Karma's When I Feel Like It Blog

March 28, 2026

My Spring Colors

Filed under: Uncategorized — Karma @ 12:24 pm
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I’ve been a bit of an absentee from the blogs this month. Life has been keeping me busy. It is nearly the end of term 3 at school, generally the most difficult academically, and it is a long stretch between breaks. Massachusetts has their spring break in April, aligning with the Massachusetts holiday, Patriot Day, so that is on the horizon to look forward to.

One of the things that had my attention was shopping for a new car. A new-to-me car, I should say, as I would not purchase brand new. I made the decision that it was time to trade in my 10-year-old Buick Encore with over 103,000 miles on it. I did not want to be faced with an expensive repair on a car whose value would not be worth the cost of the repair, so I traded it in for this:

It is a 2025 Ford Bronco Sport with ruby red metallic paint. It is a little bigger than my Buick, and has all the room I need for transporting my kayak or my bike, or whatever else I may need for whatever adventure I get up to! I’m very happy with my purchase. I think this sporty little car suits me just right.

After I picked up the car last week, my sister and I headed to Cape Cod last weekend to visit our mother. The weather was chilly and windy, but at least the sun was out. I took them on one of my geocaching adventures; one of the nice things about geocaching is that sometimes it takes you somewhere you may never have thought to stop and have a look around. I found two on this trip to the Cape.

This one led us to a little bridge in Dennis, where in nicer weather people like to go crab catching. I was ready to give up after hunting around for a while, but as we were about to walk back to the car, I spotted a familiar sight in this game – a fake rock key holder laying right on the ground blending in with the real rocks.

The second one I set my sights on this day led to a view of an osprey’s nest. Mr. and Mrs. Osprey were not to be seen on this day, but this appeared to be a regularly used nesting site. It was in a guardrail overlooking Swan Pond River, which had a view of a different bird, common eiders:

New bird for my life list on Merlin! The sky and the water reflected deep blues in the sunshine.

Back at home, after reading Mike’s and Barbara’s blog posts this morning, celebrating the arrival of spring in the south, I decided to have a little peek outside my own door to see what might be poking up. Nice to see some fresh green after a winter of white.

I was surprised to see my parsley coming back! I usually have to replant parsley each spring, so after the harsh winter we had around here, I did not think it would over-winter and come back on its own.

I was not surprised to see the chives. They are very reliable year after year. Maybe I’ll see the dill soon too.

And the very first hint of the first blooms in this yard – hyacinths. I just love their sweet scent, and their pretty purples and pinks when they blossom.

Spring warmth has teased a bit here in Massachusetts, but temperatures are still not consistent. A high of only 39 degrees is expected for today. Between the temperature and my busy-ness running around the last few weeks, I don’t think I’ll be exploring any farther afoot today, but I hope you enjoyed a bit of my spring colors.

August 11, 2025

Impromptu Mini-Adventure

Filed under: Uncategorized — Karma @ 3:40 pm
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A last minute decision to drive to Warwick, Rhode Island and see what we could see turned into, as I titled this post, an impromptu mini-adventure. The luck of the sunny weekends has stayed with us this summer. We drove to Conimicut Point Park and enjoyed some exploration. A short walk through a tunnel of green…

…led out to a beach that wasn’t terribly crowded despite a later start to our day compared to previous beach visits.

I walked to a sandbar that was beginning to get covered by water from both directions around this point.

Sparkly water at a salty beach…ah, one of my favorite things. At this park there is also a view of Conimicut Lighthouse.

I continued my exploration around the point and saw the shell of one of the largest horseshoe crabs I’ve ever encountered. My foot is in this photo for scale, and I have a relatively large foot – size 9 1/2 in US Women’s sizing.

