Musings

I made an invited visit to the new duplex of the niece and her (tada!) fiancé; they’re still working on the move in and needed our drill for an Ikea-assembly undertaking. While I was there, we shifted furniture here and there, checking out options. I wonder how many times they’ve reoriented it since!

During my visit we inspected the back yard from the deck…and spotted what might well be the totem animal of the property. Hypothesis, anyway.

Later, on my walk, I was glad to encounter interesting plant compositions—here: hosta nestled into the base of an oak—and no additional opossums. Whew.

Posted at 9:04 PM | 2 Comments »

When I left the house early-ish this afternoon, I thought I’d collect rain*-on-plant pictures, and that would guide my comments. Not so much. Here are blades trying to shade(?) the sidewalk…or otherwise extend themselves. If personification is allowed.

And this wooden fence, after 24 hrs of rain and drippiness, is a festival of wet wood and lichen decorations.

And, because you’ve been patient, and perhaps a bit curious, here is the image I thought I’d lead with when I captured it early in my walk…but, then I found a few pretties, and the world shifted…and, unlike the other day, I remembered my plan. And here’s a gross fungal growth…I see plenty of…sprouting on mulch material.

* Rain off and on for the last day, so we’re in a decomposing environment, and the smells are nothing like the honeysuckle and gardenia blooms prominent over the last few days.

Posted at 8:53 PM | Comments Off on Fenced…out

The early roses and the honeysuckle vine blossoms are blown, and the clematis and these gems, the gardenias, are the stars of gardens these days. Their scent is strong and in today’s oppressive humid air, it was strong enough to roost in your nostrils. [You get the idea.]

Posted at 10:31 PM | Comments Off on Deep-scented

A wee bit of Goo-ing indicates that the fiddlehead is a stage of development, and not a particular species of fern (contrary to my youthful understanding…kids with access to the web live in such a different world than I grew up in*). This one is a lean specimen of fiddly-ness.

* This must be about the one-millionth™️[😎] time I’ve thought this.

Posted at 5:13 PM | 1 Comment »

I had the idea of writing about…this thing. But, then I thought I’d write about this other thing. After several hours, that, too, was forgotten, and I moved on to some other thing. I think after that, several other things came to mind.

And now here I am, and none of those things are in my brain. So…nothing, it turns out, is the topic.

Posted at 8:45 PM | 2 Comments »

I don’t remember this grassy area as being a former plot of bamboo, but the growth patterns suggest it was and I must have been looking the other way (or for traffic) all the other times I was here. Now, the bamboo is aggressively expanding its territory—boldly shooting up everywhere. I wonder how fast these shoots grow—a half-foot a day?

When I shot today’s neighborhood image, I was about the line of large-size toy vehicles to the (my) right of the front door, and the chairs on the left…overseeing the action. However, when I looked at the picture I thought: hey, is that a Weber grill on the roof? Second thought: must be a satellite dish…heh.

Posted at 7:01 PM | Comments Off on Advice: wait for that second thought

When I heard yesterday that today it would be 80°F by noon, I knew I had to walk early enough that the hot-beast was only breathing in spots of full sun. It rained overnight, so the humidity was outta sight. Whew! Got my steps in, however, and simultaneously avoided the air-crud that accumulates later in the day. [BTW, the Spices business has been closed and gone for months, since January, if I remember correctly. Must be that the rents are astronomical…as there’s plenty of foot-traffic during normal business hours, which you’d think otherwise would make this strip a good one for a store.]

Most photogenic flower today: this lily trio, decorated with a few droplets, and, I think, no insects this time.

Posted at 8:16 PM | Comments Off on Neighborhood economics, plus flower

I’ve been smelling honeysuckle blooms the last few days—intense sometimes, perhaps intensified by the rain the other day. I can’t decide if I like the rich odor or it’s…too too too.

Today I found this stump, in a fresh-cut trio on a verge, with a few wood-shavings as evidence of the action. Redbud. Its…children…are striving for a come-back.

In neighborhood news, I caught the fire-truck returning from…?an airing? It pulled up in front of the station, in the street, and doors opened and guys got out, and directed the backup toward the inside parking spot. Fire-life returning to the waiting position.

Posted at 8:13 PM | Comments Off on Action evidence

These droplets are from “real” rain.

Yesterday. Also on colorful-leaf vegetation.

And in neighborhood fix-it news, the firehouse is getting new vent-tubing? Not sure of the purpose/function of this pile.

Posted at 7:35 PM | Comments Off on Day after rain

Plants typically have multiple names. For example, these look like lupines, but are not. They are in the greater legume family, however. They provided a good blue dye, hence their name: false indigo.

And this dogwood is the Korean type, aka kousa* dogwood.

* How did autocorrect change this word to “mouse”? Or, why is that a match? This is not the same kind of multiple names as with the false indigo….

Posted at 7:46 PM | Comments Off on Other names