Musings

Tree notes

Here’s a visual of the leaf color in this neighborhood. I’d say: still lots of green, yet lots of color, too.

Found this oak with a circle of fungi around the base…indicating…dunno…root decay?

Momentary close scrutiny

I didn’t expect to find clematis blooms this time of year; I associate them with spring. The name is from the Greek κληματίς or clēmatís, meaning climbing plant. They’re common in this area adorning mailboxes, as this one is [mailbox not shown].

I learned “voxel” today. Pixels are 2-D. Voxels are 3-D. Or that’s how I understood it. Perhaps I came across voxel before and just forgot…I can’t remember.

Invasive species, etc.

Meet creeping jenny, sometimes called moneywort for the leaf shape. I/we paid a landscaper to put it in our yard; now I discover it’s an invasive species (native to Europe; spreads especially easily in moist soils).

The country’s largest food company is PepsiCo; it owns Rice-A-Roni, Sabra, Rold Gold, Doritos, Gatorade, and Quaker Oats.

That’s from Daniel Immerwahr’s “Beyond the Myth of Rural America,” in the 16 October issue of The New Yorker.

I say that PepsiCo is equivalent to an invasive species in our USA and global food systems.

Leaf subtleties

Sometimes I love leaf color and shape combos. And, with this specimen, the light quite set both off. It’s some kind of witch hazel, I suspect Hamamelis virginiana.

Go figure

Party coming

How did I pick a picture with such story-imagining potential and not post it?

As to the story…short version…christening or elderly birthday?

Coming events

We went to the park to stroll in the lovely sunshine, and discovered preparations underway to host a music-fest over the weekend. We saw many food trailers and whole zones of porta-potties, and two stages being assembled. This is the north one.

This was the main ingredient in the pile behind the mini-donut truck. Note that the open kettle recipe requires more water than automatic equipment. I cannot figure out why.

Sad to see canopy trees go

Trunk rounds

I’ve seen and heard a fair number of tree-removal jobs going on in the immediate area. This is nearby, and took two days, or parts of two days…I think because the tree was behind that tall wooden fence and there was little room to maneuver.

Today’s job was across the street from us. Those guys brought five or six trucks and more than that many guys. They had a bucket-truck with a tall boom, and the guy that went up in that had dreads down below his belt. And managed to wear a hardhat. That team took on the order of two hours to bring down the tree, load it up, clean up their mess, and scoot.

Anti-gravity

Ferny

I find ferns compelling…the lacy vegetation creating a visual weightlessness. Plants are amazing.

Fall color

There’s some fall color in the back, and crepe myrtle almost leafless in the left foreground.

Really colorful is this cleome. They make me smile.

I’m not living in the Bronze Age

Skeleton in hoodie

I spent too much time today ferreting about in academic rabbitholes…as fearsome as a blow-up skeleton in a hoodie?