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Floral Friday #2

Welcome to the second edition of Floral Friday! Today I am featuring the Himalayan Blue Poppies. These flowers, whose scientific name is Meconopsis Betonicifolia, originate from the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Tibet, and Myanmar. They prefer high elevations. Rather than traveling to Nepal, I took these images at Longwood Gardens.

The first image, is taken from the side, and I replaced the cluttered background with an analogous background. I also added a radial gradient in the center to give it a little glow.

Blue Poppy on an analogous background.

The second image, taken from the front, includes the conservatory window as the background. I reduced the exposure on the windows a bit so they do not overwhelm the flower.

Himalayan Blue Poppy at Longwood Gardens.

They are strikingly beautiful flowers. I’m glad someone went to the trouble to bring them here so that we can enjoy them.

Floral Friday #1

Introducing Floral Friday. I will post a new flower photograph each Friday morning starting today.

Today’s photo celebrates Spring with a stand of Tulips. I laid the camera down in the bed of tulips pointing up to get this shot. While most tulips shots are taken from the top or side, this one shows their undersides which are beautiful in their own right.

Tulips

Star Barn

On October 6, 2025, the Lancaster Camera Club obtained permission to do a photo walk at Stone Gables Estate, the location of the famous Star Barn complex. There are other items of historic interest there including the Herr’s Mill covered Bridge. The following are some images from that photo walk. More information about Stone Gables may be found on there website here: https://www.stonegablesestate.com/

Maize and Snitz Fest

On October 4, 2025, Mennonite Life hosted their annual Maize and Snitz Fest at the 1719 House in Willow Street, PA. At the Maize & Snitz Fest, artisans showcased traditional crafts originating from Europe and the Indigenous Peoples of the Eastern Woodlands. These crafts—including apple butter making, blacksmithing, beadwork, and music—have shaped Lancaster County’s history and now tell its story. Here are some images from that day.

For more from Mennonite Life see their website at https://mennonitelife.org/

Lafayette Reenactment

In July 2025 Lancaster County celebrated the 200th anniversary of the visit that the Marquis de Lafayette made to Lancaster. Members of the Lancaster Camera Club were asked to photograph the events. This gallery highlights the photos that I took at Lafayette Park and at Rock Ford.

Conestoga River

The Conestoga River meanders for about sixty miles through the fertile farmlands of Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania until it empties into the Susquehanna River. It originates in Berks County but most of its length is in Lancaster County. It enters the Susquehanna at Safe Harbor just below the Safe Harbor dam. Originally known as the Conestogoe or Conestogo, its name is derived from the Iroquoian word “Kanastoge” meaning “place of the immersed pole”.

In 2021, I wrote a book about the history of the Conestoga River. The book includes a center section of color photos depicting the Conestoga Watershed. The following gallery contains those photos.

How sweet it is, when gloaming tide
Concludes a sultry summer’s day,
By some cool water’s shaded side
With loved ones, young or old, to stray!
And where did any eye survey
A landscape matching scene on scene
Where Conestoga winds its way
Betwixt its trees and meadows green?
0, lovely Conestoga!

—James D. Law, 1903