Balanced on tree tops, July’s super moon rises over the hill by my home. ❧
Image #256 – Super Moon
Balanced on tree tops, July’s super moon rises over the hill by my home. ❧
Image #255 – Summertime and life is good!
Summertime is in full swing here in the Northern Hemisphere. There is bounty everywhere. This particular caterpillar was enjoying the leaves on a sugar maple. All the books say it is among the “most common” caterpillars and this fellow was not hard to find, munching away just a few feet from the front door of the house. It will morph into the Polyphemus Moth with a wingspan of up to 6 inches. Amazing. ❧
Image #254 – Indigo Bunting
An Indigo Bunting, adult male. I can’t recall sighting an Indigo Bunting before this season. A friend has told me she saw one in Manatee County but I can’t recall ever seeing one before. So, this is an extra special event. I apologize for the graininess of the image. (SPOILER: Geek talk ahead.) I had boosted the ISO rather high in an attempt to capture images of fireflies. In my excitement I forgot to check all the camera settings. But on some levels I like this shot being grainy. It seems more real.
At any rate, I have now identified an Indgo Bunting at the feeder which brings the “life list” for the feeder to about 20 birds…20 and hoping. ❧
Image #231 – The Small Stuff
Spring is about cherry trees, glowing tulips, and forsythia … big, bright things. But spring is also about very small things. Like this little yellow flower that has popped up all over my driveway. The Roosevelt dime gives you a good idea of just how small it is. We pass these small things by without a thought. “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” we say. But in the time that I was sitting, observing this flower it was visited by multiple flying insects, enjoying its sweet nectar. Those insects moved on to pollinate other, larger flowers and also become a morsel for the many birds that are back and very busy. The small things feed the big things and make it all happen. So, it’s okay to sweat the small stuff sometimes. . . .we couldn’t get along without it. ❧
Image #229 – Fawn Hill spring
I’m back at Fawn Hill in western North Carolina where spring has arrived. You can almost feel the land exhale in a collective sigh of relief. Today it is cool and rainy but on Saturday we had a very nice day with sun and mild temperatures. Tango and I decided to take a walk in the neighborhood.
Green grass is popping up and Potts Branch, the stream in the center of this picture, is swelling with plenty of spring rain. The old shed up the street from our house seems warmer in the spring air but is still very foreboding to me. I half expect Jud Fry to walk out. If you’ve never seen the 1955 movie Oklahoma you won’t know what I’m talking about but I can tell you that Rod Steiger made a lasting impression on an eight-year-old girl and smokehouses still give me the willies.
But I digress. This is about spring! Nature celebrates spring in many ways and humans follow suit. There are some who make bold proclamations, like these magnificent blooming trees. They are, I think, bradford pear trees. I suspect their owners hold their breath every winter, praying that an ice storm won’t take them out. They seem vulnerable on the hill crest but they are beautiful.
Lots of people enjoy the forsyth bush. And why not? Anything that screams “Yellow” with such exuberance is okay in my book.
And daffodils are always in abundance. The previous owner of our land planted quite a few around the property but they are the miniature variety and most had faded by the time I got back. Down the road a bit, however, I found this great stand. So many eager faces, they make me think of children vying to be on camera.
So many beautiful flowers at this time of year.
And a final blossom, just peaking out, was found on one of our apple trees. It holds such promise. Yum, I can already taste their fruit. ❧
Image #228 – Cataloging Life
Anyone who has ever traveled for an extended period or has a second home knows the anxiety of return. You’ve made all the preparations and you hope that all will be okay when you walk back through that door. But this is life and things happen…things beyond our control.
So it was that I set out on Thursday to return to my home on Fawn Hill in Franklin, North Carolina. It had been seven weeks since I locked the door and headed south to Florida. My good friend and neighbor had looked out for things but, still, there was some anxiety. At first things seemed okay. Everything was here, the utilities were working and, most fundamental, the structure was still standing. It wasn’t until the next day that I discovered my home had been invaded.
