Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Dawn sky. Apologies for the infrastructure eyesore.
By late afternoon yesterday, the humidty had dropped, and even though the temps had not, the FEELing was more pleasant.
Ditto for today, for the humidity. Somehow, in addition, it was even cool this morning. And we’re in lily season.
Tuesday, 15 June 2021
I walked later than I would have preferred (heat, humidity), but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Because it was later, I found shadows, which is to say: I found more sunshine along my route. With this shot, however, I think in terms of shadows. What does this indicate about my personality or world-perspective? Unk.
And I did find some gorgeous flower posing, thank you Mr. Sun.
I assumed, given the amount of spring tree trimming and cutting, that our neighborhood had been cropped into great shape until, what?, perhaps this fall. But, no. I encountered at least three different tree-reduction crews today. And I assume that was a small sample of those roaming Our Fair City.
Sunday, 13 June 2021
Took sage advice and left the house early to walk, even before coffee. The sun was just barely up, and mostly skimming the tops of the trees until late in my stomp. Which meant I could walk in shade. Yay. And cooler. Double yay. A successful strategy! As this plant is using.
Friday, 11 June 2021
I know it’s obvious that a walk in an urban neighborhood is a different experience than a walk in a rural place.
I’m pretty sure this is evidence of a movie/TV shoot being broken down. Takes many, many cables for the many lights and cameras. I saw at six guys doing the breakdown, making these careful coils of cables. Also, about seven houses facing this park had bunting and lawn decorations, plus “homemade” signs about never forgetting 9/11. I’ve never seen such decorations in real life.
And a pretty. With a typical surprise insect.
Wednesday, 9 June 2021
It’s always tough to leave the Upper Peninsula. Sightings of two rainbows over green, green farmland tempers the sadness, however.
Mass upgrades underway here at our overnight stop. I heard meowing as I approached the sinks. Pretty sure it wasn’t the vanities complaining about being displaced.
Sunday, 6 June 2021
Around here, these are known as both mayflies and fish flies (Hexagenia limbata). This is the first one I’ve seen this year, and well after May has exited. They typically hatch en masse, so where are this one’s relatives and friends?
Saturday, 5 June 2021
First drama was a population explosion, overnight mind you, of tiny gnats…which meant the spiders got busy, and the porch was decorated with web-caught and un-caught gnats.
Second drama was a lowering sky to the southwest…which meant it slid past us to the south, but it wasn’t clear whether it would follow that usual pattern or not for quite a while. As I was out walking.
The third dramatic event was that we attended a live music event! Meet AnnMarie Rowland, singer, song-writer, story-teller, and writing teacher. Covid struck and separated the Michigan native from her love, a Canadian. Now, all is well. She got a special exemption to travel to Ontario late last summer, and they got married, and now she can easily border-cross. As she said, “Sixty years old, and I HAD to get married!”
Friday, 4 June 2021
Another foggy, dewy morning, with wisps generated by the arrival of Mr. Sun. This is a few minutes later, when the fog tendrils had disappeared, and the sun highlighted the dew-outlined spider webs across the field. Lovely effect.
We left the compound, and headed up to the mouth of Hurricane Creek. At present, it’s flowing straight into Lake Superior, with its tannic taint clearly evident in the crystal clear lacustrine waters.
We walked the 1.5 miles along the Norse Country Trail* to the Au Sable lighthouse.
On the way back, I detoured to look at this shipwreck. Those are large iron rods that held the wooden beams together protruding above the water.
I also spotted a few of these gorgeous endangered pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule). They’re orchids and
In order to survive and reproduce, pink lady’s slipper interacts with a fungus in the soil from the Rhizoctonia genus. Generally, orchid seeds do not have food supplies inside them like most other kinds of seeds. Pink lady’s slipper seeds require threads of the fungus to break open the seed and attach them to it. The fungus will pass on food and nutrients to the pink lady’s slipper seed. When the lady’s slipper plant is older and producing most of its own nutrients, the fungus will extract nutrients from the orchid roots. This mutually beneficial relationship between the orchid and the fungus is known as “symbiosis” and is typical of almost all orchid species. [USFS link]
This one had me stumped. I don’t remember seeing it or looking it up before. It’s Polygaloides paucifolia, commonly called gaywings. Given that its range is eastern North America from Georgia north to the Hudson Bay and inland as far as Minnesota in the USA, I should be familiar with it. So, have I forgotten? 😎
* Why is this stuck in my head? Of course, it’s really NORTH Country Trail. No Viking hikers sighted.
Monday, 31 May 2021
I’m calling it a moon walk. To a swamp and back.
Then, we ventured over toward Canada (border still closed), and watched this upbound freighter motor along. The landmass to the right is Canada. The closer island to the left is USA territory, or more truthfully, birdlandia.
The freighter has made the turn to head for the open waters of Lake Superior, and the sky shows many rain streaks. It eventually reached us, and we retreated indoors. With our whine.
So much fun to see long-time friends again, and to give and receive hugs. We laughed and told stories like always and my heart is well warmed.
Sunday, 30 May 2021
I know these as horsetails. Plant scientists call them Equisetum. As kids, we used to pull them apart at the joints. We had no idea that the dark bands are (technically) scale leaves. Or that the horsetails reproduce by spores.
I think this is a branched Equisetum growing with forget-me-nots. Charming textural combination, no?