Working the odds
Saturday, 18 January 2020
Was this bloom turned down to avoid catching the rain-to-come? Was it sentient? 🤣😀😝
Musings
Careful scrutiny
Friday, 17 January 2020
What a gorgeous dawn! Hate the neighbors’ McMansion dominates our early-day viewshed.
Hellebore buds. I understand that hellebore/lenten rose breeders have even developed dark shades.
I think of this as fringetree—wrong. It’s in the witch-hazel family, and is called Loropetalum. I certainly don’t scrutinize specimens closely enough to gauge botanical taxonomy.
Pink-pink vs purple-pink?
Thursday, 16 January 2020
I’m skipping mention of the Big Doin’s going on in WashDC, and instead focusing on…small. And local.
These two blooms are from intertwined bushes. Do you see the different shades of pink? I wondered if the camera/iPhone would capture them. Conclusion: pink subtleties—capturable.
For thoughts on the Big Doin’s, visit The Guru’s comments in his resuscitated blog here.
Green became gray
Tuesday, 14 January 2020
I saw the green coming on the weather map, but I believed the meteorologist who said the rain would arrive around 11am (or maybe that’s not what he said). So, I scooted out around 10am thinking I could get a good stretch of hoofing before turning around and getting back under the roof before….
I noticed within the space of about forty paces that the sky ahead of me turned dark. Noticeably, not just kinda darkened. Oops. I didn’t get pelted, but I got wet by the time I returned. (I survived; I didn’t melt.)
The bees were smarter than I; they abandoned the rosemary and sought cover elsewhere (where?). The other day in the sunshine the bush buzzed there were so many bees busy there….
Moist January*
Saturday, 11 January 2020
The first outing doesn’t count, blogwise. Errands.
The second outing: a walk. I dodged raindrops for most of it (truncated), but the precip caught me about 10 min before I got to the front door. A bit damp…
…but nothing like the rain that accompanied the front that came through just as we were leaving for our dinner reservation, moving at 60mph. Whew. So, we got seated, ordered a bottle of prosecco, and immersed ourselves in chatting and laughing. Great fun.
* Credit to JPB for the riff on Dry January.
Thorns!
Friday, 10 January 2020
Friday snuck up on me this week. Or, I was too distracted to grasp it had arrived. Along with our flowering quince, honoring my parents and a gift from D&F. This plant is in the Rosaceae family, so the thorns are appropriate.
I took this photo when I was leaving to begin my walk. The sun was tepid. I could see a broad greyness to the NNW. Over time, the grey seeped east, and about 10 minutes before I got home I felt a few drops. But, no follow-through/still dry. Expecting a serious storm tomorrow, early evening, however.
Wideness
Thursday, 9 January 2020
I have tried to embrace the wide-angle mode…mostly I don’t really like the results. This one I do like, however.
And the other side of the same building, albeit from farther away. And not ultra-wide; see, less distortion.
Oh, and a daisy. An overwintering daisy. Sooo weather-tolerant, this kind. Also, not ultra.
[title here]
Wednesday, 8 January 2020
New-to-me denizen of the neighborhood.
Last-month’s denizens still hanging around.
Flower time. Ornamental red quince?
Monday plant tour
Monday, 6 January 2020
Not the industrial kind—the botanic kind.
Tree-shape reflects the species and the individual’s growing conditions. This specimen, here in a park without neighbors, is broad and symmetrical…and bigger and more expansive than such oaks typically are, especially in a forest setting.
This one was almost that immense, but no more. Calling all breakdown organisms!
Without a doubt, the light was terrific today, and the sun toasty.
Even these (foliose? squamulose?) lichens were soaking it in.
Windy walk
Saturday, 4 January 2020
What qualifies as weird weather? I’d say today did/does. There was not-rain, rain, then mostly not-rain. And wind developed. Some sunshine—this overplays it. Note the mistletoe infestation in that oak to the right. Wind continues…maybe snow-bits in the mountains overnight. Brrr.
I don’t remember looking this plant up before, probably because I thought I knew the name. But, nooooo. It’s not forsythia (which I knew it wasn’t); it’s not scotch broom (why did I think it was? ignorance!). It is winter jasmine.
Pretty sure.
Wee cow sculptures…a front-yard’s worth.