Musings

Well, now, that looks like spring. Early spring. And it is. Plus, sunset was after 6pm.

Posted at 7:09 PM | Comments Off on Vernal benchmark

Meet nandina, an Asian species that looks pretty here this time of the year, with the red tinge in the leaves. I learned about nandina when I worked at a plant nursery in Oregon, as it didn’t grow in the upper Midwest. Don’t eat the (toxic) red berries (not pictured), though.

Posted at 8:39 PM | Comments Off on Love a parens pair

Quite a while back, early in the Covid lockdown, I hypothesized that certain vehicles had not been moved for a very long time, based on the sediment deposits beneath them and other clues. [Those were the early days of working-from-home and grocery deliveries and other activities that allowed people to stay home and still survive.]

This car, however, seems like it has been not-moved for far longer than just since Covid. What a fine microenvironment for mildew and mold! (Ick.)

Posted at 9:29 PM | Comments Off on Incubation

Here’s today’s tree identification tip. This time of the year, if you see a tree with dry, beige leaves like this, it’s a beech (Fagus spp.). In spring, the new buds will push off the old leaves, meaning they stay on through the winter. Like this.

Posted at 7:08 PM | Comments Off on Follow the Fagus

The moon’s been bright on recent clear nights, but I’ve been sleep-stumbling too much to try for a photo. Here’s a flower from last year’s lovely 15 Jan.

Posted at 8:51 PM | Comments Off on Time shift

Wood grain, as a concept, sounds simple. However, if you have different kinds of wood and different treatments thereof, you realize it’s visually complicated. Functionally, too; but it’s a different thing to assess that. Here, the shadows from Venetian blinds complicate the wood grain visuals. Plus some random scratches.

Posted at 9:17 PM | Comments Off on Look again

I went out to take a couple of holly pictures, thinking I could make a clever comment using them (I dream), and found this sprig of point-less leaves. Well, thorn-less. Renegades.

I figure it took me off the hook for coming up with a witty comment.

Posted at 9:10 PM | Comments Off on Floral variants

One lovely thing about being in Atlanta in December (and January and February)*—camellias in bloom.

* Says the gal who grew up in the Great Lake State.

Posted at 9:13 PM | Comments Off on Hey, bud

Perhaps I shouldn’t use that title the weekend before an election run-off…to clarify, the surprise is that this tree (at the less-than-six-feet-tall stage at present) is in our back yard (aka garden in Brit Engl). I did not know we hosted a beech there. Yay; so classy! [The winter foliage of beeches is so distinctive. This species, Fagus grandifolia, is the only Fagus species in North America—pretty sure.]

Posted at 7:02 PM | Comments Off on Surprise

I had nothing to say.

Maybe not nothing, but nothing “of general interest*.”

Hence, I selected a photo, but never posted (on time).

*At least, that’s the phrase as I remember it from “Cheaper by the Dozen”—the book, the original.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Oops