Musings

I could write something about fall-blooming anemones, that is: nice flower-talk….

Otherwise, I’ll get into the non-existential (or is it existential?) crisis of the Southern Ocean’s potential transition toward persistently reduced sea ice coverage resulting from rising salinity. Is the latter (link) too boring? Too hard to grasp? Possibly; you have my sympathy—but such salinity shifts and the attendant oceanic changes are way toooo important to dismiss. Important as in global climate change. Bonus: follow the link and you’ll read about polynyas—I’m betting it’s a new vocab word!

Posted at 8:54 PM | 2 Comments »

When I think of viburnums, I think of these snowball bushes. Turns out Ötzi, the mummified fella found in 1991 emerging from melting ice on the Austrian/Italian border in the Alps, was carrying arrows with viburnum shafts. Of all things.

Posted at 9:44 PM | Comments Off on Genus: viburnum

Right now, I’m finding the furled petals charming.

Posted at 6:35 PM | Comments Off on Furled or curled?

Some days are just a blur; today was one. I’m good, though…leftovers make it easy (for example).

Posted at 8:15 PM | Comments Off on One foot in front…

Today was between two nights with rain, and I hear tonight’s weather events will include storminess. Fun (sarcasm). 🙃

Posted at 8:14 PM | Comments Off on Drama

Fennel flowers…in the porch light, so more golden than in reality.

Posted at 9:26 PM | Comments Off on Night light-shift

We had maybe eight cars in front of us at the toll booth. We could see the northbound traffic going on and on. The back up started at the very top of the brige, and by the density of traffic we saw south of there, it backed up further within just a short time. Soooo glad we were southbound.

But why so much traffique? Model change-over?

This Ohio slow-down must have just happened before we got to it. I saw one vehicle and one person (neither looking damaged, although the car was pointed north and had a soft rear tire, oops) standing outside it talking to cops and firefighters. I wasn’t rubber-necking, though, mind you. 😉

Note the general haziness in the bridge picture (high, thin smoke?), and the pretty darned clear sky in the second photo…further south in Ohio, after dark, we came upon wet pavement, and these drippy roses in a rest area (obv: evidence of rain).

That’s it. I’m going to avail myself of the easy upload using my phone hotspot…such efficiency! 😎

We’ve been seeing lots of fireworks as we continue south toward KY…several towns were having strawberry festivals, but not in Dayton or Cincinnati. Curious. 🤩

Posted at 10:05 PM | Comments Off on Road stories

This morning’s murky sky was from moisture; in fact, it may well be raining across the lake, as the trees there are scarcely visible. BTW, this log was out in knee-deep water yesterday—shows the power of breaking waves.

These bushes are heavy with blossoms, denser than we remember from previous years. Of course, the blooms additionally are heavy with rain accumulation. I can’t remember what The Botanist called them; with a little help from plant recognition software, I’m pretty sure they are Kolkwitzia amabilis, beautybush to everyday folk.

Posted at 9:32 PM | Comments Off on Dead birch no-society

The storm the other day brought this lupin down across the path, and my eye was caught by the complex patterns in in the blossoms.

I can’t know, of course, but perhaps when I stopped to take this picture the seed tick I found inside my elbow a couple hours later crawled onto me…ick. I quickly removed it, then took a shower with lots of soaping, followed by a complete towel scrubbing.

Posted at 9:11 PM | Comments Off on I feel clean (now)

Last summer, roughly midsummer as I recall, we were leaving and I had two green onions that were somewhat scruffy, and not worth transporting 1K miles, so I stuck them in the garden mound. One disappeared, but this one is thriving, in bloom, even.

Posted at 10:07 PM | Comments Off on Vegetation rocks