This beautiful blossom was one of many on a very tall tree. A friend told me it was a tulip poplar but the flower does not match any in my reference sources. Perhaps a reader can help me out?
Image #104 – Tulip Poplar?
Image #103 – Swallowtail on Ironweed
New York Ironweed hosts a swallowtail butterfly. The Ironweed can grow up to 6 feet in height and is found in wet meadows, of which there are many this year. ☙
Image #102 – Red Barn and Goldenrod
Goldenrod…the true harbinger of fall. It is everywhere in North Carolina. World turning, seasons changing. ☙
#101 – Buddy
That’s Buddy. He lives above me on Fawn Hill. He’s a sweet dog but he has a problem…Buddy barks. He barks so much that his owners had to take some drastic measures and they got him a collar that shocks Buddy every time he barks. That’s the thing around his neck that looks like a camera. Buddy is no dummy, however. He seems to have figured out that he can get in three barks before things get too bad. Or he shakes his head in such a way that the folds of skin minimize the shock and he’ll bark and bark. Cesar Millan, are you free to visit North Carolina?
Buddy can’t help himself. He’s a rescue dog and heaven only knows what his very early days were like. More recently Buddy shared his penned yard with Old Joe who also barked a lot. Old Joe was blind so part of his barking may have been a defensive strategy. Buddy was Old Joe’s eyes…a stressful job. I know from experience. So part of Buddy’s barking is learned behavior from Old Joe. The other part is expression — happy, sad, somewhere in between — all Buddy knows is barking.
Tango and I try to visit him every day. I take treats and we have a party. And I’ve seen Tango go up to visit on his own. Buddy is a likable dog and we all want to reassure him that things are okay. Is it working? Well, maybe a bit. All we can do is try. I mean, look at those eyes…Buddy is the kind of dog that makes you keep on trying. ☙
Image #100 – Growing Up is Hard (9/6)
My feeders are overwhelmed with fledglings, young birds trying to learn the intricacy of living. They remind me so much of young toddlers. Watching a toddler get command of his or her legs is not much different than watching a young bird learn how to use his wings. They fly in and hover by the feeders, unsure how to make the final approach, often missing the landing perch again and again. Once they do find the perch they begin to eat and are reluctant to leave. They do not yet comprehend the dangers in life and the need to flee. This little fellow above is a perfect example. All the other birds flew away when I walked onto the porch, but not this guy. I was able to walk up to feeder and get within a few feet of this young finch and snap this picture. He never moved. I have literally watched fledglings fall asleep on the the feeder, their beak in the trough like a toddler asleep in his oatmeal. It’s dear and entertaining. I wish them luck but know that many won’t make it. But, then again, that is true of us all. ☙
#97 – A Parasol for a Warm Day
Still in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest — land of giant, ancient trees that pre-date the very existence of this wonderful land we call home. Tucked under a crevice, near some ivy and not far from a bubbling brook the delicate and exquisite parasol mushroom presents itself…for a day, a week? The blink of an eye when you stop and look at the trees around you. But does that diminish its beauty? Not at all. As a wise person once observed, “It’s not how much time you have but what you do with it.” ☙
Image #96 – Old Friends
Ancient trees at the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest have intertwined over the years, even capturing a boulder in their embrace.☙
Note: You can always double-click on the image to see a full-sized version.
Image #95 – “If a tree falls in a forest …. “
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is present to hear it, does it make a sound?” — or something like that. It is a phrase I first recall hearing when I was in college. Some kind of existential, metaphysical stuff. Forgive me, I’m not good with this. Of course it makes a sound! How endeared we humans are with the concept that our own existence makes the sound…our experiencing the moment makes it be. Pish posh.
When the tree that was once attached to this stump fell in the forest that is now the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest it made a sound. I am very sure of that.☙
Image #94 – Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest
“I think that I shall never see/A poem as lovely as a tree”. They are verses from my childhood. The poetry of Joyce Kilmer, or at least his poem “Trees”, was a mainstay of my youth. Last week I had the good fortune to visit a forest that is named in his honor. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is tucked away in the very corner of western North Carolina. It has some of the last virgin forest growth on the east coast.
It is, simply, magnificent.
From the website:
A walk through Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is a journey back in time through a magnificent forest with towering trees as old as 400 years. Some enormous yellow-poplars are over 20 feet in circumference and stand 100 feet tall. The floor is carpeted with a garden of wildflowers, ferns, and moss-covered logs from fallen giants.
The only way to see the impressive memorial forest is on foot. The figure-eight Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail covers 2 miles and has two loops: the 1¼-mile lower loop passes the Joyce Kilmer Memorial plaque, and the upper ¾-mile loop swings through Poplar Cove, a grove of the largest trees.
We enjoyed the full two-mile hike and look forward to returning. It is the kind of place that will never be the same, no matter how often you visit. Even Tango was amazed. 
For the next couple of blogs I will share images from the Kilmer Forest. Not all of its wonders are gigantic. Many are small and captivating. All are wonderful.☙
Image #93 – Apples! We Had ’em…
Frequent readers may recall that Fawn Hill came with a small orchard of apple trees and autumn is the time for apples. Of course autumn doesn’t officially begin for another three weeks but apples don’t read calendars and the apples on Fawn Hill are ripe and ready to go. We never expected much in this first year. The trees, like the rest of the property, have been neglected. We provided a pruning in May and wondered what might happen.
Well, as you can see, we had a bumper crop of apples. Perhaps it was the wet spring and summer that contributed. Maybe it was a favorable response to the pruning. We’ll never know. I do know there were way more apples than I could ever consume. My neighbor suggested I put up a sign, offering the apples for free. “People appreciate that kind of stuff around here.”
So, I did. I put up the sign yesterday afternoon and almost immediately saw the cars slow to 
read the sign and assess the situation. Late this afternoon the crowds came … well, eight people is a crowd to me. The three older apple pickers came prepared with buckets and had pretty much picked clean the lower branches when the other five arrived. They were much younger and of hispanic origin. It was clearly their first time picking apples and they were thrilled. I went down to visit and learned where they live (very nearby). They were appreciative of the apples and were going to try to bake a pie. I suggested they might want to start with apple sauce. This was a GREAT idea. They asked how to make apple sauce and I gave them a quick explanation. “Look it up on online,” I said. You would have thought I’d given them the key to the universe.
By twilight the trees were picked clean … well, clean enough to take down the sign and re-assess the situation. My young neighbors climbed part way into the trees and shook loose many apples. It was fun to watch but I worried for the health of the trees and the youngsters up in them. One tree has many apples but they aren’t healthy. An aggressive pruning is in order next spring. It may be that the tree has reached the end of its run. But the others are clearly healthy and capable of producing a good crop. We’ll see what next year brings. ☙
Alice's WanderLand 