Musings

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.

Posted at 5:37 PM | 2 Comments »

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.

Posted at 8:52 PM | Comments Off on Leaf subtleties

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.

Posted at 8:18 PM | Comments Off on Sad to see canopy trees go

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

Posted at 8:58 PM | Comments Off on Anti-gravity

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.

Posted at 7:07 PM | Comments Off on Fall color

Perhaps when you saw that title, you were thinking nuts and chocolate. Nope. I present mushrooms and…

…porcelain berries.

Personally, I wouldn’t eat either one. 🤣

Posted at 9:14 PM | Comments Off on Clusters

I named this picture inner_rose. Turns out we dined tonight with she-could-be-called Inner Rose…and her fun hubby, The Dave.

Posted at 9:17 PM | Comments Off on Family fun

Leaf color report from ATL: these must be red oaks! 🤣

Okay. THIS is an authentic assessment. Pretty darned green here.

Posted at 9:49 PM | Comments Off on Leaf report: ATL

I promised I’d give a green report for ATL…however, when I went on my walk, I kept my nose down looking for pretties instead of gazing upwards. Tomorrow?

Posted at 9:59 PM | Comments Off on Pause

Sunrise-orange across the Grand Marais breakwater and Lake Superior.

Fall color along US2, southern side of the peninsula, out from under the cloud bank.

Lake Michigan at Brevort, still in the Upper Peninsula. Never come down to the lake here before.

Lake Michigan at Cross Village, in the northern Lower Peninsula. More wind than the north shore at Brevet.

Tunnel of Trees, as the state highway going south of Cross Village is known. The right-of-way is narrower than standard, not two lanes wide, and thus no center line. We followed about ten fancy, late-model Corvettes who were traveling together. We left the park at Cross Village right behind them, and followed them into Harbor Springs. [If you’re looking at a map, this’ll make sense.] We got a chance to analyze tight GM cornering from the rear.

One more shot of the fall color in the northwestern Lower Peninsula, greener than in the UP.

That visually sums the prettiest pretties of the day.

Posted at 9:01 PM | Comments Off on Glorious fall day