Musings

Sometime today, yesterday’s Cascades became today’s Rockies. These long lakes are all fake, or perhaps more kindly, they’re reservoirs. With abundant power generation. I’ll take the reflections.

This murder scene welcomed us to tonight’s overnight housing.

When I first arrived, as part of the dying fish tableau, I watched a male mallard preen before departing. And among the plants, several Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, which I know as kinnikinnick (from the Algonquian referring to the plant’s use as a smoking substance).

If I understood the weather prediction correctly, places we’ve been today and will visit tomorrow will have snowfall Wednesday after we are out on the Great Plains.

Posted at 7:37 PM | Comments Off on Clear skies

We stopped to stretch our legs while we were motoring west on the plains and I found these wee blooms that my magic iNaturalist ID app indicated is a milk vetch, and a legume. I can SEE the latter—look at those flower shapes…so leguminous.

Continuing west, we climbed up and up after Cheyenne, and into sleet and snow-rain. Fortunately it was over 40°F, so no ice on the road to worry about.

Soon, we descended again and I found a wee sagebrush doing springtime burgeoning. A nearby sign indicated that Wyoming hosts 13 species of sagebrush. And this one is…?

Posted at 10:31 PM | Comments Off on Sun, not sun, sun (thankfully)

I believe I have put the winter down duvet back on the bed four times as our warm spring switched to cool. And back. I did for last night, and it’s staying on for tonight. Then, I may pack it up until next fall.

Posted at 9:05 PM | Comments Off on Golden light is not quite warm enough

We’ve gotten to clematis season. This one has a shy petal.

Watched the very end of the Masters, not quite a shoo-in, so a level of excitement. Water-hazards! Sand traps! TENSION!

Always, when I look at the Masters, I wonder if they’ve had to put bags of ice under the azaleas to keep them from flowering too soon. [Except last fall…but, usually.] Maybe this year the timing worked out right and the groundskeepers didn’t have to retard the blooming process.

Posted at 7:39 PM | Comments Off on Thinking flowers

Maple detritus. Never noticed these pink ones before, or don’t remember doing so. Pink?

Oak detritus (pretty sure), plus pollen and petals. The oak bloom-twigs are new in this year’s detritus cycle.

Bonus: dogwoods, foreground, showing their understory form. And overstory oaks in the background.

Posted at 8:22 PM | 1 Comment »

There’s a whole scene or maybe a short story that could include this moment. The waving flag is the best. Plus the “we compost” sign.

Seasonal flower photo.

We were weather aware this morning again, and again we are well, with the worst of it elsewhere. 🍀

Posted at 8:36 PM | Comments Off on See the pollen?!

We left inside-the-perimeter to visit the Grey Sisters and their people, and enjoy a tasty home-made meal.

Outbound we saw beautiful pale purple dangling flower clusters of wisteria frequently in the roadside woods. Returning, we saw some dogwoods blooming near houses, but not yet in the woods.

The title is exactly as it was on a sign. No price. I can’t quite believe that the biscuits were so good people would stop no matter the price.

Posted at 10:20 PM | Comments Off on 2 CHIC BISC

Last night we got rain and we got wind; here we didn’t get any tornadoes, happily. Pollen and redbud blossoms floated on the pickup bed’s pond…until I drained it.

This Acer palmatum is aggressively moving towards summer mode, just 5/6 days after spring began.

Also, by my observation, today is day one of what I seem to recall is the approximately three-day push-to-bloom of the azaleas…when they really open in force…. Bushes everywhere in the neighborhood were half open or, more commonly, covered in fat buds that will open…tomorrow?

Posted at 7:56 PM | Comments Off on Charting spring

Kickball in the park. And I’ve seen kids kicking balls in the space that’s attached to the middle school that’s across the street behind the lovely blooming trees. And I’ve seen school buses on these streets. Normality is returning…a bit.

Another petal-carpet with petal-drifts.

As to the title, this is the over-and-over recommendation phrase from our local meteorologists, as we will have nasty winds and rain from about 1 am to 6 am…hopefully without the awful tornadic action that has already struck not far from here. I expect tossing and turning throughout….

Posted at 9:54 PM | 1 Comment »

After five days of grey and overcast, we’re enjoying bright days, and today was the second of those. Joyous.

Posted at 8:53 PM | Comments Off on Basking