are some lit-up jellyfish near the entrance/exit. 

See the fiberoptics? 

I realized this year that the jellyfish are made from lampshades, which you can see pretty clearly in this picture.

This pumpkin creature was standing in a yard near the park. Isn't he something? I'm so impressed by this creation. 

This nicely designed skull and plant combo was in the same yard.

This is a view from another nearby house. I really liked what they had going on with that skull under the porch light. That's an idea to tuck away. 

Well, there you have it! I really had a good time looking around and documenting all this creepy glowing goodness. I hope you all have a very Happy Halloween, however you end up celebrating! 🎃