Musings

Here’s proof of autumn. There are colorful Asclepias species, like this one I’m guessing, that are not uncommon in gardens. I’m more attuned to A. syriaca (most likely), which however important to monarch butterfly caterpillars, is less commonly cultivated.

Note that winds from Francine will be arriving over the next 48 hrs, and I’m sure these floss/filaments soon will be lofting seeds widely in the neighborhood.

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on Change a’coming

Striding along under this lovely, towering magnolia, a high branch dropped a leaf that landed on my hat. It was not a small leaf, and it landed with a small thud. My neck is fine; I just shook that floral debris off and continued my walk.

Posted at 7:10 PM | Comments Off on Floral irritant

Today I’m opting to shift my time-space. This flower photo is from a year ago, and was taken in the UP.

This notion builds from today’s news from Winder and Ukraine, the Mideast, etc., and from finishing “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig (2020).

Posted at 8:54 PM | Comments Off on Different me

I sure enjoyed the below average temps this morning. Plus overcast. Both contributed to a super-pleasant walk, in contrast to the above-average temps and stunning humidity of, what? (I exaggerate)—the last six years??!! 🤣🥸😇

Posted at 8:33 PM | Comments Off on So salubrious

We’re doing some travel dreaming…perhaps a trip before Xmas eastward across the pond. We shall see.

Posted at 9:47 PM | Comments Off on Targets

I’m not a particular fan of diplomats, although I greatly appreciate all the work they do, which is frequently behind the scenes. I’m not sure why TV series writers recently have seized on a diplomat as the lead in stories, but we’ve watched both the Keri Russell version and the British one, binging the latter most recently. They’re very different. I think I enjoyed the British version, set in Barcelona, more. Confession: it was not merely to opportunity to hear Catalan dialogue that made it more interesting.

Posted at 9:17 PM | 1 Comment »

I see, at minimum, DQ and St__bux are both already vending pumpkin-flavored beverages. These used to be timed with October, even late October, leveraging Halloween symbolism. No longer.

Here’s another tidbit…in the last two weeks, The Hubby received six (SIX!) anti-Kamala oversized postcards. Me: nothing. We’re both registered voters, both with very gendered first names. I’m going with clear gender bias.

Posted at 9:06 PM | Comments Off on Careful timing

I found this arrangement today…

…and this grouping yesterday. Be mellow and enjoy the leaf patterns (or I’ll start in on watching the thermostat creep up while we were driving to register 99°F outside the car. Yeesh. And it’s 85° outside now. NOW!)

Posted at 9:19 PM | Comments Off on Leaves and leaflets

I was rather struck by the delicate shade of these blooms. It took my mind off how hot and humid it was today. I’m going with climate change. Also (in a run-on style), we’ve heard reports of Michigan having a bumper crop of apples this year; not here, we have only a very few apples that set. In contrast, last year we had a bumper crop here.

Posted at 10:28 PM | Comments Off on Variations in conditions

You are looking at the trunks of white birch trees, surrounded by the green of lilac bushes. It’s quite a large patch of lilacs, but the ones only a few meters north of these have dried leaves…so they leafed out this year, and then suffered trauma, probably lack of water. I’ve never seen the lilacs shrivel like that. Anyway, here are the pretty, surviving, flourishing lilacs.

Posted at 9:10 PM | Comments Off on Location location location