Sunday, 11 July 2021
Probably the title would be more accurate as morning in the country or on the ex-farm. This field is too weedy to make usable hay. But I adore the bedewed spiderwebs.
These must be about the palest sweet pea blossoms I recall seeing. There is a small cluster of about a half-dozen plants with these “bleached” flowers…perhaps I should mark them and get seeds later. Naw; not going to happen; too many other activities with a higher priority.
Saturday, 10 July 2021
First data point: green white pine cone. Parsed, this means a new, this-year’s pine cone, essentially ripening.
Second data point: we attended two (!!!) social functions today. Vaxxing makes this possible in these pandemic times.
Friday, 9 July 2021
This specimen is a member of the potentilla genus, but not what I think of as potentilla in my vast ignorance. Still, it’s a fine pale yellow.
A computational presentation of a daisy. Elevation of the everyday.
Thursday, 8 July 2021
The coast in this case is the Mother Lake, that is: Lake Superior. Great view from Crisp Point Lighthouse.
We worked our way east from there. This is Little Lake, which is a little lake, quite round, right next to Superior, with a short connecting waterway that cuts through a dune. Little Lake was and is a safety harbor for small boats that faced bad weather. I was surprised to see the diversity of plants in shallow water from the dock. Two loons noted our arrival from close to shore, working their way farther out as we hung around.
Next stop: mouth of the Two-Hearted River. That’s it in the foreground, with Superior behind the sand and stone.
The Two-Hearted water is tinted by its time in cedar swamps in the upper catchment. It is not dirty.
Wednesday, 7 July 2021
Walking through the swamp, I found many puddles because it rained off and on for the previous dozen hours or so. This was the only puddle a vehicle hadn’t run through and churned up. Clarity!
And this was the hyper-green view toward Mud Lake, although all you can see is the creek, narrow and supporting a substantial population of duckweed with its tiny leaves. That’s not the name of the body of water on the Goo-Maps, but that’s the name I learned. And it is a shallow, filling, hummock-rimmed pond-lake, so it’s an appropriate name. I think the Goo-name is from non-locals…my pet hypothesis.
Tuesday, 6 July 2021
I enjoyed a raven sarenade as I paced the road this morning. I went early enough that I was mostly “in shadow.” Cooler and better for my aging skin.
Later we visited the neighbors and their garden of delights. Today we snagged lettuce, both types. Soooo very tender.
Monday, 5 July 2021
It was raining, and the sun was out. Until I got outside, camera (aka phone) in hand. Then, where the rainbow I’d hoped for would have been, just this as the sun had departed with its magic capabilities. Pretty, sure, yet NOT the same.
I managed to catch this beauty with the wings fanned. Such vividness.
Sunday, 4 July 2021
Long-time readers (from last summer) may remember my nemesis, the cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum). This specimen is on the roadside, and may well be the parent of the invaders on our property. When (not if) it gets cooler, I will dig up the ones I find on our place, and, and this is my vow, these too. To (try to) stop the spread.
While somewhat interesting in appearance, this species aggressively multiplies and, worse, is phototoxic to humans, as it has chemicals that are activated by the ultraviolet rays in sunlight, and make skin blister far worse than poison ivy. It must go.
Happy Fourth (as in freedom from British oppressors…but it’s complicated).
Saturday, 3 July 2021
We had to go to town for grocs for tomorrow’s scaled-down party, and on the way, look what we found in the road. Shell was maybe a foot long. I think the black color is from algae or other growth. Meet a small-to-medium sized snapping turtle. I stood around until s/he turned around, and I stayed behind her/him until I saw him/her disappearing under a bush. In the shade. Until then anyway, a happy ending.
For various reasons, like it was hot hot hot, I took my walk late (for me), and the sunlight was in ray form, and just stunning. I tried to capture how magical the ferns looked, but they just look meh.
Friday, 2 July 2021
A major milestone, really mile-bridge: crossing The Big Mac. Which we called it before that burger got the name.
I fussed about how big the line would be at the toll plaza, but, zip. Or maybe a half-dozen vehicles. At other times we’ve waited as much as 20 minutes. Also, the maintenance crews that usually block one lane were not working. Lovely traffic flow!
However, in the middle of nowhere—almost, really the west edge of Naubinway, no traffic getting through east or west. Never did figure out what had happened. No trash on the road, no crushed vehicles, no ambulances.
Where we were stopped, we watched a little drama play out. Someone driving a pickup pulling perhaps a 30-foot travel trailer decided to turn around to escape the halted line. He was particularly unskilled. Someone got him back into traffic the first time he tried to back the trailer up. But five minutes later he tried to make a u-turn forward. The pickup ended up across the deep-ish ditch, with the rear wheels in the deepest part of the ditch, all wheels turning with no purchase, and the front end of the trailer laying on the gravel road-side, and some of the plastic plumbing flopping loose. Scratch one expensive travel trailer.
So glad to be at the cottage. Lake very placid. Expecting overnight lows in the upper 50s. Also, there’s been rain since we left, so plants are back to green.