The invader was not human, mammal or insect. It slipped into my home under the guise of commerce. It was … they were … catalogs! OMG, there were stacks of them. Some were old familiar friends — L.L. Bean, Land’s End, Duluth Trading. But the majority, the hordes, were cheap, unfamiliar competitors with cute names like Soft Surroundings or Woman Within. The latter felt compelled to send me two identical catalogs with different covers. There was Viking Cruises with travel tours I will never be able to afford and Serengeti with cute, too cute, stuff I will NEVER need. A dozen unwanted visitors in seven weeks time. Here they are.
I trashed them immediately. Like some unwanted insect that you grind under your heel I cast them into the recycle bin with disdain. I had never asked for them; I had never bought a thing at Maryland Square, Sahalie, Cabela’s or Footsmart (two catalogs!). Why did they descend on me? Initially I blamed it on a gift received from a friend that was, undoubtedly, purchased from a catalog of this ilk. Perhaps it was mail list companies that had been informed, courtesy of the U.S. Post Office, that Rita D. died years ago and Alice now lives in her place. The catalogs don’t care. If I’m not here they will happily be received by “Current Resident.”
What a scourge. I awoke in the night and actually found myself thinking about them! OCD brought on by blind capitalism. I realized, as the quiet mountain night surrounded me, that I was under attack. It wouldn’t stop with these twelve. They were hucksters and had already sold my name to others. Counter-attack was necessary. Like any invasion you MUST beat them back ASAP.
So this morning I tore off the back covers (one of which admonished me to “Please Recycle”!) and returned each one to the sender marked “Please remove me from your mailing list.” Will it work? Probably not at first. Catalogs are like roaches. Keep beating back. ❧
Image #205 – American Goldfinch – ready for spring
The seasons are beginning to change and signs of spring abound. This lovely female American Goldfinch is showing her new spring suit, looking for a mate. I have no doubt there will be plenty of suitors. ❧
Image #199 – A Wintery Sky
What an incredible winter this has been. On the news tonight I learned that Chicago is likely to break the record that has been in place since 1885 for the longest period of below zero days. The joke in Chicago is -20 is the new 40. How awful.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I have decided to leave it all behind and visit Florida for a few weeks. I have gotten out of Dodge just in time. The heavy snow has already started in the mountains. I’m half way to my Florida destination, spending the night in Valdosta, Georgia. The most amazing part of today’s drive was the endless convoys of electric company repair trucks heading north. Easily a couple of hundred trucks and some of them sported other vehicles “hitching” a ride. These looked like National Guard vehicles. Looks like a rough time ahead.
This picture was shot last night from my back porch. There is some adage about a ring around the moon being a bad omen. It seems that might be the case. ❧
Image #198 – The snow is coming, the snow is coming
I never tire of these guys (and gals). Cardinals are a special bird. “Winter’s flowers,” as one friend said. They have so brightened my days. This particular fellow was digitally captured during our recent snow storm. Another is forecast for this week…8-12″ are predicted. I hope to be far away by then. I am throwing in the towel and fleeing to Florida for a few weeks. There is plenty I can do there. If I stay here I can watch the Cardinals…which isn’t a bad thing…but life is short and it is best to make hay when the sun shines. The Florida Supreme Court has ruled and medical marijuana will be on the ballot in November 2014. I plan to do what I can to make sure that it passes. Stay tuned. ❧
Image #197 – Goldfinches
More bird pictures from last week’s snow storm. These American Goldfinches are showing their spring and summer coat of bright yellow feathers…more indication that spring is on the way. Just a few weeks ago they were so drab, almost olive green. It is a complicated bird according to Wikipedia:
“The American Goldfinch undergoes a molt in the spring and autumn. It is the only cardueline finch to undergo a molt twice a year.[14] During the winter molt it sheds all its feathers; in the spring, it sheds all but the wing and tail feathers, which are dark brown in the female and black in the male.[13] The markings on these feathers remain through each molt, with bars on the wings and white under and at the edges of the short, notched tail.”
Surely not ALL of its feathers? Can’t say that I have seen one naked American Goldfinch and I think he/she would stand out in a crowd. 🙂
Alice's WanderLand 