My hobby of geocaching is something I try to indulge in places that I visit. The geocaching app told me there was a cache to be found only a half mile away from where we parked. It sent me down a dead-end dirt road, and what a beautiful dead end it was:

There was a guardrail at the end of the dirt road, as a geocacher who has been playing this game for a couple years now, I knew that the guardrail was a likely hiding spot to find a cache, and I was correct. A magnetic hide-a-key box was tucked behind the rail. I didn’t have a pen on me – part of the game is signing the log when you find the cache – so I snapped this picture of the log instead and said thank you to the cache owner for leading me to this pretty place.

Another smiley face for me!

After my exploring, I settled in to my beach chair and just enjoyed the sun and sights around me, breathing in that salt air that I love to fill my lungs with. I watched a cormorant successfully dive and catch 3 fish. A greedy gull tried to horn in on its catch, but the cormorant quickly swallowed the fish down. I love how cormorants stand to dry their wings after swimming.

Since this was a last minute trip, I had not planned a picnic or snacks for this visit. When hunger struck, we headed to a Rhode Island favorite stop of mine, Iggy’s Doughboys and Chowder House. They are known for their chowder and clam cakes, and that’s exactly what I had for my meal:

It was delicious, along with a shared pitcher of sangria.

I very happily enjoyed sitting on the deck with a wonderful ocean breeze with these treats.

Not quite ready to head back just yet when we finished, we meandered down route 1 and made stops at Point Judith Lighthouse and Gallilee, where you can take a ferry to Block Island. Weary of weekend highway driving, we continued following route 1 into Connecticut, then took “the long way home” up route 32 back into Massachusetts. Along route 32 in Willimantic, CT there is the neatest bridge I’ve ever seen. I wish I had a photo of it, but I don’t so I’ll put a link to Wikipedia you can check out for yourself: The Frog Bridge. Did you read the story about the Frog Bridge while you were there? Isn’t that wild? Every time I drive by it I say to myself that I’m going to go back and take pictures, but I never have.

My days of summer vacation are dwindling as I type this post. I have to be back in school two weeks from today for two teacher work days, then the students arrive the Wednesday before Labor Day. Hoping to have a few more impromptu adventures in the time that I have left!

August 5, 2025

Camping? Well, Shir!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Karma @ 3:56 pm
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My friends and I had a very enjoyable long weekend camping at Shir-Roy Camping Area in Richmond, NH. I originally chose this campground because of its proximity to Tully Lake in nearby Royalston, MA. Tully Lake and the Tully River are excellent places for kayakers – there is a five horsepower limit on boat motors in this lake, so that means basically just trolling motors, and kayakers won’t get jostled and swamped by speedboats and jet skis. Shir-Roy turned out to be a very nice little campground overall. It is an old fashioned, family run business. The sites have a nice amount of space and privacy (except for the field sites of course) and the campground borders a pond where you can swim, go fishing or paddle a small boat or kayak.

I snapped this shot at dusk of our site when I noticed the gentle glow of the LED lights on the camper against the trees beginning to darken.

After a rainy set up upon our arrival on Thursday, Friday dawned still cloudy but with the promise of sunshine eventually burning through. I paddled my kayak around the perimeter of Cass Pond.

On Cass Pond, I added a bucket-list bird to my lifer list (yes, I’m a bit of a bird nerd – love Cornell Lab’s Merlin Bird ID app) – a common loon. Of course I have heard loons before with the time that I’ve spent in Maine, but I’ve never managed to actually see one. One was diving and fishing not far from my kayak.

I wasn’t close enough to get that distinctive red eye, however I was thrilled to quietly float near by and watch this bird.

After kayaking, we settled in back at the camp site to relax and enjoy some snacks.

In addition to the snacks (well, mostly eaten snacks…), you can also see the campsite across the way, where two of my friends camped, and get an idea of the look of the sites.

Saturday brought another beautiful weather day and a hike with some geocaching. We set out without a goal in mind, just a walk and a hope to find some caches along the way. It was a gorgeous walk in some beautiful woods with a brook and a cascade into a pool.

As for the geocaching, there were four on the route we walked; two were found and two were not.

