Saturday, 8 July 2017
Pink is not a color I gravitate to, however, today’s best photos show pink…here in a lupine.
And here in the sky…glorious sky! We ate out on the bluff, and stayed out watching the light change until the skeeters began to feed on us.
Friday, 7 July 2017
While out on a lunch/errand run, we stopped and the Guru sent Droney aloft.
We figured the weeks of rain have made mud in the swamps that drain into the river—this is the Manistique. At the water’s-edge, we could tell the level had dropped several feet in the last two days or so. These are changeable times.
Meanwhile, I braved the clouds of skeeters to get a few flower shots. When I finished focusing, I looked at my legs and smashed the critters front and back (shorts were a dumb move for this stop). I ended up with blood smears up and down. A quick wash and all I have to do is worry about nasty microbes taking up occupancy in my soft tissues. [Ick.] Moving on…this is bladder campion.
Tuesday, 4 July 2017
I made a big rice salad for our contribution to the potluck Fourth celebration across the way. I used these garlic scapes among the many veggies I added.
Our hosts always supply brats and weiners grilled to full tastiness. And home-baked beans. Guests bring the rest. Extra yummy this year, I thought.
Great company, too. Always great fun to catch up with people we see just once a year.
No sparklers even, and we saw the fireworks on Sunday night…but I still thought about this being the anniversary of the founding of our nation while I chopped veggies…I find these strange times, and tried to be buoyed by the tendency of institutions to perpetuate themselves in much the same form.
On the way back to our place the moon seemed to reign over the orchard and the lake.
Friday, 16 June 2017
Busy, cute bee. Look at the subtle shadow of the wings on the petals.
Before the fennel fronds open, they look like tendrils searching for something to wind around. And this umbel looks like a praying mantis.
Wednesday, 14 June 2017
We’re in the summer thunder pattern of late-day pop-up storms, and it is booming outside. ’Shrooms that I think are cousins of these were in their prime three days ago, then gone. This is a new batch, but I think the same kind. Same habitat, anyway. Driveway cracks. Love how see-through the stalks/stems appear.
Monday, 12 June 2017
So, is backlighting analogous to time going backwards, in the visual realm?
Another figure flipped today, a figure that changes in one direction…as…it’s the b-day of a family member, not of this household…one of our dear June people…. Can I “say” this less awkwardly? Yes, just not tonight. Tippo’ the champagne glass….
Wednesday, 31 May 2017
The wind (more than the rain) is bringing down the apple petals. They are reminiscent of snow on the grass.
This lupine is developing color, but still tight-closed.
Love the purple shades that develop in the blossoms. Some tend a bit toward lavender, and we have a small minority that are white or pink.
I just checked the lilacs, and ours have color but the buds are unopened. I smelled, and no scent yet. ;-(
Saturday, 27 May 2017
After days of a sheep-decorated landscapes, we just have to note: no sheep (here). Not a one. But here the trilliums are busting forth. Love me a trillium. So a carpet of them leaves me breathless.
I had not realized that the carpet of trilliaciousness* can be accompanied by an equally glorious showing of forget-me-nots. I am slightly more educated in wildflowers after today’s reveals.
I took both these photos are right by our northwest downspout. I didn’t have to venture into the woods, or even someone else’s woods, to obtain them.
Happy woods-wandering! Maybe you can find a floral vision that’s equally spellbinding….
* Made-up word.
Friday, 26 May 2017
Cleverest traffic safety sign of the day (and poorest-quality snapshot): “Cats have 9 lives. You are not a cat. Buckle up.”
Compelling sunset; unenhanced, original color—so golden and rich.
Friday, 19 May 2017
I thought this was our “last” high cross of the trip, and then we saw a replica in a museum. Does that count?
Also at Ardboe (no ruins of the monastery that was here), we found grave monument setters at work, and this lilac. Can you see the white spots in the first photo? And a couple of flies in this picture? Many bugs…a hatch. They weren’t house flies. Still annoying, however.
Haven’t noticed L-shaped stoplights before….
Strange that all these sheep turned their tails toward us—and they have tails. Lots of that here, but plenty are docked.
Last stone circles of the trip. These are the Beaghmore group.
JCB and the drone captured some fine shots. This is just part of the area of circles, alignments, cairns, etc. Further, this valley is peppered with stone features. And without a doubt more are undiscovered beneath the peat. The peat is covered by brown and grey vegetation in the drone photo.
On to the last ring fort occupied into the 1600s. This is a famous spot, as one of the last Gaelic kings (sub-king I’d say) was inaugurated here in 1593; his name was Aodh Mór Ó Néill. Aodh is Hugh in English. Mór means great. Aodh would have called this place Tulach Óc; today it’s Tullyhogue. Someone lived here in a wooden building into the 1600s. This is the entrance and the original entrance probably required a Z-shaped path between wooden palisades.
We’ve been seeing these blooming hawthorns everywhere—down hedgerows and here at Tulach Óc. The scent is strong.
In Belfast! Here’s the formal façade of Queens University Belfast.
Next to the core buildings of the Univ is the Ulster Botanic Gardens.
This is the door to the Palm House. The plants were ho-hum. There was a HOT room, that made my chest feel compressed.
A metal Lord Kelvin stands inside the main entrance to the BotGarden.
This is a sculpture outside the Ulster Museum.
Just periodic overcast, no sprinkles. Is this really Ireland?