2024 Photo of the Week Gallery

1/5/2024 - "'Winter Morning Angels' - A rainbow halo in the sky surrounds the two trees located on the Blue Ridge Parkway just outside Blowing Rock. They are sometimes called The Marry Trees because in summer they touch by finger branches."

1/12/2024 - "A beautiful winter morning walk in West Jefferson, NC. This brings hope and peace to my heart!"

1/19/2024 - "While out running on Monday afternoon, I noticed a flock of cedar waxwings as well as several American robins had settled in a neighborhood hawthorn tree. The cedar waxwings were devouring the remaining fruit on the tree. I've never seen robins eat fruit, only worms on the ground, so I suppose they were there to check out the commotion."

1/26/2024 - "Love this little frog, just hanging out and looking adorable."

"It is wet today. Look how the light bends through this drop of water on a maple branch and flips the image of the limbs behind it upside down! Just like the lens of a telescope."

"Bryn, an Irish Wolfhound, surveying his kingdom in the afternoon sun and enjoying the waterfall and Koi carp"

"A moment of reflection before release for this wild brown trout caught while fly fishing on the Smith River, in Henry County VA."

"A trumpeter swan, spending time on the lake in Hanging Rock State Park, is a rare sighting during the winter months in NC."

"The first tulip of spring is bursting with color."

"Spring is coming! Yellow Bells blooming in the fog." 

"It's a beautiful beginning to the day along the path at Reynolda Village."

"After hiking at Grayson Highlands on Monday afternoon, I stuck around to see if the dark sky far from city lights would afford a glimpse of the zodiacal light. The faint glow of sunlight on dust in Earth’s orbital plane becomes visible around the time of the equinox—after sunset in the spring, before dawn in the fall. The sky didn’t let me down."

"A bumblebee models the bright orange pollen of the purple dead nettle it was visiting at Pilot Mountain State Park."

My husband Jamie and his best friend Louie snuggle at bedtime. Sweet dreams are sure to follow.

"Not quite sure what he might have been thinking when I took his photo at the North Carolina Zoo, but what ever it was it made him smile."

"I was driving past the golf course in Tanglewood Park one late afternoon. The lines created by the tree shadows and refections caught my eye."

My hummingbirds have gotten much bigger this year! Hootie (a barred owl) has been a frequent visitor recently, but I've not been able to get a close-up before.

"A Pink Lady's Slipper found just off the Crockett Trail, Greensboro. A few years ago, a kindly gentleman suggested we keep an eye out for wild orchids along a specific section of the trail. We look for them at about this time every year. Hiding in plain sight was this wonderful specimen."

We were on our way out following a thunderstorm and noticed this cicada waving in the breeze. When we looked closer we saw it was drying on its molted exoskeleton.

"Nature's rare masterpiece: Pilot Mountain illuminated by the enchanting Northern Lights"
 

"Several pairs of indigo buntings are nesting around our yard near Haw River State Park. I was pleased to capture an image of this one as it landed on the branch of a blooming tulip poplar tree."

"Taken at Holden Beach, showing my granddaughter, Flora Wright, joyfully running through the waves as a princess (she’s 3)."

"Flame Azaleas in Henderson County."

"Taken at Ft. Fisher — a family enjoying the last light of the day."

"My daughter enjoying the splash pad at Hathaway Park in Winston-Salem."

"A two day old fawn nestled in the grass at our farm. Our dog, Grayson, wanted it to play but it just sat still looking at us!"

"Driving home from work and enjoying the summer scene outside of Todd, NC."

"A squirrel resting on a hot day."

" Two ducklings making their way across the Lily Pads at Bass Lake in Moses Cone Park. They "walked" on water by being on the pads."

"I was on an early evening hike around the knob at Pilot Mountain and noticed that it was casting this amazing shadow!"

"I recently got a camera, and I was searching my backyard for a critter or wild animal to photograph. I went to the flower garden and spotted this beauty getting a drink of nectar. This was one of the first 50 shots I had ever taken on this camera!"

"An evening visitor to the garden in Rural Hall."

"Attended the Hunter/Jumper Horse Show in Blowing Rock. I was amazed seeing the horses and riders clearing the hurdles around the track."

" Night out at the Cannon Ballers of Kannapolis. Always a great time plus a beautiful sky...play ball!!!"

" The dandelions looking at Pilot Mountain."

"Our friendly neighborhood bluejay perched for a moment of ostentation."

" As I was picking some fresh rosemary from the garden, I noticed a praying mantis trying to blend in as it hunted for insects."

"This photo was taken during the lunar eclipse on Tuesday, September 17 at midnight at my horse farm in Davie county. This harvest moon was exceptionally bright and illuminated the farm as if it was mid-day. The photo is entitled “Where’s Dominic” in honor of the retired thoroughbred in the photo who raced under the same name."

"My Grandmother enjoying the last days of summer."

"An elk in the Cataloochee Valley just before Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina."

"A  mesmerizing mushroom after Helene."

"A kayak stranded in a tree on the New River after Helene"

"I took this picture along the Ararat River in Mt. Airy one evening when I was eating with my family!"

"A chilly Sunday at the quarry."

"Twilight's last gleaming — taken on a walk in Old Salem on the Sunday evening before election day."
 

" A reflection of fall leaves in my birdbath."

Sadie always loves a ride on the golf car!

"It was the day when radiant bloom emerged with hope, and autumn rain brought teardrops of emotion to the flower spikes."

"Ever since I moved down from New York it has been on my bucket list to see the Autumn foliage from the mountains. My amazing fiance and I went for a last-minute hike to Pilot Mountain, and it was like Amazon Prime Day for this teacher (or, as others say, "it was like Christmas Day"). This was taken in an area before the big pinnacle, right on the pathway."

"On the way to the paint studio to wash up, the camellia dropped a dewy petal onto my path."

" A couple sitting at the bench at Devil’s Den preserve in Fancy Gap, VA. From the bench you can see the Yadkin Valley, Pilot Mountain, and on a clear day, all the way to Winston- Salem."

"The moon over Salem Lake."