Musings

This is the same magnolia flower as in yesterday’s post. Just 24 hours later. Not kidding.

I’m guessing this Georgia Peach™ won’t get ripe…catch the next Farm Report on this tree, mmm, perhaps next week?

Posted at 7:02 PM | Comments Off on Fast fade

Last month, I took a different tack with my exercise protocol. I decided that after an exercise pulse (into heart rate—HR—zone 5) my HR doesn’t drop fast/low enough. I think that’s a valid call. Of course, I have no idea how the specialists would recommend I achieve a better drop speed.

So, I developed a plan. I decided to spend a few days at a target rate of 110 beats per minute (very difficult to move that slowly), then 115 bpm (easier), and then 120 bpm. Now I’m more like 125 bpm. After two weeks, when I was in the 115/120 range (and utterly bored), I re-instituted my version of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) for maybe two days/week…jog or whatever until the HR goes into zone 5, keep going with nasal breathing until I can’t continue (pant pant), then slow down, let HR go back to 120, and mosey at that rate for a while, then begin the HIIT regime again.

I’ll probably continue with this pattern, see if the HR drop situation improves. I could need several more months to achieve that.

Hypothesis: May is magnolia month.

Posted at 7:32 PM | Comments Off on HIIT my style

I was thinking centered as in the California hippie-dippie meaning.

Because these pictures aren’t…centered.

First: white clover. Second: clearly a rose, and I think a Cherokee rose. Third: lily.

Clematis, clematis, clematis. Got it.

Posted at 6:47 PM | Comments Off on Centered

For an unknown reason, I decided to take an exercise selfie with my handkerchief mask. I am NOT adept at selfie-taking. I tried several backgrounds and camera angles.

I found a nice dark tree, then I realized I was hearing an angry or upset bird overhead. I looked around. Upset. I moved on…looks like landscaping straw is the principal nest ingredient.

Several ways to read this…all positive.

I am astounded by this peach. Not much size (like a golf ball plus), but look, it’s blushing.

Built environment still life with plants.

Posted at 7:18 PM | Comments Off on Perils of selfie-taking, no. 47

I’m not the first to note this, but: these covid days can blur together #hometogether.

We watched a movie tonight as a palate cleanser: “Hopscotch” (1980) with Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, plus a young (as the phrase goes) Sam Waterston…and more. Plenty of laughs.

* Blurred together plants: big hosta leaves, small purple something-blooms, periwinkle leaves, tiny bit of some vine-weed…so four species here, I think.

Posted at 9:51 PM | Comments Off on I am bouyed

I’ve been seeing tiny blooming weeds lately. Blue/white…something.

Yellow…something.

Noticed these fungi on this heartwood, and thought, “un-oh.”

Looked up, and, yup, it’s a dying tree. Sadly.

Posted at 5:31 PM | Comments Off on Not covid infection

I traipsed around different streets again, still on foot from the house. This sidewalk tunnel is within five houses each way of at least two properties that would be put on the market at over a million bucks. Why this sidewalk is ignored is a mystery to me.

Not far away, inside a mini-dead-end-loop, I found this teensy almost-park. With resident lichens that are five-star quality.

On the return leg, I found this over-vegetated fence, with a poisonous denizen…nasty amounts of PI with ordinary, non-toxic, vines.

BTW, fifteen feet is the social distancing gap recommended if a person is exercising or breathing hard—because those exhale-droplets are projected a far piece under those circumstances. FYI.

Posted at 9:04 PM | Comments Off on 15 ft is the new 6 ft

Rain this morning, and more coming.

The creek will rise.

A rose is still a rose…

…even if it’s a big plant with lots of blooms.

Posted at 6:57 PM | Comments Off on Precip reigns (haha)

The title nails it (if I do say so myself). Decorative maple, with a few seed/helicopters (bright red).

Evergreen showing new green (pushy, up-and-coming, feathery) and old green (tired, monotonous, inflexible).

Hedge-trimmed something…with a few blossoms…rather a mixer.

Posted at 6:43 PM | Comments Off on New growth visual textures

Plenty of remodeling* going on in our neighborhood. Here the backyard was almost full with a large trampoline, and to allow access for workmen, well, it had to be moved. Stand-up option!

Here’s a re-shingling job close by.

Time is passing…the dogwoods are winding up their glory days. [BTW, we got stimulated this week. The $$ will help with the groceries…we’re buying plenty of them!]

I think we’re in the not-quite-spring/not-quite-summer transition. The temps are spring, and the leaves are out like summer. I like this changeover interval.

* Also some new construction, I think jobs that began in Before Times.

Posted at 5:48 PM | Comments Off on We are stimulated