A week ago we drove to Bryson City where the Great Smoky Mountain Rail Road is located.  I heard about this mountain train ride some years ago and was looking forward to the ride and being able to take photographs along the way.  It was a bit of a disappointing journey. The open air cars, particularly good for photographers, was not being used as they thought it too cold although it was a pleasant 70 or so when we rode the train.  And our seats faced backwards, hence I couldn't see what was coming and had to stand up and face forward against the window so i could be ready for whatever I might want to photography.  While I don't think we ever went of 45mph and often at 20-25mph - still, nothing close to the train could be photographed as it was just a blur.  Still, I did get a few photos that I liked:

Our train engine seen as it went around a corner and was visible from our window.

And this footbridge ... I was excited when I realized we'd see a footbridge that we had stopped at two years ago and walked across it.  At the time we questioned if the rail road tracks that the footbridge ended at were in use.  And then we saw the footbridge approaching and knew that was the one we'd walked on a couple years earlier.

We were following the Nantahala River which was shockingly low.  The guide said a dam had been opened a couple weeks earlier and the water would rise to the water line you can see in the photos - it would take 2-3 weeks.

Had the river and lake been full to its water line, it would have been a very different view out the coach window with the water being close to the edge of the train.

The brush along the side of the tracks was heavy and probably half the time if not more, i couldn't see anything other than the blur of the bushes.  And we were lucky as the brushes and trees had not leafed out ... I think once they had it would be quick difficult to see for more than a third of the ride. 

We did pass along the edge of small towns which were also hard to see but this one had an open view with a nice picturesque scene.

I have thought of returning when the river is full and sitting in an open air coach will see what the summer brings.  It is usually packed with tourists and ... well, you know.

 The top photo below this set is not a Christmas cactus rather an Easter cactus which is now in full bloom and Easter is in two days - time, eh?  So here is a photo of the center of the bloom now that the pistils have grown thru the stamens —

The E.cactus below has the pollen dotted around on it's leaves - gold against purple, Royalty.

While the same color, the lighting is a bit different for each as it was a different day and different time.

The pistil of the mini Christmas cactus finally broke thru the crown of the stamens, poking its white head above the top:

A few of the stamen have sprung free of the group and are waving around freely, still hoping the others will free themselves and stand upright.

I continue working on macros of the Christmas cactus, which in reality, has more to do with learning how to work the many different set-ups in the camera then the content which only shows me if what I'm doing is working or not.

This is showing one of the earlier blooms on the left,  that is now on the way out and a new bloom that recently opened. I like that range of sharpness of the image. This is photographed with a 35mm extension tube on a Sigma 70mm macro and 24 stacked images.

A couple weeks ago we bought another Christmas cactus which we thought was like the one you see above. Not so!  Each bulb instead of opening with hanging stamen, opens facing upwards with all the stamens inside. 

There are dozen of blooms on the cactus and they open upwards. The photo below is an effort to photograph the interior of the bloom.

If you click on the image you can see that each stamen is a stalk coming out of the middle of the bloom.  My hope is that they will stand upright and one can see inside the stalks. I assume the white inside the stalks is the pistol but won't be sure until it opens (if it does).

I have been playing with the 'focus stacking' in the newish Sony a7R5.  It seems to work well and still am not able to get the closer edge in sharp focus - take a look at the images below.

 

oxalis, pink

Christmas cactus, buds

Christmas cactus, full bloom

The center image is the early bloom of the bottom image.

We have taken to traveling to Greenville, SC, a mid-size city about 60 miles from us. It has a water fall in the middle of town - never heard or seen anything like it.

And I have posted it in a large format, click on it to see the full size.

And spring reared Her head last week with the blooming of a Magnolia tree:

And her orchids are growing as fast as they can:

Yes, it seems like, these days, the photos are mostly flowers which, of course, is in keeping of these 'springing' days.  Flowers galore!

Oh, in early Feb I was able to get to Pearson's Falls, a family run waterfalls in the mountains where they have created boardwalks, rock steps and picnic tables at the bottom of the falls. Feb is a good time to go...not crowded, which it is in the summer, and plenty of water.

 

 I have been sitting on the back porch watching the sun rise, bundled up with the camera on a tripod and using a remote cable. Today I thought I'd try to get a series of photographs beginning with grey clouds over the distant mountains and then taking photographs as the clouds change colors and the sun makes it way above the mountains — below is the result:

THE NEW YEAR 2023
 

The last couple of days the early morning have been warmish creating thick fog. As it's a winter sun, the colors are very golden-yellow and I love what the color and fog does to the grounds, trees, fences, etc.

Japanese Chestnut

Fence on north side of tree