A Visit to Fallingwater

April 3, 2016

One of the places my daughter, Kim, suggested visiting while I was at her house, was Fallingwater. It is the only house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that is intact and complete with the Kaufmann family  furniture, pictures, and other artifacts. Time magazine called it Wright's most beautiful work and and the Smithsonian has listed it as one of the Twenty-Eight Places to See Before You Die. I had attempted to visit it about eighteen years ago, but arrived on a day it was closed and I was only able to access the grounds.  So I was excited to go.

We had about an hour and a half to drive to get to it, and while we were driving, we ended up in heavy snow. But the snow stopped and the day was partly cloudy with the sun and clouds fighting for dominance, making for difficult shots. We reserved a tour,  then found we could switch to an earlier tour, so only had to wait about twenty minutes.  Originally, I had wanted to get there early, and photograph around the site, but when the weather was so cold and the day predicted to be partly cloudy, I planned to mostly photograph after the tour.

Entrance off the parking lot - the central building is the ticket window

I found the water recycling interesting and green

View back up the trail that leads to the house

Soon our tour number was called and we went to meet our guide and group, which mostly consisted of young Asians.

First glimpse of the house from the path

First stop

The tour guide collected us just before the bridge over Bear Run Creek and told us that we would not be able to take any photographs inside the house.  So you will have to go there for yourself to see the fabulous interior.

This house was designed to blend and complement the area it was in and the habitat, especially the creek and waterfall, was incorporated into the house.  The house is built of rocks to mimic the rocks on the ground and also in the creek bed. The floors are waxed to look like underwater rocks, while the stacked rock columns are left "dry". There are places in the house, where the natural rock outcrop rises from the floor. There is a hatch area, made of framed glass, in the living room which can be fully opened to the sight and sound of the creek.   And the family could walk down the steps directly into the creek.  All the bedrooms have glass walls and windows that can be opened to hear the falls.

The house interacts with those moving through it.  This was especially apparent in the downstairs bedrooms where you come in from a narrow dark hall to the very bright rooms that have glass walls.  The ceiling also comes way down as you come into the room, forming a very comforting level above the open wall. The colors are very simple and organic.  The walls are light ochre throughout and the trim is Cherokee red. Even the built-in couches and occasional tables were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The kitchen, however, was not designed by him because he considered it only a work space. I think the family and their cook designed it to the cook's taste.  (And by the way, the cook is the last person still alive who lived in the house - she is 102.)

Our guide gives us our first information about the house

View of the house from the bridge

Looking upstream from the bridge to a small waterfall

 We ended the tour in what used to be the garage for the house and which held up to eight cars. Now I think only  part of the original garage is roofed and it has been converted into a movie theatre.  We watched a two minute film about the house there.

The garage is high on the hill behind the house and even a little above the guest house. 

After the tour, we wandered around the grounds - and we had a lot fewer places to go than I remembered from my first visit. One of my favorite places was the front entrance which had a little pool below this spigot - some way the water from the hillside was diverted through here, then drained back into the creek. Soap on a chain was provided so people could wash their feet.

Washing spot by front door

The house made a microclimate for this one rhododendron bush and it was the only one blooming

The stacked stone that is use both outside and inside the house, along with a little pool and a statue - this is just before the entrance

The reason the top floor looks smaller than the others is because it is actually the guest house and is situated uphill along a beautiful curving path. It is just designed to become part of the whole house from this view

This is from the spot where the iconic pictures of the house and falls are taken 

The red trim is on windows - that is the Cherokee red - the corner windows open

These steps led back to the entrance - and this is pretty much what the grounds looks like n- native trees and rhododendrons 

The sun was hitting these leaves and showing their beautiful texture

The only blooming plants were hellebores  - this area is about two weeks behind the Pittsburgh area

I would definitely agree, that if you appreciate architecture, nature and art, you should definitely visit Fallingwater.

For a few interior pictures, click here.

On my personal front, I will have arrived at my summer refuge, Moosehorn NWR and turned 74.  Looking forward to another 25 years of fun. - At least I'm demanding 25 year warranties on my surgeries.

A Goodbye Trip by Land and Water

March 23, 2016

My paddling buddy, John, and I were assigned the honorous duty of checking out the paddling trails at Alligator River. I STILL had not encountered any bears there, so I went early to do a personal bird survey and look for bears.

The moon was setting as I got to the refuge and sinking into the pine trees. Then, as the sun came up, it turned the western sky around the setting moon pink.

Several raptors were hunting in the early light.  I saw a couple of red tail hawks,  a Swainson's hawk and a harrier.

Red-tailed hawk

Several times, as I stopped along the driving tour, I  heard the "wheep" of an eastern towhee and finally the light was right to catch one.  I also heard and saw at least fifty yellow-rumped warblers who will also be leaving soon.

Eastern towhee

At several of the stops where I listened and looked for birds, I heard distant Onk-ah-loonk calls of bitterns setting up their territories. At one stop it was very near the car, so I eased a little further down the road to a stand of grass and stopped again.  The bird came toward me and filled up its esophagus, then called. Click here if you haven't experienced that wonderful call.