The first blue sad face is where we began, at the trail head for Royalston Falls. Due to the out and back nature of this trail, we didn’t make it to the falls on this day. I would like to try to get there another time, with a friend with a second car so that one car could be parked at the southern terminus to allow for a more comfortable hiking experience.

Sunday, another thankfully beautiful day, was our day at Tully Lake. I packed picnic food and cold beverages in my cooler backpack to enjoy while we spent the day. We began by paddling up the Tully River, a quiet, calm river. While I didn’t see any this day, you can often see beavers and herons.

If you’d like to see a short video, click here – it gives you a good feel for the beauty and peace of this place.

We had some beautiful clear nights before the current haze arrived from Canadian wildfires now blanketing most of New England. There was too much light pollution from the campground to make another try at Milky Way photography, but I did take my iPhone down to the pond at night to do a little stargazing.

After a rainy start to this trip, the rest of the weekend was about as perfect as it could be weather-wise. I thoroughly enjoyed cooking outdoors on the griddle, hiking, kayaking, my companions and this campground.

April 14, 2024

Back to Conant Brook Dam

Filed under: Uncategorized — Karma @ 10:34 am
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We had a beautifully spring-like warm day this past Tuesday, so I went to Conant Brook Dam, the place I go when I need an after work walk away from the roads. It was nearly 70 degrees and sunny, just 5 days after the post I wrote telling you I was home from school due to high winds, snow and sleet. The damage from this storm was evident along this path in the woods, with many fallen trees and broken branches.

If you’ve been out in the woods in the northeast at all since last fall, it would be hard not to notice the massive number of pine cones on the ground. Apparently 2023 was what was known as a “mast year”, a year in which a seed producing tree produces an unusually high number of its seeds.

Have you seen similar sights where you live?

I continued along my path. I stopped in this spot where I took a photo of the same view I took on my icy walk on January 14 . This day, instead of cracking ice, I heard lots of bird song. I tried to take a picture of an eastern phoebe – Barbara posted a great shot recently– but mine was too blurry to bother posting.

I did see some pussy willows just beginning to show their cute little fuzzies. I’m sure there is a more scientific word for that part of the plant’s anatomy, but fuzzy works for me.

Up to the top of the dam, where I always like to take a photo. I like watching the changes from here as the seasons progress. I made my loop across the top of the dam and then back down to my usual path. As I admired the view on my way back down, I saw a bird of prey soaring in the bright blue sky.

I was only carrying my 18-150mm lens with me this day, so this was as close as I could get. I had no idea what type of bird I was looking at at the time. After doing some zooming and comparing to other photos, I decided it is most likely an osprey.

I didn’t really think this was an area that osprey would choose for hunting grounds, however, I saw another photo on a local page on Facebook much closer up and very similar looking with a fish in its talons.

As I got closer to the part of the path where I would normally head for my car, I decided it was much too nice of a day to end my walk so soon, so I took another branch of a path that I don’t walk as often. In fact, I only walked this path for the first time fairly recently when I was out geocaching. Have you heard of this fun little hobby? A friend recently got me into it. I’m thinking of writing another post about our geocaching adventures, but check out that website for a little information on what it is all about.

I see a contemplative face in these gnarled roots – do you see it? A large circular eye socket, elongated nose, full upper lip, long chin. I followed this path a bit farther and heard very loud peepers. If you click on this link, you will be taken to my YouTube video which shows the woods and water where I stopped and listened to the peepers. Apparently you have to pay for a premium subscription these days to add videos to your posts.

I’ve always loved beautiful buds or flowers against a bright blue sky. This was the last shot I took before finally deciding to head back to the car.

It is the beginning of spring break week here in Massachusetts as I am writing this post. I’m hoping to get out for some more walks this week, weather permitting, however I am tasked with doing some things I never would’ve thought I’d need to spend my April vacation week doing. In addition to job hunting, due to the loss of my job because of lack of funding that I told you about in my previous post, I am also studying to add another subject area to my teaching license in the hopes of possibly being able to secure a new position. Wish me luck.