Selective emphasis
Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Sometimes a flower and a shaft of sunlight approach perfection. Ignore the heat and humidity.
Musings
Mem’ries
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
I reached back in the photo archives and grabbed this from a mall visit in 2015. Also, the archives reminded me that on this day last year, we returned from Quito.
Sequence
Thursday, 20 July 2023
When the sky darkens at 6:20 in the evening in the summer, get worried. That’s how I look at it. And the darkening preceded a storm front, as you might expect. The front came through with blasts of wind, and kept going, with the wind fading, then some rain, then ho-hum.
And I exhaled. All is well again.
I feel good
Wednesday, 19 July 2023
The predicted overnight rain never materialized, but the air shifted and the AQ improved…so I went for a wee walk, returning before seven (!), because hot. humid.
Plenty of neighborhood water systems nevertheless kicked on…in this case weighing down these limp grasses. Are they grasses? They look like it.
AQI discussion
Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Air Quality was poor today, with high haze. I stayed inside and felt…a bit guilty…but healthy (hah!). A storm’s supposed to come through tonight and into the morning, and disperse the haze.
I have a short-term perspective on this. Exercise tomorrow? Wait and see….
No kidding about changeable
Tuesday, 11 July 2023
An hour after I made yesterday’s post, our power went out, then we had a fierce storm that didn’t last terribly long…thunder, lightning, rain. The power was out for about nine hours, but thankfully back on in time for coffee-making. By sunrise, it was all clear and sparkly out, although some of the now-tall grasses were wet and lodged. They perked up after the sun and wind dried them, and I managed to pull off two sessions with The Beast.
Morn adventure
Sunday, 2 July 2023
Previous summers I have had multiple opportunites to take foggy morning photos. This year I suspect it’s been just too darned dry for the fog to form. So, I was excited this morning to see the fog thicken as the sun rose, and went to to capture images. Since I now have a clear path from my activities with The Beast, I headed out into the field for a different perspective than I usually get from near the cottage. After this shot, and a few more steps, I scared up a sleeping deer, which huffed-snorted at me for the indignity.
Also, the day stayed cool longer in the morning, which made my almost-an-hour with The Beast easier to endure. Still humid, though….
Finished before noon
Saturday, 1 July 2023
Golden-lit potentilla.
My morning fun…exercising The Beast.
The Beast…waiting.
Last summer, we bought The Beast to frustrate, and hopefully to ultimately remove, an invasive grass that has very strong stems and out-competes the “normal” pasture grasses. Of course, this is no longer a pasture, nor doesn’t anyone hay it, or otherwise manage it for agriculture. Just. Too. Much. Effort. [Yes, more than operating the beast on hot, humid, hazy days. Long story.]
Morphology mystery
Wednesday, 28 June 2023
This is what I think of as the standard, even ubiquitous milkweed leaf shape on this property.
Lately, I’ve noticed that a minority have this narrower leaf shape. Without a doubt still a milkweed….
I haven’t seen enough monarch action to see if they notice a difference.
After poking around in details online, I think the first one may be Asclepias syriaca, and the second Asclepias meadii, but that’s an off-the-cuff assessment.
And I thought a milkweed is just a milkweed. My ignorance.
Yeah, I know the light is totally different. The colors of the two are slightly different, with the broader leaf plants “greener,” and the narrower leaved ones, slightly more blue-green. IMHO