American bittern calling

I think this is a nutria

I admired how crooked this tree had grown, probably
while in the shadow of a larger tree

This was the closest I got to a bear but I found several piles of fresh scat

Swamp maples added color 

A close view of the maple seed pods

As the sun rose higher, turkey vultures spread their wings to warm up, then started soaring.

Turkey vultures

Several species of butterflies, including a couple of species of swallowtails, were feeding on the blooming Carolina Jasmine and willow blooms.

Black Swallowtail

Carolina jasmine

New leaves

Then it was time to get my canoe in the water. John was late so I put my canoe in I started paddling.  Finally he called me to tell the intern that he needed her to come unlock the canoes as he had the wrong key.  He finally showed up with a visiting woman who had her family with her.  She was part of a program to share how best to do cooperative work with landowners. John paddled with the son while the parents paddled their own canoe. They were not paddlers and the wind was picking up, so we could not do anything put a short paddle in protected waters. (Most of the trails are on wide creeks where the wind can be a big problem. )


I put up wood ducks while waiting for the rest of the group to show up and enjoyed the new growth.

My favorite kind of paddling

Pickerel weed was just starting to sprout

Volunteer John and a visitor

A visiting staffer and her husband as we came back

Even without bears, and with a way too short paddle, this was a beautiful morning.

As this posts comes out,  I'll be on my last day in the Pittsburgh and will be reporting for duty the following Friday.   Can't wait to see my summer home.


I'm linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday.  Click on the picture to see many more blogs on birds from around the world.

Volunteering for the Birds

March 22, 2016

My boss forwarded me a letter from the North Carolina FWS asking for volunteers to help put up signs for nesting birds on islands in the Sounds along the Outer Banks.  This was a chance to get to go out and see Pamlico Sound and also do something to help birds.  I immediately asked her to keep my schedule clear for the first two days of this job and volunteered.

The black-crowned night herons were just going to bed when I arrived at the marina

Monday turned out to be too windy and rainy to go, but the weather on Tuesday was perfect. And instead of starting at 10:00 A. M. we were to start at 7:00 A.M. It took us until nearly 8:00 o'clock to get two boats loaded and in the water. Then we all went down to the furthest island north, Island I, and learned what our leader wanted us to do and how far apart to set the posts and how deep to dig them.

Annika explains where we'll be going

This is "my" boat - we loaded it with out stuff, posts, signs, nails,  and post hole diggers

Our Captain

The lead boat captained by leader, Annika

I ended up in the smaller craft with three young guys. The two boats divided the islands up and our boat divided ourselves into two teams and worked different sides of the islands until we met up again.  My jobs consisted of nailing the signs on the posts while we were underway and carrying up to four posts plus a bag of signs, nails, and a hammer to just put the signs back on still-standing posts.  My partner carried both posts and a post hole digger and dug all the holes.  I helped fill the holes in using one of the posts as a tamper.

First stop to learn our jobs

The signs on their posts, ready to "plant"

The two boats each did four more islands.  We managed to get two days of planned work done in one day and left the state caught back up and ready to go down to Hatteras the following day.

Eli demonstrates his post hole digging prowess

We disturbed several Canada geese who were laying eggs - most had 4-6 eggs

The temperatures were just at the point where I needed my long johns under my nylon pants.  But by the time we had finished the second island I was burning up and stopped behind a bush and took them off.  I already had my jacket off and tied around my waist so draped them over my shoulders.  Then, I attempted to get to the boat through a patch of briars.  I had to turn around, to back  to the top of the island and take a different route to shore.  I got in the boat and realized I not longer had my long johns. Gallant Earl went back and tackled the really sharp briars and made them release my long johns.

My long john rescuer

Eli and I getting signs nailed to the posts during the rides between islands

We enjoyed a group of great egrets - this was the best of my captures

This little boat looked pretty settled in

I got to see Bodie Lighthouse from the water

We met back up with the other group for lunch

We were pretty hungry after four hours of work

We had a nice little sand bench to sit on

And were blessed by a bald eagle flyover

Earl volunteered to take our pictures when we were almost finished with this island

Earl and his (found) redhead

Michel is holding the front down to keep the motor high as Eli pushes us out

We had a wonderful time on the water and saw huge flocks of brown pelicans,  gulls, and cormorants. We also found several Canada geese nests with four to six eggs in them.  We watched an osprey carry a stick, and saw a pair of oystercatchers, and a large mixed flock of ruddy turnstones and sandpipers. We came back very close to the great horned owl that has been sitting on her eggs for about a month.  She is nesting on the channel marker right at the dock.

There were several hundred brown pelicans here

There were about 20 ruddy turnstones in this group

Sometimes the ski filled with pelicans

As we were leaving the last island, this juvenile kept flying with us and then landing near us - I think he has learned to beg from fishermen 

We all had a marvelous time except right at the end, when the larger boat found it had no power.  One of my teammates and I moved to it to let another volunteer couple go home.  Then my partner and the leader, both called their respective maintenance people and found and fixed the problem, a loose wire, allowing us all to get back to the dock before 5 o'clock.

Almost finished

The entire day felt like a playday, even though I walked at least one mile in shin deep water and walked a total of 7.5 miles. I felt good about keeping up with three guys, whose total age was almost the same as mine.  And glad to know that the birds using these islands for breeding would be undisturbed.