Monday, 10 August 2026
Largest crape myrtles I’ve seen in…forever? And in a rest area. [In North Carolina.]
I found this building very confusing. No doors faced the parking area. None. And no signs. Yes, it’s bathrooms, with a door to a womens and mens on each side…. Not that you can tell from here. [In South Carolina.]
Friday, 7 August 2026
This morning we toured the Vermont side of Lake Champlain. At the first stop, we found a canoe named Fiona, outfitted for a long-distance paddler, it seemed, or at least serious fishing.
At the next stop, I found ripe Rubus odoratus, the purple-flowered raspberry. I don’t remember sampling one before. It is nowhere near as tasty as the domestic kind, but not awful.
At the next stop, I spotted this special boat used by the North Hero Fire Department.
At this stop, we watched this ferry that crosses to New York state loading cars.
On a totally different note, don’t you notice these orange and white barrels? This is a construction site in Winooski, so after we left Lake Champlain.
Thursday, 6 August 2026
Ignore that the photo is out of focus; instead, ponder with me whether black and orange are good colors to indicate danger-danger to high-speed drivers.
We decided this was Angry Moose, and ready to upset your wee sedan.
After passing through Smiths Falls, Newbliss, and Tincap, we reached the mighty St Lawrence River at Brockville, and right away spotted this “big boat,” I overheard a child’s voice observe. Probably a “big ship,” but close enough.
We headed downriver. Then, after seeing all the wheat and maize fields, it’s no surprise to see a large transfer facility right on the river.
We took this bridge back to the US of A, a two-lane version of the Big Mac, no?
We had a short wait for a one-lane area undergoing repainting, and this was my view. By the way, when we lined up to go through Customs, just one lane was open (of five), and we only had to wait for this semi ahead of us. So quick and painless….
Yeah, you can’t see the sun-ball, but you still know it’s an impressive sunset.
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
I don’t think I’ve ever looked at these late-summer fern spikes. I don’t know what they’re called, and don’t really need to know. I usually only look at them when they are dark brown and dry, in the autumn.
We crossed an international border, high above the St Marys River…and later visited at this charming, foreign rest area.
We got stopped to wait our turn to use a one-lane section of a construction zone and I could see this farm. We called these folks and their neighbors buggy people, because that’s their mode of transport. I don’t know if they’re Amish or something else. Each farm made it clear that they don’t sell eggs on Sunday. One farm had cut their wheat and made hand-tied sheaves neatly distributed in rows across the field. Non-buggy farmers used combine harvesters, which dump the wheat in trucks, skipping the sheaves step entirely.
Saturday, 1 August 2026
A drippy overnight rain left diamonds on my mesh basil deer-protector.
Late morning, we visited Art on the Lake…saw beautiful artisanal pieces, heard some music in passing, and bought nothing, not even an elephant ear. Our parking place was kinda-sorta under this giant maple.
Friday, 10 July 2026
Returning to Georgia, we avoided a traffic blockage on I-75 by taking the old road for a stretch, including passing by Lake Allatoona. Long ago, I spent months finding and recording sites on the land around the lake. Eons ago….
Our traipsing later took us by this urban art. I found the multiple figures influenced by a diversity of styles and subjects quite interesting, especially in their juxtapostion. From left, I see an unfinished face? with goat horns?, somewhat bulbous words/letters, a cat with a crown, a looming serpent, a prehispanic central Mexican-ish figure in profile, a step pyramid, a long-haired woman, and a scythe.
Friday, 26 June 2026
Today, the sun rose, as it does.
Then, my activities were hijacked by The Rhubarb Situation.
My cousin discovered that the red dots on the leaves of our rhubarb were in all likelihood a fungus, and spores…and, well, we may not be subsistence farmers, but Things Needed To Be Done. Now.
Thus, rhubarb hijacked my day. The upshot is that my rhubarb patch is picked over, and the stems processed into sauce, and the leaves (and their spores) sequestered in a gar-bag, sealed up ready for The Dump.
All good, except that isn’t what I had planned for my Friday. Not that Other Activities were more rewarding, or whatever. Just, it’s that my choices had been confiscated. Such is life.
Friday, 12 June 2026
How many marketing whizzes does it take to come up with a silly name for a fruit with a blotchy rind?
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Watched Monday’s keynote for WWDC with one ear (as in partly listened, and minimally watched), and a couple of sections featured the phrase “natural language.” As in, talk to this new enhanced Siri or just the phone as if it were a person. The phrase sounds faintly spooky to me. Languages other than English coming soon.
Monday, 8 June 2026
From what I’ve read, the dominant deciduous canopy tree in southern North America several hundred years ago was the American chestnut (mixed with oaks). Now, it’s just the many species of oaks. Looking up, oaks, shown here, do not look like the maples I grew up with. I do not know what a group of mature American chestnuts look like; I guess very few do, as the chestnut blight fungi have nearly extirpated the (eastern) populations.